1 Samuel 21–22

21Then came David to ^aNob to ^||Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was ^bafraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? ²And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place. ³Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is ^†present. ⁴And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is ^challowed bread; ^dif the young men have kept themselves at least from women. ⁵And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth 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 ^ein a manner common, ^||yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel. ⁶So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, ^fthat was taken from before the Lord, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. ⁷Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, ^gdetained before the Lord; and his name was ^hDoeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul. ⁸And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste. ⁹And the priest said, ⁱThe sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in ^kthe valley of Elah, ^lbehold, 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 for fear of Saul, and went to ^||Achish the king of ^mGath. ¹¹And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not ⁿsing one to another of him in ^odances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? ¹²And David ^plaid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. ¹³And ^qhe changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and ^||scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. ¹⁴Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man ^||is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me? ¹⁵Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?

22David therefore departed thence, and escaped to ^athe cave ^bAdullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him. ²And ^cevery one that was in distress, and every one that ^†was in debt, and every one that was ^†discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about ^dfour hundred men. ³And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto ^ethe king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me. ⁴And he brought them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold. ⁵And the prophet ^fGad said unto David, Abide not in the hold; depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hareth.

⁶When Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with him, (now Saul abode in ^gGibeah under a ^||tree in ^hRamah, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him;) ⁷Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse ⁱgive every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds; ⁸That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that ^†sheweth me that ⁱmy son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is ^jnone of you that is sorry for me, or ^†sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? ⁹Then answered ^kDoeg the Edomite, which was set over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to ^lNob, to Ahimelech the son of ^mAhitub. ¹⁰And he ⁿinquired of the Lord for him, and ^ogave 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 ^lNob: and they came all of them to the king. ¹²And Saul said, Hear now, thou son of Ahitub. And he answered, ^†Here I am, my lord. ¹³And Saul said unto 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 ⁿinquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, ^pto lie in wait, as at this day? ¹⁴Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, which is the king’s son in law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thine house? ¹⁵Did I then begin to ⁿinquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king impute any thing unto 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 surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father’s house. ¹⁷And the king said unto the ^||footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the Lord; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord. ¹⁸And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and ^qslew on that day fourscore and five persons that ^rdid wear a linen ephod. ¹⁹And ^lNob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, ^sboth men and women, children 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 ^tAbiathar, ^uescaped, and fled after David. ²¹And Abiathar shewed David that Saul had slain the Lord’s priests. ²²And David said unto Abiathar, I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father’s house. ^23xAbide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life: but with me thou shalt be in safeguard.