What Does 1 Samuel 24:17 Mean in the King James?
And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.
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
Alignment is visible in the return: the harm received does not have to become the harm returned.
THE MEANING
What reaches you does not dictate what you return; the difference remains visible. Good can answer evil without calling the evil good.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that justice requires you to return the same harm you receive. A good response can remain distinct from the wrong that prompted it.
THE ROOT
גְּמַלְתַּנִי
gəmalttanî
GROWS FROM
גמל
g-m-l
To deal fully with, requite, or repay.
“rewarded” in this verse is gəmalttanî. The same verb appears for both sides of the exchange: David deals Saul good, while Saul deals David evil. Hebrew holds the act of returning constant and changes what is carried in the return.
ALSO GROWS
gāmal: To deal with or repay.
גָּמַל
This is the verb repeated for both actions, placing the good and evil returns on the same scale.
gəmûl: Recompense; treatment rendered.
גְּמוּל
This related noun names what is returned, bringing the verse’s mirrored exchange into focus.
צַדִּיק
tsaddiq
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
Rightness, justice, alignment.
“righteous” in this verse is tsaddiq. David’s alignment is not merely a label in this sentence; it is shown in how he answers Saul’s action. This word family connects rightness with just action, so alignment becomes visible in the return.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness, justice.
צֶדֶק
It names the order of rightness that underlies the description of David as righteous.
tsedaqah: Righteousness, justice expressed in action.
צְדָקָה
It shows how the same root can describe rightness as something enacted in the way one treats another.
THE PATTERN
A response can break the cycle of harm by returning good where evil was received.
If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.THE THREAD
He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.Psalm 103 uses the same root, גמל (gamal, to requite), for what is not returned according to human failures. The shared root makes the exchange here visible as a possible return, not an inevitable mirror of what was received.
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