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 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.