What Does 1 Samuel 26:18 Mean?
And he said, Why does my lord pursue his servant like this? For what have I done? Or what evil is in my 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
And he said, Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in mine hand?THE KEY
The same Hebrew word for pursuit describes both a hunter’s chase and goodness pursuing you, so being pursued alone does not prove guilt.
THE MEANING
You can be pursued without that pursuit proving you have done wrong. The question asks for an actual deed and harm in your hand, keeping the accusation answerable to something concrete. A pursuer’s force does not by itself define the character of the one pursued.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being pursued means I must be guilty. The verse separates the force of the pursuit from evidence of wrongdoing.
THE ROOT
רֹדֵף
rodef
GROWS FROM
רדף
radaph
to pursue, chase, or press after
“pursue” in this verse is rodef. The same root describes Saul’s hostile chase and the goodness that “follows” David in Psalm 23:6. The word names pursuit; it does not decide whether the chase brings harm or care.
ALSO GROWS
radaph: to pursue or chase
רָדַף
This is the verb behind the pursuit in the verse.
rodef: a pursuer; one who pursues
רֹדֵף
This form names the one doing the pursuing, making the pursuer’s role explicit.
nirdaf: one pursued
נִרְדָּף
This form names the person on the receiving end of the same pursuit; the root itself says nothing about guilt.
רָעָה
ra'ah
GROWS FROM
רעע
ra'aʿ
to be bad or harmful; to cause harm
“evil” in this verse is ra'ah. The word can name what is bad, harmful, or troublesome, so the question asks whether there is a real wrong in his hand. It keeps the charge connected to harm rather than letting the pursuit itself serve as proof.
ALSO GROWS
raʿ: bad, evil, harmful
רַע
This form shows the root’s sense of what is damaging or wrong.
roaʿ: badness, evil
רֹעַ
This noun names badness as a quality, while the verse asks whether any such wrong is actually present.
עָשִׂיתִי
ʿasiti
GROWS FROM
עשה
ʿasah
to do or make
The verb asks for an act, and מַעֲשֶׂה (maʿaseh) names a deed or work from the same root. Beside the question about harm in his hand, it makes the challenge concrete: name what was done, not merely the fact of pursuit.
ALSO GROWS
ʿasah: to do or make
עָשָׂה
This is the basic verb whose first-person form appears in the question.
maʿaseh: a deed, work, or act
מַעֲשֶׂה
This noun makes explicit the kind of concrete action the question calls for.
THE PATTERN
Being pursued does not prove guilt; pursuit can serve harm or carry goodness, depending on what is pursuing.
And the LORD strengthened the heart of the Great House, king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel, and the children of Israel went out with a lifted hand.Surely goodness and faithful love pursue me all the days of my life, and I settle in the house of the LORD for the length of days.Flourishing are the pursued for the sake of alignment, for theirs is the governance of the heavens.THE THREAD
Surely goodness and faithful love pursue me all the days of my life, and I settle in the house of the LORD for the length of days.The Hebrew root רדף (radaph, pursue) appears here for Saul’s chase and in Psalm 23:6 for what the KJV calls goodness and mercy “following” David. The root stays the same; what changes is who is pursuing him and what that pursuit carries.
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