What Does 1 Samuel 23:4 Mean?
Then David asked of the LORD again. And the LORD answered him and said, Rise, go down to Keilah; for I will give the Philistines into your hand.
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
Then David enquired of the LORD yet again. And the LORD answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand.THE KEY
The deliverance is phrased as a giving: the outcome is placed in David’s hand as he is told to rise and move toward it.
THE MEANING
When a question remains, asking again can be part of the path; the answer brings a next step with it. You are told both to rise and go down, while the outcome is spoken of as being given into your hand. The verse holds action and received outcome together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Needing to ask again means you have failed to hear the first answer.
THE ROOT
נֹתֵן
noten
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
Give, set, place.
“give” in this verse is noten. The verb behind “deliver” is the ordinary verb for giving or placing: “I am giving the Philistines into your hand.” English keeps the sense of rescue while the Hebrew also pictures the outcome being placed in David’s hand.
ALSO GROWS
netinah: Giving, donation.
נְתִינָה
This branch keeps the act as a transfer, clarifying that the outcome is given into David’s hand.
mattanah: Gift, present.
מַתָּנָה
This branch carries the same root into the concrete sense of something given.
וַיּוֹסֶף
wayyosef
GROWS FROM
יסף
y-s-f
Add, continue, do again.
The Hebrew says David “added still” to ask, making repeated inquiry an extension of seeking. The English “again” can hide the sense of adding another question.
ALSO GROWS
yasaf: Add, increase, continue.
יָסַף
This verb names the continuing action carried by David’s asking again.
tosefet: Addition, supplement.
תּוֹסֶפֶת
This noun shows the root’s sense of something added, like another inquiry.
דָּוִד
Dawid
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; kinsman.
David’s name is associated with the root for beloved. The verse holds that name alongside continued asking: being the beloved does not cancel inquiry, and the answer meets it with a clear next movement and a given outcome.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved one; male kinsman.
דּוֹד
This is the root word associated with David’s name and its sense of belovedness.
dodim: Loves, affections.
דּוֹדִים
This related form carries the root into the language of love and affection.
THE PATTERN
Seeking receives an answer as both guidance for the next step and what God gives.
I make you wise, and I teach you in the way you walk. I guide you with my eye upon you.Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.Stand up therefore, and go down, and go with them without being divided, for I have sent them.THE THREAD
And the breath of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel, and went out to war. And the LORD gave Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, and his hand grew mighty against Chushanrishathaim.The same root נתן (natan, give or place) stands behind “delivered” in Judges 3:10, where an enemy is given into the judge’s hand. The shared wording reveals how this verse pictures deliverance: the opposing force is placed into someone’s hand, in an explicit battle scene.
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