| 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? |
