What Does 1 Samuel 21:4 Mean in the King James?
And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The bread does not become common because it is needed: its set-apartness keeps access conditional on whether the men have guarded themselves.
THE MEANING
Need and boundary meet here: the bread is set apart, and access depends on whether the men have kept themselves from women. The verse holds provision and sexual abstinence together without making either disappear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Urgent need makes every boundary irrelevant.
THE ROOT
קֹדֶשׁ
qōdeš
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
To set apart, consecrate; to mark as belonging to a distinct domain.
“Hallowed” carries the sense of being set apart, so the bread’s status is part of what shapes who may receive it. The word holds a boundary inside the bread’s identity, not merely a sense that it is revered.
ALSO GROWS
qādôsh: Set apart; sacred.
קָדוֹשׁ
The same root describes what belongs to a distinct domain, illuminating why this bread is not ordinary fare.
miqdāsh: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The root also names a bounded place of consecration, echoing the bread’s distinct status.
נִשְׁמְרוּ
nishmeru
GROWS FROM
שמר
sh-m-r
To guard, keep watch over, or preserve.
The phrase presents abstinence as guarding: the men are described through what they have kept themselves from. English “kept” can sound passive, while this root carries the image of watchfulness and a boundary maintained.
ALSO GROWS
shōmēr: Keeper; guardian.
שֹׁמֵר
The same root names one who watches over a boundary, clarifying the active sense of “kept themselves.”
mishmeret: Watch; charge; guard duty.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch makes the root’s watchfulness concrete, echoing the men’s restraint before they receive set-apart bread.
THE PATTERN
Access to what is set apart is bounded by preparation, even when need presses against that boundary.
And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?THE THREAD
And it shall be Aaron’s and his sons’; and they shall eat it in the holy place: for it is most holy unto him of the offerings of the LORD made by fire by a perpetual statute.The word “holy” carries the same Hebrew root, קדש (q-d-sh), as “hallowed” here: set apart. Leviticus makes the boundary visible by naming who eats the bread and where.
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