Chapter 21

David Takes Consecrated Bread

1 Then David came to aNob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech bcame trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone and no one with you?”

2 David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, ‘aLet no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place.’

3 “Now therefore, what 1do you have on hand? Give 2me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.”

4 The priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread 1on hand, but there is aconsecrated bread; if only the young men have bkept themselves from women.”

5 David answered the priest and said to him, “aSurely women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the bvessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then today will 1their vessels be holy?”

6 So athe priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the bbread of the Presence which was removed from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away.

7 Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was aDoeg the Edomite, the bchief of Saul’s shepherds.

8 David said to Ahimelech, “Now is there not a spear or a sword 1on hand? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons 2with me, because the king’s matter was urgent.”

9 Then the priest said, “aThe sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you 1killed bin the valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you would take it for yourself, take it. For there is no other except it here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

10 Then David arose and fled that day from Saul, and went to aAchish king of Gath.

11 But the aservants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? bDid they not sing of this one as they danced, saying,

‘Saul has slain his thousands,

And David his ten thousands’?”

12 David atook these words 1to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath.

13 So he adisguised his sanity before them, and acted insanely in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard.

14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me?

15 “Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?”

Chapter 22

The Priests Slain at Nob

1 So David departed from there and aescaped to bthe cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s household heard of it, they went down there to him.

2 Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who 1was in debt, and everyone who was 2discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were aabout four hundred men with him.

3 And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”

4 Then he left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.

5 aThe prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.

6 Then Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered. Now aSaul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him.

7 Saul said to his servants who stood around him, “Hear now, O Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse also give to all of you fields and vineyards? aWill he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds?

8 “For all of you have conspired against me so that there is no one who 1discloses to me awhen my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you bwho is sorry for me or 1discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in ambush, as it is this day.”

9 Then aDoeg the Edomite, who was 1standing by the servants of Saul, said, “bI saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to cAhimelech the son of Ahitub.

10 “aHe inquired of the Lord for him, bgave him provisions, and cgave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

11 Then the king sent someone to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s household, the priests who were in Nob; and all of them came to the king.

12 Saul said, “Listen now, son of Ahitub.” And he 1answered, “Here I am, my lord.”

13 Saul then said to him, “Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, so that he would rise up against me aby lying in ambush as it is this day?”

14 aThen Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, even the king’s son-in-law, who 1is captain over your guard, and is honored in your house?

15 “Did I just begin ato inquire of God for him today? Far be it from me! bDo not let the king impute anything to his servant or to any of the household of my father, for your servant knows nothing 1at all of this whole affair.”

16 But the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s household!”

17 And athe king said to the 1guards who were attending him, “Turn around and put the priests of the Lord to death, because their hand also is with David and because they knew that he was fleeing and did not 2reveal it to me.” But the bservants of the king were not willing to put forth their hands to 3attack the priests of the Lord.

18 Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn around and 1attack the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned around and 2attacked the priests, and ahe killed that day eighty-five men bwho wore the linen ephod.

19 And ahe struck Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and infants; also oxen, donkeys, and sheep he struck with the edge of the sword.

20 But aone son of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, bescaped and fled after David.

21 Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord.

22 Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when aDoeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of every person in your father’s household.

23 “Stay with me; do not be afraid, for ahe who seeks my life seeks your life, for you are 1safe with me.”

Chapter 23

David Delivers Keilah

1 Then they told David, saying, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against aKeilah and are plundering the threshing floors.”

2 So David ainquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and 1attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and 1attack the Philistines and deliver Keilah.”

3 But David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the ranks of the Philistines?”

4 Then David inquired of the Lord once more. And the Lord answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for aI will give the Philistines into your hand.”

5 So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines; and he led away their livestock and struck them with a great slaughter. Thus David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah.

6 Now it came about, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech afled to David at Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

7 When it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, “God has 1delivered him into my hand, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars.”

8 So Saul summoned all the people for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

9 Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to aAbiathar the priest, “bBring the ephod here.”

10 Then David said, “O Lord God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account.

11 “Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.”

12 Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “aThey will surrender you.”

13 Then David and his men, aabout six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went bwherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he 1gave up the pursuit.

14 David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of aZiph. And Saul sought him every day, but bGod did not deliver him into his hand.

Saul Pursues David

15 Now David 1became aware that Saul had come out to seek his life while David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.

16 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David at Horesh, and 1aencouraged him in God.

17 Thus he said to him, “aDo not be afraid, because the hand of Saul my father will not find you, and you will be king over Israel and I will be next to you; and bSaul my father knows that also.”

18 So athe two of them made a covenant before the Lord; and David stayed at Horesh while Jonathan went to his house.

19 Then aZiphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on bthe hill of Hachilah, which is on the 1south of 2Jeshimon?

20 “Now then, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to 1do so; and aour part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.”

21 Saul said, “May you be blessed of the Lord, afor you have had compassion on me.

22 “Go now, make more sure, and investigate and see his place where his 1haunt is, and who has seen him there; for I am told that he is very cunning.

23 “So look, and learn about all the hiding places where he hides himself and return to me with certainty, and I will go with you; and if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”

24 Then they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of aMaon, in the Arabah to the 1south of 2Jeshimon.

25 When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David, and he came down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard it, he pursued David in the wilderness of Maon.

26 Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain; and David was hurrying to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men awere surrounding David and his men to seize them.

27 But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid on the land.”

28 So Saul returned from pursuing David and went to meet the Philistines; therefore they called that place 1the Rock of Escape.

29 1David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of aEngedi.