What Does 1 Samuel 21:10 Mean in the King James?
And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
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
Fear has a face here: David gets out from before Saul only to enter another king’s reach.
THE MEANING
A person can leave one threat while entering another power’s reach. David moves from Saul’s presence into Achish’s territory; escape is real, but safety remains uncertain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that getting away from one danger means being safe.
THE ROOT
וַיִּבְרַח
wayyibraḥ
GROWS FROM
ברח
b-r-ḥ
To flee or escape.
“fled” in this verse is wayyibraḥ. The verb makes David’s movement the center of the line: he is getting out of danger’s reach. Its noun branch, “flight,” names that same movement as an event, linking the person who flees with the passage of escape itself.
ALSO GROWS
bāraḥ: To flee, escape.
בָּרַח
This is the verb at work in David’s movement away from Saul.
berīḥāh: Flight, the act of fleeing.
בְּרִיחָה
The action becomes a named event: David’s escape is a flight from one ruler’s reach toward another’s domain.
מִפְּנֵי שָׁאוּל
mippənê Šāʾūl
GROWS FROM
פנה
p-n-h
To turn or face; the related noun carries the sense of face or presence.
The Hebrew phrase behind “for fear of Saul” is literally “from before Saul.” Alongside the KJV wording, it places David’s fear in relation to Saul’s presence and gives his flight a direction.
ALSO GROWS
pānîm: Face; presence.
פָּנִים
“From before Saul” evokes leaving the presence of the person David fears.
pānāh: To turn, face toward.
פָּנָה
The root’s sense of facing makes the danger personal and immediate: David is moving away from Saul’s face.
דָּוִד
Dāwīd
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
Beloved; kinsman.
David’s name carries the nature of “the beloved,” yet this verse shows the beloved fleeing for his life. The name does not erase vulnerability; it stands inside the danger with him.
ALSO GROWS
dōd: Beloved; kinsman.
דּוֹד
This root gives David’s name its sense of the beloved.
dōdîm: Loves, endearments.
דּוֹדִים
The related word in the Song of Songs carries the root’s language of belovedness into intimate affection.
THE PATTERN
Flight creates distance from the immediate threat, even when the next place remains uncertain.
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket.THE THREAD
But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.Hagar’s flight uses בָּרַח (bāraḥ, flee) and מִפָּנֶיהָ (mippānêhā, from her face or presence), echoing the roots beneath David’s flight. The shared wording reveals a recurring shape: flight is movement out from under another person’s presence and power.
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