1 Samuel 21:13

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

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

Additional Resources

Referenced Verses

  • Ps 34:1-9 : 1 Written by David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away. I will praise the LORD at all times; my mouth will continually praise him. 2 I will boast in the LORD; let the oppressed hear and rejoice! 3 Magnify the LORD with me! Let’s praise his name together! 4 I sought the LORD’s help and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. 5 Look to him and be radiant; do not let your faces be ashamed. 6 This oppressed man cried out and the LORD heard; he saved him from all his troubles. 7 The LORD’s angel camps around the LORD’s loyal followers and delivers them. 8 Taste and see that the LORD is good! How blessed is the one who takes shelter in him! 9 Fear the LORD, you chosen people of his, for those who fear him lack nothing! 10 Even young lions sometimes lack food and are hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing. 11 Come children! Listen to me! I will teach you what it means to fear the LORD. 12 Do you want to really live? Would you love to live a long, happy life? 13 Then make sure you don’t speak evil words or use deceptive speech! 14 Turn away from evil and do what is right! Strive for peace and promote it! 15 The LORD pays attention to the godly and hears their cry for help. 16 But the LORD opposes evildoers and wipes out all memory of them from the earth. 17 The godly cry out and the LORD hears; he saves them from all their troubles. 18 The LORD is near the brokenhearted; he delivers those who are discouraged. 19 The godly face many dangers, but the LORD saves them from each one of them. 20 He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken. 21 Evil people self-destruct; those who hate the godly are punished. 22 The LORD rescues his servants; all who take shelter in him escape punishment.
  • Prov 29:25 : 25 The fear of people becomes a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD will be set on high.
  • Eccl 7:7 : 7 Human Wisdom Overturned by Adversity Surely oppression can turn a wise person into a fool; likewise, a bribe corrupts the heart.

Similar Verses (AI)

These verses are found using AI-powered semantic similarity based on meaning and context. Results may occasionally include unexpected connections.

  • 1 Sam 21:14-15
    2 verses
    85%

    14Achish said to his servants,“Look at this madman! Why did you bring him to me?

    15Do I have a shortage of fools, that you have brought me this man to display his insanity in front of me? Should this man enter my house?”

  • 1 Sam 21:10-12
    3 verses
    80%

    10So on that day David arose and fled from Saul. He went to King Achish of Gath.

    11The servants of Achish said to him,“Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one that they sing about when they dance, saying,‘Saul struck down his thousands, But David his tens of thousands’?”

    12David thought about what they said and was very afraid of King Achish of Gath.

  • 1 Sam 27:11-12
    2 verses
    69%

    11Neither man nor woman would David leave alive so as to bring them back to Gath. He was thinking,“This way they can’t tell on us, saying,‘This is what David did.’” Such was his practice the entire time that he lived in the country of the Philistines.

    12So Achish trusted David, thinking to himself,“He is really hated among his own people in Israel! From now on he will be my servant.”

  • 1 Sam 18:14-15
    2 verses
    68%

    14Now David achieved success in all he did, for the LORD was with him.

    15When Saul saw how very successful he was, he was afraid of him.

  • 1 Sam 27:1-2
    2 verses
    68%

    1David Aligns Himself with the Philistines David thought to himself,“One of these days I’m going to be swept away by the hand of Saul! There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of searching for me through all the territory of Israel and I will escape from his hand.”

    2So David left and crossed over to King Achish son of Maoch of Gath accompanied by his six hundred men.

  • 1 Sam 17:30-31
    2 verses
    67%

    30Then he turned from those who were nearby to someone else and asked the same question, but they gave him the same answer as before.

    31When David’s words were overheard and reported to Saul, he called for him.

  • 1 Sam 18:30
    67%

    30Then the leaders of the Philistines would march out, and as often as they did so, David achieved more success than all of Saul’s servants. His name was held in high esteem.

  • 2 Sam 16:13
    66%

    13So David and his men went on their way. But Shimei kept going along the side of the hill opposite him, yelling curses as he threw stones and dirt at them.

  • 1 Chr 19:5
    66%

    5People came and told David what had happened to the men, so he sent messengers to meet them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said,“Stay in Jericho until your beards grow again; then you may come back.”

  • 2 Sam 10:4-5
    2 verses
    66%

    4So Hanun seized David’s servants and shaved off half of each one’s beard. He cut the lower part of their robes off so that their buttocks were exposed, and then sent them away.

    5Messengers told David what had happened, so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said,“Stay in Jericho until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”

  • 1 Sam 29:3-4
    2 verses
    66%

    3The leaders of the Philistines asked,“What about these Hebrews?” Achish said to the leaders of the Philistines,“Isn’t this David, the servant of King Saul of Israel, who has been with me for quite some time? I have found no fault with him from the day of his defection until the present time!”

