{"meta":{"source":"Prime Bible","sourceUrl":"https://primebible.com","license":"Public domain (translation text); see citation policy at /citation-policy","organization":"501(c)(3) nonprofit — EIN 41-2531951","canonicalUrl":"https://primebible.com/web/1-samuel/21","llmTxt":"https://primebible.com/llms.txt","generatedAt":"2026-06-09T22:04:59.395Z"},"reference":{"translation":"WEB","book":"1 Samuel","bookSlug":"1-samuel","chapter":21,"testament":"OLD"},"navigation":{"previousChapter":20,"nextChapter":22,"totalChapters":31,"totalVerses":15},"verses":[{"verseNumber":1,"text":"Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, |Why are you alone, and no man with you?|"},{"verseNumber":2,"text":"David said to Ahimelech the priest, |The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, 'Let no man know anything of the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you; and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.'"},{"verseNumber":3,"text":"Now therefore what is under your hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present.|"},{"verseNumber":4,"text":"The priest answered David, and said, |There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.|"},{"verseNumber":5,"text":"David answered the priest, and said to him, |Truly, women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?|"},{"verseNumber":6,"text":"So the priest gave him holy [bread]; for there was no bread there but the show bread, that was taken from before Yahweh, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away."},{"verseNumber":7,"text":"Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul."},{"verseNumber":8,"text":"David said to Ahimelech, |Isn't there here under your hand spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.|"},{"verseNumber":9,"text":"The priest said, |The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it; for there is no other except that here.| David said, |There is none like that. Give it to me.|"},{"verseNumber":10,"text":"David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath."},{"verseNumber":11,"text":"The servants of Achish said to him, |Isn't this David the king of the land? Didn't they sing one to another about him in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?'|"},{"verseNumber":12,"text":"David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath."},{"verseNumber":13,"text":"He changed his behavior before them, and pretended to be mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard."},{"verseNumber":14,"text":"Then Achish said to his servants, |Look, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me?"},{"verseNumber":15,"text":"Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?|"}],"citation":{"inline":"1 Samuel 21 (WEB)","markdown":"[1 Samuel 21](https://primebible.com/web/1-samuel/21)","sbl":"Prime Bible. *The Bible.* WEB. https://primebible.com/web/1-samuel/21 (accessed 2026-06-09)."}}