What Does 1 Samuel 29:6 Mean in the King James?

Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the LORD liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless the lords favour thee not.

1 Samuel 29:6 · 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

David is called upright and bears a name traditionally linked to “beloved,” yet the lords still withhold favor: acceptance does not measure either.

THE MEANING

Your integrity can be visible to someone who knows your conduct while another group refuses you. Their refusal remains real, but it does not erase the honest witness already present. The verse holds both judgments in view without making either cancel the other.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that being good or beloved guarantees welcome from every group.

THE ROOT

יָשָׁר

yāšār

GROWS FROM

י־ש־ר

To be straight, even, or level.

“upright” in this verse is yāšār. Achish calls David yāšār, a word that carries the image of a straight line. The lords’ refusal does not bend that line; the verse separates uprightness from being accepted.

ALSO GROWS

yāšār: Straight, upright.

יָשָׁר

This is the word Achish uses for David, joining moral integrity to the image of straightness.

yĕšārîm: Upright ones, those who are straight.

יְשָׁרִים

The plural form shows the same root describing people by their straightness, rather than by how widely they are welcomed.

mîšôr: A level place or plain.

מִישׁוֹר

This related form carries the root’s image of level ground, adding a sense of an unbent path beneath the word “upright.”

דָּוִד

Dāwīd

GROWS FROM

ד־ו־ד

Beloved, dear one; traditionally connected with the name David.

“David” in this verse is Dāwīd. The name carries belovedness while the closing words say the lords do not favor him. The verse lets belovedness and rejection coexist, without treating rejection as proof that the name’s nature has vanished.

ALSO GROWS

dōd: Beloved, dear one.

דּוֹד

This word is traditionally linked to David’s name and brings the idea of belovedness into the verse.

dōdî: My beloved.

דּוֹדִי

This related form makes the affection in the root personal, echoing the tension between being beloved and being refused.

THE PATTERN

A person’s uprightness and other people’s welcome are not the same measure.

Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.

Psalm 37:37 · KJVThe verse directs attention to the upright person’s path and its end, rather than to whether every observer approves.

And there was much murmuring among the people concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.

John 7:12 · KJVThe same person is judged as good by some and deceptive by others, showing how public opinion divides.

But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.

Mark 6:4 · KJVThe verse holds a person’s standing together with the refusal of those closest to him.

THE THREAD

The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.

Proverbs 11:3 · KJV

Proverbs uses the same root, ⁨יָשָׁר⁩ (yāšār), for “upright.” It shows straightness as a guide from within, while 1 Samuel makes clear that another group’s refusal does not define that inner line.

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