1 Samuel 21:4

“There's no ordinary bread,” the priest told David, “but there's some holy bread, as long as your men have not slept with any women lately.”

Free Bible Version

In The King James Version

And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women.

In Context

3So what do you have on hand to eat? Let me have five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”

5“We have not slept with any women,” David answered. “In fact that's the rule when I lead the troops on mission. They keep themselves pure even during ordinary missions, and all the more so right now.”

Read all of 1 Samuel 21

Cross References

Exodus 19:15He instructed the people, “Get ready for the third day, and don't be intimate with a woman.”

Leviticus 15:18If a man sleeps with a woman and there is a release of semen, both of them must wash with water, and they will remain unclean until the evening.

1 Samuel 21:6So the priest gave him the holy bread as they didn't have any other bread there except this “Bread of the Presence,” which had been removed from the presence of the Lord that day and replaced with fresh bread.

Matthew 12:3But Jesus told them, “Haven't you read what David did when he and his men were hungry?

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 21:2-10

David Obtains the Show-Bread; David Gets the Sword of Goliath. ( b. c. 1057.) 1 Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? 2 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 I have appointed my servants to such and such a place. 3 Now therefore… Read the whole commentary →

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Study 1 Samuel 21:4