What Does 1 Samuel 26:21 Mean in the King James?
Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.
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’s vow to stop harming David begins when he recognizes that David treated Saul’s own life as precious while Saul was trying to take David’s.
THE MEANING
A confession becomes more than regret when the person causing harm names it, asks for relationship to return, and commits to stop. The turn comes through a startling recognition: the life Saul endangered is precious in David’s eyes. Folly becomes visible when the cycle of harm is not returned.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this dissolves is that an enemy’s life has no worth, or that harm must be answered with harm; David’s regard for Saul’s life breaks both assumptions open.
THE ROOT
נַפְשִׁי
naphshi
GROWS FROM
נפש
the living self: a person, living being, or life
English “soul” can sound like an invisible part separate from a person, while נֶפֶשׁ names the living self. Saul says his own life was precious to David, making a concrete living person, not an abstraction, the center of his confession.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh: living soul, person, or life
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the word Saul uses for his own life, which David chose to spare.
nafash: to be refreshed or restored
נָפַשׁ
The related verb connects this living self with a state of renewal, widening what “soul” can hold.
חָטָאתִי
chatati
GROWS FROM
חטא
to miss, fail, or do wrong
“sinned” in this verse is chatati. The root carries the sense of missing or failing, rather than only a general label of guilt. Saul’s confession is made concrete by his acknowledgment of folly and his promise to stop causing harm.
ALSO GROWS
chata: to miss, fail, or do wrong
חָטָא
This is the verb Saul uses to name his own failure.
chet: a miss, fault, or wrongdoing
חֵטְא
The related noun keeps the image of a miss inside the idea of sin, giving Saul’s confession a specific shape.
chatta't: missing; also a sin offering
חַטָּאת
The same root appears in a term for an offering associated with wrongdoing, linking the miss with what addresses it.
יְקָרָה
yeqarah
GROWS FROM
יקר
to be precious, valuable, or costly
The word marks value recognized in another: Saul says David sees his life as precious. That recognition becomes the reason Saul gives for stopping the harm.
ALSO GROWS
yaqar: precious, valuable, or costly
יָקָר
This form names the value David sees in Saul’s life.
yeqar: value, honor, or preciousness
יְקָר
This related noun shows how being precious carries the sense of worth and honor.
THE PATTERN
Care shown to an enemy can interrupt the cycle of harm and expose the wrong it would otherwise repeat.
And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.THE THREAD
Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my soul to take it.The Hebrew translated “soul” in both verses is nephesh, the living self: Saul had hunted David’s nephesh, yet David spared Saul’s. The life Saul once treated as a target is now the life he recognizes as precious in David’s eyes.
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