1 Samuel 21 - 22
David Takes Consecrated Bread
21Then David came to aNob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech bcame trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?” 2And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commanded me with a matter and has said to me, ‘aLet no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commanded you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place.’ 3“So now, what 1do you have on hand? Give five loaves of bread into my hand, or whatever can be found.” 4And the priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread 1on hand, but there is aconsecrated bread; if only the young men have bkept themselves from women.” 5And David answered the priest and said to him, “aSurely women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the bvessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then today will 1their vessels be holy?” 6So athe priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the bbread of the Presence which was removed from before Yahweh, in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away.
7Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh; and his name was aDoeg the Edomite, the bchief of Saul’s shepherds.
8And David said to Ahimelech, “Now is there not a spear or a sword 1on hand? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons in my hand because the king’s matter was urgent.” 9Then the priest said, “aThe sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down bin the valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you would take it for yourself, take it. For there is no other except it here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
David Flees to Gath
10Then David arose and fled that day from Saul and went to aAchish king of Gath. 11But the aservants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? bDid they not sing of this one as they danced, saying, ‘Saul has struck his thousands,And David his ten thousands’?”
12And David atook these words 1to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. 13So he adisguised his sanity in their sight and acted insanely in their hands and scribbled on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down into his beard. 14Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me? 15“Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman before me? Shall this one come into my house?”
David at the Cave of Adullam
22So David departed from there and aescaped to bthe cave of Adullam; and his brothers and all his father’s household heard of it and went down there to him. 2Then everyone who was in distress, and everyone who 1was in debt, and everyone who was bitter of soul, gathered to him; and he became a commander over them. Now there were aabout four hundred men with him.
3And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.” 4Then he left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the fortress. 5aAnd the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the fortress; go, and enter into the land of Judah.” So David went and entered into the forest of Hereth.
Saul Puts the Priests at Nob to Death
6Then Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered. Now aSaul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him. 7And Saul said to his servants who were standing around him, “Hear now, O Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse also give to all of you fields and vineyards? aWill he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? 8“For all of you have conspired against me so that there is no one who reveals in my ear awhen my son cuts a covenant with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you bwho is sorry for me or reveals in my ear that my son has caused my servant to rise up against me to lie in ambush, as it is this day.” 9Then aDoeg the Edomite, who was 1standing by the servants of Saul, said, “bI saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to cAhimelech the son of Ahitub. 10“aAnd he asked of Yahweh for him, bgave him provisions, and cgave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
11Then the king sent someone to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s household, the priests who were in Nob; and all of them came to the king. 12And Saul said, “Listen now, son of Ahitub.” And he 1answered, “Here I am, my lord.” 13Saul then said to him, “Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have asked of God on his behalf, so that he would rise up against me aby lying in ambush as it is this day?”
14aThen Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, even the king’s son-in-law, who 1is captain over your guard, and is honored in your house? 15“Did I just begin ato ask of God on his behalf today? Far be it from me! bDo not let the king impute anything to his servant or to any of the household of my father, for your servant knows nothing small or great of this whole affair.” 16But the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s household!” 17And athe king said to the 1guards who were standing by him, “Turn around and put the priests of Yahweh to death because their hand also is with David and because they knew that he was fleeing and did not reveal it in my ears.” But the bservants of the king were not willing to send forth their hands to fall upon the priests of Yahweh. 18Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn around and 1attack the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned around and 2attacked the priests, and ahe put to death that day eighty-five men bwho wore the linen ephod. 19So ahe struck Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword, both men and women, infants and nursing babies; also oxen, donkeys, and sheep he struck with the edge of the sword.
20But aone son of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, bescaped and fled after David. 21And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of Yahweh. 22Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when aDoeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. It is I who have turned against every person in your father’s household. 23“Stay with me; do not be afraid, for ahe who seeks my life seeks your life, for you are 1safe with me.”