Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man, and little known?”
Parallel Translations
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Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man, and little known?”
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And Saul’s servants spake those words in the ears of David. And David said, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a king’s son in law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?
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And Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said: 'Seemeth it to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?'
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to 1 Samuel 18:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Samuel 9:21 Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? And my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak to me like this?”
- Psalms 119:141 I am small and despised. I don’t forget your precepts.
- Proverbs 14:20 The poor person is shunned even by his own neighbor, but the rich person has many friends.
- Proverbs 19:6-7 Many will entreat the favor of a ruler, and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts. All the relatives of the poor shun him: how much more do his friends avoid him! He pursues them with pleas, but they are gone.
- Ecclesiastes 9:15-16 Now a poor wise man was found in it, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then I said, “Wisdom is better than strength.” Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
- 1 John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Meaning, that he was not able to endow his…
Meaning, that he was not able to endow his wife with riches.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Sa 18:23 And Saul’s servants spake those words in…
1Sa 18:23 And Saul’s servants spake those words in the ears of David. And David said, Seemeth it to you [a] light [thing] to be a king’s son in law, seeing that I [am] a poor man, and lightly esteemed?
Ver. 23. Seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed.] Poverty is vilified and slighted: Pauper ubique iacet. Arrian hath observed that in a tragedy there is no place for a poor man, but only to dance. {a}
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{a} In Epictet.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain And therefore neither have estate nor credit to give…
And therefore neither have estate nor credit to give (according to the manner, Gen 34:12; Exo 22:16,17) a dowry suitable to her quality.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And the servants of Saul told him, saying, on…
And the servants of Saul told him, saying, on this manner spake David. Such and such words were spoken by him, to this purpose; the sum and substance of them were expressive of his unworthiness to be a king's son-in-law, and of his inability to bring a dowry suitable to her quality.
And the servants of Saul told him, saying, on this manner spake David. Such and such words were spoken by him, to this purpose; the sum and substance of them were expressive of his unworthiness to be a king's son-in-law, and of his inability to bring a dowry suitable to her quality.
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1 Samuel 18:25
sa1 18:25
sa1 18:25
sa1 18:25And Saul said, thus shall ye say to David,.... In answer to his objections, and in order to remove them, and especially what concerned the dowry:
the king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies; that is, he required or desired no other dowry of David, but that he would slay an hundred Philistines, and bring their foreskins to him; by which he would be able to know that they were Philistines he slew, not Israelites who were circumcised; though it cannot well be thought that Saul should have any suspicion of that, or take such a method to prevent it; but as those were almost, if not altogether, the only uncircumcised persons that were their neighbours, since the Arabians, Edomites, Midianites, &c. received circumcision from their ancestors, it would be a clear case to him that these were the men he slew; and whom he the rather pitched upon, because they were his enemies, and the enemies of Israel, and abhorred of the Lord; which carried in it a show of zeal for the glory of God, and the good of his people, and because he hoped David would fall by them in the enterprise, or however render himself very odious to them, and they would bear him ill will, and seek his ruin. Strabo (y) reports of the people in Carmania, that no man among them marries a wife before he cuts off the head of an enemy, and brings it to the king; and the king lays up the skulls in a treasury, and he is the most famous that has the most heads brought unto him. Saul chose not heads, but foreskins, for the reasons before given:
but Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines; he hoped in the enterprise the Philistines would be too powerful for him, and kill him.
(y) Geograph. l. 15. p. 500. Vid. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. l. 1. c. 24.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain A poor man and lightly esteemed - Compare Psa…
A poor man and lightly esteemed - Compare Psa 119:141. Poor, and therefore unable to pay a sufficient dowry. See 1Sa 18:25.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Ability, or riches. Septuagint, "without glory." (Haydock) See ver.…
Ability, or riches. Septuagint, "without glory." (Haydock) See ver. 18.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 23. I am a poor man — And therefore…
23. I am a poor man — And therefore unable to pay such a dowry as the daughter of the king deserves. In the East the dowry paid to the father of a bride was proportioned to her rank.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 23. a poor man] And therefore unable to offer…
23. a poor man] And therefore unable to offer the “dowry,” or price such as it was usual for the suitor to pay to the father of the bride, either in money (Gen_34:12) or in service (Gen_29:20). The same custom prevailed among the ancient Greeks (Hom. Il. XVI. 178; Od. VIII. 318), Babylonians, and Assyrians, and still survives in the East. Tacitus notices it as a peculiarity of the Germans, that “it is not the wife who offers a dowry to her husband, but the husband to his wife” (Germ. c. 18).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (23) I am a poor man.—David dwells upon this…
(23) I am a poor man.—David dwells upon this fact of his utter inability to give the expected costly offering for the princess. He evidently attributes to his poverty and his successful rival’s wealth his former disappointment in the case of Merab.
And lightly esteemed.—David looked upon himself as a mere successful soldier of fortune among the wealthy chiefs who surrounded Saul. His father—though, no doubt, “head man” or sheik in tiny Bethlehem—was, compared with the elders of Israel who formed the Court of Saul, a poor man.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Is it a small matter to you to be…
Is it a small matter to you to be the king's son-in-law, since I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?
David asks this rhetorical question to emphasize that he is not worthy to be the king's son-in-law. AT: "It is a great matter to be the king's son-in-law, and I am too poor and unimportant for that." (See: Rhetorical Question)
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Saul (OT)
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David
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unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 18:23 The future son-in-law would give the bride price…
18:23 The future son-in-law would give the bride price as a gift to his bride’s father (see Gen 34:12; Exod 22:16-17).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.