What Does 1 Samuel 20:1 Mean in the King James?
And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is mine iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The threat against David’s life does not itself prove the charge that he has done wrong.
THE MEANING
You can name the harm aimed at you without treating it as proof of guilt. The questions distinguish what you have done, any crookedness, and any missing; the pursuer seeks your living soul. The danger remains real while its alleged cause stays open to examination.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Someone’s pursuit of your life proves you must have done something to deserve it.
THE ROOT
עָוֹן
ʿāwōn
GROWS FROM
עוה
ʿ-w-h
to bend, twist, or make crooked
The word translated “iniquity” carries the image of crookedness. David asks whether anything he has done is bent or distorted; the threat itself does not answer that question.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvâ: to bend, twist, or act crookedly
עָוָה
The verb keeps the concrete image of bending inside the noun “iniquity.”
ʿavonī: my crookedness, my guilt
עֲוֹנִי
This possessive form is the word David uses: he asks what crookedness is actually his.
חַטָּאת
ḥaṭṭāʾt
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥ-ṭ-ʾ
to miss or fall short
The word translated “sin” keeps the image of a missing. David asks separately whether he has missed; another person’s accusation cannot supply the answer by itself.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṭāʾ: to miss or do wrong
חָטָא
The verb names an act that can be examined, rather than a conclusion imposed by suspicion.
ḥōṭēʾ: one who misses or does wrong
חוֹטֵא
The related noun describes a person through an identifiable missing, matching David’s question about what is his.
נַפְשִׁי
nafshī
GROWS FROM
נפש
n-p-sh
the living being or self
The final clause names what the pursuer seeks: David’s nefesh, his living soul. The danger reaches the whole living person, not an abstract possession called “life.”
ALSO GROWS
nephesh ḥayyāh: living soul, living creature
נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה
This phrase names the living being itself, showing how concrete nefesh is in David’s question.
nāphaš: to be refreshed or take respite
נָפַשׁ
The related verb connects this root family to the condition and restoration of a living being.
THE PATTERN
A threat or accusation does not establish its own charge; the alleged wrong remains a separate question.
O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?While he answered for himself, Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Cæsar, have I offended any thing at all.THE THREAD
O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;The word rendered “iniquity” in both verses is עָוֹן (ʿāwōn), crookedness. Psalm 7 makes the question conditional on what David has done, opening this verse’s question as an examination of the charge rather than an assumption of guilt.
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