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1 Samuel · JPS Tanakh (1917)

1 Samuel 21 JPS Tanakh (1917)

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  • Jewish
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)
  • Formal (word for word)
  • 1917
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

Notes on this text (1)
JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
1 (21-2) Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said unto him: 'Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?'
1 Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no man with you?”
2 (21-3) And David said unto Ahimelech the priest: 'The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me: Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee; and the young men have I appointed to such and such a place.
2 David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commanded me to do something, and has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you. I have sent the young men to a certain place.’
3 (21-4) Now therefore what is under thy hand? five loaves of bread? give them in my hand, or whatsoever there is present.'
3 Now therefore what is under your hand? Please give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever is available.”
4 (21-5) And the priest answered David, and said: 'There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.'
4 The priest answered David, and said, “I have no common bread, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.”
5 (21-6) And David answered the priest, and said unto him: 'Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days; when I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey; how much more then to-day, when there shall be holy bread in their vessels?'
5 David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us as usual these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was only a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?”
6 (21-7) So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. —
6 So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread that was taken from before Yahweh, to be replaced with hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
7 (21-8) Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul. —
7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
8 (21-9) And David said unto Ahimelech: 'And is there peradventure here under thy hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.'
8 David said to Ahimelech, “Isn’t there here under your hand spear or sword? For I haven’t brought my sword or my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”
9 (21-10) And the priest said: 'The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the vale of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if thou wilt take that, take it; for there is no other save that here.' And David said: 'There is none like that; give it me.'
9 The priest said, “Behold, the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you would like to take that, take it, for there is no other except that here.” David said, “There is none like that. Give it to me.”
10 (21-11) And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
10 David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
11 (21-12) And the servants of Achish said unto him: 'Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying: Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?'
11 The servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David the king of the land? Didn’t they sing to one another about him in dances, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”
12 (21-13) And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
12 David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
13 (21-14) And he changed his demeanour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.
13 He changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard.
14 (21-15) Then said Achish unto his servants: 'Lo, when ye see a man that is mad, wherefore do ye bring him to me?
14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is insane. Why then have you brought him to me?
15 (21-16) Do I lack madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?'
15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Should this fellow come into my house?”

People & places in this chapter

From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.

People

  • Achish

    Philistine king of Gath

    King of Gath to whom David fled twice, first feigning madness and later living in his territory with Ziklag as his town, and who trusted David until the Philistine commanders sent…

    Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 21:10; 1 Samuel 21:12; 1 Samuel 27:2

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  • Ahimelech

    Priest of Nob

    The priest at Nob who gave David the consecrated bread and Goliath's sword, and whom Saul had put to death with his father's household at Doeg's hands.

    Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 21:1; 1 Samuel 22:9; 1 Samuel 22:11

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  • David

    King of Israel

    The shepherd who became Israel's greatest king and a man after God's own heart.

    Cited in the guide: 1 Sam. 16 - 1 Kings 2; 2 Sam. 7; 1 Chron. 2:15; Matt. 1:6

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  • Doeg

    Saul's chief shepherd

    Saul's chief shepherd, an Edomite who saw David at Nob, reported it to Saul, and at Saul's command killed eighty-five priests and put the town of Nob to the sword.

    Cited in the guide: 1 Samuel 21:7; 1 Samuel 22:9; 1 Samuel 22:18

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Cross references (13)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 1 Nehemiah 11:32; Mark 2:26; Isaiah 10:32; 1 Samuel 14:3; 1 Samuel 16:4
  2. 2 Colossians 3:9; Galatians 2:12; 1 Samuel 22:22; 1 Samuel 19:17; 1 Kings 13:18
  3. 3 1 Samuel 21:4; Isaiah 3:6; Judges 9:29
  4. 4 Matthew 12:3–4; Exodus 19:15; Exodus 25:30; 1 Samuel 21:6; Zechariah 7:3
  5. 5 Leviticus 24:9; Leviticus 8:26; Acts 9:15; 2 Timothy 2:20–21; 1 Thessalonians 4:3–4
  6. 6 Luke 6:3–4; Leviticus 24:5–9; Matthew 12:3–4; Mark 2:25–27
  7. 7 1 Samuel 22:9; Psalm 52:1–9; 1 Chronicles 27:29; 2 Chronicles 26:10; Jeremiah 7:9–11
  8. 9 1 Samuel 17:2; 1 Samuel 31:10; 1 Samuel 17:50–54; Exodus 28:6–14
  9. 10 1 Samuel 27:1–2; Jeremiah 26:21; 1 Kings 19:3; Psalm 34:1–22
  10. 11 1 Samuel 29:5; Psalm 56:1–13; 1 Samuel 16:1; 1 Samuel 18:7–8
  11. 12 Luke 2:19; Psalm 56:3; Psalm 34:4; Luke 2:51; Genesis 26:7
  12. 13 Proverbs 29:25; Ecclesiastes 7:7; Psalm 34:1–22
  13. 14 Ecclesiastes 7:7

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

Articles and answers on this site that cite 1 Samuel 21.

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

  1. Quotes verse 21:13 Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms (Psalm XXXIV)

    … His Own Body and Blood: because when He commendeth His Own Body and Blood, He commendeth His Humility, in that which is written in this history, in that seeming madness of David, which we have passed by, "And his spittle ran down over his beard." When the Apostle was read, Ye heard the same spittle, but running down over the …

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)

  2. Quotes verse 21:10 Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms (Psalm LVI)

    … him," then, "Allophyli in Geth." We find indeed, brethren, David himself, son of Jesse, king of Israel, to have been in a strange land among the Allophyli, when he was sought by Saul, and was in that city and with the king of that city, but that there he was detained we read not.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)