What Does 1 Samuel 29:3 Mean in the King James?
Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, which hath been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day?
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
Years of trusted presence can bring someone across a boundary without making their origin disappear.
THE MEANING
You can be known closely in one place and still be treated as foreign in another. Achish speaks from sustained closeness; the princes still see David first through the identity that marks him as an outsider. The verse holds trust and belonging apart: a strong record with one person does not make every community claim you as its own.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief is that time spent inside one host’s circle automatically makes outsider status disappear for everyone else.
THE ROOT
הָעִבְרִים
hā-ʿivrîm
GROWS FROM
עבר
ʿ-b-r
to pass over, cross, or go beyond
“Hebrews” in this verse is hā-ʿivrîm. The label carries the across or other-side contour of its root beneath the English ethnic name. The princes’ question shows that David’s place among them does not make his origin disappear; they still see a boundary to be policed.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvar: to pass over or cross
עָבַר
The root’s movement makes the boundary in the princes’ question concrete: David has crossed into their company, but they still mark him as coming from elsewhere.
ʿēver: beyond, across, or the other side
עֵבֶר
This branch gives the outsider label its spatial edge: David is treated as someone from the other side, even after years with Achish.
דָּוִד
Dāwîḏ
GROWS FROM
דוד
d-w-d
beloved
David’s name carries belovedness, while the verse gives him several competing ways of being claimed: the princes see a Hebrew, Achish sees a trusted companion, and David is named as Saul’s servant. His name adds a personal nature beneath those shifting affiliations.
ALSO GROWS
dōd: beloved; beloved man or lover
דּוֹד
This word carries the beloved sense behind David’s name, turning the name into a quality of relationship rather than a bare label.
dōdîm: loves or endearments
דּוֹדִים
The plural form extends the same root into expressed affection, echoing the relational meaning held in David’s name.
עֶבֶד
ʿeḇeḏ
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
to work or serve
Achish identifies David through his service to Saul, then defends him through what Achish has observed during their own years together. The root keeps servant connected to lived work and service, while the verse leaves David’s shifting loyalties in view.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvaḏ: to work or serve
עָבַד
This verb shows the activity beneath the noun servant: David is identified through an ongoing relationship of service to Saul.
ʿăḇōḏāh: work or service
עֲבֹדָה
The related noun keeps service grounded in what is done, sharpening the contrast between Saul’s claim on David and Achish’s judgment of his conduct.
THE PATTERN
Crossing into another community changes where a person stands, but recognition is what makes a stranger one of its own.
And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;THE THREAD
And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.Jonah names himself with the same word, עִבְרִי (ʿivrî, Hebrew or one from across), from עבר (ʿ-b-r, cross or pass over). Both verses place that identity inside a foreign community; here Jonah says it himself, while David’s identity is what the princes question.
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