I Samuelis 21

1 Venit autem David in Nobe ad Achimelech sacerdotem: et obstupuit Achimelech, eo quod venisset David. Et dixit ei: Quare tu solus, et nullus est tecum?

Then David came to Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling and said to him, “Why are you alone and have no one with you?”

2 Et ait David ad Achimelech sacerdotem: Rex praecepit mihi sermonem, et dixit: Nemo sciat rem, propter quam missus es a me, et cuiusmodi praecepta tibi dederim: nam et pueris condixi in illum et illum locum.

David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has sent me on a mission and has said to me, 'Let no one know anything about the business I am sending you, and what I have commanded you.' I have directed the young men to a certain place.

3 Nunc ergo siquid habes ad manum, vel quinque panes, da mihi, aut quidquid inveneris.

Now then what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.”

4 Et respondens sacerdos ad David, ait illi: Non habeo laicos panes ad manum, sed tantum panem sanctum: si mundi sunt pueri, maxime a mulieribus?

The priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.”

5 Et respondit David sacerdoti, et dixit ei: Equidem, si de mulieribus agitur: continuimus nos ab heri et nudiustertius, quando egrediebamur, et fuerunt vasa puerorum sancta. porro via haec polluta est, sed et ipsa hodie sanctificabitur in vasis.

David answered the priest, “Surely women have been kept from us for the past three days, as usual when I set out. The things belonging to the men have been set apart even on ordinary missions. How much more today will what they have be set apart!”

6 Dedit ergo ei sacerdos sanctificatum panem. neque enim erat ibi panis, nisi tantum panes propositionis, qui sublati fuerant a facie Domini, ut ponerentur panes calidi.

So the priest gave him the bread that was set apart. For there was no bread there except the bread of the presence, which was removed from before Yahweh, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day it was taken away.

7 Erat autem ibi vir quidam de servis Saul, in die illa, intus in tabernaculo Domini: et nomen eius Doeg Idumaeus, potentissimus pastorum Saul.

Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsmen.

8 Dixit autem David ad Achimelech: Si habes hic ad manum hastam, aut gladium? quia gladium meum, et arma mea non tuli mecum. sermo enim regis urgebat.

David said to Ahimelech, “Now is there not here on hand any spear or sword? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business was urgent.”

9 Et dixit sacerdos: Ecce hic gladius Goliath Philisthaei, quem percussisti in Valle terebinthi, est involutus pallio post ephod: si istum vis tollere, tolle. neque enim hic est alius absque eo. Et ait David: Non est huic alter similis, da mihi eum.

The priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take that, take it, for there is no other weapon here.” David said, “There is no other sword like that one; give it to me.”

10 Surrexit itaque David, et fugit in die illa a facie Saul: et venit ad Achis regem Geth:

David arose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish, the king of Gath.

11 dixeruntque servi Achis ad eum cum vidissent David: Numquid non iste est David rex terrae? nonne huic cantabant per choros, dicentes: Percussit Saul mille, et David decem millia?

Achish's servants said to him, “Is not this David, the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another about him in dances, 'Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands?'”

12 Posuit autem David sermones istos in corde suo, et extimuit valde a facie Achis regis Geth.

David took these words to heart and was very afraid of Achish, the king of Gath.

13 Et immutavit os suum coram eis, et collabebatur inter manus eorum: et impingebat in ostia portae, defluebantque salivae eius in barbam.

He changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands; he made marks on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard.

14 Et ait Achis ad servos suos: Vidistis hominem insanum: quare adduxistis eum ad me?

Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is mad. Why have you brought him to me?

15 An desunt nobis furiosi, quod introduxistis istum, ut fureret me praesente? hiccine ingredietur domum meam?

Do I lack madmen, so that you have brought this fellow to behave like one in my presence? Will this fellow really come into my house?”