1 Samuel 21

1 And David came to Nobe to Achimelech the priest: and Achimelech was astonished at David’s coming. And he said to him: Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?

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 Achimelech the priest: The king hath commanded me a business, and said: Let no man know the thing for which thou art sent by me, and what manner of commands I have given thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a 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 thou have any thing at hand, though it were but five loaves, give me, or whatsoever thou canst find.

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

4 And the priest answered David, saying: I have no common bread at hand, but only holy bread, if the young men be 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 answered the priest, and said to him: Truly, as to what concerneth women, we have refrained ourselves from yesterday and the day before, when we came out, and the vessels of the young men were holy. Now this way is defiled, but it shall also be sanctified this day in 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 The priest therefore gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there, but only the loaves of proposition, which had been taken away from before the face of the Lord, that hot 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 of the servants of Saul was there that day, within the tabernacle of the Lord: and his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of Saul’s herdsmen.

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 And David said to Achimelech: Hast thou here at hand a spear, or a sword? for I brought not my own sword, nor my own weapons with me, for the king’s business required haste.

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: Lo, here is the sword of Goliath the Philistine whom thou slewest in the valley of Terebinth, wrapped up in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take this, take it, for here is no other but this. And David said: There is none like that, give it 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 David arose and fled that day from the face of Saul: and came to Achis the king of Geth:

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 Achis, when they saw David, said to him: Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to him in their dances, saying: Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?

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 But David laid up these words in his heart, and was exceedingly afraid at the face of Achis the king of Geth.

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

13 And he changed his countenance before them, and slipt down between their hands: and he stumbled against the doors of the gate, and his spittle ran down upon 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 Achis said to his servants: You saw the man was mad: why have you brought 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 Have we need of madmen, that you have brought in this fellow, to play the madman in my presence? shall this fellow come 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?”