David Takes Consecrated Bread

21 Then David came to ^(A)Nob, to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech ^(B)came trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” ² David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, ‘^(C)No one is to know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place.’ ³ Now then, what ^[a]do you have on hand? Give ^[b]me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” ⁴ The priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread ^[c]on hand, but there is ^(D)consecrated bread, if only the young men have ^(E)kept themselves from women.” ⁵ David answered the priest and said to him, “^(F)Be assured, women have been denied to us as previously when I left and the ^[d](G)bodies of the young men were consecrated, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then will ^[e]their bodies be consecrated today?” ⁶ So ^(H)the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there except the ^(I)bread of the Presence which was removed from its place before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day it was taken away.

⁷ Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was ^(J)Doeg the Edomite, the ^(K)chief of Saul’s shepherds.

⁸ David said to Ahimelech, “Now is there no spear or sword ^[f]on hand? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons ^[g]with me, because the king’s matter was urgent.” ⁹ Then the priest said, “^(L)The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you ^[h]killed ^(M)in the Valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you would take it for yourself, take it. For there is no other except it here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

¹⁰ Then David set out and fled that day from Saul, and went to ^(N)Achish king of Gath. ¹¹ But the ^(O)servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? ^(P)Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying,

¹² David ^(Q)took these words ^[i]to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. ¹³ So he ^(R)disguised his sanity while in their sight and acted insanely in their ^[j]custody, and he scribbled on the doors of the gate, and drooled on his beard. ¹⁴ Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is behaving like an insane person. Why do you bring him to me? ¹⁵ Do I lack insane people, that you have brought this one to behave like an insane person in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?”

Priests Killed at Nob

22 So David departed from there and ^(S)escaped to ^(T)the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s household heard about it, they went down there to him. ² Then everyone who was in distress, and everyone who ^[k]was in debt, and everyone who was ^[l]discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were ^(U)about four hundred men with him.

³ And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.” ⁴ Then he ^[m]left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. ⁵ But ^(V)Gad the prophet said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; leave, and go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went into the forest of Hereth.

⁶ Then Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered. Now ^(W)Saul was in Gibeah, sitting under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing in front of him. ⁷ Saul said to his servants who were standing in front of him, “Hear now, you Benjaminites! Will the son of Jesse really give all of you fields and vineyards? ^(X)Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? ⁸ For all of you have conspired against me so that there is no one who ^[n]informs me ^(Y)when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you ^(Z)who cares about me or ^[o]informs me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in ambush, as it is this day.” ⁹ Then ^(AA)Doeg the Edomite, who was ^[p]standing in front of the servants of Saul, responded and said, “^(AB)I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to ^(AC)Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. ¹⁰ And ^(AD)he inquired of the Lord for him, ^(AE)gave him provisions, and ^(AF)gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

¹¹ Then the king sent a messenger to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s household, the priests who were in Nob; and all of them came to the king. ¹² Saul said, “Listen now, son of Ahitub.” And he ^[q]replied, “Here I am, my lord.” ¹³ Saul then said to him, “Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, so that he would rise up against me ^(AG)by lying in ambush as it is this day?”

^14 (AH)Then Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, the king’s own son-in-law, who ^[r]is commander over your bodyguard, and is honored in your house? ¹⁵ Did I just begin ^(AI)to inquire of God for him today? Far be it from me! ^(AJ)Do not let the king impute anything against his servant or against any of the household of my father, because your servant knows nothing ^[s]at all of this whole affair.” ¹⁶ But the king said, “You shall certainly die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s household!” ¹⁷ And ^(AK)the king said to the ^[t]guards who were attending him, “Turn around and put the priests of the Lord to death, because their hand also is with David and because they knew that he was fleeing and did not ^[u]inform me.” But the ^(AL)servants of the king were unwilling to reach out with their hands to ^[v]attack the priests of the Lord. ¹⁸ Then the king said to Doeg, “You, turn around and ^[w]attack the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned around and ^[x]attacked the priests, and ^(AM)he killed on that day eighty-five men ^(AN)who wore the linen ephod. ^19 (AO)He also struck Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and infants; he also struck oxen, donkeys, and sheep with the edge of the sword.

²⁰ But ^(AP)one son of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, ^(AQ)escaped and fled ^[y]to David. ²¹ Abiathar informed David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. ²² Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when ^(AR)Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would certainly tell Saul. I myself ^[z]have turned against every person in your father’s household. ²³ Stay with me; do not be afraid, ^[aa]even though ^(AS)he who is seeking my life is seeking your life. For you are safe with me.”