What Does 1 Samuel 19:4 Mean?
And Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, Let not the king miss the mark against his servant, against David; because he has not missed the mark against you, and because his deeds have been very good toward you.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward very good:THE KEY
Jonathan shows that David’s loyalty and good work make the king’s threatened harm a sin against the very servant who has served him well.
THE MEANING
A charge does not erase the record of what a person has actually done: David has not wronged Saul, and his work has benefited him. Jonathan names the threatened harm plainly as a sin against Saul’s servant.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Authority over someone does not make it permissible to harm them without cause.
THE ROOT
טוֹבִים
tovim
GROWS FROM
טוב
tov
Good, beneficial, or well-being.
The same root describes Jonathan’s favorable speech about David and David’s works toward Saul, joining what is said about David to what he does. Here “very good” carries the sense of benefit in relation to Saul, not only an abstract quality.
ALSO GROWS
tovah: Goodness, benefit, or welfare.
טוֹבָה
This branch opens “good” toward the benefit David’s work brings to Saul.
heitiv: To do good, benefit, or treat well.
הֵיטִיב
This verb makes the relational force of David’s good work clear: his actions have treated Saul well.
יֶחֱטָא
yecheta
GROWS FROM
חטא
chata
To miss, go wrong, or incur guilt.
“miss the mark against” in this verse is yecheta. Jonathan applies this word to the king’s proposed action against David. The root’s sense of missing or going wrong makes the accusation specific: royal authority does not make harm toward an innocent servant right.
ALSO GROWS
chet: Sin or wrongdoing; a missing.
חֵטְא
This noun shows the wrong as a failure or missing, giving depth to Jonathan’s warning that the king himself would be in the wrong.
chattat: Sin, or an offering associated with it.
חַטָּאת
The root can name both wrongdoing and what addresses it, underscoring that the king’s threatened act is a real wrong, not a harmless exercise of power.
עַבְדּוֹ
avdo
GROWS FROM
עבד
avad
To work or serve.
The word for servant grows from the root of service and work. Jonathan’s appeal is pointed: Saul is threatening someone whose service has been good to him.
ALSO GROWS
avad: To serve or work.
עָבַד
This verb reveals the service held within the word “servant,” sharpening the contrast with Saul’s threatened treatment of David.
avodah: Service, labor, or work.
עֲבֹדָה
This noun extends the root’s sense from the person who serves to the service itself, echoing Jonathan’s appeal to David’s beneficial work.
THE PATTERN
When power is about to judge someone, truthful advocacy brings that person’s actual standing into the hearing.
Open your mouth for the mute, in the judgment of all who pass away.Does our instruction judge a man before it hears him, and know what he does?THE THREAD
And God saw all that he had made, and look, it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day.The phrase “very good” shares the root טוב (tov, good or beneficial) with the description of David’s works toward Saul. That shared wording lets David’s goodness be seen as concrete and beneficial in its effects.
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