1Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech, the priest; and Ahimelech was afraid at meeting David, and asked him, “Why are you alone, and no man with you?”
2And David told Ahimelech, “The king has sent me on a mission, and told me, ‘Tell no man anything of the business for which I send you, and what I have commanded you’; and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place.
3Now, what do you have? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.
4And the priest answered David, and said, “There is no common bread here, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women”.
5And David answered the priest, and said, “Of a truth, women have been kept from us 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”.
6So the priest gave him hallowed bread; for there was no other bread except the showbread taken away from before the LORD, when replaced by hot bread of that day.
7Now among the servants of Saul were there that day, detained before the LORD; was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen that belonged to Saul.
8And David said to Ahimelech, “And is there not here under your hand a spear or sword? For I have not brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business was urgent”.
9And the priest said, “The sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, is here wrapped, in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it; for there is no other except it here.” And David said, “There is none like that; give it to me.”
10And David arose, and fled that day in fear of Saul, and went to Achish, the king of Gath.
11And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten-thousands?”
12And David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish, the king of Gath.
13So he changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle dribble down upon his beard.
14Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me?
15Have I need of mad men, that you have brought this fellow to act like a mad man in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?” Easy Reader Bible: Purple Letter Edition © 2023 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Bible Hub |
    |