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.
Parallel translations
- WEB Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head, and covered it with clothes.
- KJV 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.
- NKJV And Michal took an image and laid it in the bed, put a cover of goats’ hair for his head, and covered it with clothes.
- NASB And Michal took the household idol and laid it on the bed, and put a quilt of goats’ hair at its head, and covered it with clothing.
- NLT Then she took an idol and put it in his bed, covered it with blankets, and put a cushion of goat’s hair at its head.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Michal places a household idol in the bed, with goats' hair at its head, covered with clothes, to make it appear David is sleeping there.
Overview
Michal stages a decoy to delay the assassins, using a teraphim (a household image) found in the home. The presence of such an idol hints at the imperfect spiritual state of even David's household. The narrative records the deception without commending the idol, focusing on God's providential preservation of David through the night.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Gen 31:19Now while Laban was out shearing his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household idols.
- Judg 18:14Then 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.”
- Judg 18:17And 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.
- Judg 17:5Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household idols, and ordained one of his sons as his priest.
- Hos 3:4For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 19:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.