And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.

and bring these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge.

And carry these ten little cheeses to the tribune: and go see thy brethren, if they are well: and learn with whom they are placed.

and carry these ten cheeses to the captain of the thousand, and visit thy brethren to see how they are, and take a pledge of them.

and these ten cuttings of the cheese thou dost take in to the head of the thousand, and thy brethren thou dost inspect for welfare, and their pledge dost receive.'

And take these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers are and come back with a sign to say how they are.

And bring these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and to thy brethren shalt thou bring greetings, and take their pledge;

And you shall carry these ten little cheeses to the tribune. And visit your brothers, to see if they are doing well. And learn with whom they have been stationed."

Take their pledge - i. e., bring back what they have to say in return.

Carry these ten cheeses - Cheeses of milk, says the margin. In the East they do not make what we call cheese: they press the milk but slightly, and carry it in rush baskets. It is highly salted, and little different from curds.

And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of [their] thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their (e) pledge.
(e) If they have laid anything to gauge for their necessity, redeem it out.

And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand,.... Their chiliarch or colonel, who had the command of 1000 men, and under whom Jesse's sons fought; Jarchi thinks this was Jonathan, who had 1000 men with him at Gibeah, and so now, 1-Samuel 13:2, these cheeses were sent by Jesse to the captain, to be distributed among his men, or a present to himself, that he might use his sons well who were under his command:
and look how thy brethren fare; whether in good health, in good spirits, and in safety:
and take their pledge; that is, if they had been obliged for want of money to pawn any of their clothes, or what they had with them to buy food with, that he would redeem and take up the pledge, by paying the money for which they were pawned; for it is thought that soldiers at this time were not maintained at the expense of the king and government, but at their own, and the families to which they belonged: though some are of opinion that this was some token which they had sent by a messenger to their father, by which he might know he came from them, so Ben Gersom; and which David was now to take with him, and return it; or a token that he was to bring from them, whereby he might be assured of their welfare; and so the Targum, "and bring their goodness", a token of their being in good health. The Jews (z) understand it of bills of divorce to be given to their wives, that if they should die in battle, or be taken captive, that their wives might marry after three years.
(z) Hieron. Trad. Hebrews. in lib. Reg. fol. 76. D.

carry these ten cheeses to the captain--to enlist his kind attention. Oriental cheeses are very small; and although they are frequently made of so soft a consistence as to resemble curds, those which David carried seem to have been fully formed, pressed, and sufficiently dried to admit of their being carried.
take their pledge--Tokens of the soldiers' health and safety were sent home in the convenient form of a lock of their hair, or piece of their nail, or such like.

"And these ten slices of soft cheese (so the ancient versions render it) bring to the chief captain over thousand, and visit thy brethren to inquire after their welfare, and bring with you a pledge from them" - a pledge that they are alive and well. This seems the simplest explanation of the word ערבּתם, of which very different renderings were given by the early translators.

Pledge - That is, bring me some token of their welfare.