1 Samuel 21

1 David went to the town of Nob to see Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek was trembling in fear when he met him, and he asked, “Why are you here alone? Why isn't there anybody with you?”

Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was full of fear at meeting David, and said to him, Why are you by yourself, having no man with you?

2 “The king has given me an assignment,” David replied. “He told me ‘Nobody must know anything about the assignment I have sent you to do.’ As for my men, I've told them where to meet me.

And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has given me orders and has said to me, Say nothing to anyone about the business on which I am sending you and the orders I have given you: and a certain place has been fixed to which the young men are to go.

3 So what do you have on hand to eat? Let me have five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”

So now, if you have here five cakes of bread, give them into my hand, or whatever you have.

4 “There's no ordinary bread,” the priest told David, “but there's some holy bread, as long as your men have not slept with any women lately.”

And the priest, answering David, said, I have no common bread here but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.

5 “We have not slept with any women,” David answered. “In fact that's the rule when I lead the troops on mission. They keep themselves pure even during ordinary missions, and all the more so right now.”

And David in answer said to the priest, Certainly women have been kept from us; and as has been done before when I have gone out the arms of the young men were made holy, even though it was a common journey; how much more today will their arms be made holy.

6 So the priest gave him the holy bread as they didn't have any other bread there except this “Bread of the Presence,” which had been removed from the presence of the Lord that day and replaced with fresh bread.

So the priest gave him the holy bread: there was no other, only the holy bread which had been taken from before the Lord, so that new bread might be put in its place on the day when it was taken away.

7 One of Saul's servants happened to be there that day, trying to make himself right with the Lord. He was Doeg the Edomite, Saul's chief shepherd.

Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, kept back before the Lord; his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the strongest of Saul's runners.

8 “Have you got a spear or sword here?” David asked Ahimelech. “I didn't bring my sword or any of my weapons with me, because what the king needed me to do was urgent.”

And David said to Ahimelech, Have you no sword or spear with you here? for I have come without my sword and other arms, because the king's business had to be done quickly.

9 The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine is here—the one you killed in the Valley of Elah. It's wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. You can take it if you want. It's the only one here.” “It's better than any other sword! Please give it to me,” David replied.

And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you put to death in the valley of Elah, is here folded in a cloth at the back of the ephod: take that, if you will, for there is no other sword here. And David said, there is no other sword like that; give it to me.

10 David ran away from Saul that day and went to Achish, king of Gath.

Then David got up and went in flight that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish, the king of Gath.

11 But Achish's officials asked the king, “Isn't this David, the king of that country? Didn't they sing about him in their dances, ‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”

And the servants of Achish said to him, Is not this David, the king of the land? did they not make songs about him in their dances, saying, Saul has put to death thousands, and David tens of thousands?

12 David listened carefully to what they said and this made him very afraid of Achish, the king of Gath.

And David took these words to heart, fearing Achish, the king of Gath.

13 So he changed the way he acted toward them and pretended to be crazy. He scratched marks on the town gates and let his spit run down his beard.

So changing his behaviour before them, he made it seem as if he was off his head, hammering on the doors of the town, and letting the water from his mouth go down his chin.

14 Achish told his officials, “Look, you can see the man is completely mad! Why did you bring him to me?

Then Achish said to his servants, Look! the man is clearly off his head; why have you let him come before me?

15 Is it because I need more mad people that you've brought this man to go crazy right in front of me? Do you think I'm going to let him come into my house?”

Are there not enough unbalanced men about me, that you have let this person come and do such tricks before me? is such a man to come into my house?