David at Nob

21 ^[a]David went to the priest Ahimelech at Nob. Ahimelech was trembling as he went to meet David. “Why are you alone?” he asked David. “Why is no one with you?”

² “The king ordered me to do something,” David answered the priest Ahimelech, “and he told me, ‘No one must know anything about this mission I’m sending you on and about the orders I’ve given you. I’ve stationed ^[b] my young men at a certain place.’ ” ³ ⌞David added,⌟ “Now, what do you have ⌞to eat⌟? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever you can find.”

⁴ “I don’t have any ordinary bread,” the chief priest answered David. “But there is holy bread for the young men if they haven’t had sexual intercourse ⌞today⌟.”

⁵ David answered the priest, “Of course women have been kept away from us as usual when we go ⌞on a mission⌟. The young men’s bodies are kept holy even on ordinary campaigns. How much more then will their bodies be holy today?”

⁶ So the priest gave him holy ⌞bread⌟ because he only had the bread of the presence which had been taken from the Lord’s presence and replaced with warm bread that day.

⁷ That same day one of Saul’s servants who was obligated to stay in the Lord’s presence was there. His name was Doeg. A foreman for Saul’s shepherds, he was from Edom.

⁸ David asked Ahimelech, “Don’t you have a spear or a sword here? I didn’t take either my spear or any other weapon because the king’s business was urgent.”

⁹ The chief priest answered, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Elah Valley, is here. It is wrapped in a cloth behind the priestly ephod.^[c] If you want to take it, take it. There’s no other weapon here.”

David said, “There’s none like it. Let me have the sword.”

David at Gath

¹⁰ That day David left. He was ⌞still⌟ fleeing from Saul when he came to King Achish of Gath. ¹¹ Achish’s officers asked, “Isn’t this David, the king of ⌞his⌟ country? He’s the one they used to sing about in the dances:

¹² When David realized what they had said, he was terrified of King Achish of Gath. ¹³ So he changed his behavior ⌞when he was⌟ in their presence and acted insane ⌞as long as he was⌟ under their authority. He scribbled on the doors of the city gate and let his spit run down his beard.

¹⁴ Achish said to his officers, “Look at him! Don’t you see ⌞that he’s⌟ insane? Why bring him to me? ¹⁵ Do I have such a shortage of lunatics that you bring this man so that he can show me he is insane? Does this man have to come into my house?”

David in Judah and Moab

22 So David escaped from that place and fled to the cave at Adullam. When his brothers and all ⌞the rest⌟ of his family heard about it, they went to him. ² Then everyone who was in trouble, in debt, or bitter about life joined him, and he became their commander. There were about four hundred men with him.

³ From there David went to Mizpah in Moab. He asked the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God is going to do for me.” ⁴ He brought them to the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was living in his fortified camp.

⁵ “Don’t live in your fortified camp,” the prophet Gad told David. “Go to the land of Judah.” So David went to the forest of Hereth.

Saul Massacres the Priests at Nob

⁶ Saul heard that David and his men had been found. Saul was staying in Gibeah under the tamarisk tree at the worship site ^[d] with his spear in his hand and all his officials standing around him. ⁷ He said to his officials, “Listen here, men of Benjamin! Will Jesse’s son give every one of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all officers over a regiment or a battalion of soldiers? ⁸ All of you are plotting against me, and no one informed me when my son entered into a loyalty pledge with Jesse’s son. No one felt sorry for me and informed me that my son has encouraged my servant David to ambush me, as he’s doing now.”

⁹ Then Doeg from Edom, standing with Saul’s officials, answered him, “I saw Jesse’s son when he came to Ahimelech, Ahitub’s son, in Nob. ¹⁰ Ahimelech prayed to the Lord for David and gave him food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

¹¹ Then the king sent for the priest Ahimelech, who was Ahitub’s son, and his entire family who were the priests in Nob. All of them came to the king. ¹² Saul said, “Listen here, son of Ahitub!”

“Yes, sir?” he responded.

¹³ Saul asked him, “Why did you and Jesse’s son plot against me? You gave him bread and a sword and prayed to God for him so that he can rise up against me and ambush me, as he’s doing now.”

¹⁴ Ahimelech asked the king, “But whom among all your officials can you trust like David? Your Majesty, he’s your son-in-law, the commander of your bodyguard. He’s honored in your own household. ¹⁵ Is this the first time I have prayed to God for him? Not at all! You shouldn’t blame me or anyone in my family for this. I knew nothing at all about this.”

¹⁶ Saul said, “Ahimelech, you and your entire family are going to die.”

¹⁷ “Turn and kill the Lord’s priests because they support David,” the king said to the runners standing around him. “When they knew David was fleeing, they didn’t inform me.” But the king’s men refused to attack the Lord’s priests.

¹⁸ So the king said to Doeg, “You turn and attack the priests.” Doeg from Edom turned and attacked the priests, and that day he killed 85 men wearing the linen priestly ephod.^{[e] 19} He also killed the people of Nob, the city of the priests. Using ⌞his⌟ sword, he killed men and women, children and infants, cows, donkeys, and sheep.

²⁰ But Ahimelech, Ahitub’s son, had one son who escaped. His name was Abiathar. He fled to David. ²¹ Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the Lord’s priests.

²² David told Abiathar, “I knew that day when Doeg from Edom was there that he would be certain to tell Saul. I am the one responsible ^[f] for all the lives of your family. ²³ Stay with me. Don’t be afraid. The one who is seeking my life is ⌞also⌟ seeking your life. However, you will be under my protection.”