1 David went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came out trembling to meet David and asked him, "Why are you by yourself, with no one along?"
2 David told Ahimelech the priest, "The king gave me an order and told me, 'No one must know anything about the business I am sending you on or the orders I have given you.' As for the young men, I have arranged to meet them at a certain place.
3 So now, what do you have at hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found."
4 The priest answered David, "I have no ordinary bread at hand, only holy bread, provided the young men have kept themselves from women."
5 David answered the priest, "Women have certainly been kept from us, as before whenever I set out; the young men's vessels are holy even on a common journey, and how much more today will they be holy in their vessels!"
6 So the priest gave him holy bread, since there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which had been taken away from before the LORD so that hot bread could be put in its place on the day it was removed.
7 One of Saul's servants was there that day, detained before the LORD. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the strongest of Saul's herdsmen.
8 David asked Ahimelech, "Do you have a spear or a sword at hand here? I did not bring my sword or any of my weapons, because the king's business was pressing."
9 The priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it, take it; there is no other here." David said, "There is none like it. Give it to me."
10 That day David set out and fled from Saul, and went to Achish king of Gath.
11 Achish's servants said to him, "Is this not David, the king of the land? Is he not the one they sang about to each other in the dances, 'Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of thousands'?"
12 David took these words to heart and was badly afraid of Achish king of Gath.
13 So he altered his behavior before them and pretended to be mad in their hands; he made marks on the doors of the gate and let spit run down into his beard.
14 Achish told his servants, "You can see the man is mad! Why bring him to me?
15 Am I short of madmen, that you have brought this one to rave at me? Is this fellow to come into my house?"