What Does 1 Samuel 20:9 Mean?
And Jonathan said, Far be it from you. For if I knew for certain that evil was finished by my father to come upon you, would I not tell it to 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 said, Far be it from thee: for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee?THE KEY
Jonathan’s promise makes friendship measurable: knowledge of danger turns into disclosure, not silence.
THE MEANING
When someone close to you knows that harm is being set in motion against you, loyalty takes the form of telling you. That disclosure remains true even when the threat comes from the speaker’s own family.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that love for one’s family requires concealing the danger a family member poses to someone else.
THE ROOT
אָגִיד
agid
GROWS FROM
נגד
to make known, announce, or declare
“tell” in this verse is agid. The verb carries the sense of bringing something hidden into view. Here, telling makes the approaching threat visible to the person it endangers.
ALSO GROWS
maggid: one who tells or declares
מַגִּיד
The same word family names the person who brings a message into the open.
neged: before, in front of, opposite
נֶגֶד
This related form places something before the hearer; telling brings the hidden danger into view.
יָדֹעַ אֵדַע
yadoa eda
GROWS FROM
ידע
to know, recognize, or become acquainted with
“knew certainly” in this verse is yadoa eda. The Hebrew repeats the root ידע, literally, “knowing, I would know,” to emphasize certainty. Knowledge of the threat is the hinge of the promise: once it is known, it is carried to the person at risk.
ALSO GROWS
yada: to know or recognize
יָדַע
This is the root verb repeated in the verse’s emphatic phrase.
da'at: knowledge
דַּעַת
This noun from the same root shows the knowledge that becomes the basis for telling.
THE PATTERN
Loyal care brings truth about what threatens someone into the open.
Steady are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for all that I heard from my Father I have shown you.Therefore, taking off lying, speak truth, each one with his neighbor, for we are limbs of one another.THE THREAD
And Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one. God has set before Pharaoh what he is doing.The verb translated “shewed” is הִגִּיד (higgid), from the same נגד root as Jonathan’s “tell.” In both verses, what is coming becomes known before it arrives, through disclosure to the person who needs to see it.
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