21
Then Saul replied, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. I will never harm you again, because today you considered my life precious. I have played the fool and have committed a grave error!”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
šā·’ūl way·yō·mer ḥā·ṭā·ṯî šūḇ ḏā·wiḏ bə·nî- kî lō- ’ā·ra‘ lə·ḵā ‘ō·wḏ ta·ḥaṯ ’ă·šer hay·yō·wm haz·zeh hin·nêh bə·‘ê·ne·ḵā nap̄·šî yā·qə·rāh his·kal·tî har·bêh mə·’ōḏ wā·’eš·geh
Word by word23 · parsed
√ Shâʼûwl — Shaul, the name of an Edomite and two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
√ châṭâʼ — properly, to missVerbQalPerfectfirst person common singular
châṭâʼ — properly, to miss (Qal perfect 1cs) The root is archery, not courtroom: to miss the mark. Saul's perfect tense states a completed fact about himself, and Gill notes it is “more than he acknowledged before.” But Poole's verdict is that the mouth outran the heart: he “not only confesseth, but aggravateth his fault, because his conscience was fully convinced, though his heart was not changed.” The same verb, on David's lips at 2 Samuel 24:10, will be followed by an altar; here it is followed by nothing.
√ shûwb — to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point)VerbQalImperativemasculine singular
shûwb — to turn back, return A Qal imperative: Return. This root is the spine of the whole unit. Saul commands David to turn back (v. 21); David asks YHWH to turn back (Hiphil, v. 23) to every man his own righteousness; and in the last line it is Saul who turns back, to his place (v. 25). Gill reads the invitation as hollow on its face, since Saul had already given David's wife to another man.
√ Dâvid — David, the youngest son of JesseNounpropermasculine singular
√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine singular constructfirst person common singular
bên — a son “My son David.” Saul uses the word he used in the cave (1 Samuel 24), and will use again in v. 25 — the only affection he has left to offer, and the one thing he cannot make binding.
√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction
Causal kîy (H3588) introducing the promise.
√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle
√ râʻaʻ — properly, to spoil (literally, by breaking to pieces)VerbHifilImperfectfirst person common singular
râʻaʻ — properly, to spoil, to break to pieces (Hifil imperfect 1cs) The Hiphil is causative: I will not cause harm to you. The imperfect leaves it open-ended — never again, at any future time. K&D, quoting the Berleburg Bible, calls this “a good intention, which he never carried out,” and Pulpit observes that Saul's “return” proved “the most evanescent of good purposes.”
לְךָ֙lə·ḵāyou
Prepositionsecond person masculine singular
√ ʻôwd — properly, iteration or continuanceAdverb
√ tachath — the bottom (as depressed)Preposition
Preposition tachath (H8478), “underneath,” here the head of the transactional idiom discussed above.
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)ArticleNounmasculine singular
hay·yō·wm with the article — “this day,” the day marker that will recur in vv. 23 and 24 and knit the three speeches together.
√ zeh — the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or thatArticlePronounmasculine singular
√ hinnêh — lo!Interjection
Presentative hinnêh (H2009) — “behold,” marking the turn from promise to self-accusation.
√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Preposition-bNouncdcsecond person masculine singular
√ nephesh — properly, a breathing creature, iNounfeminine singular constructfirst person common singular
√ yâqar — properly, apparently, to be heavy, iVerbQalPerfectthird person feminine singular
yâqar — to be heavy, costly, precious A rare verb (11 verses). It is the word Scripture uses for the price of a soul that no man can pay (Psalm 49:8), for the weight of God's thoughts (Psalm 139:17), and for thirty pieces of silver in bitter irony (Zechariah 11:13). Benson catches the sting of Saul's phrase: “My soul was precious in thine eyes — which I thought had been odious.”
√ çâkal — to be sillyVerbHifilPerfectfirst person common singular
çâkal — to be silly (Hifil perfect 1cs) The rarest word in the verse, and the hinge of the unit's canonical memory. Samuel used it to Saul at Gilgal; David will use it of himself after the census; Hanani used it to Asa. Saul's confession is therefore exactly right in vocabulary and exactly empty in effect — Ellicott, crediting the Dean of Canterbury, suspects the self-blame is military rather than moral, for “putting himself again in David’s power through overweening confidence in his own strength.”
√ râbâh — to increase (in whatever respect)VerbHifilInfinitive absolute
Infinitive absolute of râbâh (H7235) used adverbially, “much, greatly,” bound with H3966 mᵉʼôd into a doubled intensifier.
√ mᵉʼôd — properly, vehemence, iAdverb
√ shâgâh — to stray (causatively, mislead), usually (figuratively) to mistake, especially (morally) to transgressConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectfirst person common singular
shâgâh — to stray, to go astray, to err A verb of wandering. Whatever Saul means, he has now catalogued his conduct twice: once as self-made folly, once as drifting. The BSB's single noun “error” cannot carry both.