1 Samuel 21
He Ate the Bread Reserved for Priests
← 1 Samuel 20 · 1 Samuel: all chapters · 1 Samuel 22 →
The Loaves of Presentation at Nomba
21:1David rose and went away, and Jonathan entered the city.
21:2David came to Nomba, to Abimelech the priest. Abimelech was astonished at meeting him and said to him, “Why are you alone, with no one with you?”
21:3David said to the priest, “The king commanded me a matter today and said to me, ‘Let no one know the matter on which I am sending you and concerning which I commanded you.’ I have solemnly instructed the young men at the place called God’s Faithfulness, Phellani Allemoni.
21:4Now, if five loaves are at hand, give me whatever is available.”
21:5The priest answered David and said, “There are no common loaves at hand, only holy loaves. If the young men have kept themselves from a woman, then he may eat.”
21:6David answered the priest and said to him, “But we have abstained from a woman yesterday and the third day. When I went out on the road, all the young men had been purified. The road itself is common, for it will be sanctified today through my equipment.”
21:7Abimelech the priest gave him the loaves of presentation, for there was no bread there except the loaves of the Presence, removed from before the Lord so that hot bread could be set out on the day he took them.
21:8One of Saul’s young servants was there that day, detained, neessaran, before the Lord. His name was Doeg the Syrian, tending Saul’s mules.
The Sword of Goliath
21:9David said to Abimelech, “See whether a spear or sword is here at hand. I have not brought my sword or the equipment, because the king’s matter was urgent.”
21:10The priest said, “Look, the sword of Goliath the foreigner, whom you struck in the Valley of Elah: it is wrapped in a garment. If you want to take it, take it, for there is no other here.” David said, “Look, there is none like it. Give it to me.”
David Feigns Madness Before Achish
21:11He gave it to him. David rose and fled that day from Saul, and David came to Achish, king of Gath.
21:12Achish’s servants said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? Is this not the one for whom the dancing women led the song, saying, ‘Saul has struck his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”
21:13David placed the words in his heart and became very afraid of Achish, king of Gath.
21:14He altered his face before him and pretended that day. He drummed on the city’s doors, was carried about in his hands, and fell against the gate’s doors. His saliva ran down onto his beard.
21:15Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see a man subject to fits. Why have you brought him to me?”
21:16“Do I lack people subject to fits, that you have brought him to have fits before me? This one shall not enter a house.”
← 1 Samuel 20 · 1 Samuel: all chapters · 1 Samuel 22 →
Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.