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1 Samuel 21:9

in 1 Samuel 21

The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want, you may take it. For there is no other but this one.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the vale of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it; for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me.

KJV

And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me.

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This verse in 1 Samuel 21

Commentary

11 notes on this verse
Wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod - Rather, “in the cloak,” Goliath’s military cloak, which was part of the dedicated trophy. The ephod was naturally hung up where the high priest alone could get at it.

This site's exposition

Is there not a spear or sword on hand here

on 1 Samuel 21:8-9

David has come without weapons, by his cover story "because the king’s business was urgent," and asks for "a spear or sword" from the priest. The only sword at the sanctuary is Goliath’s, "wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod" since chapter 17. David answers, "There is none like it; give it to me," and the boy who fought with no sword takes up the giant’s.

This site's exposition

wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod

Barnes takes the cloth to be Goliath's military cloak, part of the trophy kept behind the ephod where only the high priest could reach it. Wesley adds that David was tall and strong enough to wield the giant's sword. Each look would remind him what God had done.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

And the priest said: Behold the sword of Goliath the Philistine, etc. The apostles said to Christ, teachers seeking against the kingdom of the world: Behold men accustomed to battle for the devil with perverse doctrines for a long time, whom you have overcome in …

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Note, What we devote to God's praise, and serve him with, is most likely to redound, one way or other, to our own comfort and benefit. Thus was David well furnished with arms and victuals; but it fell out very unhappily that there was one of Saul's servants then attending before the Lord, Doeg by name, that proved a base traitor both to David and Ahimelech.

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Here it was laid up as a sacred monument of God's power and goodness. None like it - Because it not only served him for his use, for he was a strong and tall man, and one that could wield that sword, but was also a pledge of God's favour to him. Whenever be looked upon it, it would be a support to his faith, by reminding him of what God had already done.
And the priest said, the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

The giant's sword was deposited in that safe custody as a memorial of the divine goodness in delivering Israel. There is none like that--not only for its size and superior temper, but for its being a pledge of the divine favor to him, and a constant stimulus to his faith.
3 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century3 voices

PERHAPS you remember the circumstances under which these words were spoken. David had been warned by Jonathan that Saul sought his life and, therefore, he left the court in a hurry and fled. He appears to have gone in such haste that he did not take proper provision with him—he did not even take his sword. Coming to Nob, where the priests dwelt, he received the sacred bread which had been offered to God as the showbread and he and the men with him ate thereof.
PERHAPS you remember the circumstances under which these words were spoken. David had been warned by Jonathan that Saul sought his life and, therefore, he left the court in a hurry and fled. He appears to have gone in such haste that he did not take proper provision with him—he did not even take his sword. Coming to Nob, where the priests dwelt, he received the sacred bread which had been offered to God as the showbread and he and the men with him ate thereof. And when he asked Ahimelech if he could furnish him with a weapon, he said there was no sword there save one, "the sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom you slew in the valley of Elah. Behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if you will take that, take it: for there is no other save that here." And David said, "There is none like that; give it to me." I am not going to spiritualize my text. I want to do nothing unfair. Let me use it as a slogan. You will all allow that apt words may be employed at sundry times and in divers manners. I will simply say that as a general principle, the conviction of excellence leads us to desire possession. "There is none like that," is the conviction of excellence. "Give it to me"—there is the desire to possess. I shall illustrate this Truth of God in spiritual things upon some six or seven matters. I. Speak of "the sword of the Spirit, which is THE WORD OF GOD," and you may well say, "there is none like that." It is incomparable in its Authorship. We are persuaded that He who Inspired the Scriptures is none other than He who made the heavens and the earth, the God who cannot lie. All other books are but human at the best—let the authors be ever so refined—they cannot pretend to write as God writes. "There is none like that" for Authorship. Nor is there any like it for style.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

The sword of Goliath - It has already been conjectured (see 1 Samuel 17:1-58) that the sword of Goliath was laid up as a trophy in the tabernacle.

The words behind it

31 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.

