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?"

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 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.'

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, if there are five loaves of bread under your control, give them into my hand, or whatever there is."

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 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."

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 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?"

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 what had been consecrated, for there was no bread there but the show bread, that had been removed before YHWH, to put hot bread in the day when 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 a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before YHWH; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to 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 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."

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 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."

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 David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the 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 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?'"

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 David laid up these words in his heart, and was very 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 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.

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 see the man is mad. Why then 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 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow 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!”