211 Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest ; and Ahimelech 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, ' 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 e place .' 3 "Now therefore, what do you have on hand ? Give me five loaves of bread , or whatever can be found ." 4 The priest answered David and said , "There is no ordinary bread on hand , but there is consecrated bread ; if only the young men have kept themselves from women ." 5 David answered the priest and said to him, " Surely e women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the vessels of the young men were holy , though it was an ordinary journey ; how much e more e then today will their vessels be holy?" 6 So the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the 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 Doeg the Edomite , the chief of Saul's shepherds . 8 David said to Ahimelech , "Now is there not a spear or a sword on hand ? For I brought neither e my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's matter was urgent ." 9 Then the priest said , " The sword of Goliath the Philistine , whom you killed 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 Achish king of Gath . 11 But the servants of Achish said to him, "Is this not David the king of the land ? Did they not sing of this one as they danced , saying , 'Saul has slain his thousands , And David his ten thousands '?" 12 David took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath . 13 So he 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 ?"
