1st Samuel Chapter 21 verse 7 Holy Bible
Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Jehovah; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chiefest of the herdsmen that belonged to Saul.
read chapter 21 in ASV
Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, kept back before the Lord; his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the strongest of Saul's runners.
read chapter 21 in BBE
(Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Jehovah; and his name was Doeg, the Edomite, chief of the shepherds that [belonged] to Saul.)
read chapter 21 in DARBY
Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.
read chapter 21 in KJV
Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.
read chapter 21 in WBT
Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
read chapter 21 in WEB
And there `is' a man of the servants of Saul on that day detained before Jehovah, and his name `is' Doeg the Edomite, chief of the shepherds whom Saul hath.
read chapter 21 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 7. - David's visit to Nob had probably been dictated simply by a desire to get food while a few attendants were being collected for him, and under ordinary circumstances would have remained unknown to Saul. Unfortunately there chanced to be a person present there who informed the king of it, and brought a second terrible catastrophe upon the house of Eli (see on 1 Samuel 2:33); by working too upon his jealousy he caused Saul to commit a crime which sets him before us as a hateful and remorseless tyrant. This man was Doeg, an Edomite, who had, it seems, long been in Saul's service, as he was his chief herdsman. According to the Septuagint he had charge of the king's mules, but the other versions agree with the Hebrew. As herds would form the main part of Saul's wealth, his chief herdsman would be a person of importance. He was detained before Jehovah. I.e. shut up in close seclusion within the precincts of the tabernacle, either for some vow, or for purification, or perhaps as suspected of leprosy (Leviticus 13:4), or, as some think, as a proselyte. Ephrem Syrus thinks he had committed some trespass, and was detained till he had offered the appointed sacrifice. David at once felt that Doeg's presence boded much ill (1 Samuel 22:22), and it probably was the cause of his taking the rash resolution to flee for refuge to Gath.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(7) A certain man.--Among the personages who surround Saul in the Bible story appears incidentally the keeper of the royal mules, and chief of the household slaves, the "Comes stabuli," "the constable of the king," as appears in the later monarchy. "He is the first instance of a foreigner employed in a high function in Israel, being an Edomite, or Syrian, of the name of Doeg--according to Jewish tradition, the steward who accompanied Saul in his pursuit after the asses, who counselled him to send for David, and who ultimately slew him, according to the sacred narrative--a person of vast and sinister influence in his master's counsels." (Stanley, Lectures on the Jewish Church, Lect. 21) Some traditions affirm that the armour-bearer who slew Saul on Mount Gilboa was not Doeg, but Doeg's son.The Hebrew words rendered in the English Version, "the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul," are translated in the LXX. by "feeding the mules of Saul;" and in accordance with this reading, in 1Samuel 22:9 also, they have changed "Saul's servants" into "Saul's mules." The Vulg. and the other versions, however, translate as the English Version, "potentissimus pastorum," although in some of the Vulg. MSS. there is an explanatory gloss, evidently derived from the singular interpretation of the LXX., "This (man) used to feed Saul's mules." There can be no foundation in tradition or otherwise for such a reading, as we never read until the days of King David of mules being used by royal princes. (See 2Samuel 13:29; 2Samuel 18:9.) Before David's time, the sons of princes used to ride on asses. (See Judges 10:4; Judges 12:14.) Ewald, disregarding the current Jewish tradition respecting the ancient connection of Doeg with the house of Kish, considers that this influential chieftain of the king probably came over to Saul in his war with Edom. . . .
