1 Samuel 22:3
New International Version
From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?”

New Living Translation
Later David went to Mizpeh in Moab, where he asked the king, “Please allow my father and mother to live here with you until I know what God is going to do for me.”

English Standard Version
And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother stay with you, till I know what God will do for me.”

Berean Standard Bible
From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I learn what God will do for me.”

King James Bible
And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.

New King James Version
Then David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come here with you, till I know what God will do for me.”

New American Standard Bible
And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”

NASB 1995
And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”

NASB 1977
And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”

Legacy Standard Bible
And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”

Amplified Bible
And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come [out of Judah] and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”

Christian Standard Bible
From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”

American Standard Version
And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And David went on from there to Metspaya of Moab, and he said to the King of Moab: “Let my father and my mother dwell with you until I know what God does to me”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And David departed thence to Massephath of Moab, and said to the king of Moab, Let, I pray thee, my father and my mother be with thee, until I know what God will do to me.

Contemporary English Version
David left Adullam Cave and went to the town of Mizpeh in Moab, where he talked with the king of Moab. "Please," David said, "let my father and mother stay with you until I find out what God will do with me."

Douay-Rheims Bible
And David departed from thence into Maspha of Moab: and he said to the king of Moab: Let my father and my mother tarry with you, I beseech thee, till I know what God will do for me.

English Revised Version
And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
From there David went to Mizpah in Moab. He asked the king of Moab, "Please let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God is going to do for me."

Good News Translation
David went on from there to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and mother come and stay with you until I find out what God is going to do for me."

International Standard Version
David went from there to Mizpah of Moab, and he told the king of Moab, "Please let my father and mother come and stay with you until I know what God is going to do for me."

JPS Tanakh 1917
And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab; and he said unto the king of Moab: 'Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.'

Literal Standard Version
And David goes from there to Mizpeh of Moab and says to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come out with you, until I know what God does for me”;

Majority Standard Bible
From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I learn what God will do for me.”

New American Bible
From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Let my father and mother stay with you, until I learn what God will do for me.”

NET Bible
Then David went from there to Mizpah in Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God is going to do for me."

New Revised Standard Version
David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. He said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come to you, until I know what God will do for me.”

New Heart English Bible
David went there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother stay with you, until I know what God will do for me."

Webster's Bible Translation
And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said to the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.

World English Bible
David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come out to you, until I know what God will do for me.”

Young's Literal Translation
And David goeth thence to Mizpeh of Moab, and saith unto the king of Moab, 'Let, I pray thee, my father and my mother go out with you, till that I know what God doth for me;'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
David Flees to Adullam and Mizpeh
2And all who were distressed or indebted or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him. 3From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I learn what God will do for me.” 4So he left them in the care of the king of Moab, and they stayed with him the whole time David was in the stronghold.…

Cross References
1 Samuel 22:2
And all who were distressed or indebted or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

1 Samuel 22:4
So he left them in the care of the king of Moab, and they stayed with him the whole time David was in the stronghold.

2 Samuel 8:2
David also defeated the Moabites, made them lie down on the ground, and measured them off with a cord. He measured off with two lengths those to be put to death, and with one length those to be spared. So the Moabites became subject to David and brought him tribute.


Treasury of Scripture

And David went there to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said to the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray you, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.

Mizpeh

Judges 11:29
Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead, and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over unto the children of Ammon.

the king

1 Samuel 14:47
So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines: and whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed them.

Ruth 1:1-4
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehemjudah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons…

Ruth 4:10,17
Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day…

Let my father

Genesis 47:11
And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

Exodus 20:12
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Matthew 15:4-6
For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death…

till I know

1 Samuel 3:18
And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.

2 Samuel 15:25,26
And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation: …

Philippians 2:23,24
Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me…

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1 Samuel 22
1. Companies resort unto David at Adullam
3. At Mizpeh he commends his parents unto the king of Moab
5. Admonished by Gad, he comes to Hareth,
6. Saul going to pursue him, complains of his servants' unfaithfulness
9. Doeg accuses Ahimelech
11. Saul commands to kill the priests
17. The footmen refusing, Doeg executes it
20. Abiathar escaping, brings David the news














(3) Mizpeh.--This particular Mizpeh is mentioned nowhere else. The word means a watch tower; it was probably some mountain fortress in Moab. It has been suggested that it was the same as Zophim, a word of the same root as Mizpeh (see Numbers 23:14). David evidently sought hospitality among his kin in Moab. Jesse, his father, was the grandson of Ruth the Moabitess. The distance from the south of Judah Where the fugitives were wandering was not great.

