⁹ Then answered ^(A)Doeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said, “I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to ^(B)Ahimelech the son of ^(C)Ahitub.

The End of the Wicked and the Peace of the Godly

To the Chief Musician. A ^[a]Contemplation of David ^(A)when Doeg the Edomite went and ^(B)told Saul, and said to him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.”

⁵⁹ Now the chief priests, ^[a]the elders, and all the council sought ^(A)false testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, ^60 [b]but found none. Even though ^(B)many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last ^(C)two ^[c]false witnesses came forward ⁶¹ and said, “This fellow said, ^(D)‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.’ ”

⁹ In you are ^(A)men who slander to cause bloodshed; ^(B)in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness.

David and the Holy Bread

21 Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And ^(A)Ahimelech was ^(B)afraid when he met David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”

² So David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you.’ And I have directed my young men to such and such a place. ³ Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found.”

⁴ And the priest answered David and said, “There is no ^[a]common bread on hand; but there is ^(C)holy^[b] bread, ^(D)if the young men have at least kept themselves from women.”

⁵ Then David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And ^[c]the ^(E)vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated ^(F)in the vessel this day.”

⁶ So the priest ^(G)gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread ^(H)which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on 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 ^(I)Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.

⁸ And David said to Ahimelech, “Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”

⁹ So the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in ^(J)the Valley of Elah, ^(K)there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it. For there is no other except that one here.”

And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

David Flees to Gath

¹⁰ Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. ¹¹ And ^(L)the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying:

¹² Now David ^(N)took these words ^[d]to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. ¹³ So ^(O)he changed his behavior before them, pretended ^[e]madness in their hands, ^[f]scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard. ¹⁴ Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me? ¹⁵ Have I need of madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”

^3 (A)Ahijah the son of Ahitub, ^(B)Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh, was ^(C)wearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.