1 Samuel 9:7
New International Version
Saul said to his servant, “If we go, what can we give the man? The food in our sacks is gone. We have no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?”

New Living Translation
“But we don’t have anything to offer him,” Saul replied. “Even our food is gone, and we don’t have a thing to give him.”

English Standard Version
Then Saul said to his servant, “But if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?”

Berean Standard Bible
“If we do go,” Saul replied, “what can we give the man? For the bread in our packs is gone, and there is no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?”

King James Bible
Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we?

New King James Version
Then Saul said to his servant, “But look, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread in our vessels is all gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?”

New American Standard Bible
Then Saul said to his servant, “But look, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is gone from our sacks and there is no gift to bring to the man of God. What do we have?”

NASB 1995
Then Saul said to his servant, “But behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is gone from our sack and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?”

NASB 1977
Then Saul said to his servant, “But behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is gone from our sack and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?”

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Saul said to his young man, “But behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is gone from our sack, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?”

Amplified Bible
Then Saul said to his servant, “But look, if we go [to see him], what shall we bring to the man? For the bread from our sacks is gone and there is no gift to bring to the man of God. What do we have [to offer]?”

Christian Standard Bible
“Suppose we do go,” Saul said to his servant, “what do we take the man? The food from our packs is gone, and there’s no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have? ”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
“Suppose we do go,” Saul said to his attendant, “what do we take the man? The food from our packs is gone, and there’s no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?”

American Standard Version
Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And Shaul said to the boy, “Behold, what are we going to take to the man of God, for the bread is spent from our goods, and there are no provisions to bring to the man of God, because we have nothing?”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And Saul said to his young man that was with him, Lo, then, we will go; but what shall we bring the man of God? for the loaves are spent out of our vessels, and we have nothing more with us that belongs to us to bring to the man of God.

Contemporary English Version
Saul said, "How can we talk to the prophet when I don't have anything to give him? We don't even have any bread left in our sacks. What can we give him?"

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Saul said to his servant: Behold we will go: but what shall we carry to the man of God? the bread is spent in our bags: and we have no present to make to the man of God, nor any thing at all.

English Revised Version
Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"If we go," Saul asked his servant, "what could we bring the man since the food in our sacks is gone? There's no present we can bring the man of God. What do we have?"

Good News Translation
"If we go to him, what can we give him?" Saul asked. "There is no food left in our packs, and we don't have a thing to give him, do we?"

International Standard Version
Saul told the young man, "Look, we could go, but what could we bring the man? The bread is gone from our bags, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have with us?"

JPS Tanakh 1917
Then said Saul to his servant: 'But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God; what have we?'

Literal Standard Version
And Saul says to his young man, “And behold, we go, and what do we bring to the man? For the bread has gone from our vessels, and there is no present to bring to the man of God—what [is] with us?”

Majority Standard Bible
“If we do go,” Saul replied, “what can we give the man? For the bread in our packs is gone, and there is no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?”

New American Bible
But Saul said to his servant, “If we go, what can we offer the man? The food in our bags has run out; we have no present to give the man of God. What else do we have?”

NET Bible
So Saul said to his servant, "All right, we can go. But what can we bring the man, since the food in our bags is used up? We have no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?"

New Revised Standard Version
Then Saul replied to the boy, “But if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What have we?”

New Heart English Bible
Then Saul said to his servant, "But look, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is gone in our vessels, and there is no gift to bring to the man of God. What do we have?"

Webster's Bible Translation
Then said Saul to his servant, But behold, if we go, what shall we bring to the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we?

World English Bible
Then Saul said to his servant, “But behold, if we go, what should we bring the man? For the bread is spent in our sacks, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?”

Young's Literal Translation
And Saul saith to his young man, 'And lo, we go, and what do we bring in to the man? for the bread hath gone from our vessels, and a present there is not to bring in to the man of God -- what is with us?'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Saul Chosen as King
6“Look,” said the servant, “in this city there is a man of God who is highly respected; everything he says surely comes to pass. Let us go there now. Perhaps he will tell us which way to go.” 7“If we do go,” Saul replied, “what can we give the man? For the bread in our packs is gone, and there is no gift to take to the man of God. What do we have?” 8The servant answered him again. “Look,” he said “I have here in my hand a quarter shekel of silver. I will give it to the man of God, and he will tell us our way.”…

Cross References
1 Kings 13:7
Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."

