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Chapter 21 |
| 1 | Then came
David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting
of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?
|
| 2 | And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a
business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business
whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my
servants to such and such a place. |
| 3 | Now therefore what is under
thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is
present. |
| 4
| And the priest answered David, and said, There is no
common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men
have kept themselves at least from women. |
|
5 | And David answered the
priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these
three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and
the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the
vessel. |
| 6 |
So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread
there but the showbread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread
in the day when it was taken away. |
| 7 | Now a certain man of the
servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was
Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul. |
| 8 |
And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or
sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the
king's business required haste. |
| 9 | And the priest said, The sword
of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Elah, behold, it
is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it:
for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that;
give it me. |
|
10 | And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul,
and went to Achish the king of Gath. |
| 11 | And the servants of Achish
said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to
another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his
ten thousands? |
|
12 | And David laid up these words in his heart, and was
sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. |
|
13 | And he changed his
behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on
the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. |
| 14 |
Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then
have ye brought him to me? |
|
15 | Have I need of mad men, that ye have
brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come
into my house? |
