1 Samuel 21:1-12 ▼

1 Then came Dauid to Nob to Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech was astonied at the meeting of Dauid, & sayd vnto him: Why art thou alone and no man with thee?

2 And Dauid said to Ahimelech the priest: The king hath commaunded me a certaine thing, and hath sayd vnto me, Let no man know wher about I send thee, and what I haue commaunded thee: And I haue appoynted my seruauntes to suche and suche places.

3 Nowe therfore if thou hast ought vnder thyne hand, geue me fyue loaues of bread, or what commeth to hande.

4 And the priest aunswered Dauid, and sayd: There is no common bread vnder myne hand, but here is halowed bread: if the young me haue kept them selues, specially from women.

5 Dauid aunswered the priest, and sayd vnto him: Of a trueth, women hath ben separated fro vs this two or three days since I came out, & the vessels of the young men were holy: Howebeit, this way is vnpure, and howe muche more shall there be holines in the vessell?

6 And so the priest gaue him halowed bread: for there was none other bread there, saue the shew bread that was taken from before the Lord, to put freshe bread there the day that it was taken away.

7 (And there was there the same day a certaine man, of the seruautes of Saul, abyding before ye Lord, named Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of Sauls heardmen.)

8 And Dauid sayd vnto Ahimelech: Is not here vnder thyne hand either speare or sworde? for I haue neither brought my sword nor my harnesse with me, because the kinges busines required haste.

9 And the priest sayd: The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou sluest in the valley of Elah, beholde it is here wrapt in a cloth behind the Ephod: If thou wilt take that, take it: for ther is no other saue that here. And Dauid sayd: There is none to that, geue it me.

10 And Dauid arose, & fled the same day from the presence of Saul, and went to Achis the king of Gath.

11 And the seruauntes of Achis sayde vnto him: Is not this Dauid the king of the land? Dyd they not sing vnto him in daunses, saying: Saul hath slayne his thousand, and Dauid his ten thousand?

12 And Dauid put those wordes into his heart, & was sore afrayde of Achis the king of Gath.