1 Samuel 24:14
New International Version
“Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Who are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea?

New Living Translation
Who is the king of Israel trying to catch anyway? Should he spend his time chasing one who is as worthless as a dead dog or a single flea?

English Standard Version
After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog! After a flea!

Berean Standard Bible
Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea?

King James Bible
After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.

New King James Version
After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea?

New American Standard Bible
After whom has the king of Israel gone out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog, a single flea?

NASB 1995
“After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog, a single flea?

NASB 1977
“After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog, a single flea?

Legacy Standard Bible
After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog, after a single flea?

Amplified Bible
After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue [with three thousand men]? A dead dog, a single flea?

Christian Standard Bible
Who has the king of Israel come after? What are you chasing after? A dead dog? A single flea?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Who has the king of Israel come after? What are you chasing after? A dead dog? A flea?

American Standard Version
After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
After whom have you come out, King of Israel, and after whom are you chasing, after a dead dog and after one flea?

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And now after whom dost thou come forth, O king of Israel? After whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog, and after a flea?

Contemporary English Version
Why should the king of Israel be out chasing me, anyway? I'm as worthless as a dead dog or a flea.

Douay-Rheims Bible
After whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea.

English Revised Version
After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? One flea?

Good News Translation
Look at what the king of Israel is trying to kill! Look at what he is chasing! A dead dog, a flea!

International Standard Version
After whom is the king of Israel going out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog or a single flea?

JPS Tanakh 1917
After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.

Literal Standard Version
After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog! After one flea!

Majority Standard Bible
Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea?

New American Bible
What is the king of Israel attacking? What are you pursuing? A dead dog! A single flea!

NET Bible
Who has the king of Israel come out after? Who is it that you are pursuing? A dead dog? A single flea?

New Revised Standard Version
Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A single flea?

New Heart English Bible
Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? After a dead dog, or one flea?

Webster's Bible Translation
After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea?

World English Bible
Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea?

Young's Literal Translation
'After whom hath the king of Israel come out? after whom art thou pursuing? -- after a dead dog! after one flea!

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
David Spares Saul
13As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.’ But my hand will never be against you. 14Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? 15May the LORD be our judge and decide between you and me. May He take notice and plead my case and deliver me from your hand.”…

Cross References
1 Samuel 17:43
"Am I a dog," he said to David, "that you come at me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

1 Samuel 26:20
So do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD. For the king of Israel has come out to look for a flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains."

2 Samuel 3:8
Abner was furious over Ish-bosheth's accusation. "Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah?" he asked. "All this time I have been loyal to the house of your father Saul, to his brothers, and to his friends. I have not delivered you into the hand of David, but now you accuse me of wrongdoing with this woman!

2 Samuel 9:8
Mephibosheth bowed down and said, "What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?"


Treasury of Scripture

After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom do you pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.

the king

2 Samuel 6:20
Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself!

1 Kings 21:7
And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

a dead dog

1 Samuel 17:43
And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

2 Samuel 3:8
Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ishbosheth, and said, Am I a dog's head, which against Judah do shew kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, that thou chargest me to day with a fault concerning this woman?

2 Samuel 9:8
And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?

a flea

1 Samuel 26:20
Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.

Judges 8:1-3
And the men of Ephraim said unto him, Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply…

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Dead Dog Insect Israel Pursue Pursuing Searching Single
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Dead Dog Insect Israel Pursue Pursuing Searching Single
1 Samuel 24
1. David, in a cave at En Gedi, spares his life
8. He shows thereby his innocence,
16. Saul, acknowledging his fault, takes an oath of David, and departs.














(14) After a dead dog, after a flea.--These homely but vivid similes are very common in Oriental discourse. David certainly, in his protestations of loyalty, could scarcely humble himself more than by drawing a comparison between the king of Israel in his grandeur and power and a poor dead dog--evidently an object held in special loathing by the Hebrews. "After a flea"--the original is even stronger, after "one flea" (a single flea)--"against a single flea," which is not easily caught, and easily escapes, and if it is caught, is poor game for a royal hunter.--Berl. Bible and Lange.

Verses 14, 15. - Finally, David makes a pathetic appeal to Saul, contrasting him in his grandeur as the king of Israel with the fugitive whom he so relentlessly persecuted. In calling himself a dead dog he implies that he was at once despicable and powerless. Even more insignificant is a flea, Hebrew, "one flea," "a single flea." The point is lost by omitting the numeral. David means that it is unworthy of a king to go forth with 3000 men to hunt a single flea. As the king's conduct is thus both unjust and foolish, David therefore appeals to Jehovah to be judge and plead his cause, i.e. be his advocate, and state the proofs of his innocence. For deliver me out of thy hand, the Hebrew is, "will judge me out of thy hand," i.e. will judge me, and by doing so justly will deliver me from thy power.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Against
אַחֲרֵ֨י (’a·ḥă·rê)
Preposition
Strong's 310: The hind or following part

whom
מִ֤י (mî)
Interrogative
Strong's 4310: Who?, whoever, in oblique construction with prefix, suffix

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

of Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc

come out?
יָצָא֙ (yā·ṣā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3318: To go, bring, out, direct and proxim

Whom
מִ֖י (mî)
Interrogative
Strong's 4310: Who?, whoever, in oblique construction with prefix, suffix

are you
אַתָּ֣ה (’at·tāh)
Pronoun - second person masculine singular
Strong's 859: Thou and thee, ye and you

pursuing?
רֹדֵ֑ף (rō·ḏêp̄)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 7291: To pursue, chase, persecute

A dead
מֵ֔ת (mêṯ)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 4191: To die, to kill

dog?
כֶּ֣לֶב (ke·leḇ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3611: A dog, a male prostitute

A
אֶחָֽד׃ (’e·ḥāḏ)
Number - masculine singular
Strong's 259: United, one, first

flea?
פַּרְעֹ֥שׁ (par·‘ōš)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6550: A flea


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OT History: 1 Samuel 24:14 After whom is the king of Israel (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa)
1 Samuel 24:13
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