What Does 1 Samuel 25:26 Mean in the King James?

Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.

1 Samuel 25:26 · 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

What looks like withheld revenge is the LORD stopping David’s hand from appointing itself as his deliverer.

THE MEANING

The LORD restrains the moment when your wounded judgment reaches for blood. The phrase presents that impulse as a hand trying to deliver itself, while Nabal’s name, “fool”, marks the folly David is being held back from repeating. The oath places your living soul beside the living LORD, with life itself at the center of the restraint.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie is that refusing to strike back leaves you undefended. Here, restraint is the LORD’s intervention, and the hand’s attempt to deliver itself is what gets stopped.

THE ROOT

וְהוֹשֵׁעַ יָדְךָ לָךְ

wəhôšēaʿ yāḏəḵā lāḵ

GROWS FROM

י־ש־ע

y-š-ʿ

To deliver, bring out, or rescue.

““Avenging thyself with thine own hand”” in this verse is wəhôšēaʿ yāḏəḵā lāḵ. Under “avenging thyself” stands ⁨יָשַׁע⁩ (yāšaʿ, deliver): the phrase pictures David’s own hand delivering him for himself. The verse exposes self-vindication as an attempted rescue, then says the LORD has already intervened by holding that hand back.

ALSO GROWS

yāšaʿ: To deliver or rescue.

יָשַׁע

This root gives the verse’s picture of a hand trying to secure its own deliverance through bloodshed.

yəšûʿāh: Deliverance.

יְשׁוּעָה

The related noun names the rescue David seeks to take into his own hands.

מְנָעֲךָ

mənaʿăḵā

GROWS FROM

מ־נ־ע

m-n-ʿ

To withhold, hold back, or restrain.

““Withholden”” in this verse is mənaʿăḵā. The verb makes restraint an active intervention: the LORD holds David back from the path to bloodshed. The same root can describe withholding what is harmful or withholding what is good, so the context shows what this boundary protects.

ALSO GROWS

mānaʿ: To withhold or hold back.

מָנַע

This is the root verb behind the LORD’s restraint of David.

yimnaʿ: He withholds.

יִמְנַע

Psalm 84:11 uses this form for the LORD withholding no good thing; here, the root describes the LORD holding David back from bloodshed.

נָבָל

Nāḇāl

GROWS FROM

נ־ב־ל

n-b-l

To be foolish or vile; also to wither or fade.

““Nabal”” in this verse is Nāḇāl. Nabal’s name means “fool” and comes from a root also used for withering and disgrace. The name makes the comparison a nature: David is being restrained from letting folly shape his own hand.

ALSO GROWS

nəḇālāh: Folly or a disgraceful deed.

נְבָלָה

This branch names the kind of conduct embodied by Nabal’s name.

nāvēl: To wither or fade.

נָבֵל

The same root can describe something losing its strength or vitality, adding a sense of decline to the name’s association with folly.

THE PATTERN

Divine judgment is preserved when a wounded hand is restrained from turning retaliation into self-deliverance.

To me belongeth vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

Deuteronomy 32:35 · KJVVengeance belongs to the LORD, leaving the injured hand without the role of judge and executor.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Romans 12:19 · KJVThe verse gives the same structure: self-avenging yields the place where the LORD’s judgment acts.

Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

1 Peter 2:23 · KJVThe wounded person does not turn suffering into a threat, but entrusts judgment to the righteous judge.

THE THREAD

Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.

Proverbs 20:22 · KJV

The phrase rendered “avenging thyself” in Samuel carries ⁨יָשַׁע⁩ (yāšaʿ, deliver), and Proverbs uses that same root when it says the LORD will save you. The root shifts the agent of deliverance: David’s hand tries to do for itself what Proverbs says the LORD does.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us