1 Samuel 21

₁David went to the town of Nob to the priest Ahimelek. Ahimelek was surprised and afraid when he saw David. He asked David: ‘Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?’ ₂David said to the priest Ahimelek: ‘The king told me I must go and do something. He said no one must know where he has sent me or why I must go. I have told my men where they must meet me. ₃Do you have food for me? Give me 5 loaves of bread or any food that you have.’

₄The priest said to David: ‘I do not have ordinary bread, but there is holy bread. If your men did not have sex last night, they may eat it.’

₅David said to the priest: ‘No, when we go to war, the men never have sex. Their weapons are pure and my men are always pure when we do something together. This is special work that we are doing, so they are even more pure.’

₆The priest then gave the holy bread to David. There was no other bread. There was only sacrificial bread that the priest took out of the tent of the Lord when he put fresh bread on the table. ₇One of Saul's officials had to stay in the tent of the Lord that day. His name was Doeg from Edom. He was the leader of Saul's shepherds. ₈David asked Ahimelek: ‘Do you have a spear or sword for me? I could not put on my sword or other weapons because I had to leave quickly.’

₉The priest said: ‘Here is the sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you defeated in the valley of Elah where the big tree is. Look, it is under a cloth behind the shoulder-cloth. Take it if you want it. There is no other sword here.’

David said: ‘This is the best sword. Give it to me.’

₁₀That day David ran further away from Saul. He went to King Achish from the town of Gath. ₁₁Achish's officials said to the king: ‘This is David, king of the land. This is the man for whom the women danced and sang. They said:

₁₂When David heard what the officials said, he became afraid of King Achish of Gath. ₁₃When he got to the Philistines, he pretended that he did not know what he was doing. He pretended that he was mad. He scratched on the doors with his fingers and he spat on his beard and let it run down. ₁₄Achish said to his servants: ‘Look at the man. You can see he is mad. Why did you bring him to me? ₁₅There are many mad people here. Why are you bringing this mad man to me? He must not come into my home.’