1 Samuel 21  New Life Version

David Runs from Saul

21 David came to Ahimelech the religious leader at Nob. Ahimelech came shaking in fear to meet David, and said to him, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?” ² David said to Ahimelech the religious leader, “The king has given me something to do. And he has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about what I have sent you to do.’ I have told the young men to meet at a certain place. ³ Now, what do you have ready? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever you may have.” ⁴ The religious leader answered David, “I only have bread which has been set apart as holy, if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” ⁵ And David told the religious leader, “For sure women have been kept from us while we have traveled. The bodies of the young men are holy even on everyday trips. How much more they are today!” ⁶ So the religious leader gave him holy bread. For there was no bread there but the bread before the Lord. It was taken from before the Lord, so hot bread could be put in its place. ⁷ Now one of Saul’s servants happened to be there that day. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the head of Saul’s shepherds.

⁸ David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or a sword? I did not bring my sword or any spears with me, because I had to hurry to do the king’s work.” ⁹ The religious leader said, “The sword is here that belonged to Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah. See, it is behind the linen vest, with a cloth around it. Take it, if you will. For it is the only one here.” And David said, “There is none like it. Give it to me.”

¹⁰ Then David got up and ran that day from Saul. He went to Achish king of Gath. ¹¹ The servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing to each other about him as they danced, saying, ‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?” ¹² David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. ¹³ So he changed the way he acted in front of them. He pretended to be crazy while he was with them. He made marks on the doors of the gate. He let his spit run down into the hair of his face. ¹⁴ Then Achish said to his servants, “See, you see the man is crazy. Why have you brought him to me? ¹⁵ Do I need any crazy men, that you bring this one to act crazy in front of me? Will this one come into my house?”