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1 Samuel · Young's Literal Translation

1 Samuel 21 Young's Literal Translation

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About YLT
  • Individual translator
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew
  • NT: Textus Receptus
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Very literal
  • 1898
  • Public domain

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

1 And David cometh in to Nob, unto Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech trembleth at meeting David, and saith to him, 'Wherefore [art] thou thyself alone, and no man with thee?' 2 And David saith to Ahimelech the priest, 'The king hath commanded me a matter, and he saith unto me, Let no man know anything of the matter about which I am sending thee, and which I have commanded thee; and the young men I have caused to know at such and such a place; 3 and now, what is there under thy hand? five loaves give into my hand, or that which is found.' 4 And the priest answereth David, and saith, 'There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if the youths have been kept only from women.' 5 And David answereth the priest, and saith to him, 'Surely, if women have been restrained from us as heretofore in my going out, then the vessels of the young men are holy, and it [is] a common way: and also, surely to-day it is sanctified in the vessel.' 6 And the priest giveth to him the holy thing, for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence which is turned aside from the presence of Jehovah to put hot bread in the day of its being taken away. 7 And there [is] a man of the servants of Saul on that day detained before Jehovah, and his name [is] Doeg the Edomite, chief of the shepherds whom Saul hath. 8 And David saith to Ahimelech, 'And is there not here under thy hand spear or sword? for neither my sword nor my vessels have I taken in my hand, for the matter of the king was urgent.' 9 And the priest saith, 'The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou didst smite in the valley of Elah, lo, it is wrapped in a garment behind the ephod, if it thou dost take to thyself, take; for there is none other save it in this [place].' And David saith, 'There is none like it — give it to me.' 10 And David riseth and fleeth on that day from the face of Saul, and cometh in unto Achish king of Gath; 11 and the servants of Achish say unto him, 'Is not this David king of the land? is it not of this one they sing in dances, saying, 'Saul smote among his thousands, and David among his myriads?' 12 And David layeth these words in his heart, and is exceedingly afraid of the face of Achish king of Gath, 13 and changeth his behaviour before their eyes, and feigneth himself mad in their hand, and scribbleth on the doors of the gate, and letteth down his spittle unto his beard. 14 And Achish saith unto his servants, 'Lo, ye see a man acting as a madman; why do ye bring him in unto me? 15 A lack of madmen [have] I, that ye have brought in this one to act as a madman by me! doth this one come in unto 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

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

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)