1 Samuel 21

All 15 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.

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1. 1David traveled to Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech was afraid when he met David and asked, 'Why are you alone, and why is no one with you?'
2. 2David told Ahimelech the priest, "The king gave me a secret mission. He said, 'No one is to know anything about what I'm sending you to do or what I've ordered.' I've told my men to meet me at a certain place."
3. 3Now, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread — or whatever food you can spare.
4. 4The priest answered David, "I don't have any ordinary bread, only the holy bread. I can give it to you if your men have kept themselves from sleeping with women."
5. 5David answered the priest, "Truly, women have been kept from us for about 3 days since I left. The vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is, in a way, common, even though it was sanctified today in the vessel."
6. 6So the priest gave him the holy bread, since it was the only bread available. It was the special bread placed before the LORD, which was replaced with hot bread on the day it was removed.
7. 7Now it happened that one of Saul's servants was there that day, detained before the LORD. His name was Doeg, an Edomite, and he was the chief of Saul's herdsmen.
8. 8David asked Ahimelech, "Do you have a spear or sword here? I didn't bring my sword or any weapons — the king's mission was so urgent I had to leave in a hurry."
9. 9The priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine — the one you killed in the valley of Elah — is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. You can take it if you want, but it's the only weapon here." David said, "There's nothing better than that. Give it to me."
10. 10That same day, David fled because he feared Saul and went to King Achish of Gath.
11. 11But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David, the king of the land? Didn't they sing about him in their dances, saying, 'Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands'?"
12. 12David pondered these words in his heart and was very afraid of Achish, the king of Gath.
13. 13So he pretended to be insane while they watched. He scratched at the doors of the city gate and let spit dribble down into his beard.
14. 14Achish said to his servants, "Look at him — the man is clearly out of his mind! Why did you bring him to me?"
15. 15Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act crazy in front of me? Should this fellow come into my house?