1 Samuel 21
21
David Flees to Nob
1David went to the priest Ahimelech#1Sm 14:3; Mk 2:26 at Nob.#1Sm 22:19 Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?”
2David answered the priest Ahimelech, “The king gave me a mission, but he told me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or what I have ordered you to do.’ I have stationed my young men at a certain place. 3Now what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever can be found.”
4The priest told him, “There is no ordinary bread on hand. However, there is consecrated bread,#Ex 25:30; Lv 24:5–9; Mt 12:3–4 but the young men may eat it#21:4 DSS; MT omits may eat it only if they have kept themselves from women.”#Ex 19:15
5David answered him, “I swear that women are being kept from us, as always when I go out to battle.#2Sm 11:11 The young men’s bodies#21:5 Lit vessels are consecrated#1Th 4:4 even on an ordinary mission, so of course their bodies are consecrated today.” 6So the priest gave him the consecrated bread,#Mt 12:3–4; Mk 2:25 for there was no bread there except the Bread of the Presence#Lv 24:5–9 that had been removed from the presence of the Lord. When the bread was removed, it had been replaced with warm bread.
7One of Saul’s servants, detained before the Lord, was there that day. His name was Doeg the Edomite,#1Sm 22:9; Ps 52 chief of Saul’s shepherds.
8David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword on hand? I didn’t even bring my sword or my weapons since the king’s mission was urgent.”
9The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine,#1Sm 17:51 whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, then take it, for there isn’t another one here.”
“There’s none like it!” David said. “Give it to me.”
David Flees to Gath
10David fled that day from Saul’s presence and went to King Achish of Gath.#Ps 56 11But Achish’s servants said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Don’t they sing about him during their dances:
Saul has killed his thousands,
but David his tens of thousands?” #1Sm 18:7; 29:5
12David took this to heart and became very afraid of King Achish of Gath, 13so he pretended to be insane in their presence.#Ps 34 He acted like a madman around them,#21:13 Lit madman in their hand scribbling#21:13 LXX reads drumming on the doors of the city gate and letting saliva run down his beard.
14“Look! You can see the man is crazy,” Achish said to his servants. “Why did you bring him to me? 15Do I have such a shortage of crazy people that you brought this one to act crazy around me? Is this one going to come into my house?” #Ps 34
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1 Samuel 21: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
1 Samuel 21
21
1 Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no man with you?” 2David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commanded me to do something, and has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you. I have sent the young men to a certain place.’ 3Now therefore what is under your hand? Please give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever is available.”
4 The priest answered David, and said, “I have no common bread, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.”
5 David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us as usual these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was only a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?” 6So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread that was taken from before the LORD, to be replaced with hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
8 David said to Ahimelech, “Isn’t there here under your hand spear or sword? For I haven’t brought my sword or my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”
9 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.”
10 David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11The servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David the king of the land? Didn’t they sing to one another about him in dances, saying,
‘Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
12 David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13He changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard. 14Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is insane. Why then have you brought him to me? 15Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Should this fellow come into my house?”
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