1 Samuel 21:2

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.’ ¹  I have told my soldiers ²  to wait at a certain place. ³ 

1 Samuel 21:13

21:13 He altered his behavior in their presence. ⁴  Since he was in their power, ⁵  he pretended to be insane, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting his saliva run down his beard.

[21:2]  ¹ tn Heb “let not a man know anything about the matter [for] which I am sending you and [about] which I commanded you.”

[21:2]  ² tn Heb “servants.”

[21:2]  ³ tn 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.

[21:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “in their eyes.”

[21:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “in their hand.”