Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageAnd a man from that place replied, 'But who is their father?' And so the saying arose: 'Is Saul also among the prophets?'
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GAnd someone from that place answered, 'And who is their father?' And so it became a proverb: 'Is Sha'ul also among the prophets?'
KJV
King James VersionAnd one of the same place answered and said, But who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?
BSB
Berean Standard BibleThen a man who lived there replied, “And who is their father?” So the saying became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
Footnotes
The rhetorical counter-question — "Who is their father?" — likely implies that prophetic identity cannot be traced to human lineage: it is divinely bestowed. The point may be that all prophets are, in a sense, without the pedigree that social convention expects. Some interpreters read a mild irony: if prophets have no "father" of authority, then Saul is no more out of place than any of them. The proverb enters Israelite folk memory and reappears in 1 Sam 19:24 in a context that strips away any dignity the phrase once carried.