1 Samuel 26:9

But David said to Abishai, Destroy him not; for who hath stretched forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and remained guiltless?

Leeser Tanakh

In The King James Version

And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the LORD’S anointed, and be guiltless?

In Context

8Then said Abishai to David, God hath surrendered this day thy enemy into thy hand: and now let me strike him through, I pray thee, with the spear, even to the earth with one blow, and I will not give him a second one.

10David said farthermore, As the Lord liveth, the Lord alone shall strike him down: either his day shall come that he die; or he shall go down into battle, and perish.

Read all of 1 Samuel 26

Cross References

1 Samuel 24:6And he said unto his men, Far be it from me for the Lord's sake, that I should do this thing unto my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him; because he is the anointed of the Lord.

2 Samuel 1:16And David said unto him, Thy blood is upon thy own head; for thy mouth hath testified against thee, saying, I myself have slain the Lord's anointed.

Psalms 17:4Among the deeds of men did I observe, by the word of thy lips, the paths of the dissolute.

Psalms 105:15[Saying,] “Touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm,”—

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 26:7-13

David Spares Saul's Life. ( b. c. 1056.) 6 Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee. 7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about him. 8 Then said Abishai to David, God hath delivered thine enemy into thine… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study 1 Samuel 26:9