1st Samuel Chapter 17 verse 55 Holy Bible

ASV 1stSamuel 17:55

And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.
read chapter 17 in ASV

BBE 1stSamuel 17:55

And when Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the army, Abner, whose son is this young man? And Abner said, On your life, O king, I have no idea.
read chapter 17 in BBE

DARBY 1stSamuel 17:55

And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this young man? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.
read chapter 17 in DARBY

KJV 1stSamuel 17:55

And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.
read chapter 17 in KJV

WBT 1stSamuel 17:55

And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.
read chapter 17 in WBT

WEB 1stSamuel 17:55

When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I can't tell.
read chapter 17 in WEB

YLT 1stSamuel 17:55

And when Saul seeth David going out to meet the Philistine, he hath said unto Abner, head of the host, `Whose son `is' this -- the youth, Abner?' and Abner saith, `Thy soul liveth, O king, I have not known.'
read chapter 17 in YLT

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 55-58. - Abner, whose son is this youth? Hebrew, "lad," na'ar. We have seen that the narrative in 1 Samuel 16:21-23 carries the history of David's relations with Saul down to a much later period, and that in ver. 15 of this chapter David is represented as not dwelling continuously at Saul's court, but as having returned to Bethlehem and resumed his pastoral occupations there, whence he would be summoned back in case of the recurrence of Saul's malady. It is plain from what is stated here that David had not thus far spent time enough at Gibeah to be personally well known either to Saul or his officers (see note on ver. 15). Stripling. Not na'ar, but alem, the masculine of the word almah, used in Isaiah 7:14. It means a young man fully grown, and arrived at the age to marry, and so is more definite than na'ar, which Saul uses in ver. 58. As David returned, etc. Abner, as captain of the host, would naturally watch the combat, and as soon as it was possible would bring the young warrior into the king's presence. But what is recorded here could have taken place only after the pursuit of the Philistines was over, and really these five verses should be united with ch. 17, as their object is to introduce the account of the love. of Jonathan for David. Starting then with the inquiry made by the king of Abner, asking for fuller information as to the young man's parentage, the historian then tells how after the chase he was brought before Saul, and then, in 1 Samuel 18:1, that the result of their conversation was the warm love that henceforward knit together these two kindred souls.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(55) Whose son is this youth?--A grave difficulty, at first sight, indisputably exists here. It is briefly this. In the preceding chapter (1Samuel 17:18-23), David, the son of Jesse, is chosen to play before the mentally sick king; his playing relieved the sufferer, who became attached to the young musician, and in consequence appointed him to a position about his person that certainly would have involved a lengthened, if not a continuous, residence at the court. In this and the following verses we read how this same David, at the time of his great exploit, was apparently unknown to the king and to Abner, the captain of the host. The LXX., fully conscious of the difficulty, determined to solve it by boldly, if not wisely, cutting the knot. They literally expunged from their version all the later passages which they could not easily bring into harmony with the earlier. The Greek Version, then, simply omits these four last verses of 1 Samuel 17, together with the first five verses of 1 Samuel 18, and the whole of the section 1Samuel 17:12-31.Various ingenious explanations have been suggested by scholars.(a) The mental state of Saul when David played before him was such that the king failed to recognise him on the present occasion, and Abner probably had never seen him before.(b) Some length of time had elapsed since his last visit to the court, and as he was then in very early manhood, he had, so to speak, grown, in a comparatively speaking short space of time, out of Saul's memory.(c) The purpose of Saul's inquiry was not to find out who David was--that he knew well already--but to ascertain the position and general circumstances of the young hero's father, as, according to the promise (in 1Samuel 17:25), in the event of his success (which evidently the king confidently looked for), the father of the champion and his family would receive extraordinary honours.The real solution of the difficulty probably lies in the fact that, as has been before stated, this and the other historical books of the Old Testament were made up by the inspired compiler from well-authenticated traditions current in Israel, and most probably preserved in the archives of the great prophetic schools. (See Notes on 1Samuel 17:1; 1Samuel 17:15.) There were, no doubt, many of these traditions connected with the principal events of David's early career. Two here were selected which, to a certain extent, covered the same ground. The first--preserved, no doubt, in some prophetic school where music and poetry were especially cultivated--narrates the influence which David acquired over Saul through his great gift of music. The power of music and poetry in Saul's mental disease was evidently the great point of interest to the original writer of 1Samuel 16:14-23. Now, in the narrative contained in these ten verses no note of time occurs. The events related evidently were spread over a considerable, possibly over a very long, period. The afflicted king might have seen the young musician perhaps in a darkened tent once or twice before the Goliath combat, but the great intimacy described in 1Samuel 16:21-23, we may well assume, belonged to a period subsequent to the memorable combat with the giant. . . .