1Sa 21 | NASB2020 | STEP | Then David came to Nob , to Ahimelech the priest ; and Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, “ Why are you alone , and no one with you?”

1 Samuel 21

David Takes Consecrated Bread

1 Then 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 with you?” 2 David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, ‘ ^cNo one is to know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place.’ 3 Now then, what ^{▼▼Lit is there under your hand?}do you have on hand? Give ^{▼▼Lit into my hand}me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” 4 The priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread ^{▼▼Lit under my hand}on hand, but there is ^gconsecrated bread, if only the young men have ^hkept themselves from women.” 5 David answered the priest and said to him, “ ⁱBe assured, women have been denied to us as previously when I left and the ^{▼▼Lit vessels
,} ^kbodies of the young men were consecrated, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then will ^{▼▼Lit it be holy in the vessel}their bodies be consecrated today?” 6 So ^mthe priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there except the ⁿbread of the Presence which was removed from its place before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day it was taken away.

7 Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was ^oDoeg the Edomite, the ^pchief of Saul’s shepherds.

8 David said to Ahimelech, “Now is there no spear or sword ^{▼▼Lit under your hand}on hand? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons ^{▼▼Lit in my hand}with me, because the king’s matter was urgent.” 9 Then the priest said, “ ^sThe sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you ^{▼▼Lit struck}killed ^uin 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.”

10 Then David set out and fled that day from Saul, and went to ^vAchish king of Gath. 11 But the ^wservants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? ^xDid they not sing of this one as they danced, saying,

‘Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands’?”
12 David ^ytook these words ^{▼▼Lit in his}to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. 13 So he ^aadisguised his sanity while in their sight and acted insanely in their ^{▼▼Lit hand}custody, and he scribbled on the doors of the gate, and drooled on his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is behaving like an insane person. Why do you bring him to me? 15 Do I lack insane people, that you have brought this one to behave like an insane person in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?”