1 Samuel 21

1 Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And when Ahimelech met David, he trembled and asked him, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”

David fled from there and went to Nob [city to see] Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he saw David [because he was afraid that something bad had happened]. He said to David, “Why are you alone? Why have no men come with you?”

2 “The king has given me a mission,” David replied. “He told me no one is to know about the mission or charge. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a certain place.

David [deceived Ahimelech] by replying, “The king sent me. But he does not want anyone to know anything about what he sent me to do. I have told my men where [they should meet me].

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

Now [I want to know], do you have any [food here for me to eat] [IDM]? Could you give me five loaves of bread, or whatever [other food] that you can find?”

4 “There is no common bread on hand,” the priest replied, “but there is some consecrated bread—provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.”

The priest answered David, “There is no ordinary bread here, but I have some of the sacred bread [that was placed before Yahweh]. Your men may eat it if they have not slept with [EUP] women [recently].”

5 David answered, “Women have indeed been kept from us, as is usual when I set out. And the equipment of the young men is holy, as it is even on common missions, and all the more at this time.”

David replied, “They have not been near women for many days. I do not allow my men to defile themselves by sleeping with women while they are preparing to fight in battles. They must continue to keep themselves acceptable to God when they are on ordinary trips, and [today they have kept themselves acceptable to God] because now we are doing something very special/important.”

6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away.

The only bread that the priest had was the sacred bread that had been placed in Yahweh’s presence [in the Sacred tent]. So the priest gave David some of that bread. On that day the priest had taken those loaves from the table and replaced them with (fresh/newly baked) loaves.

7 Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the LORD. And his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief shepherd for Saul.

It happened that Doeg, from the Edom people-group, was there on that day to make himself acceptable to Yahweh, [and he saw what Ahimelech did]. He was one of Saul’s officials and the leader of Saul’s shepherds.

8 Then David asked Ahimelech, “Is there not a spear or sword on hand here? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business was urgent.”

David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or a sword [that I could use]? The king [appointed us to do] this task [and told us to leave] immediately, so I did not have time to bring any weapons.”

9 The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want, you may take it. For there is no other but this one.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

Ahimelech replied, “I have only the sword that belonged to Goliath [the giant] from the Philistia people-group whom you killed in Elah Valley. It is wrapped in a cloth, and is behind the sacred vest [in the Sacred Tent]. If you want it, take it, because I have no other [weapon] here.” David replied, “Truly, there is no other sword that is [as good] as that one! Give it to me.”

10 That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.

[So Ahimelech gave it to him], and David left there. He [and his men] and went to Gath [city in the Philistia region], to stay with King Achish.

11 But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing about him in their dances, saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”

But the officers of King Achish [objected to David being there. They] said to King Achish, “This man is [RHQ] David, the king of Israel! He is the one [RHQ] whom [our enemies], the [Israeli] people, [honored by] dancing and singing, ‘Saul has killed thousands [of his enemies], but David has killed tens of thousands of them!’”

12 Now David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

David heard what those men were saying, so he was afraid of [what] King Achish [might do to him].

13 So he changed his behavior before them and feigned madness in their hands; he scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard.

So he pretended that he was insane. He started scratching on the gates [of the city] and allowing his saliva to run down his beard.

14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you can see that the man is insane! Why have you brought him to me?

Then King Achish said to his men, “Look at this man! He is acting like an insane man! Why have you brought him to me?

15 Am I in need of madmen, that you have brought this man to rave in my presence? Must this man come into my house?”

Have you brought him because I do not have enough insane men here already [RHQ]? I do not want [RHQ] him to come into my house!”