Verse Lens · Concise explanation
1 Samuel 20:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21And, behold, I will send a lad, saying, Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them; then come thou: for there is peace to thee, and no hurt; as the LORD liveth.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Defines the lad's near-arrow call as a signal of safety.
Read It With
- 1 Samuel 20:18–20:23
The line at 1 Samuel 20:21 defines the lad's near-arrow call as a signal of safety. Its place in 1 Samuel 20:18–20:23 matters because Jonathan sets an empty-seat test, a field appointment, and coded arrow directions before naming the LORD as witness between them.
Why This Verse Appears Here
This detail follows the unit's opening pressure and prepares its outcome: 1 Samuel 20:21 defines the lad's near-arrow call as a signal of safety. Its value is contextual, not slogan-like.
What Remains True
Arrows become a guarded communication plan is the governing scene for verse 20:21. The verse defines the lad's near-arrow call as a signal of safety, while the scene as a whole shows that Jonathan sets an empty-seat test, a field appointment, and coded arrow directions before naming the LORD as witness between them.
How It Can Shape Life
- A responsible use of 1 Samuel 20:21 begins by explaining how it defines the lad's near-arrow call as a signal of safety within the whole scene. The secret signal does not make covert action inherently faithful or imply that private vows replace broader duties of safety and truth.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Samuel 20:18–20:23 — Arrows become a guarded communication planSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV words, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete unit coverage.
Exact location: 1 Samuel 20:18–20:23, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 1 Samuel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology, with the two KJV-Hebrew versification shifts stated rather than silently offset.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/1Sam.xml, OSIS 20:18–20:23; KJV 20:42 spans Hebrew 20:42–21:1, KJV 21:1–15 maps to Hebrew 21:2–16, KJV 23:29 maps to Hebrew 24:1, and KJV 24:1–22 maps to Hebrew 24:2–23
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: 1 Samuel
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Only the translator notes actually printed for these verses, used for lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, and older-English controls.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Notes, 1 Samuel PDF, printed pp. 504–543, exact tc/tn/sn entries attached to 20:18–20:23
Open source ↗