Add parallel Print Page Options

17 [a] Then Saul said to David, “Here’s my oldest daughter, Merab. I want to give her to you in marriage. Only be a brave warrior[b] for me and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul thought, “There’s no need for me to raise my hand against him. Let it be the hand of the Philistines!”

18 David said to Saul, “Who am I? Who are my relatives or the clan of my father[c] in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” 19 When the time came for Merab, Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she instead was given in marriage to Adriel, who was from Meholah.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 18:17 tc Much of the ms evidence for the LXX lacks vv. 17-19.
  2. 1 Samuel 18:17 tn Heb “son of valor.”
  3. 1 Samuel 18:18 tn Heb “Who are my relatives, the clan of my father?” The term חַי (khay), traditionally understood as “my life,” is here a rare word meaning “family, kinfolk” (see HALOT 309 s.v. III חַי). The phrase “clan of my father” may be a scribal gloss explaining the referent of this rare word.

17 Then Saul said to David, “(A)Here is my older daughter Merab; I will give her to you as a wife, only be a valiant man for me and fight (B)the Lords battles.” For Saul thought, “My hand shall not be against him, but (C)let the hand of the Philistines be against him.” 18 But David said to Saul, “(D)Who am I, and who is my family, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be the king’s son-in-law?” 19 So it came about at the time that Merab, Saul’s daughter, was to be given to David, that she was given instead to (E)Adriel (F)the Meholathite as a wife.

Read full chapter