What Does 1 Samuel 23:15 Mean in the King James?

And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood.

1 Samuel 23:15 · 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.

THE KEY

Saul seeks David’s ⁨נֶפֶשׁ⁩ (nephesh, living self), so “life” here means David himself, not something he owns.

THE MEANING

When someone comes out to seek your life, the threat reaches your whole living self; it is not a danger to an abstract possession. The verse holds that pursuit beside a specific place: wilderness, in woodland.

THE ROOT

נֶפֶשׁ

nephesh

GROWS FROM

נפש

n-p-sh

to refresh, take repose

English “life” can sound like a possession David has, but ⁨נֶפֶשׁ⁩ names the living self, the person himself; Saul’s pursuit reaches for David, not an abstraction. The related verb ⁨נָפַשׁ⁩ means to refresh or take repose, revealing a word-family that also carries the sense of restoration even as this verse holds the living self under threat.

ALSO GROWS

nephesh: living soul, self, person, or life

נֶפֶשׁ

This is the word translated “life” here: Saul’s target is David himself.

naphash: to refresh oneself or take repose

נָפַשׁ

This related verb shows that the same word-family also carries the sense of restoration; here the living self remains under pursuit.

THE PATTERN

When scripture says a life is sought, it depicts violence reaching for the whole living self.

For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.

Psalm 54:3 · KJVThe sought “soul” is the living self under threat, the same kind of pursuit named in this verse.

Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.

Matthew 2:20 · KJVThe phrase “sought the young child’s life” again names a threat directed at the whole living person.

THE THREAD

For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.

Psalm 54:3 · KJV

The Hebrew ⁨נֶפֶשׁ⁩ (nephesh, living soul) translated “life” here appears as “soul” in the Psalm, keeping the target as the whole living self in both lines. The Psalm makes the pursuit explicit as seeking after that self.

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