1 Samuel 21

1 Then David went into Nob, to the priest Ahimelech. And Ahimelech was astonished that David had arrived. And he said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”

And David comes to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech trembles at meeting David and says to him, “Why [are] you alone, and no man [is] with you?”

2 And David said to the priest Ahimelech: “The king has instructed to me a word, and he said: ‘Let no one know the matter about which you have been sent by me, and what type of instructions I have given to you. For I have also summoned servants to one and another place.’

And David says to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commanded me [on] a matter, and he says to me, Let no man know anything of the matter about which I send you, and which I have commanded you; and [my] young men know [to go] to such and such a place.

3 Now therefore, if you have anything at hand, even five loaves of bread, or whatever you may find, give it to me.”

And now, what is there under your hand? Give five loaves into my hand, or that which is found.”

4 And the priest, responding to David, said to him: “I have no common bread at hand, but only holy bread. Are the young men clean, especially from women?”

And the priest answers David and says, “There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the youths have been kept from women.”

5 And David responded to the priest, and said to him: “Indeed, as concerns being with women, we have abstained since yesterday and the day before, when we departed, and so the vessels of the young men have been holy. And although, this journey has been defiled, it will also be sanctified today as concerns the vessels.”

And David answers the priest and says to him, “Surely, if women have been restrained from us as before in my going out, then the vessels of the young men are holy, and it [is] a common way; and also, surely it is sanctified today in the vessel.”

6 Therefore, the priest gave to him sanctified bread. For there was no bread there, but only the bread of the Presence, which had been taken away from before the face of the Lord, so that fresh loaves might be set up.

And the priest gives the holy thing to him, for there was no bread there except the Bread of the Presentation, which is turned aside from the presence of YHWH to put hot bread [there] in the day of its being taken away.

7 Now a certain man among the servants of Saul was there on that day, inside the tabernacle of the Lord. And his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the most powerful among the shepherds of Saul.

And there [is] a man of the servants of Saul detained before YHWH on that day, and his name [is] Doeg the Edomite, chief of the shepherds whom Saul has.

8 Then David said to Ahimelech: “Do you have, here at hand, a spear or a sword? For I did not take my own sword, or my own weapons with me. For the word of the king was urgent.”

And David says to Ahimelech, “And is there not spear or sword here under your hand? For I have taken neither my sword nor my vessels in my hand, for the matter of the king was urgent.”

9 And the priest said: “Behold, here is the sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom you struck down in the Valley of Terebinth. It is wrapped up in a cloak behind the ephod. If you wish to take this, take it. For there is nothing else here except this.” And David said, “There is nothing else like this, so give it to me.”

And the priest says, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck in the Valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped in a garment behind the ephod, if you take it to yourself, take; for there is none other except it in this [place].” And David says, “There is none like it—give it to me.”

10 And so, David rose up, and he fled on that day from the face of Saul. And he went to Achish, the king of Gath.

And David rises and flees on that day from the face of Saul, and comes to Achish king of Gath;

11 And the servants of Achish, when they had seen David, said to him: “Is this not David, the king of the land? Were they not singing about him, while dancing, saying, ‘Saul has struck down a thousand, and David ten thousand?’”

and the servants of Achish say to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? Is it not of this one [that] they sing in dances, saying, Saul struck among his thousands, and David among his myriads?”

12 Then David took these words to his heart, and he became exceedingly afraid before the face of Achish, the king of Gath.

And David lays these words in his heart, and is exceedingly afraid of the face of Achish king of Gath,

13 And he altered his mouth before them, and he slipped down between their hands. And he stumbled against the doors of the gate. And his spit flowed down his beard.

and changes his behavior before their eyes, and feigns himself mad in their hand, and scribbles on the doors of the gate, and lets down his spittle to his beard.

14 And Achish said to his servants: “You saw that the man is insane. Why did you bring him to me?

And Achish says to his servants, “Behold, you see a man acting as a madman; why do you bring him to me?

15 Or do we have need of those who are mad, so that you would bring in this one, to behave madly in my presence? How did this man get into my house?”

Am I lacking madmen, that you have brought in this one to act as a madman before me? Does this one come into my house?”