Till I know what God will do for me.--This memory of David's words to the King of Moab shows that the old trust and love, which in his first moments of care and sorrow had failed him, had come back again to the son of Jesse. It is interesting to note that David when addressing the Moabite sovereign speaks of "God" "Elohim," not of Jehovah. This was probably out of deep reverence; an idolator had nothing to do with the awful name by which the Eternal was known to His covenant people--a Name which, as originally uttered, has now passed away from the earth. We read the mystic four letters, but no man, Jew or Gentile, can pronounce the Name of Names. The "Name," however, was not unknown in Moab, for the mystic letters which compose it occur in the inscription of Mesha, dating about 150 years from the days of David's exile.

Verses 3, 4. - David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab. The position of this place is unknown, but as the word means a watch tower, it was no doubt some beacon hill in the highlands of Moab on the east of the Dead Sea, and probably in the mountains of Abarim or Pisgah. Here David placed his father and mother under the care of the king of Moab. They had fled from Bethlehem under the combined fear of Saul and the Philistines, but were too old to bear the fatigues of David's life. He therefore asks for a refuge for them with the king of Moab, probably on the ground that Jesse's grandmother, Ruth, was a Moabitess. But as Saul had waged war on Moab (1 Samuel 14:47), the king was probably glad to help one who would keep Saul employed at home. The language of David is remarkable, and is literally, "Let, I pray, my father and my mother come forth with you" (pl.); but no better interpretation has been suggested than that in the A.V.: "Let them come forth, i.e. from the hold in Mizpeh, to be or dwell with you." While David was in the hold. Not merely that in the land of Moab, but up to the time when David was settled in Hebron. During all this period David was wandering from one natural fortress to another. Till I know what God will do for (or to) me. These words show that David had recovered his composure, and was willing calmly to leave everything to the wise disposal of God.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
From there
מִשָּׁ֖ם (miš·šām)
Preposition-m | Adverb
Strong's 8033: There, then, thither

David
דָּוִ֛ד (dā·wiḏ)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1732: David -- perhaps 'beloved one', a son of Jesse

went
וַיֵּ֧לֶךְ (way·yê·leḵ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

to Mizpeh
מִצְפֵּ֣ה (miṣ·pêh)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 4708: Mizpah -- the name of several places in Israel

of Moab,
מוֹאָ֑ב (mō·w·’āḇ)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 4124: Moab -- a son of Lot,also his descendants and the territory where they settled

where he said
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר ׀ (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

the king
מֶ֣לֶךְ (me·leḵ)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4428: A king

of Moab,
מוֹאָ֗ב (mō·w·’āḇ)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 4124: Moab -- a son of Lot,also his descendants and the territory where they settled

“Please
נָ֞א (nā)
Interjection
Strong's 4994: I pray', 'now', 'then'

let my father
אָבִ֤י (’ā·ḇî)
Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 1: Father

and mother
וְאִמִּי֙ (wə·’im·mî)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 517: A mother, )

stay
יֵֽצֵא־ (yê·ṣê-)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3318: To go, bring, out, direct and proxim

with you
אִתְּכֶ֔ם (’it·tə·ḵem)
Preposition | second person masculine plural
Strong's 854: Nearness, near, with, by, at, among

until
אֲשֶׁ֣ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

I learn
אֵדַ֔ע (’ê·ḏa‘)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 3045: To know

what
מַה־ (mah-)
Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

God
אֱלֹהִֽים׃ (’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

will do
יַּֽעֲשֶׂה־ (ya·‘ă·śeh-)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

for me.”
לִּ֖י (lî)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's 0: 0


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OT History: 1 Samuel 22:3 David went there to Mizpeh of Moab: (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa)
1 Samuel 22:2
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