1 Samuel 21
21
1And David cometh in to Nob, unto Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech trembleth at meeting David, and saith to him, ‘Wherefore [art] thou thyself alone, and no man with thee?’
2And David saith to Ahimelech the priest, ‘The king hath commanded me a matter, and he saith unto me, Let no man know anything of the matter about which I am sending thee, and which I have commanded thee; and the young men I have caused to know at such and such a place;
3and now, what is there under thy hand? five loaves give into my hand, or that which is found.’
4And the priest answereth David, and saith, ‘There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if the youths have been kept only from women.’
5And David answereth the priest, and saith to him, ‘Surely, if women have been restrained from us as heretofore in my going out, then the vessels of the young men are holy, and it [is] a common way: and also, surely to-day it is sanctified in the vessel.’
6And the priest giveth to him the holy thing, for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence which is turned aside from the presence of Jehovah to put hot bread in the day of its being taken away.
7And there [is] a man of the servants of Saul on that day detained before Jehovah, and his name [is] Doeg the Edomite, chief of the shepherds whom Saul hath.
8And David saith to Ahimelech, ‘And is there not here under thy hand spear or sword? for neither my sword nor my vessels have I taken in my hand, for the matter of the king was urgent.’
9And the priest saith, ‘The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou didst smite in the valley of Elah, lo, it is wrapped in a garment behind the ephod, if it thou dost take to thyself, take; for there is none other save it in this [place].’ And David saith, ‘There is none like it — give it to me.’
10And David riseth and fleeth on that day from the face of Saul, and cometh in unto Achish king of Gath;
11and the servants of Achish say unto him, ‘Is not this David king of the land? is it not of this one they sing in dances, saying, ‘Saul smote among his thousands, and David among his myriads?’
12And David layeth these words in his heart, and is exceedingly afraid of the face of Achish king of Gath,
13and changeth his behaviour before their eyes, and feigneth himself mad in their hand, and scribbleth on the doors of the gate, and letteth down his spittle unto his beard.
14And Achish saith unto his servants, ‘Lo, ye see a man acting as a madman; why do ye bring him in unto me?
15A lack of madmen [have] I, that ye have brought in this one to act as a madman by me! doth this one come in unto my house?’
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1 Samuel 21: YLT98
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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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