1 Samuel 21
21
David helped at Nob
1 # 21.1 21:2 in Heb David came to Nob where Ahimelech was priest. Ahimelech was shaking in fear when he met David. “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?” he asked.
2David answered Ahimelech the priest, “The king has given me orders, but he instructed me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or about your orders.’ As for my troops, I told them to meet me at an undisclosed location. 3Now what do you have here with you? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever you can find.”
4“I don’t have any regular bread on hand,” the priest answered David, “just holy bread—but only if your troops have abstained from sexual activity.”
5“Definitely,” David answered the priest. “Whenever I go out to war, women are off-limits; that’s our standard operating procedure. Even on regular missions, the men’s gear is#21.5 MT; LXX all the men are kept holy. That’s even more true today, with the mission holy along with the gear.”#21.5 Heb uncertain 6So the priest gave David holy bread, because there was no other bread except the bread of the presence, which is removed from the LORD’s presence and replaced by warm bread as soon as it is taken away.
7Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained in the LORD’s presence. His name was Doeg. He was an Edomite and Saul’s head shepherd.
8David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword on hand? I didn’t bring my sword or gear with me because the king’s mission was urgent.”
9The priest said, “The sword of Goliath, the Philistine you killed in the Elah Valley, is here wrapped in a cloth behind a priestly vest.#21.9 DSS (4QSamb); MT behind the priestly vest (Heb ephod) If you want it, take it, because there are no other swords here.”
David said, “No sword is as good as that one! Give it to me!”
David pretends to be crazy
10So David got up and continued running from Saul. He went to Achish, Gath’s king. 11Achish’s servants said to him, “Isn’t that David, king of the land? He’s the one people sing about in their dances,
‘Saul has killed his thousands,
but David has killed his tens of thousands!’”
12David took these words very seriously and became very frightened of Achish, Gath’s king. 13So he changed the way he acted with them, pretending to be insane while he was with them.#21.13 Or in their hand; Heb uncertain He scratched marks on the doors of the city gates#21.13 Or with correction he spit on the doors of the city gate or he fell down at the doors of the city gate (cf LXX). and let spit run down his chin.
14“Can’t you see he’s crazy?” Achish asked his servants. “Why bring him to me? 15Am I short on insane people that you’ve brought this person to go crazy right in front of me? Do you really think I’m going to let this man enter my house?”
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1 Samuel 21: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
1 Samuel 21
21
David Flees from Saul
1 #
Mt 12.3,4; Mk 2.25,26; Lk 6.3 David went to the priest Ahimelech in Nob. Ahimelech came out trembling to meet him and asked, “Why did you come here all by yourself?”
2“I am here on the king's business,” David answered. “He told me not to let anyone know what he sent me to do. As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3Now, then, what supplies do you have? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.”
4The priest said, “I don't have any ordinary bread, only sacred bread; you can have it if your men haven't had sexual relations recently.”
5“Of course they haven't,” answered David. “My men always keep themselves ritually pure even when we go out on an ordinary mission; how much more this time when we are on a special mission!”
6 #
Lv 24.5-9
So the priest gave David the sacred bread, because the only bread he had was the loaves offered to God, which had been removed from the sacred table and replaced by fresh bread.
( 7Saul's chief herdsman, Doeg, who was from Edom, happened to be there that day, because he had to fulfill a religious obligation.)
8David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or a sword you can give me? The king's orders made me leave in such a hurry that I didn't have time to get my sword or any other weapon.”
9 #
1 S 17.51
Ahimelech answered, “I have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in Elah Valley; it is behind the ephod, wrapped in a cloth. If you want it, take it—it's the only weapon here.”
“Give it to me,” David said. “There is not a better sword anywhere!”
10So David left, fleeing from Saul, and went to King Achish of Gath. 11#1 S 18.7; 29.5 The king's officials said to Achish, “Isn't this David, the king of his country? This is the man about whom the women sang, as they danced, ‘Saul has killed thousands, but David has killed tens of thousands.’”
12 #
Ps 56 Title Their words made a deep impression on David, and he became very much afraid of King Achish. 13#Ps 34 Title So whenever David was around them, he pretended to be insane and acted like a madman when they tried to restrain him; he would scribble on the city#21.13: city; or palace. gates and let spit drool down his beard. 14So Achish said to his officials, “Look! The man is crazy! Why did you bring him to me? 15Don't I have enough madmen already? Why bring another one to bother me with his crazy actions right here in my own house?”
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