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1 Samuel 30:11–30:15, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
1 Samuel 30:11–30:15
Care for an abandoned Egyptian yields crucial intelligence
They find an Egyptian in the field and give him bread, water, figs, and raisins before they ask
They find an Egyptian in the field and bring him to David, give him bread, and he eats, and they make him drink water. They give him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. When he has eaten, his spirit comes again to him, for he has eaten no bread nor drunk any water three days and three nights.
Food precedes interrogation. The man's life is restored enough to speak. Aid in this scene is not first a transaction, even though intelligence will follow.
He will not guide them without a promise that they will not kill him or give him back
David asks whose he is and whence he comes. He says he is a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and his master left him because three days ago he fell sick. They made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, upon the coast belonging to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb, and they burned Ziklag with fire. David asks, Canst thou bring me down to this company? The man says, Swear unto me by God that thou wilt neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.
Abandonment in illness, enslavement, and a negotiated safety come before the map. He is not reducible to a useful source. Nationality here does not define worth. His demand for an oath exposes how little power he has if the oath is refused.
How this should shape us
Give food and drink before you extract information. Do not make aid depend on usefulness, and do not send a vulnerable person back to the one who dumped him. Keep the oath that lets a frightened guide live.
Teach it back
Explain 1 Samuel 30:11–30:15 in your own words, including its movement, one source-controlled detail, one uncertainty, one affected person, and one misuse the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful readers disagree?
Best judgment: The man's testimony drives the plot but is preserved only through this encounter; his demand for protection exposes vulnerability under enslavement.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
1 Samuel 30:11–30:15, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology, with the two KJV-Hebrew versification shifts stated rather than silently offset.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Sam.xml, OSIS 30:11–30:15; KJV 20:42 spans Hebrew 20:42–21:1, KJV 21:1–15 maps to Hebrew 21:2–16, KJV 23:29 maps to Hebrew 24:1, and KJV 24:1–22 maps to Hebrew 24:2–23
Supports: Only the translator notes actually printed for these verses, used for lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and older-English controls.
NET Bible First Edition Notes, 1 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 504–543, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 30:11–30:15
Supports: One intersectional reading of constructed and unstable ethnicity; modern categories are not treated as exact ancient identities.
Millar, 'Species and Ethnicity in 1 Samuel 15,' Bible and Critical Theory 19.1–2 (2023), pp. 1–22, especially pp. 1–4
Supports: Only the publisher-visible book architecture and theological scope; the paywalled body is not treated as inspected.
Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Samuel (2024), official frontmatter and TOC: 1 Samuel 21:1[2]–2 Samuel 1:27, pp. 111–140
Supports: One literary, ethical, and political account of divine and human violence; publisher-visible scope does not establish consensus.
Gilmour, Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel (2021/2022), official abstract and TOC: relevant discussion for 1 Samuel 30:11–30:15, including 1 Samuel 12 pp. 71–81, Saul's rejection pp. 90–139, Eli's house pp. 140–150, or ark violence pp. 154–185 as applicable
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: 1 Samuel 30:11–30:15, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Samuel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology, with the two KJV-Hebrew versification shifts stated rather than silently offset.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Sam.xml, OSIS 30:11–30:15; KJV 20:42 spans Hebrew 20:42–21:1, KJV 21:1–15 maps to Hebrew 21:2–16, KJV 23:29 maps to Hebrew 24:1, and KJV 24:1–22 maps to Hebrew 24:2–23
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: 1 Samuel
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only the translator notes actually printed for these verses, used for lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and older-English controls.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Notes, 1 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 504–543, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 30:11–30:15
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
Species and Ethnicity in 1 Samuel 15
Suzanna Millar
Bible and Critical Theory 19.1-2, 2023
Supports: One intersectional reading of constructed and unstable ethnicity; modern categories are not treated as exact ancient identities.
Exact location: Millar, 'Species and Ethnicity in 1 Samuel 15,' Bible and Critical Theory 19.1–2 (2023), pp. 1–22, especially pp. 1–4
Open source ↗scholarly monograph frontmatter and table of contents
The Theology of the Book of Samuel
John Goldingay
Cambridge University Press, 2024
Supports: Only the publisher-visible book architecture and theological scope; the paywalled body is not treated as inspected.
Exact location: Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Samuel (2024), official frontmatter and TOC: 1 Samuel 21:1[2]–2 Samuel 1:27, pp. 111–140
Open source ↗scholarly monograph abstract and contents
Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel
Rachelle Gilmour
Oxford University Press, 2021 online; 2022 print
Supports: One literary, ethical, and political account of divine and human violence; publisher-visible scope does not establish consensus.
Exact location: Gilmour, Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel (2021/2022), official abstract and TOC: relevant discussion for 1 Samuel 30:11–30:15, including 1 Samuel 12 pp. 71–81, Saul's rejection pp. 90–139, Eli's house pp. 140–150, or ark violence pp. 154–185 as applicable
Open source ↗