Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
1 Samuel 22:13 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 13. 13And Saul said unto him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast enquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Charges the priest and David with conspiracy through provisions and inquiry.
Read It With
- 1 Samuel 22:11–22:16
Verse 22:13 belongs to “Ahimelech is condemned in a royal show trial.” It charges the priest and David with conspiracy through provisions and inquiry; detached from the full unit, that contribution can be mistaken for the unit's whole claim.
Why This Verse Appears Here
At verse 22:13, the scene charges the priest and David with conspiracy through provisions and inquiry. That movement matters to “Ahimelech is condemned in a royal show trial” while the unit's uncertainty and ethical boundary continue to govern application.
Follow the Context
- Opening movement: Saul summons the priests, accuses Ahimelech, hears a defense grounded in David's trusted status and ignorance.
- Developing movement or outcome: pronounces death on the household.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
First Samuel 22:13 does not stand alone from 1 Samuel 22:11–22:16: it charges the priest and David with conspiracy through provisions and inquiry. The king's accusation does not establish guilt, religious office does not remove due process, and loyalty to a ruler does not require accepting a fabricated conspiracy.
What Remains True
Charges the priest and David with conspiracy through provisions and inquiry. Within 1 Samuel 22:11–22:16, this contribution supports the unit's enduring claim: The durable responsibility is to protect people from detached uses of this scene while retaining its warranted claim: Saul summons the priests, accuses Ahimelech, hears a defense grounded in David's trusted status and ignorance, then pronounces death on the household.
How It Can Shape Life
- Charges the priest and David with conspiracy through provisions and inquiry. The proportionate response is therefore the one traced from the complete unit: Evaluate leadership by truthful action, accountability, and its effects on people with less power—not by status, charisma, religious language, or apparent success. The king's accusation does not establish guilt, religious office does not remove due process, and loyalty to a ruler does not require accepting a fabricated conspiracy.
Teach It Back
Explain 1 Samuel 22:13's precise role in 1 Samuel 22:11–22:16. Include the first historical horizon, material uncertainty, one person or cost a leader-centered reading could obscure, and one conclusion this verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read 1 Samuel 22:11–22:16 — Ahimelech is condemned in a royal show trialSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Ahimelech's claimed ignorance aligns with the preceding deception, but Saul treats royal assertion as verdict without independent adjudication.
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 22:11–22:16, 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 22:11–22:16; 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 22:11–22:16
Open source ↗scholarly monograph abstract and contents
Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel
Rachelle Gilmour
Oxford University Press, 2021 online; 2022 print
Supports: One literary, ethical, and political account of divine and human violence; publisher-visible scope does not establish consensus.
Exact location: Gilmour, Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel (2021/2022), official abstract and TOC: relevant discussion for 1 Samuel 22:11–22:16, including 1 Samuel 12 pp. 71–81, Saul's rejection pp. 90–139, Eli's house pp. 140–150, or ark violence pp. 154–185 as applicable
Open source ↗scholarly monograph frontmatter and table of contents
The Theology of the Book of Samuel
John Goldingay
Cambridge University Press, 2024
Supports: Only the publisher-visible book architecture and theological scope; the paywalled body is not treated as inspected.
Exact location: Goldingay, The Theology of the Book of Samuel (2024), official frontmatter and TOC: 1 Samuel 21:1[2]–2 Samuel 1:27, pp. 111–140
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access scholarly article
The Book of Samuel: Its Composition, Structure and Significance as a Historiographical Source
Moshe Garsiel
The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 10.5, 2010
Supports: One relatively early integrated/two-edition account of composition, structure, and historiographic value, retained as a contested model.
Exact location: Garsiel, JHS 10.5 (2010), pp. 1–42, named structural or composition discussion covering the movement that includes 1 Samuel 22:11–22:16
Open source ↗