David Flees from Saul

¹David went to the priest Ahimelech in Nob. Ahimelech came out trembling to meet him and asked, “Why did you come here all by yourself?”

²“I am here on the king's business,” David answered. “He told me not to let anyone know what he sent me to do. As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place.

³Now, then, what supplies do you have? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.”

⁴The priest said, “I don't have any ordinary bread, only sacred bread; you can have it if your men haven't had sexual relations recently.”

⁵“Of course they haven't,” answered David. “My men always keep themselves ritually pure even when we go out on an ordinary mission; how much more this time when we are on a special mission!”

⁶So the priest gave David the sacred bread, because the only bread he had was the loaves offered to God, which had been removed from the sacred table and replaced by fresh bread.

⁷(Saul's chief herdsman, Doeg, who was from Edom, happened to be there that day, because he had to fulfill a religious obligation.)

⁸David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or a sword you can give me? The king's orders made me leave in such a hurry that I didn't have time to get my sword or any other weapon.”

⁹Ahimelech answered, “I have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in Elah Valley; it is behind the ephod, wrapped in a cloth. If you want it, take it—it's the only weapon here.” “Give it to me,” David said. “There is not a better sword anywhere!”

¹⁰So David left, fleeing from Saul, and went to King Achish of Gath.

¹¹The king's officials said to Achish, “Isn't this David, the king of his country? This is the man about whom the women sang, as they danced, ‘Saul has killed thousands, but David has killed tens of thousands.’”

¹²Their words made a deep impression on David, and he became very much afraid of King Achish.

¹³So whenever David was around them, he pretended to be insane and acted like a madman when they tried to restrain him; he would scribble on the city gates and let spit drool down his beard.

¹⁴So Achish said to his officials, “Look! The man is crazy! Why did you bring him to me?

¹⁵Don't I have enough madmen already? Why bring another one to bother me with his crazy actions right here in my own house?”

The Slaughter of the Priests

¹David fled from the city of Gath and went to a cave near the town of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of the family heard that he was there, they joined him.

²People who were oppressed or in debt or dissatisfied went to him, about four hundred men in all, and he became their leader.

³David went on from there to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come and stay with you until I find out what God is going to do for me.”

⁴So David left his parents with the king of Moab, and they stayed there as long as David was hiding out in the cave.

⁵Then the prophet Gad came to David and said, “Don't stay here; go at once to the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

⁶One day Saul was in Gibeah, sitting under a tamarisk tree on a hill, with his spear in his hand, and all his officers were standing around him. He was told that David and his men had been located,

⁷and he said to his officers, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Do you think that David will give fields and vineyards to all of you, and make you officers in his army?

⁸Is that why you are plotting against me? Not one of you told me that my own son had made an alliance with David. No one is concerned about me or tells me that David, one of my own men, is right now looking for a chance to kill me, and that my son has encouraged him!”

⁹Doeg was standing there with Saul's officers, and he said, “I saw David when he went to Ahimelech son of Ahitub in Nob.

¹⁰Ahimelech asked the Lord what David should do, and then he gave David some food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

¹¹So King Saul sent for the priest Ahimelech and all his relatives, who were also priests in Nob, and they came to him.

¹²Saul said to Ahimelech, “Listen, Ahimelech!” “At your service, sir,” he answered.

¹³Saul asked him, “Why are you and David plotting against me? Why did you give him some food and a sword, and consult God for him? Now he has turned against me and is waiting for a chance to kill me!”

¹⁴Ahimelech answered, “David is the most faithful officer you have! He is your own son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard, and highly respected by everyone in the royal court.

¹⁵Yes, I consulted God for him, and it wasn't the first time. As for plotting against you, Your Majesty must not accuse me or anyone else in my family. I don't know anything about this matter!”

¹⁶The king said, “Ahimelech, you and all your relatives must die.”

¹⁷Then he said to the guards standing near him, “Kill the Lord's priests! They conspired with David and did not tell me that he had run away, even though they knew it all along.” But the guards refused to lift a hand to kill the Lord's priests.

¹⁸So Saul said to Doeg, “You kill them!”—and Doeg killed them all. On that day he killed eighty-five priests who were qualified to carry the ephod.

¹⁹Saul also had all the other inhabitants of Nob, the city of priests, put to death: men and women, children and babies, cattle, donkeys, and sheep—they were all killed.

²⁰But Abiathar, one of Ahimelech's sons, escaped, and went and joined David.

²¹He told him how Saul had slaughtered the priests of the Lord.

²²David said to him, “When I saw Doeg there that day, I knew that he would be sure to tell Saul. So I am responsible for the death of all your relatives.

²³Stay with me and don't be afraid. Saul wants to kill both you and me, but you will be safe with me.”

God's Judgment and Grace

¹Why do you boast, great one, of your evil? God's faithfulness is eternal.

²You make plans to ruin others; your tongue is like a sharp razor. You are always inventing lies.

³You love evil more than good and falsehood more than truth.

⁴You love to hurt people with your words, you liar!

⁵So God will ruin you forever; he will take hold of you and snatch you from your home; he will remove you from the world of the living.

⁶Righteous people will see this and be afraid; then they will laugh at you and say,

⁷“Look, here is someone who did not depend on God for safety, but trusted instead in great wealth and looked for security in being wicked.”

⁸But I am like an olive tree growing in the house of God; I trust in his constant love forever and ever.

⁹I will always thank you, God, for what you have done; in the presence of your people I will proclaim that you are good.