1 Samuel 19:13

Hebrew Bible

11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to guard it and to kill him in the morning. Then David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save yourself tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!” 12 So Michal lowered David through the window, and he ran away and escaped. 13 Then Michal took a household idol and put it on the bed. She put a quilt made of goats’ hair over its head and then covered the idol with a garment. 14 When Saul sent messengers to arrest David, she said, “He’s sick.”

Jonathan 1 Samuel 19:13

Targum

11 Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, 'If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.' 12 So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. 13 Michal took a saddle of a camel and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head and covered it with clothes. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, 'He is sick.'

 Notes and References

"... At David’s escape, his wife puts Teraphim on his bed in order to deceive the servants of Saul (1 Samuel 19:13, 16). The translator of the Septuagint writes κενοτάφια (cenotaphs; the term is a hapax legomenon in the Septuagint) in order to avoid the notion David would worship foreign deities. The textual tradition of Targum Jonathan 1 Samuel 19:13, 16 is divided: The main tradition reads אמלצ (“statues”), a v.l. offers איטבע (“saddle of a camel”) ..."

Meiser, Martin The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (p. 77) Mohr Siebeck, 2022

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