What Does 1 Samuel 23:14 Mean in the King James?

And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.

1 Samuel 23:14 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

David hides in a word for a hunting place, yet the hunter never receives him.

THE MEANING

Your wilderness and the pressure pursuing you can both remain real: the threat may press every day without gaining possession. The protection here does not make the danger imaginary; it marks a boundary between being sought and being handed over.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that if a threat keeps returning, it must already own the outcome.

THE ROOT

מְצָדוֹת

metsadot

GROWS FROM

צוד

To hunt, pursue, or catch.

“strong holds” in this verse is metsadot. The Hebrew word for these strongholds belongs to the ⁨צוד⁩ (tsud) word family of hunting and capture. David’s shelter therefore carries the language of the hunt within it: refuge and pursuit occupy the same word-world, yet Saul still does not catch him.

ALSO GROWS

matsod: A hunting net, catch, or stronghold.

מָצוֹד

This branch joins the idea of a place of capture with the fortress where David takes refuge.

tsayid: Game or prey; what is obtained by hunting.

צַיִד

The word for what a hunter catches sharpens the verse’s distinction between being pursued and being captured.

נְתָנוֹ

netano

GROWS FROM

נתן

To give, set, or place.

“delivered him not” in this verse is netano. The Hebrew verb comes from ⁨נתן⁩ (natan), meaning give, set, or place: God does not place David into Saul’s hand. “Delivered” thus carries the concrete image of a transfer withheld, even while Saul continues to seek him.

ALSO GROWS

natan: To give, set, or place.

נָתַן

This verb names the transfer the verse says does not happen: David is not placed within Saul’s reach.

mattanah: A gift, something given.

מַתָּנָה

This noun shows the same root’s idea of giving; the verse’s protection is the refusal of that giving-over.

THE PATTERN

Pursuit can continue without becoming possession.

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

Psalm 27:5 · KJVTrouble remains present, yet the person under threat is hidden and set beyond its reach.

Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.

Psalm 124:6 · KJVThe danger is named plainly, while the threatened people are not handed over as prey.

Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

2 Corinthians 4:9 · KJVPressure and persecution remain real without becoming the final claim over the person enduring them.

THE THREAD

Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.

Psalm 124:6 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨נתן⁩ (natan, give or place) to describe a transfer withheld: David is not given into Saul’s hand, and the people are not given as prey. The pursuer remains visible, but the pursued are not placed within its grasp.

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