Bible Strands
1 Samuel 19:13
Then Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Michal acts alone at a moment of immediate threat when Saul sends messengers to seize David. She positions a decoy in David’s bed to delay the pursuers and secure his escape.
The words — The text highlights הַתְּרָפִים (ha.tərāp̄îm), translated literally as "the teraphim" or household idols, which Michal places in the bed. She also uses וַתִּקַּח (wa.tîqqach), meaning "and she took," to describe her acquisition of the object.
The thread — This use of household idols for deception or status appears in Genesis 31:19 when Rachel steals her father’s teraphim, and in Judges 18:14 and Judges 18:17 during the Danite spies' seizure of similar sacred objects.
Why it lands — The verse documents a tactical deception using a religious object to protect a fleeing fugitive. It requires the reader to observe how sacred items were repurposed for survival without endorsing the practice.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth.
Cross-references
- Genesis 31:19 Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.
- Judges 18:14 Then the five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Did you know that one of these houses has an ephod, household gods, a graven image, and a molten idol? Now think about what you should do.”
- Judges 18:17 And the five men who had gone to spy out the land went inside and took the graven image, the ephod, the household idols, and the molten idol, while the priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred armed men.
- Judges 17:5 Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained one of his sons as his priest.
- Hosea 3:4 For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.