1st Samuel Chapter 9 verse 25 Holy Bible
And when they were come down from the high place into the city, he communed with Saul upon the housetop.
read chapter 9 in ASV
And when they had come down from the high place into the town, where a bed was made ready for Saul, he went to rest.
read chapter 9 in BBE
And they came down from the high place into the city, and he spoke with Saul upon the roof.
read chapter 9 in DARBY
And when they were come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house.
read chapter 9 in KJV
And when they had come down from the high place into the city, Samuel communed with Saul upon the top of the house.
read chapter 9 in WBT
When they were come down from the high place into the city, he talked with Saul on the housetop.
read chapter 9 in WEB
And they come down from the high place to the city, and he speaketh with Saul on the roof.
read chapter 9 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 25. - When the feast was over they went down from the high place, and, having entered the city, proceeded to Samuel's dwelling, where he communed with Saul upon the top of the house. The Septuagint has a very probable reading, namely, "And they spread a bed for Saul upon the roof, and he lay down;" but the Syriac and Chaldee agree with the Hebrew. Without communicating to Saul that he was to be king, which was not revealed to him till the next day (1 Samuel 10:1), Samuel might be anxious to impress on Saul's mind the great principles of the theocratic government, and also the nature of the remedies necessary for Israel's recovery from its present misery.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(25) And when they were come down.--After the public sacrificial meal at which such signal honours had been shown to the Benjamite stranger and his servant, the prophet-judge detained Saul from continuing his journey homewards, and persuaded him to remain as his guest that night at Ramah. He conducted him to the flat roof of his house, often the favourite locality in the East for quiet conversation or rest, and where frequently the honoured guest was lodged for the night: there the prophet had a long interview with his young guest, The conversation that evening probably did not turn upon the royal dignity, so soon to be conferred on Saul; of that Samuel spoke at length, we know, on the following morning. The solemn words of the old man that evening on the house-top in "Ramah of the Watchers" referred, no doubt, to the sad religious and political decline of the people of God, from which he (Samuel) had laboured, not unsuccessfully, to rescue them, "to the opposition of the heathen nations, the causes of the impotency of Israel to oppose their enemies, the necessity of a religious change in the people, and of a leader thoroughly obedient to the Lord."--Otto von Gerlach, quoted in Lange. It has been suggested that this conversation was the connecting link between that on the height (1Samuel 9:19-20) and the communication which Samuel made to Saul the following morning. The LXX. reads here, instead of "communed with Saul on the top of the house," "they strewed a couch for Saul on the top of the house, and he lay down." But the Chaldee and Syriac Versions agree with the Hebrew text. The strange LXX. variation is apparently a correction. These Greek translators could not understand a conversation of the prophet and Saul taking place in the evening, when the announcement of the crown was made so formally on the following morning. Why did Samuel not tell Saul of God's intention during that evening spent together?
