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1 Samuel 21 · a question people ask

How did Goliath's sword come to be at Nob?

In the text

The chapter doesn't say. After the battle David "took his sword, drew it out of its sheath, killed him, and cut off his head with it" (17:51), and "David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent" (17:54). Here the priest says only that the sword "is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod" (21:9), and that "there is no other except that here" (21:9). How it came there, and when, is not told.

The verses

“Then David ran, stood over the Philistine, took his sword, drew it out of its sheath, killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.”
1 Samuel 17:51 · World English Bible
“David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.”
1 Samuel 17:54 · World English Bible
“The priest said, “Behold, the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you would like to take that, take it, for there is no other except that here.” David said, “There is none like that. Give it to me.””
1 Samuel 21:9 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Samuel 21

1 Samuel 21: Holy bread and a sword

When Jesus' disciples were accused over the Sabbath, he answered with this chapter: the priest gave David the show bread, "taken from before the LORD" (21:6), bread Jesus calls "not lawful to eat except for the priests alone" (Luke 6:4). Then, in Gath, Achish's servants quoted the women's song about David, and he was "very afraid" (21:11-12).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions