1 And David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech trembled{yirah: anxious trembling} when he met{pigsha: formal encounter} him, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no man is with you?”
2 And David answered Ahimelech the priest at that time and said to him, “The king has charged {khadar: official commission} me and said to me, ‘Let no one know what I have sent you to do.’ And I said to my men, ‘Hide {hisater: conceal} me in a place.’”
3 Then David said to the priest, “Now therefore, what is under your hand {yad: possession}? Give me five loaves {chalavot: flat cakes} of bread, or whatever there is.”
4 And the priest answered David and said, “I have no common {cholim: ordinary for daily use} bread under my hand, but only the bread for the priests, if the men have kept themselves {nishmeru: maintained ritual purity} from women.”
5 And David said to Achiel the priest, “Truly the women have been withheld from us just as when I went out {hillokhi: departure context}, for the bodies of the young men are consecrated {qadosh: set apart for service} in this matter.”
6 And the priest gave him the holy bread {kodesh: set-apart}, for there was no bread for them in that place except the bread of the presence {panim: set before the sanctuary}, which was removed to put hot bread in its place on the day it was taken away.
7 And behold, a man of Saul’s servants {misharei: royal staff} was there that day, detained before the LORD {YHWH, Covenant King}; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, chief of Saul’s herdsmen.
8 And David said to Ahimelech, “Is there no spear {chanit: thrusting weapon} or sword under your hand? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons, because the king’s mission {ma‛ala: royal errand} is urgent.”
9 And the priest said, “Behold {hinneh: attention marker}, the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod {efod: priestly garment}. If you will take it, take it, for there is no other sword here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
10 And David fled {vayyanas: urgent escape} from Saul and went to Achish {akish: Philistine ruler}, king of Gath.
11 And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this David, the king {melekh: acclaimed leader} of the land? Is he not the one of whom they sing {hazzamer: sing back and forth} to one another in dances, saying, ‘Saul has struck his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”
12 And David laid up {taqa: set in mind} these words in his heart, and he feared greatly because of Achish {Akish: Philistine ruler}, the king of Gath.
13 And he changed his behavior before them and behaved crazily {vayithallal: feigned insanity} in their eyes as a madman; he scratched marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down upon his beard while he was in their hands {be-yadam: under their control}.
14 And Achish said to his servants, “Behold {hinneh: attention marker}, the man is insane {shalui: deranged mind}; why have you brought him to me?”
15 Do I lack madmen {mishshagagaim: erratic ones} that you have brought him to behave crazily {yir’eh: to be displayed} before me? Shall he come into my house?