1 Samuel 21:4

And the priest answered to David, and said to him, I have not lay, that is, common, loaves at hand, but only holy bread; whether the young men be clean, and mostly of women? (And the priest answered David, and said to him, I do not have any lay loaves, or common bread, at hand, only holy bread; thy young men, be they clean, at least from women?)

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

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

3now therefore if thou hast anything at hand, either five loaves (or even five loaves), give thou (them) to me, either whatever thing thou findest.

5And David answered to the priest, and said to him, And soothly if it is done of women, we have abstained us from yesterday and the third day ago, when we went out, and the vessels, that is, (the) bodies, of the young men were clean; certainly this way is defouled, but and it shall be hallowed today in the vessels. (And David answered the priest, and said to him, If it is asked of women, we have abstained ourselves from yesterday and the third day ago, when we went out, and so the young men’s bodies be clean; truly, that way is defiled, but their bodies remain pure.)

Read all of 1 Samuel 21

Cross References

Exodus 19:15he said to them, Be ye ready into the third day (or Be ye ready by the third day); nigh ye not to your wives.

Leviticus 15:18The woman with which he is coupled fleshly (or The woman with whom he is fleshly coupled), shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.

1 Samuel 21:6Therefore the priest gave to him hallowed bread, for none other bread was there, but only loaves of setting forth, that were taken away from the face of the Lord, that hot loaves shall be set forth. (And so the priest gave him the consecrated bread, for there was no other bread there, but only the loaves of setting forth, that is, the loaves of proposition, or the showbread, which had been taken away from before the Lord, and replaced with fresh hot loaves.)

Matthew 12:3And he said to them, Whether ye have not read, what David did, when he hungered, and they that were with him?

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