1 Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no man with you?" 2 David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has commanded me to do something, and has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you. I have sent the young men to a certain place.’ 3 Now therefore what is under your hand? Please give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever is available."
4 The priest answered David, and said, "I have no common bread, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women."
5 David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly, women have been kept from us as usual these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was only a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?" 6 So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread that was taken from before Yahweh, to be replaced with hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
8 David said to Ahimelech, "Isn’t there here under your hand spear or sword? For I haven’t brought my sword or my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste."
9 The priest said, "Behold, the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you would like to take that, take it, for there is no other except that here."
David said, "There is none like that. Give it to me."
10 David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 The servants of Achish said to him, "Isn’t this David the king of the land? Didn’t they sing to one another about him in dances, saying,
‘Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his ten thousands?’"
12 David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 He changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see the man is insane. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Should this fellow come into my house?"
1 大卫到了挪伯祭司亚希米勒那里, 亚希米勒战战兢兢地迎接大卫, 对他说: "你为什么独自一人, 没有人跟随你呢?"(本节在《马索拉抄本》为21:2)
2 大卫对亚希米勒祭司说: "王吩咐我作一件事, 对我说: ‘我差派你, 吩咐你去办的这事, 你不要让任何人知道, 我已经指示我的仆人在某地会面。’
3 现在你手中有什么?求你给我五个饼, 或是别的食物。"
4 祭司回答大卫: "我手中没有普通的饼, 只有圣饼。只有那些没有亲近过女人的年轻人, 才可以吃的。"
5 大卫回答祭司说: "像以往我出征的时候一样, 这次我们出征前, 确实没有亲近女人。虽然这是一次普通的任务, 众仆人的器皿还是清洁的, 何况今天这些器皿更加是清洁的。"
6 于是祭司把圣饼给他, 因为在那里没有别的饼, 只有陈设饼, 就是那些刚从耶和华面前拿下来, 为要换上热的。
7 那天有一个扫罗的臣仆在那里, 留在耶和华面前。他名叫多益, 是以东人, 是扫罗牧羊人中的领袖。
8 大卫问亚希米勒: "你手下有枪有刀没有?因为王的事很急迫, 所以我手里连刀剑或其他武器都没有带来。"
9 祭司回答: "有一把刀, 是你从前在以拉谷击杀的那非利士人歌利亚的刀。这刀用布包着, 放在以弗得后面, 你若是要拿去自用, 就拿去吧, 因为这里除了这刀以外, 再没有别的武器了。"大卫说: "没有比这更好的刀了, 请你给我吧! "
10 那一天大卫起来, 从扫罗面前逃走, 到了迦特王亚吉那里。
11 亚吉的臣仆对亚吉说: "这不是那地的王大卫吗?那里的妇女不是指着他跳舞歌唱说: ‘扫罗杀死千千, 大卫杀死万万’吗?"
12 大卫把这些话记在心里, 他非常怕迦特王亚吉,
13 就在众人面前假装神智不健全, 在他们手下装疯, 在城门的门扇上胡乱涂写, 又让唾沫流到胡须上。
14 亚吉就对他的臣仆说: "你们看, 这个人疯了, 你们为什么把他带到我这里来呢?
15 难道我缺少疯子吗?你们竟把这人带来我面前发疯。这人怎可以进我的家呢?"