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)Let no one 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 therefore, 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)Surely women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the ^(G)vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then today will ^[d]their vessels be holy?” ⁶ So ^(H)the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the ^(I)bread of the Presence which was removed from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place when 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 not a spear or a sword ^[e]on hand? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons ^[f]with me, because the king’s matter was urgent.” ⁹ Then the priest said, “^(L)The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you ^[g]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 arose 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 ^[h]to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. ¹³ So he ^(R)disguised his sanity before them, and acted insanely in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard. ¹⁴ Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me? ¹⁵ Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?”

Pe.

Made Alive in Christ

2 And you ^[a]were ^(A)dead ^[b]in your trespasses and sins, ² in which you ^(B)formerly walked according to the ^[c]course of ^(C)this world, according to ^(D)the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in ^(E)the sons of disobedience. ³ Among them we too all ^(F)formerly lived in ^(G)the lusts of our flesh, ^[d]indulging the desires of the flesh and of the ^[e]mind, and were ^(H)by nature ^(I)children of wrath, ^(J)even as the rest. ⁴ But God, being ^(K)rich in mercy, because of ^(L)His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were ^(M)dead ^[f]in our transgressions, made us alive together ^[g]with Christ (^(N)by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and ^(O)raised us up with Him, and ^(P)seated us with Him in ^(Q)the heavenly places in ^(R)Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing ^(S)riches of His grace in ^(T)kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For ^(U)by grace you have been saved ^(V)through faith; and ^[h]that not of yourselves, it is ^(W)the gift of God; ^9 (X)not as a result of works, so that ^(Y)no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are His workmanship, ^(Z)created in ^(AA)Christ Jesus for ^(AB)good works, which God ^(AC)prepared beforehand so that we would ^(AD)walk in them.

¹¹ Therefore remember that ^(AE)formerly ^(AF)you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “^(AG)Uncircumcision” by the so-called “^(AH)Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— ¹² remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, ^[i](AI)excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to ^(AJ)the covenants of promise, having ^(AK)no hope and ^(AL)without God in the world. ¹³ But now in ^(AM)Christ Jesus you who ^(AN)formerly were ^(AO)far off ^[j]have ^(AP)been brought near ^[k](AQ)by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For He Himself is ^(AR)our peace, ^(AS)who made both groups into one and broke down the ^[l]barrier of the dividing wall, ^15 [m]by ^(AT)abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is ^(AU)the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might ^[n](AV)make the two into ^(AW)one new man, thus establishing ^(AX)peace, ¹⁶ and might ^(AY)reconcile them both in ^(AZ)one body to God through the cross, ^[o]by it having ^(BA)put to death the enmity. ¹⁷ And ^(BB)He came and preached ^(BC)peace to you who were ^(BD)far away, and peace to those who were ^(BE)near; ¹⁸ for through Him we both have ^(BF)our access in ^(BG)one Spirit to ^(BH)the Father. ¹⁹ So then you are no longer ^(BI)strangers and aliens, but you are ^(BJ)fellow citizens with the ^[p]saints, and are of ^(BK)God’s household, ²⁰ having been ^(BL)built on ^(BM)the foundation of ^(BN)the apostles and prophets, ^(BO)Christ Jesus Himself being the ^(BP)corner stone, ^21 (BQ)in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into ^(BR)a holy ^[q]temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being ^(BS)built together into a ^(BT)dwelling of God in the Spirit.