¹And David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech trembled at meeting David, and said to him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? ²And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, Let no man know anything of the business whereon I send thee, and what I have commanded thee; and I have directed the young men to such and such a place. ³And now what is under thy hand? give me five loaves in my hand, or what may be found. ⁴And the priest answered David and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. ⁵And David answered the priest and said to him, Yes indeed, women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, and the more so, because to-day new is hallowed in the vessels. ⁶And the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the shew-loaves that were taken from before Jehovah, to put on hot bread in the day when they were taken away. ⁷(Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Jehovah; and his name was Doeg, the Edomite, chief of the shepherds that belonged to Saul.) ⁸And David said to Ahimelech, And is there not here under thy hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, for the king’s business was urgent. ⁹And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of terebinths, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if thou wilt take that, take it; for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that: give it me.

¹⁰And David arose, and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. ¹¹And the servants of Achish said to him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul has smitten his thousands, and David his ten thousands? ¹²And David took to heart these words, and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. ¹³And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard. ¹⁴And Achish said to his servants, Behold, ye see the man is mad: why did ye bring him to me? ¹⁵have I lack of madmen, that ye have brought this one to rave in my presence? shall this man come into my house?

Chapter 22

¹And David departed thence, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, and they went down thither to him. ²And every one in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one of embittered spirit collected round him; and he became a captain over them; and there were with him about four hundred men. ³And David went thence to Mizpeh in Moab, and said to the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth amongst you, till I know what God will do for me. ⁴And he brought them before the king of Moab; and they abode with him all the while that David was in the stronghold. ⁵And the prophet Gad said to David, Abide not in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hareth.

⁶And Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with him. Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah under the tamarisk upon the height, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing by him. ⁷Then Saul said to his servants that stood by him, Hear now, ye Benjaminites: will the son of Jesse give every one of you also fields and vineyards? Will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, ⁸that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that informs me when my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse; and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or informs me that my son has stirred up my servant as a lier-in-wait against me, as at this day? ⁹Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. ¹⁰And he inquired of Jehovah for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine. ¹¹Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests that were in Nob; and they came all of them to the king. ¹²And Saul said, Hear now, son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my lord. ¹³And Saul said to him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me as a lier-in-wait, as at this day? ¹⁴And Ahimelech answered the king and said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and has access to thy secret council, and is honourable in thy house? ¹⁵Was it to-day that I began to inquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king charge anything to his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less or more. ¹⁶And the king said, Thou shalt certainly die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father’s house. ¹⁷And the king said to the couriers that stood about him, Turn and put the priests of Jehovah to death; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not inform me. But the servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hand to fall on the priests of Jehovah. ¹⁸And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall on the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and fell on the priests, and put to death that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod. ¹⁹And Nob, the city of the priests, he smote with the edge of the sword, both men and women, infants and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.

²⁰And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David. ²¹And Abiathar informed David that Saul had slain Jehovah’s priests. ²²And David said to Abiathar, I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would certainly tell Saul: I am accountable for all the lives of thy father’s house. ²³Abide with me, fear not; for he that seeks my life seeks thy life; for with me thou art in safe keeping.

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