Key Verse Spotlight
1 Samuel 18:17 — Meaning and Application
Understand how this verse speaks to what you're facing—and how to apply it today
King James Version
" And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the LORD'S battles. For Saul said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him. "
1 Samuel 18:17
Verse in Context
Understanding the surrounding verses prevents misinterpretation:
Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved ➔ himself very wisely, he was afraid of him.
But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.
And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the LORD'S battles. For Saul said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.
And David said unto Saul, Who am I? and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king?
But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife.
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From This Chapter
1 Samuel 18:1
"And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul."
1 Samuel 18:2
"And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house."
1 Samuel 18:3
"Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul."
1 Samuel 18:4
"And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle."
1 Samuel 18:5
"And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants."
1 Samuel 18:6
"And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick."
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