1 Samuel 6:2-3

6:2 the Philistines called the priests and the omen readers, saying, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Advise us as to how we should send it back to its place.”

6:3 They replied, “If you are going to send the ark of¹ the God of Israel back, don’t send it away empty. Be sure to return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why his hand is not removed from you.”

1 Samuel 6:2

6:2 the Philistines called the priests and the omen readers, saying, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Advise us as to how we should send it back to its place.”

1 Samuel 21:1-6

21:1 (21:2) David went to Ahimelech the priest in Nob. Ahimelech was shaking with fear when he met² David, and said to him, “Why are you by yourself with no one accompanying you?” 21:2 David replied to Ahimelech the priest, “The king instructed me to do something, but he said to me, ‘Don’t let anyone know the reason I am sending you or the instructions I have given you.’³ I have told my soldiers⁴ to wait at a certain place.⁵ 21:3 Now what do you have at your disposal?⁶ Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.”

21:4 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 soldiers⁷ have abstained from sexual relations with women.”⁸ 21:5 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’⁹ equipment is holy, even on an ordinary journey. How much more so will they be holy today, along with their equipment!”

21:6 So the priest gave him holy bread, for there was no bread there other than the bread of the Presence. It had been removed from before the Lord in order to replace it with hot bread on the day it had been taken away.

1 Samuel 24:11-13

24:11 Look, my father, and see the edge of your robe in my hand! When I cut off the edge of your robe, I didn’t kill you. So realize and understand that I am not planning¹⁰ evil or rebellion. Even though I have not sinned against you, you are waiting in ambush to take my life. 24:12 May the Lord judge between the two of us, and may the Lord vindicate me over you, but my hand will not be against you. 24:13 It’s like the old proverb says: ‘From evil people evil proceeds.’ But my hand will not be against you.

Micah 6:6-7

6:6 With what should I¹¹ enter the Lord’s presence?

With what¹² should I bow before the sovereign God?¹³

Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings,

with year-old calves?

6:7 Will the Lord accept a thousand rams,

or ten thousand streams of olive oil?

Should I give him my firstborn child as payment for my rebellion,

my offspring – my own flesh and blood – for my sin?¹⁴

¹tc The LXX and a Qumran ms add “the covenant of the Lord.”

²tn Heb “trembled to meet.”

³tn Heb “let not a man know anything about the matter [for] which I am sending you and [about] which I commanded you.”

⁴tn Heb “servants.”

⁵tn The Hebrew expression here refers to a particular, but unnamed, place. It occurs in the OT only here, in 2 Kgs 6:8, and in Ruth 4:1, where Boaz uses it to refer to Naomi’s unnamed kinsman-redeemer. A contracted form of the expression appears in Dan 8:13.

⁶tn Heb “under your hand.”

⁷tn Heb “servants.”

⁸tn 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.”

⁹tn Heb “servants’.”

¹⁰tn Heb “there is not in my hand.”

¹¹sn With what should I enter the Lord’s presence? The prophet speaks again, playing the role of an inquisitive worshiper who wants to know what God really desires from his followers.

¹²tn The words “with what” do double duty in the parallelism and are supplied in the second line of the translation for clarification.

¹³tn Or “the exalted God.”

¹⁴tn Heb “the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is often translated “soul,” but the word usually refers to the whole person; here “the sin of my soul” = “my sin.”