# 1 Samuel 21 (New King James Version)
David and the Holy Bread

##### Chapter 21
###### 1 Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid when he met David, and said to him, "Why _are_ you alone, and no one is with you?"

###### 2 So David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, 'Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you.' And I have directed _my_ young men to such and such a place.  
###### 3 Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give _me_ five _loaves of_ bread in my hand, or whatever can be found."

###### 4 And the priest answered David and said, "_There is_ no common bread on hand; but there is holy bread, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women."

###### 5 Then David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly, women _have been_ kept from us about three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young men are holy, and _the bread is_ in effect common, even though it was consecrated in the vessel this day."

###### 6 So the priest gave him holy _bread;_ for there was no bread there but the showbread which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread _in its place_ on the day when it was taken away.

###### 7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul _was_ there that day, detained before the Lord. And his name _was_ Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who _belonged_ to Saul.

###### 8 And David said to Ahimelech, "Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste."

###### 9 So the priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take _it._ For _there is_ no other except that one here."
And David said, "_There is_ none like it; give it to me."David Flees to Gath

###### 10 Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.  
###### 11 And the servants of Achish said to him, "_Is_ this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying:
'Saul has slain his thousands,  
And David his ten thousands'?"

###### 12 Now David took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.  
###### 13 So he changed his behavior before them, pretended madness in their hands, scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard.  
###### 14 Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me?  
###### 15 Have I need of madmen, that you have brought this _fellow_ to play the madman in my presence? Shall this _fellow_ come into my house?"