1 Samuel 24:9
New International Version
He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’?

New Living Translation
Then he shouted to Saul, “Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you?

English Standard Version
And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Behold, David seeks your harm’?

Berean Standard Bible
and said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’?

King James Bible
And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?

New King James Version
And David said to Saul: “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Indeed David seeks your harm’?

New American Standard Bible
And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Behold, David is seeking to harm you’?

NASB 1995
David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to harm you’?

NASB 1977
And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to harm you’?

Legacy Standard Bible
And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to do you evil’?

Amplified Bible
David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘David seeks to harm you?’

Christian Standard Bible
David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of people who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of people who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you?

American Standard Version
And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearkenest thou to men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And David said to Shaul: “You should not hear the words of men who say, “Behold, David seeks your harm!

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And David said to Saul, Why dost thou hearken to the words of the people, saying, Behold, David seeks thy life?

Contemporary English Version
and said: Your Majesty, why do you listen to people who say that I'm trying to harm you?

Douay-Rheims Bible
And said to Saul: Why dost thou hear the words of men that say David seeketh thy hurt?

English Revised Version
And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearkenest thou to men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
David asked Saul, "Why do you listen to rumors that I am trying to harm you?

Good News Translation
and said, "Why do you listen to people who say that I am trying to harm you?

International Standard Version
Then David told Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of those who say, 'Look, David is trying to harm you?'

JPS Tanakh 1917
And David said to Saul: 'Wherefore hearkenest thou to men's words, saying: Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?

Literal Standard Version
And David says to Saul, “Why do you hear the words of man, saying, Behold, David is seeking your calamity?

Majority Standard Bible
and said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’?

New American Bible
and asked Saul: “Why do you listen to those who say, ‘David is trying to harm you’?

NET Bible
David said to Saul, "Why do you pay attention when men say, 'David is seeking to do you harm'?

New Revised Standard Version
David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of those who say, ‘David seeks to do you harm’?

New Heart English Bible
David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to men's words, saying, 'Look, David seeks your harm?'

Webster's Bible Translation
And David said to Saul, Why hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?

World English Bible
David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to men’s words, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to harm you?’

Young's Literal Translation
And David saith to Saul, 'Why dost thou hear the words of man, saying, Lo, David is seeking thine evil?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
David Spares Saul
8After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed facedown in reverence 9and said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’? 10Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the LORD delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my lord, since he is the LORD’s anointed.’…

Cross References
1 Samuel 20:1
Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, "What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?"

1 Samuel 24:8
After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked behind him, David bowed facedown in reverence

1 Samuel 24:10
Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the LORD delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, 'I will not lift my hand against my lord, since he is the LORD's anointed.'

1 Samuel 26:18
And he continued, "Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done? What evil is in my hand?

1 Samuel 26:19
Now please, may my lord the king hear the words of his servant: If the LORD has stirred you up against me, then may He accept an offering. But if men have done it, may they be cursed in the presence of the LORD! For today they have driven me away from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, 'Go, serve other gods.'

Jeremiah 37:18
Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, "How have I sinned against you or your servants or these people, that you have put me in prison?


Treasury of Scripture

And David said to Saul, Why hear you men's words, saying, Behold, David seeks your hurt?

1 Samuel 26:19
Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the LORD have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the LORD; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, Go, serve other gods.

Leviticus 19:16
Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.

Psalm 101:5
Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.

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1 Samuel 24
1. David, in a cave at En Gedi, spares his life
8. He shows thereby his innocence,
16. Saul, acknowledging his fault, takes an oath of David, and departs.














(9) Wherefore hearest thou men's words?--David had many deadly enemies at the court of Saul, who evidently laboured with success to deepen Saul's jealousy, and to widen the breach which already existed between the king and David. Doeg has been already mentioned as one of the more prominent of these slanderers; another was Cush the Benjamite, who was alluded to in the inscription which heads the seventh Psalm. The Ziphites and their representatives at the royal residence also belonged to this class of malicious foes spoken of here.

Verses 9, 10. - In his address David complained of Saul's listening to men's words, which slanderously represented him as lying in wait to kill the king (comp. 1 Samuel 22:8). In answer to their calumnies he now pleads Saul's own experience of his deeds. Some bade me kill thee. Hebrew, "he bade to kill thee." The literal rendering is, "Jehovah delivered thee today into my hand, and bade kill thee." The A.V. supplies some, or, more exactly, "one said." This is supported by the Syriac and Chaldee, but the literal rendering is probably the right one. Had David killed Saul, it would have seemed as if it were ordered by Providence so to be, and as if by putting Saul into his power God had intended his death. But what seem to us to be the leadings of Providence are not to be blindly followed. Possibly David's first thought was that God intended Saul to die, and so the Vulgate, "I thought to kill thee. But immediately a truer feeling came over his mind, and he recognised that opportunities, such as that just given him, may be temptations to be overcome. The highest principles of religion and morality do not bend to external circumstances, but override them.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
and
דָּוִד֙ (dā·wiḏ)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1732: David -- perhaps 'beloved one', a son of Jesse

said
וַיֹּ֤אמֶר (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

to Saul,
לְשָׁא֔וּל (lə·šā·’ūl)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 7586: Saul -- first king of Israel, also an Edomite and two Israelites

“Why
לָ֧מָּה (lām·māh)
Preposition-l | Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

do you listen
תִשְׁמַ֛ע (ṯiš·ma‘)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 8085: To hear intelligently

to the words
דִּבְרֵ֥י (diḇ·rê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1697: A word, a matter, thing, a cause

of men
אָדָ֖ם (’ā·ḏām)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 120: Ruddy, a human being

who say,
לֵאמֹ֑ר (lê·mōr)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 559: To utter, say

‘Look,
הִנֵּ֣ה (hin·nêh)
Interjection
Strong's 2009: Lo! behold!

David
דָוִ֔ד (ḏā·wiḏ)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1732: David -- perhaps 'beloved one', a son of Jesse

intends
מְבַקֵּ֖שׁ (mə·ḇaq·qêš)
Verb - Piel - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1245: To search out, to strive after

to harm you’?
רָעָתֶֽךָ׃ (rā·‘ā·ṯe·ḵā)
Noun - feminine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 7451: Bad, evil


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OT History: 1 Samuel 24:9 David said to Saul Why listen you (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa)
1 Samuel 24:8
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