What Does 1 Samuel 26:23 Mean?
The LORD will repay each man his alignment and his steadiness; for the LORD gave you into my hand today, but I would not stretch out my hand against the LORD's anointed one.
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
The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for the LORD delivered thee into my hand to day, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against the LORD’s anointed.THE KEY
David’s withheld hand is where his righteousness and faithfulness become visible.
THE MEANING
The LORD sees your alignment and steadiness, including what you do when another person is within your reach. What you withhold matters alongside what you do, and the LORD returns to each person what belongs to their conduct.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Having someone in your power does not make your power the measure of what is right, and restraint is not unseen.
THE ROOT
לִשְׁלֹחַ
lishloach
GROWS FROM
שלח
shalach
send, send forth, release
“stretch out my hand” in this verse is lishloach. The verb for David’s hand carries the sense of sending forth and releasing. His restraint is concrete: he refuses to send his hand against the LORD’s anointed.
ALSO GROWS
mishloach: sending out, dispatch
מִשְׁלוֹחַ
This branch makes the shared sense of sending visible in the action David refuses.
Shiloach: sent forth; the name of a water channel
שִׁלֹחַ
The same root can describe something sent forth, extending the verse’s language of release beyond the hand.
צִדְקָתוֹ
tsidqato
GROWS FROM
צדק
tsadaq
rightness, alignment
The root opens righteousness as alignment, not only an abstract moral standing. Here that alignment is visible in David’s refusal to strike when Saul is within his reach.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: rightness, justice, alignment
צֶדֶק
This branch shows the underlying idea of a life or action that is rightly aligned.
tsaddiq: a righteous or aligned person
צַדִּיק
The branch connects alignment to the person whose conduct expresses it.
אֱמוּנָתוֹ
emunato
GROWS FROM
אמן
aman
firm, steady, dependable
The root carries firmness and steadiness; faithfulness is trust with something to lean on. In this verse, that steadiness appears in the hand David does not send against Saul.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: steadiness, trust, faithfulness
אֱמוּנָה
This branch shows the firmness beneath the KJV word “faithfulness.”
he'emin: trusted, believed
הֶאֱמִין
This verb uses the same root for trusting or believing, linking faithfulness with reliance.
THE PATTERN
The LORD returns each person’s conduct to them, so a moment of power does not make vengeance theirs to claim.
To me belongs vengeance, and repayment. At its appointed time their foot slips, for the day of their falling is near, and what is readied comes hurrying upon them.Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but give room to wrath. For it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will give back, says the LORD.The LORD deals with me according to my alignment; according to the cleansing of my hands, he turns back to me.THE THREAD
And he leaned his weight on the LORD, and he counted it to him as alignment.The Hebrew verb הֶאֱמִין (he’emin, trusted or believed) shares the root אמן (aman, firmness or steadiness) with אֱמוּנָה (emunah, faithfulness) in this verse. Genesis also uses צְדָקָה (tsedaqah, righteousness or alignment), the same word family as the righteousness David names here.
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