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1 Samuel 21:3-5
New English Translation
1 Samuel 21:3-5
New English Translation
3 Now what do you have at your disposal?[a] Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.”
4 The priest replied to David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread at my disposal. Only holy bread is available, and then only if your soldiers[b] have abstained from relations with women.”[c] 5 David said to the priest, “Certainly women have been kept away from us, just as on previous occasions when I have set out. The soldiers’[d] equipment[e] is holy, even on an ordinary journey. How much more so will they be holy today, along with their equipment!”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Samuel 21:3 tn Heb “under your hand.”
- 1 Samuel 21:4 tn Heb “servants.”
- 1 Samuel 21:4 tn Heb “have kept themselves from women” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “haven’t had sexual relations recently”; NLT “have not slept with any women recently.” sn Temporary sexual abstinence was part of the requirements of a war campaign (Deut 23:9-14), since God was pictured as coming among the camp (compare the abstinence in Exod 19:15). Besides David’s claim that it was standard practice for he and his men, it is also evident through the account of Uriah (2 Sam 11:11-12).
- 1 Samuel 21:5 tn Heb “servants’.”
- 1 Samuel 21:5 tn Or “things”; or “weapons”; Heb “vessels,” which some understand as a reference to the soldiers’ bodies (so NIV).
1 Samuel 21:3-5
New International Version
1 Samuel 21:3-5
New International Version
3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”
4 But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread(A) on hand; however, there is some consecrated(B) bread here—provided the men have kept(C) themselves from women.”
5 David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual(D) whenever[a] I set out. The men’s bodies are holy(E) even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!”
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 21:5 Or from us in the past few days since
New English Translation (NET)
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New International Version (NIV) 
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