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1 Samuel 22:21

in 1 Samuel 22

And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Abiathar told David that Saul had slain Jehovah’s priests.

KJV

And Abiathar shewed David that Saul had slain the Lord’s priests.

This verse in 1 Samuel 22

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

His name was Abiathar, and he fled to David

on 1 Samuel 22:20-21

Abiathar alone escapes and flees to David with word that Saul has killed the priests of the LORD. Barnes traces this last son of Eli's line until he backs Adonijah and loses the priesthood at 1 Kings 2:26 to 27. That removal closes the word spoken over Eli's house.

This site's exposition

Saul had killed the priests of the LORD

Henry compares the disciples of John, who buried their master and went and told Jesus at Matthew 14:12. Gill thinks David had not yet heard. The news reaches David from the one priest left of Ahimelech's house to carry it.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

1 David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. 2 And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), as the disciples of John, when their master was beheaded, went and told Jesus, Matt. xiv. And David greatly lamented the calamity itself, but especially his being accessory to it: I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house,

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

And Abiathar showed David that Saul had slain the Lord's priests. Of which perhaps he had not as yet heard; though tidings of such a nature generally fly swiftly; and a sorrowful shocking account he had to give, and which was so to David.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

On hearing his sad tale, David declared that he had dreaded such a fatal result from the malice and intriguing ambition of Doeg; and, accusing himself as having been the occasion of all the disaster to Abiathar's family, David invited him to remain, because, firmly trusting himself in the accomplishment of the divine promise, David could guarantee protection to him.

The words behind it

9 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיַּגֵּ֥דand he told

    vaiyagedH5046 →370 times

  • אֶבְיָתָ֖רAbiathar

    ʾevyatarH54 →30 times

  • לְדָוִ֑דto David

    ledavidH1732 →999 times

  • כִּ֚יthat

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • הָרַ֣גhe had killed

    haragH2026 →167 times

  • שָׁא֔וּלSaul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • אֵ֖ת<obj.>

    ʾetH853 →10935 times

  • כֹּהֲנֵ֥י[the] priests of

    kohaneiH3548 →750 times

  • יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Samuel

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.