  • וַיֹּ֣אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • הַכֹּהֵ֗ןthe priest

    hakohenH3548 →750 times

  • חֶרֶב֩[the] sword of

    cherevH2719 →413 times

  • גָּלְיָ֨תGoliath

    galyatH1555 →6 times

  • הַפְּלִשְׁתִּ֜יthe Philistine

    hapelishtiH6430 →287 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־whom

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • הִכִּ֣יתָ׀you struck down

    hikitaH5221 →499 times

  • בְּעֵ֣מֶקin [the] valley of

    beemekH6010 →69 times

  • הָאֵלָ֗ה<the> Elah

    haelahH425 →16 times

  • הִנֵּה־here!

    hineh-H2009 →843 times

  • הִ֞יאit

    hi'H1931 →1879 times

  • לוּטָ֣ה[is] wrapped

    lutahH3874 →

  • בַשִּׂמְלָה֮in the cloak

    vasimlahH8071 →

  • אַחֲרֵ֣יbehind

    ʾachareiH310 →715 times

  • הָאֵפוֹד֒the ephod

    haefodH646 →49 times

  • אִם־if

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • אֹתָ֤הּ<obj.> it

    ʾotahH853 →10935 times

  • תִּֽקַּח־you will take

    tikach-H3947 →966 times

  • לְךָ֙for <the> yourself

    lekha

  • קָ֔חtake [it]

    kachH3947 →966 times

  • כִּ֣יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • אֵ֥יןthere not

    ʾeinH369 →789 times

  • אַחֶ֛רֶת[is] another

    ʾacheretH312 →166 times

  • זוּלָתָ֖הּexcept it

    zulatahH2108 →

  • בָּזֶ֑הin this [place]

    bazehH2088 →1180 times

  • וַיֹּ֧אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • דָּוִ֛דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • אֵ֥יןthere not

    ʾeinH369 →789 times

  • כָּמ֖וֹהָ[is] like it

    kamohaH3644 →143 times

  • תְּנֶ֥נָּהgive it

    tenenahH5414 →2011 times

  • לִּֽי׃to <the> me

    li

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

Related verses

10 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

1 Samuel 17:51David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword and pulled it from its sheath and killed him; and he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.6 works1 Samuel 17:2Saul and the men of Israel assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, arraying themselves for battle against the Philistines.5 works1 Samuel 31:10They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan.3 works1 Samuel 17:50Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.3 worksExodus 28:6–14They are to make the ephod of finely spun linen embroidered with gold, and with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn.2 works1 Chronicles 20:5Once again there was a battle with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.2 works
The other 4 cross-references, with their words ▾
Hosea 3:4For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.2 works2 Chronicles 23:9Then Jehoiada the priest gave to the commanders of hundreds the spears and the large and small shields of King David that were in the house of God.2 works2 Kings 11:10Then the priest gave to the commanders of hundreds the spears and shields of King David from the house of the LORD.2 works1 Samuel 17:54David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.1 works

The walk

6 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    1 Samuel 31:10

    They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 17:11

      Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh was assigned Beth-shean, Ibleam, Dor (that is, Naphath), Endor, Taanach, and Megiddo, each with their surrounding settlements.

    • Judges 2:13

      for they forsook Him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

    • 1 Samuel 7:3

      Then Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and Ashtoreths among you, prepare your hearts…

    • Judges 1:27

      At that time Manasseh failed to drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo, and their villages; for the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land.

    • 2 Samuel 21:12–14

      he went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hung the bodies…

  • Through

    1 Samuel 17:2

    Saul and the men of Israel assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, arraying themselves for battle against the Philistines.

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 17:19

      They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Samuel

Anointing of David by Samuel, Félix-Joseph Barrias, 1842, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris. Public domain.
Anointing of David by Samuel, Félix-Joseph Barrias, 1842, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris. Public domain.
1 Samuel: the study guide →Read 1 Samuel 21 →
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3122: “Craving the Best Things” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in 1 Samuel 21 →