    4But the leaders of the Philistines became angry with him and said to him,“Send the man back! Let him return to the place that you assigned him! Don’t let him go down with us into the battle, for he might become our adversary in the battle. What better way to please his lord than with the heads of these men?

  • 1 Kgs 20:37-38
    2 verses
    66%

    37He found another man and said,“Wound me!” So the man wounded him severely.

    38The prophet then went and stood by the road, waiting for the king. He also disguised himself by putting a bandage down over his eyes.

  • 1 Sam 28:1
    66%

    1The Witch of Endor In those days the Philistines gathered their troops for war in order to fight Israel. Achish said to David,“You should fully understand that you and your men must go with me into the battle.”

  • 1 Sam 27:4
    65%

    4When Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he did not mount a new search for him.

  • 2 Sam 1:2
    65%

    2On the third day a man arrived from the camp of Saul with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. When he approached David, the man threw himself to the ground.

  • 1 Sam 19:10
    65%

    10Saul tried to nail David to the wall with the spear, but he escaped from Saul’s presence and the spear drove into the wall. David escaped quickly that night.

  • 2 Sam 16:5
    65%

    5Shimei Curses David and His Men Then King David reached Bahurim. There a man from Saul’s extended family named Shimei son of Gera came out, yelling curses as he approached.

  • 1 Sam 17:35
    65%

    35I would go out after it, strike it down, and rescue the sheep from its mouth. If it rose up against me, I would grab it by its jaw, strike it, and kill it.

  • 1 Sam 24:8-9
    2 verses
    65%

    8Afterward David got up and went out of the cave. He called out after Saul,“My lord, O king!” When Saul looked behind him, David kneeled down and bowed with his face to the ground.

    9David said to Saul,“Why do you pay attention when men say,‘David is seeking to do you harm’?

  • 1 Sam 18:5
    65%

    5On every mission on which Saul sent him, David achieved success. So Saul appointed him over the men of war. This pleased not only all the army, but also Saul’s servants.

  • 1 Sam 18:11
    65%

    11and Saul threw the spear, thinking,“I’ll nail David to the wall!” But David escaped from him on two different occasions.

  • Prov 26:18
    65%

    18Like a madman who shoots firebrands and deadly arrows,

  • 1 Sam 25:21
    65%

    21Now David had been thinking,“In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness. I didn’t take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil.

  • 1 Sam 21:1
    65%

    1David Goes to Nob(21:1) Then David got up and left, while Jonathan went back to the city.(21:2) David went to Ahimelech the priest in Nob. Ahimelech was shaking with fear when he met David, and said to him,“Why are you by yourself with no one accompanying you?”

  • 1 Sam 24:3
    65%

    3He came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave. Saul went into it to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the recesses of the cave.

  • 1 Sam 17:23-24
    2 verses
    65%

    23As he was speaking with them, the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, was coming up from the battle lines of the Philistines. He spoke the way he usually did, and David heard it.

    24When all the men of Israel saw this man, they retreated from his presence and were very afraid.

  • 2 Sam 15:31
    65%

    31Now David had been told,“Ahithophel has sided with the conspirators who are with Absalom. So David prayed,“Make the advice of Ahithophel foolish, O LORD.

  • 1 Kgs 2:39
    65%

    39Three years later two of Shimei’s servants ran away to King Achish son of Maacah of Gath. Shimei was told,“Look, your servants are in Gath.”

  • 1 Sam 23:7
    64%

    7When Saul was told that David had come to Keilah, Saul said,“God has delivered him into my hand, for he has boxed himself into a corner by entering a city with two barred gates.”

  • 1 Sam 10:9
    64%

    9Saul Becomes King As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God changed his inmost person. All these signs happened on that very day.

  • 1 Sam 17:11
    64%

    11When Saul and all the Israelites heard these words of the Philistine, they were upset and very afraid.

  • 1 Sam 25:14
    64%

    14But one of the servants told Nabal’s wife Abigail,“David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our lord, but he screamed at them.

  • Mark 9:20
    64%

    20So they brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw him, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell on the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

  • Acts 22:23
    64%

    23While they were screaming and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust in the air,

  • Dan 5:6
    64%

    6Then all the color drained from the king’s face and he became alarmed. The joints of his hips gave way, and his knees began knocking together.

  • 1 Sam 18:24
    64%

    24When Saul’s servants reported what David had said,

  • 1 Sam 30:21
    64%

    21Then David approached the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to go with him, those whom they had left at the Wadi Besor. They went out to meet David and the people who were with him. When David approached the people, he asked how they were doing.

  • 1 Sam 17:42
    64%

    42When the Philistine looked carefully at David, he despised him, for he was only a ruddy and handsome boy.