| New Living Translation | International Standard Version |
| 1 David went to the town of Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he saw him. “Why are you alone?” he asked. “Why is no one with you?” | 1 David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech was trembling as he came to meet David. Ahimelech told him, "Why are you alone, and no one with you?" |
| 2“The king has sent me on a private matter,” David said. “He told me not to tell anyone why I am here. I have told my men where to meet me later. | 2David told Ahimelech the priest, "The king commanded me about a matter, saying to me, 'Don't let anyone know anything about the matter I'm sending you to do and about which I've commanded you. I've directed the young men to a certain place.' |
| 3Now, what is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.” | 3Now, what do you have available? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever you have." |
| 4“We don’t have any regular bread,” the priest replied. “But there is the holy bread, which you can have if your young men have not slept with any women recently.” | 4The priest answered David: "There is no ordinary bread available; only consecrated bread, provided that the young men have kept themselves from women." |
| 5“Don’t worry,” David replied. “I never allow my men to be with women when we are on a campaign. And since they stay clean even on ordinary trips, how much more on this one!” | 5David answered the priest, saying to him, "Indeed, women were kept from us as is usual whenever I go out on a mission, and the equipment of the young men is consecrated even when it's an ordinary journey, so how much more is their equipment consecrated today?" |
| 6Since there was no other food available, the priest gave him the holy bread—the Bread of the Presence that was placed before the LORD in the Tabernacle. It had just been replaced that day with fresh bread. | 6So the priest gave him consecrated bread because no bread was there except the Bread of the Presence that had been removed from the LORD's presence and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away. |
| 7Now Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, was there that day, having been detained before the LORD. | 7Now, Doeg the Edomite, one of Saul's officials, was there that day, detained in the LORD's presence. He was the chief of Saul's shepherds. |
| 8David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword? The king’s business was so urgent that I didn’t even have time to grab a weapon!” | 8David told Ahimelech, "Is there no spear or sword available here? I took neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's mission is urgent." |
| 9“I only have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah,” the priest replied. “It is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. Take that if you want it, for there is nothing else here.” “There is nothing like it!” David replied. “Give it to me!” | 9The priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the Valley of Elah is wrapped up in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it because there is no other except it here." So David said, "There is none like it. Give it to me." |
| 10So David escaped from Saul and went to King Achish of Gath. | 10David got up that day and fled from Saul, and he went to King Achish of Gath. |
| 11But the officers of Achish were unhappy about his being there. “Isn’t this David, the king of the land?” they asked. “Isn’t he the one the people honor with dances, singing, ‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?” | 11The officials of Achish told him, "Isn't this David, king of the land? Isn't this the one about whom they sang as they danced, 'Saul has struck down his thousands, but David his ten thousands'?" |
| 12David heard these comments and was very afraid of what King Achish of Gath might do to him. | 12David took these words seriously, and he was very frightened of King Achish of Gath. |
| 13So he pretended to be insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard. | 13So David changed his behavior before them and acted like he was crazy in their presence. He scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down his beard. |
| 14Finally, King Achish said to his men, “Must you bring me a madman? | 14Achish told his officials, "Look, you see a person acting like a madman. Why'd you bring him to me? |
| 15We already have enough of them around here! Why should I let someone like this be my guest?” | 15Am I lacking madmen that you bring me this one to act like a madman around me? Shall this one come into my house?" |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. |
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