1 Samuel 26:2
◄  1 Samuel 26:2  ►
New International Version (©2011)
So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand select Israelite troops, to search there for David.

New Living Translation (©2007)
So Saul took 3,000 of Israel's elite troops and went to hunt him down in the wilderness of Ziph.

English Standard Version (©2001)
So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having with him three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
So Saul, accompanied by 3,000 of the choice men of Israel, went to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there.

International Standard Version (©2012)
So Saul rose and went down with 3,000 select men of Israel to the Wilderness of Ziph, to look for David in the Wilderness of Ziph.

NET Bible (©2006)
So Saul arose and went down to the desert of Ziph, accompanied by three thousand select men of Israel, to look for David in the desert of Ziph.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Saul went to the desert of Ziph, taking with him 3,000 of Israel's best-trained men to search for David.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

American King James Version
Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

American Standard Version
Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having with him three thousand chosen men of Israel, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

Darby Bible Translation
And Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

English Revised Version
Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

World English Bible
Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

Young's Literal Translation
And Saul riseth, and goeth down unto the wilderness of Ziph, and with him three thousand men, chosen ones of Israel, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

26:1-12 How soon do unholy hearts lose the good impressions convictions have made upon them! How helpless were Saul and all his men! All as though disarmed and chained, yet nothing is done to them; they are only asleep. How easily can God weaken the strongest, befool the wisest, and baffle the most watchful! David still resolved to wait till God thought fit to avenge him on Saul. He will by no means force his way to the promised crown by any wrong methods. The temptation was very strong; but if he yielded, he would sin against God, therefore he resisted the temptation, and trusted God with the event.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 2-4. - Three thousand chosen men. Not chosen for this expedition, but the force which Saul always kept under arms (1 Samuel 13:2). By the way. The high road which led down to Arad. David abode in the wilderness. Hebrew, "abides." Instead of fleeing in haste as before, he remains apparently on the higher ground, as he speaks in ver. 6 of going down to Saul's camp. And he saw. I.e. learned, was told. It was only when his scouts brought him their report that he knew that Saul was come in very deed, or "for a certainty" (see 1 Samuel 23:23).

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then Saul arose,.... Immediately, glad of an opportunity to seize on David, having the same disposition towards him as ever; and perhaps had repented he had not laid hold on him when he followed him out of the cave:

and went down to the wilderness of Ziph: or towards it:

having three thousand chosen men of Israel; young men, so called, because usually chosen for business, and for war particularly, rather than old men; the same number he took with him when he sought him at Engedi, 1 Samuel 24:2,

to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph; where or whereabouts he was informed by the Ziphites he was.

1 Samuel 26:2 Parallel Commentaries

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Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


David Again Spares Saul
1And the Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon? 2Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. 3And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which is before Jeshimon, by the way. But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. …

1 Samuel 13:2 Saul chose three thousand men from Israel; two thousand were with him at Mikmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. The rest of the men he sent back to their homes.
1 Samuel 24:2 So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.