David Takes the Consecrated Bread (Matthew 12:1–8; Mark 2:23–28; Luke 6:1–5)
2 UDB David deceived Ahimelek by replying, "The king sent me. But he does not want anyone to know anything about what he sent me to do. I have told my men where they should meet me. BSB BSB: “The king has given me a mission,” David replied. “He told me no one is to know about the mission on which I am sending you. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a certain place.
3 UDB Now I want to know, do you have any food here for me to eat? Could you give me five loaves of bread or whatever other food that you can find?" BSB BSB: Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.”
4 UDB The priest answered David, "There is no ordinary bread here, but I have some of the sacred bread that was placed before Yahweh. Your men may eat it if they have not slept with women recently." BSB BSB: “There is no common bread on hand,” the priest replied, “but there is some consecrated bread—provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.”
5 UDB David replied, "They have not been near women for many days. I do not allow my men to defile themselves by sleeping with women while they are preparing to fight in battles. They must continue to keep themselves acceptable to God when they are on ordinary trips, and today they have certainly kept themselves acceptable to God because now we are doing something very special." BSB BSB: David answered, “Women have indeed been kept from us, as is usual when I set out. And the bodies of the young men are holy even on common missions. How much more so today!”
6 UDB Now the only bread that the priest had was the bread on display before God, the bread that had been placed in Yahweh's presence in the sacred tent. So the priest gave David some of that bread. On that day the priest had taken those loaves from the table and replaced them with fresh loaves. BSB BSB: So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away.
7 UDB It happened that Doeg, who was from the people of Edom, was there on that day to make himself acceptable to Yahweh, and he saw what Ahimelek did. He was one of Saul's officials and the leader of Saul's shepherds. BSB BSB: Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the LORD. And his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief shepherd for Saul.
David Flees to Gath (Psalm 34:1–22; Psalm 56:1–13)
8 UDB David asked Ahimelek, "Do you have a spear or a sword that I can use? The king appointed us to do this task and told us to leave immediately, so I did not have time to bring any weapons." BSB BSB: Then David asked Ahimelech, “Is there not a spear or sword on hand here? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s mission was urgent.”
9 UDB Ahimelek replied, "I have only the sword that belonged to Goliath the giant from the Philistine people whom you killed in Elah Valley. It is wrapped in a cloth and is behind the sacred apron in the sacred tent. If you want it, take it because I have no other weapon here." David replied, "Truly, there is no other sword that is as good as that one! Give it to me." BSB BSB: The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want, you may take it. For there is no other but this one here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
10 UDB So Ahimelek gave it to him, and David left there. He and his men went to the city of Gath in the region of Philistia to stay with King Achish. BSB BSB: That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.
11 UDB But the officers of King Achish did not approve of David's coming. They said to King Achish, "This man David is just as powerful as the king of his land. Our enemies, the Israelite people, honored him by dancing and singing, 'Saul has killed thousands of his enemies, but David has killed tens of thousands of them!'" BSB BSB: But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing about him in their dances, saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”
12 UDB David heard what those men were saying, so he was afraid of what King Achish might do to him. BSB BSB: Now David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
13 UDB So he pretended that he was insane. He started scratching on the gates of the city and allowing his saliva to run down his beard. BSB BSB: So he changed his behavior before them and feigned madness in their hands; he scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard.
14 UDB Then King Achish said to his men, "Look at this man! He is acting like an insane man! Why have you brought him to me? BSB BSB: Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you can see that the man is insane! Why have you brought him to me?
15 UDB Have you brought him because I do not already have enough insane men here in my house?" BSB BSB: Am I in need of madmen, that you have brought this man to rave in my presence? Must this man come into my house?”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.