1 Samuel 22 · Verse 18

1 Samuel 22:18

And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.
1 Samuel 22:18, King James Version

1 Samuel 22:18 in other translations

BSBSo the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.
WEBThe king said to Doeg, “Turn and attack the priests!” Doeg the Edomite turned, and he attacked the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five people who wore a linen ephod.
ASVAnd the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and he slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.
YLTAnd the king saith to Doeg, ‘Turn round thou, and come against the priests;' and Doeg the Edomite turneth round, and cometh himself against the priests, and putteth to death in that day eighty and five men bearing a linen ephod,
DARBYAnd the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall on the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and fell on the priests, and put to death that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod.
BBEThen the king said to Doeg, You are to put the priests to death. And Doeg the Edomite, turning on the priests and attacking them, put to death that day eighty-five men who took up the ephod.
WebsterAnd the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day eighty and five persons that wore a linen ephod.

What does 1 Samuel 22:18 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 22:17-18

17-18. the footmen that stood about him--his bodyguard, or his runners (1Sa 8:11; 2Sa 15:1; 1Ki 1:5; 1Ki 14:28), who held an important place at court (2Ch 12:10). But they chose rather to disobey the king than to offend God by imbruing their hands in the blood of his ministering servants. A foreigner alone (Psa 52:1-3) could be found willing to be the executioner of this bloody and sacrilegious sentence. Thus was…

Read the full comment on 1 Samuel 22:17-18 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 18 And Doeg - fell upon the priests - A ruthless Edomite, capable of any species of iniquity. Fourscore and five persons - The Septuagint read τριακοσιους και πεντε ανδρας, three hundred and five men; and Josephus has three hundred and eighty-five men. Probably the eighty-five were priests; the three hundred, the families of the priests; three hundred and eighty-five being the whole population of Nob. That did wear a linen ephod - That is, persons who did actually administer, or had a right to administer, in sacred things. The linen ephod was the ordinary clothing of the priests.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 1 Samuel 22:6-19

See the nature of jealous malice and its pitiful arts. Saul looks upon all about him as his enemies, because they do not just say as he says. In Ahimelech's answer to Saul we have the language of conscious innocence. But what wickedness will not the evil spirit hurry men to when he gets the dominion! Saul alleges that which was utterly false and unproved. But the most bloody tyrants have found instruments of their…

Read the full comment on 1 Samuel 22:6-19 →

1 Samuel 22:18 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיֹּ֤אמֶרvai.Yo.merand he saidH559
הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ha.Me.lekhthe kingH4428
לְדוֹאֵ֔גle.do.yegto DoegH1673
סֹ֣בsoturn roundH5437
אַתָּ֔ה'a.TahyouH859
וּפְגַ֖עu.fe.Ga'and fallH6293
בַּכֹּהֲנִ֑יםba.ko.ha.Nimon the priestsH3548
וַיִּסֹּ֞בvai.yi.Soand he turned roundH5437
דּוֹאֵ֣גdo.yegDoegH1673
הָאֲדֹמִ֗יha.'a.do.Mithe EdomiteH130
וַיִּפְגַּע\־vai.yif.ga'-and he fellH6293
הוּא֙hu'heH1931
בַּכֹּ֣הֲנִ֔יםba.Ko.ha.Nimon the priestsH3548
וַיָּ֣מֶת\׀vai.Ya.metand he killedH4191
בַּיּ֣וֹםbai.Yomon the dayH3117
הַה֗וּאha.Hu'<the> thatH1931
שְׁמֹנִ֤יםshe.mo.NimeightyH8084
וַחֲמִשָּׁה֙va.cha.mi.Shahand fiveH2568
אִ֔ישׁ'IshmanH376
נֹשֵׂ֖אno.Se'[who] carriedH5375
אֵפ֥וֹד'e.Fodan ephod ofH646
בָּֽד\׃BadlinenH906

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 1 Samuel 22:18

  • Acts 26:10-11

    Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.

  • 2 Chronicles 24:21

    And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the Lord.

  • Zephaniah 3:3

    Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.

  • 1 Samuel 2:18

    But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod.

  • 1 Samuel 3:12-14

    In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever.

  • 1 Samuel 2:28

    And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?

  • Micah 6:16

    For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

  • Hosea 7:3

    They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.

  • 1 Samuel 2:36

    And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.

  • Exodus 28:40

    And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.

  • Hosea 5:11

    Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.

  • 1 Samuel 2:30-33

    Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house. And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever. And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Doeg.
9
he fell.
2Ch 24:21; Ho 5:11; 7:3; Mic 6:16; Zep 3:3; Ac 26:10,11
fourscore.The LXX. read, [tria kosious kai pente andras,] "three hundred and five men;" and Josephus, "three hundred and eighty-five men." Probably the eighty-five were priests and the three hundred the families of the priests; three hundred and eighty-five being the whole population of Nob.
2:30-33,36; 3:12-14
a linen ephod.
2:28; Ex 28:40

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 1 Samuel 22:17

    And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the Lord; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord.

  • 1 Samuel 22:18

    And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.

  • 1 Samuel 22:19

    And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.

Read all of 1 Samuel 22

1 Samuel 22:18 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Entonces dijo el rey á Doeg: Vuelve tú, y arremete contra los sacerdotes. Y revolviéndose Doeg Idumeo, arremetió contra los sacerdotes, y mató en aquel día ochenta y cinco varones que vestían ephod de lino.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et le roi dit à Doëg: Tourne-toi, et jette-toi sur les sacrificateurs. Et Doëg, l’Édomite, se tourna, et se jeta sur les sacrificateurs; et il mit à mort, ce jour-là, 85 hommes portant l’éphod de lin.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Da sprach der König zu Doeg: Wende du dich und falle über die Priester her! Und Doeg, der Edomiter, wandte sich und fiel über die Priester her, und er tötete an selbigem Tage 85 Mann, die das leinene Ephod trugen.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Et ait rex ad Doëg: Convertere tu, et irrue in sacerdotes. Conversusque Doëg Idumæus, irruit in sacerdotes, et trucidavit in die illa octoginta quinque viros vestitos ephod lineo.