| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1 David went to the town of Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he saw him. “Why are you alone?” he asked. “Why is no one with you?” | 1Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And when Ahimelech met David, he trembled and asked him, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?” |
| 2“The king has sent me on a private matter,” David said. “He told me not to tell anyone why I am here. I have told my men where to meet me later. | 2“The king has given me a mission,” David replied. “He told me no one is to know about the mission or charge. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a certain place. |
| 3Now, what is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.” | 3Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” |
| 4“We don’t have any regular bread,” the priest replied. “But there is the holy bread, which you can have if your young men have not slept with any women recently.” | 4“There is no common bread on hand,” the priest replied, “but there is some consecrated bread—provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.” |
| 5“Don’t worry,” David replied. “I never allow my men to be with women when we are on a campaign. And since they stay clean even on ordinary trips, how much more on this one!” | 5David answered, “Women have indeed been kept from us, as is usual when I set out. And the equipment of the young men is holy, as it is even on common missions, and all the more at this time.” |
| 6Since there was no other food available, the priest gave him the holy bread—the Bread of the Presence that was placed before the LORD in the Tabernacle. It had just been replaced that day with fresh bread. | 6So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away. |
| 7Now Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, was there that day, having been detained before the LORD. | 7Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the LORD. And his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief shepherd for Saul. |
| 8David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword? The king’s business was so urgent that I didn’t even have time to grab a weapon!” | 8Then David asked Ahimelech, “Is there not a spear or sword on hand here? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business was urgent.” |
| 9“I only have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah,” the priest replied. “It is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. Take that if you want it, for there is nothing else here.” “There is nothing like it!” David replied. “Give it to me!” | 9The 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, you may take it. For there is no other but this one.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.” |
| 10So David escaped from Saul and went to King Achish of Gath. | 10That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. |
| 11But the officers of Achish were unhappy about his being there. “Isn’t this David, the king of the land?” they asked. “Isn’t he the one the people honor with dances, singing, ‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?” | 11But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing about him in their dances, saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?” |
| 12David heard these comments and was very afraid of what King Achish of Gath might do to him. | 12Now David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath. |
| 13So he pretended to be insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard. | 13So he changed his behavior before them and feigned madness in their hands; he scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard. |
| 14Finally, King Achish said to his men, “Must you bring me a madman? | 14Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you can see that the man is insane! Why have you brought him to me? |
| 15We already have enough of them around here! Why should I let someone like this be my guest?” | 15Am I in need of madmen, that you have brought this man to rave in my presence? Must this man come into my house?” |
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