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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>1 Samuel 21 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/1_samuel/21.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/1_samuel/21-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > 1 Samuel 21</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../1_samuel/20.htm" title="1 Samuel 20">◄</a> 1 Samuel 21 <a href="../1_samuel/22.htm" title="1 Samuel 22">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/1_samuel/21.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">David Runs from Saul</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span><a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a>David went to the town of Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he saw him. “Why are you alone?” he asked. “Why is no one with you?”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>“The king has sent me on a private matter,” David said. “He told me not to tell anyone why I am here. I have told my men where to meet me later. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Now, what is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>“We don’t have any regular bread,” the priest replied. “But there is the holy bread, which you can have if your young men have not slept with any women recently.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>“Don’t worry,” David replied. “I never allow my men to be with women when we are on a campaign. And since they stay clean even on ordinary trips, how much more on this one!”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Since there was no other food available, the priest gave him the holy bread—the Bread of the Presence that was placed before the LORD in the Tabernacle. It had just been replaced that day with fresh bread.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Now Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, was there that day, having been detained before the LORD.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a></p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword? The king’s business was so urgent that I didn’t even have time to grab a weapon!”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>“I only have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah,” the priest replied. “It is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. Take that if you want it, for there is nothing else here.”</p><p class="reg">“There is nothing like it!” David replied. “Give it to me!”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>So David escaped from Saul and went to King Achish of Gath. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>But the officers of Achish were unhappy about his being there. “Isn’t this David, the king of the land?” they asked. “Isn’t he the one the people honor with dances, singing,</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">‘Saul has killed his thousands,</p><p class="line2">and David his ten thousands’?”</p><p class="b"/><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>David heard these comments and was very afraid of what King Achish of Gath might do to him. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>So he pretended to be insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>Finally, King Achish said to his men, “Must you bring me a madman? <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/1_samuel/21-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>We already have enough of them around here! Why should I let someone like this be my guest?”</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">21:1 </span><span class="ft">Verses 21:1-15 are numbered 21:2-16 in Hebrew text.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">21:7 </span><span class="ft">The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of <a href="http://www.tyndale.com">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</a>, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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