1 Samuel 21 Parallel Bible Translations

1 Samuel 21 ▼
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1 David went to the priest Ahimelech at Nob. Ahimelech was trembling as he went to meet David. |Why are you alone?| he asked David. |Why is no one with you?| Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” David went to Nob, to Ahimelek the priest. Ahimelek trembled when he met him, and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”
2 |The king ordered me to do something,| David answered the priest Ahimelech, |and he told me, 'No one must know anything about this mission I'm sending you on and about the orders I've given you. I've stationed my young men at a certain place.' | And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.’ I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and said to me, ‘No one is to know anything about the mission I am sending you on.’ As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place.
3 [David added,] |Now, what do you have [to eat]? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever you can find.| Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.” Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you can find.”
4 |I don't have any ordinary bread,| the chief priest answered David. |But there is holy bread for the young men if they haven't had sexual intercourse [today].| And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.” But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any ordinary bread on hand; however, there is some consecrated bread here—provided the men have kept themselves from women.”
5 David answered the priest, |Of course women have been kept away from us as usual when we go [on a mission]. The young men's bodies are kept holy even on ordinary campaigns. How much more then will their bodies be holy today?| And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?” David replied, “Indeed women have been kept from us, as usual whenever I set out. The men’s bodies are holy even on missions that are not holy. How much more so today!”
6 So the priest gave him holy [bread] because he only had the bread of the presence which had been taken from the LORD's presence and replaced with warm bread that day. So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the LORD, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away. So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from before the LORD and replaced by hot bread on the day it was taken away.
7 That same day one of Saul's servants who was obligated to stay in the LORD's presence was there. His name was Doeg. A foreman for Saul's shepherds, he was from Edom. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s herdsmen. Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the LORD; he was Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief shepherd.
8 David asked Ahimelech, |Don't you have a spear or a sword here? I didn't take either my spear or any other weapon because the king's business was urgent.| Then David said to Ahimelech, “Then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.” David asked Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I haven’t brought my sword or any other weapon, because the king’s mission was urgent.”
9 The chief priest answered, |The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Elah Valley, is here. It is wrapped in a cloth behind the priestly ephod. If you want to take it, take it. There's no other weapon here.| David said, |There's none like it. Let me have the sword.| And the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the Valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is none but that here.” And David said, “There is none like that; give it to me.” The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want it, take it; there is no sword here but that one.” David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
10 That day David left. He was [still] fleeing from Saul when he came to King Achish of Gath. And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.
11 Achish's officers asked, |Isn't this David, the king of [his] country? He's the one they used to sing about in the dances: 'Saul has defeated thousands but David tens of thousands.'| And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?” But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances: “’Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”
12 When David realized what they had said, he was terrified of King Achish of Gath. And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath.
13 So he changed his behavior [when he was] in their presence and acted insane [as long as he was] under their authority. He scribbled on the doors of the city gate and let his spit run down his beard. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.
14 Achish said to his officers, |Look at him! Don't you see [that he's] insane? Why bring him to me? Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me?
15 Do I have such a shortage of lunatics that you bring this man so that he can show me he is insane? Does this man have to come into my house?| Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?” Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”
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