1 Samuel 21:4

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְעַתָּ֗ה מַה־יֵּ֧שׁ תַּֽחַת־יָדְךָ֛ חֲמִשָּׁה־לֶ֖חֶם תְּנָ֣ה בְיָדִ֑י א֖וֹ הַנִּמְצָֽא׃

Transliteration

And weʿattâ what-yēš under-your yādekā five-leḥem tenâ in my beyādî or the hannimṣāʾ

Grammar Details

• *weʿattâ*: waw conjunction + adverb - and now
• *yēš*: particle of existence - there is/are
• *yādekā*: noun, feminine singular + 2nd masculine singular suffix - your hand
• *leḥem*: noun, masculine singular, absolute - bread
• *tenâ*: qal imperative, masculine singular - give
• *beyādî*: preposition + noun, feminine singular + 1st person singular suffix - in my hand
• *hannimṣāʾ*: definite article + niphal participle, masculine singular, absolute - the found/available

Word Meanings

• *yēš*: there is/exists/is available
• *leḥem*: bread/food
• *tenâ*: give/place/put
• *hannimṣāʾ*: the [thing] found/whatever is available/what can be found

Referenced Verses

• Exod 19:15 : 15 And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not near a woman.
• Exod 25:30 : 30 And thou shalt set upon the table showbread before me alway.
• Matt 12:3-4 : 3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was hungry, and they that were with him; 4 how he entered into the house of God, and ate the showbread, which it was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them that were with him, but only for the priests?
• Lev 24:5-9 : 5 And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth parts [of an ephah] shall be in one cake. 6 And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before Jehovah. 7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be to the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire unto Jehovah. 8 Every sabbath day he shall set it in order before Jehovah continually; it is on the behalf of the children of Israel, an everlasting covenant. 9 And it shall be for Aaron and his sons; and they shall eat it in a holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of Jehovah made by fire by a perpetual statute.
• 1 Sam 21:6 : 6 So the priest gave him holy [bread]; for there was no bread there but the showbread, that was taken from before Jehovah, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
• Zech 7:3 : 3 [ and] to speak unto the priests of the house of Jehovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?
• 1 Cor 7:5 : 5 Defraud ye not one the other, except {G302} it be by consent for a season, that ye may give yourselves unto {G3521} {G2532} prayer, and may be together {G846} again, that Satan tempt you not because of your incontinency.