What Does 1 Samuel 20:17 Mean in the King James?
And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
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
David’s name echoes דּוֹד (dod, “beloved”), and Jonathan loves him as his own נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh, “living soul”): the beloved is cherished as one’s own living self.
THE MEANING
Here, love gives another person the same weight and care as one’s own living self. The beloved’s life is not distant or disposable; it is held as close as one’s own.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that another person’s life must matter less than your own.
THE ROOT
נַפְשׁוֹ
nafsho
GROWS FROM
נפש
n-p-sh
The living self: a person, their life, or their whole being.
“soul” in this verse is nafsho. The Hebrew word carries the sense of a living person, not only an invisible inner part. To love David as Jonathan loves his own nephesh is to cherish him with the care one gives one’s own life.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh: Living soul; person or life.
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the noun in the verse, giving “soul” the fullness of a living self.
naphash: To take respite or be refreshed.
נָפַשׁ
This related verb brings the living self’s need for rest and restoration into view.
אֲהֵבוֹ
ahevo
GROWS FROM
אהב
ʾ-h-b
To love or cherish.
“loved” in this verse is ahevo. Words from this root name both love and the one held dear. David’s name, דָּוִד (Dawid), carries the nature of דּוֹד (dod, “beloved”), placing the beloved inside an act of love measured by the lover’s own life.
ALSO GROWS
ahavah: Love.
אַהֲבָה
The noun names the love that the verse describes as reaching the measure of one’s own living self.
ahuv: Beloved; one who is loved.
אָהוּב
This form names the person who receives that love, matching the verse’s focus on David as beloved.
THE PATTERN
Love crosses the boundary between self and other, giving another person’s life the same measure as one’s own.
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.THE THREAD
Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad’s life;The Hebrew uses נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh, “living soul”) for both lives: Jonathan loves David as his own living self, and here a father’s life is bound to his son’s. The shared word makes love’s closeness concrete as shared vulnerability.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us