1 Samuel 21

1 Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was shaking in fear when he met David, and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no one 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, "The king has given me orders, and he instructed me, 'No one must know of the matter about which I send you, or about your orders; and I have arranged to meet the young men at a certain 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, if there are five loaves of bread under your control, give them into my hand, or whatever there is."

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, and said, "There is no common bread in my control, but there is holy bread. If the young men have kept themselves from women, they may eat of it."

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 women have been kept from us as always when I set out. All the young men are holy, even when it is an ordinary mission. So how much more today will their vessels be holy?"

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 So the priest gave him what had been consecrated, for there was no bread there but the show bread, that had been removed before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.

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, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to 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 David said to Ahimelech, "Isn't there here under your control spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because 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 The priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, look, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind an ephod. If you will take that, take it; for there is no other except that here." David said, "There is none like that. 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 David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and 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 The servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another about him in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, 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 David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid 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 He changed his behavior before them, and pretended to be mad in their hands, and drummed on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run 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 Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see the man is mad. Why then 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 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought 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?”