1 Samuel 21
21
David Goes to See Ahimelech
1David went to Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech shook with fear when he saw David, and he asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”
2David answered him, “The king gave me a special order. He told me, ‘No one must know what I am sending you to do or what I told you to do.’ I told my men where to meet me. 3Now, what food do you have with you? Give me five loaves of bread or anything you find.”
4The priest said to David, “I don’t have any plain bread here, but I do have some holy bread. You may eat it if your men have kept themselves from women.”
5David answered, “No women have been near us for days. My men always keep themselves holy, even when we do ordinary work. And this is especially true when the work is holy.”
6So the priest gave David the holy bread from the presence of God because there was no other. Each day the holy bread was replaced with hot bread.
7One of Saul’s servants happened to be there that day. He had been held there before the Lord. He was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.
8David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword here? The king’s business was very important, so I left without my sword or any other weapon.”
9The priest answered, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, the one you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here. It is wrapped in a cloth behind the holy vest. If you want it, you may take it. There’s no other sword here but that one.”
David said, “There is no other sword like it. Give it to me.”
David Goes to Gath
10That day David ran away from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. 11But the servants of Achish said to him, “This is David, the king of the Israelites. He’s the man they dance and sing about, saying:
‘Saul has killed thousands of his enemies,
but David has killed tens of thousands.’ ”
12David paid attention to these words and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. 13So he pretended to be crazy in front of Achish and his servants. While he was with them, he acted like a madman and clawed on the doors of the gate and let spit run down his beard.
14Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He’s crazy! Why do you bring him to me? 15I have enough madmen. I don’t need you to bring him here to act like this in front of me! Don’t let him in my house!”
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1 Samuel 21: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
1 Kings 21
21
1And David came to Nobe to Achimelech the priest: and Achimelech was astonished at David's coming. And he said to him: Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?
2And David said to Achimelech the priest: The king hath commanded me a business, and said: Let no man know the thing for which thou art sent by me, and what manner of commands I have given thee. And I have appointed my servants to such and such a place.
3Now therefore if thou have any thing at hand, though it were but five loaves, give me, or whatsoever thou canst find.
4And the priest answered David, saying: I have no common bread at hand, but only holy bread, if the young men be clean, especially from women?
5And David answered the priest, and said to him: Truly, as to what concerneth women, we have refrained ourselves from yesterday and the day before, when we came out, and the vessels of the young men were holy. Now this way is defiled: but it shall also be sanctified this day in the vessels.
6The priest therefore gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there, but only the loaves of proposition, which had been taken away from before the face of the Lord, that hot loaves might be set up.
7Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, within the tabernacle of the Lord: and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of Saul's herdsmen.
8And David said to Achimelech: Hast thou here at hand a spear, or a sword? for I brought not my own sword, nor my own weapons with me, for the king's business required haste.
9And the priest said: Lo, here is the sword of Goliath the Philistine whom thou slewest in the valley of Terebinth, wrapped up in a cloth behind the ephod. If thou wilt take this, take it: for here is no other but this. And David said: There is none like that. Give it me.
10And David arose and fled that day from the face of Saul: and came to Achis the king of Geth:
11And the servants of Achis, when they saw David, said to him: Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to him in their dances, saying: Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
12But David laid up these words in his heart, and was exceedingly afraid at the face of Achis the king of Geth.
13And he changed his countenance before them, and slipt down between their hands. And he stumbled against the doors of the gate; and his spittle ran down upon his beard.
14And Achis said to his servants: You saw the man was mad. Why have you brought him to me?
15Have we need of madmen, that you have brought in this fellow, to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.