1 Samuel21:6

Translation

DAVID responded to the priest by saying, “Certainly, women have been kept from us, as has been the case from the beginning until now when I go out, and the ‘equipment’

of the young men is holy even on common journeys, how much more today has their ‘equipment’ been kept holy.”

Paraphrase

THE ONE WHO IS LOVED answered the priest in this way, “I assure you that we have been kept away from all women, just as we have always done when we go out on missions; I can also assure you that, for common missions, the body parts of the young men are set apart for God’s tasks, not personal pleasure; on this mission more than usual their body parts have been kept holy.”

Footnotes

1

The word I have rendered as “equipment” has the idea of “something prepared or finished,” but it can also mean “article, vessel, tool, apparatus, implement of any kind, instrument, furniture, jewelry.” Since the question asked by the priest had to do with abstaining from sexual intercourse, the “equipment” in mind had nothing to do with armor or weapons; context demands that it refer to the body parts involved in sexual intercourse.