1 Samuel 21:1–15

David Flees to Nob

21David went to Ahimelech ^dthe priest at Nob. ^eAhimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?”

²David answered Ahimelech the priest, “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, ^fbut the young men may eat it ^gonly if they have kept themselves from women.” ^h

⁵David answered him, “I swear that women are being kept from us, as always when I go out to battle. ⁱThe young men’s bodies ^jare consecrated ^keven on an ordinary mission, so of course their bodies are consecrated today.” ⁶So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, ^lfor there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence ^mthat 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, ⁿchief 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, ^owhom 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. ^p11But 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?” ^q

¹²David took this to heart ^rand became very afraid of King Achish of Gath, ¹³so he pretended to be insane in their presence. ^sHe acted like a madman around them, ^tscribbling ^uon the doors of the 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?” ^v