6:4a
He entered the house of God: The phrase the house of God was a Jewish expression that could refer to either the tabernacle or the temple. In this context it refers to the tabernacle. The tabernacle was a large tent where Jewish people presented sacrifices to God and where God revealed his presence to them. Some ways to translate this are:
God’s house/dwelling
-or-
the big tent where our ancestors worshiped God
David probably went into the courtyard of the tabernacle, since only the priests were allowed to go into the tent itself. If you feel that this detail is important here, you could say:
He entered ⌊the courtyard of⌋ the house of God
You should only translate the house of God literally if:
(a) your word for “house” can be used for this type of building, and
(b) “house of God” is not your usual expression for “church” or “heaven” (the dwelling place of God).
God: For help in translating the word God, see the note at 1:6a.
6:4b
took the consecrated bread: The word took indicates here that David received the bread from the priest. In the story in 1 Samuel 21:1–6, David asked the priest for the bread, and the priest gave it to him. This information is not mentioned explicitly in this verse. If your readers might think that David stole the bread and ate it, you may need to make explicit that the priest gave it to him. You could mention this fact in a footnote.
Some other ways to translate this are:
⌊he⌋ received/accepted the consecrated bread
-or-
⌊he⌋ took the consecrated bread ⌊that the priest gave to him⌋
the consecrated bread: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the consecrated bread refers to the bread that the priests offered or presented to God. They put this bread in the Holy Place of the tabernacle. Every Sabbath, the bread was replaced with fresh bread. Then, only the priests were allowed to eat the old bread. See Leviticus 24:5–9 and Exodus 25:30. Some other ways to translate this are:
the sacred/holy bread
-or-
the bread offered to God (Good News Translation)
-or-
special bread (New Living Translation (1996))
It may also be helpful to include a footnote to explain this. For example:
The consecrated bread was twelve loaves of bread that were in the Holy Place of the tabernacle. They were put there each week as a sacrifice to God. Every Sabbath day, they were replaced with twelve fresh loaves of bread. Only the priests were allowed to eat the old loaves (see Leviticus 24:5–9).
bread: The word bread refers to loaves made from wheat flour. Bread was the main food of the Jewish people. Other ways to translate this could be “loaves” or “loaves of bread.” If the people for whom you are translating do not eat bread, you could translate this with a general term, such as:
food
6:4c–d
In 6:4c–d, the Berean Standard Bible keeps the order of the Greek clauses, as do many other English versions. Other versions, such as the New International Version, change the Greek order. Compare the two examples below, which are from the New International Version and the Good News Translation.
4che ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. 4dAnd he also gave some to his companions. (New International Version)
4cate it, 4dand gave it also to his men. 4cYet it is against our Law for anyone except the priests to eat that bread. (Good News Translation)
You should translate these clauses in an order that is natural in your language.
6:4c
and ate what is lawful only for the priests to eat: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as and ate what is lawful only for the priests to eat is literally “he ate…that which is not permissible to eat except for only the priests.” The word what refers to the bread. The law did not permit anyone except priests to eat the consecrated bread. But David ate that bread.
Some other ways to translate this are:
ate some bread himself…even though the Law does not permit anyone except the priests to eat it (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)
-or-
and ate the holy bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat (New Century Version)
lawful: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as lawful means “permitted.” It is the same phrase that the Pharisees used in their question in 6:2b. As in 6:2, it refers to what the Jewish religious and ceremonial law allowed. The law about the dedicated bread is stated in the Law of Moses (see Leviticus 24:9). Use an expression that is consistent with the way you translated “unlawful” in 6:2b.
priests: A Jewish priest was a man who offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. He also performed other religious rituals for them. Some ways to translate priest are:
sacrificers
-or-
men offering sacrifices
-or-
men who represent people to God
See how you translated “priest” in 1:5b. See also priest in the Glossary.
6:4d
and gave it to his companions: This clause implies that although David gave some consecrated bread to his companions, God did not punish him for it. You may need to make this explicit in your translation or in a footnote. For example:
He also gave some of the bread to his companions and they ate it too. ⌊But God did not punish David for doing that.⌋
gave it: The Berean Standard Bible has supplied the object it, meaning “some consecrated bread.” The Greek text does not have an explicit object of gave. You should supply an object if it is natural in your language. For example:
his companions also ⌊ate the bread⌋ he gave to them
his companions: Use the same term for his companions as you used in 6:3c.
© 2009, 2010, 2013 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.