Bible Strands
1 Samuel 20:6
If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David urgently requested my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because there is an annual sacrifice for his whole clan.’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David speaks to Jonathan, directing him on how to respond if King Saul inquires about David’s absence from the New Moon gathering.
The words — The Hebrew אִם (ʾim) sets a conditional premise, and פָּקַד (paqad) literally means to miss or visit, describing Saul’s potential awareness of David’s location.
The thread — The appeal to clan sacrifice and Bethlehem lineage connects to 1 Samuel 9:12, 1 Samuel 17:58, and Deuteronomy 12:5.
Why it lands — The text explicitly records David’s instruction to cite a familial sacrifice as the reason for his departure. It requires the reader to see how religious custom and tribal origin function as a deliberate cover for evasion.
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
If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Beth–lehem his city: for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 9:12 “Yes, he is ahead of you,” they answered. “Hurry now, for today he has come to the city because the people have a sacrifice on the high place.
- 1 Samuel 17:58 “Whose son are you, young man?” asked Saul. “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David replied.
- Deuteronomy 12:5 Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
- 1 Samuel 16:2 “How can I go?” Samuel asked. “Saul will hear of it and kill me!” The LORD answered, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’
- John 7:42 Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Christ will come from the line of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”