1 Kings 14:3
Take with you ten loaves of bread, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him. He will tell you what will become of the boy."

2 Kings 5:5
"Go now," said the king of Aram, "and I will send you with a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman departed, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of clothing.

2 Kings 5:15
Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God, stood before him, and declared, "Now I know for sure that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant."

2 Kings 8:8
So the king said to Hazael, "Take a gift in your hand, go to meet the man of God, and inquire of the LORD through him, 'Will I recover from this illness?'"

2 Kings 8:9
So Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him a gift of forty camel loads of every good thing from Damascus. And he went in and stood before him and said, "Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask, 'Will I recover from this illness?'"

Ezekiel 13:19
You have profaned Me among My people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to My people who would listen, you have killed those who should not have died and spared those who should not have lived.


Treasury of Scripture

Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we?

what shall

Judges 6:18
Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again.

Judges 13:15-17
And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee…

1 Kings 14:3
And take with thee ten loaves, and cracknels, and a cruse of honey, and go to him: he shall tell thee what shall become of the child.

spent in [heb] gone out of, etc.

have we [heb] is with us.

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Bread Present Sack Sacks Saul Servant Spent Vessels Young
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Bread Present Sack Sacks Saul Servant Spent Vessels Young
1 Samuel 9
1. Saul despairing to find his father's donkeys
6. by the counsel of his servant
11. and direction of young maidens
15. according to God's revelation
18. comes to Samuel
19. Samuel entertains Saul at the feast
25. Samuel, after secret communication, brings Saul on his way














(7) What shall we bring?--It would seem at first strange that one like Samuel should be approached by presents, but the custom of offering gifts was in many cases an act of respectful homage to a superior rather than a mere fee. Compare, for instance, the many detailed accounts of presents offered and accepted, chronicled in the varied sacred records--such as the little present of spicery, &c, sent by Jacob to the great minister or vizier of the Pharaoh of Egypt (Genesis 43:11), and the ten cheeses Jesse gave to the captain of the thousand in which his sons were serving, and in the days of the highest civilisation and culture known in Israel, the gifts offered by the Queen of Sheba to the magnificent Solomon (1Kings 10:10).

Verse 7. - The bread is spent in our vessels. In the East a great man is always approached with a present, and offerings of food were no doubt the most usual gifts (1 Samuel 16:20). Those made to the false prophets are contemptuously described in Ezekiel 13:19 as "handfuls of barley and pieces of bread." A present. The word is rare, and apparently is the technical name for a fee of this kind, half payment and half gift.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
“If
וְהִנֵּ֣ה (wə·hin·nêh)
Conjunctive waw | Interjection
Strong's 2009: Lo! behold!

we do go,”
נֵלֵךְ֮ (nê·lêḵ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

Saul
שָׁא֜וּל (šā·’ūl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 7586: Saul -- first king of Israel, also an Edomite and two Israelites

replied,
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“what
וּמַה־ (ū·mah-)
Conjunctive waw | Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

can we give
נָּבִ֣יא (nā·ḇî)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - first person common plural
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

the man?
לָאִישׁ֒ (lā·’îš)
Preposition-l, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 376: A man as an individual, a male person

For
כִּ֤י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

the bread
הַלֶּ֙חֶם֙ (hal·le·ḥem)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3899: Food, bread, grain

in our packs
מִכֵּלֵ֔ינוּ (mik·kê·lê·nū)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common plural
Strong's 3627: Something prepared, any apparatus

is gone,
אָזַ֣ל (’ā·zal)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 235: To go away, to disappear

and there is no
אֵין־ (’ên-)
Adverb
Strong's 369: A non-entity, a negative particle

gift
וּתְשׁוּרָ֥ה (ū·ṯə·šū·rāh)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8670: Perhaps gift, present

to take
לְהָבִ֖יא (lə·hā·ḇî)
Preposition-l | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive construct
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

to the man
לְאִ֣ישׁ (lə·’îš)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 376: A man as an individual, a male person

of God.
הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים (hā·’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

What
מָ֖ה (māh)
Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

do we have?”
אִתָּֽנוּ׃ (’it·tā·nū)
Preposition | first person common plural
Strong's 854: Nearness, near, with, by, at, among


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OT History: 1 Samuel 9:7 Then said Saul to his servant (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa)
1 Samuel 9:6
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