1And he arose and went, and Jonathan came to the city.
2And David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech trembled at meeting David, and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no man (ish) with you?"
3And David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has commanded me (tzivvah) a matter, and said to me, 'Let no man (ish) know anything of the matter about which I am sending you, and which I have commanded you (tzivvah)'; and the young men I have directed to a certain place.
4And now, what is there under your hand? Give five loaves of bread into my hand, or whatever is found."
5And 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 a woman (ishah)."
6And David answered the priest and said to him, "Indeed, a woman (ishah) has been kept from us as yesterday and three days ago; when I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was a common journey; how much more then today will it be holy in the vessel?"
7So the priest gave him the holy thing; for there was no bread there except the bread of the presence, which was removed from before YHWH, to set hot bread in the day it was taken away.
8And there was a man (ish) of the servants of Saul that day, detained before YHWH, and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the mightiest of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
9And David said to Ahimelech, "And is there not here under your hand a spear or a sword? For I have not taken either my sword or my weapons in my hand, because the king's matter was urgent."
10And the priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck in the valley of Elah—behold, it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take it for yourself, take it; for there is no other except it here." And David said, "There is none like it; give it to me."
11And David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and came to Achish king of Gath.
12And the servants of Achish said to him, "Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in the dances, saying, 'Saul has struck his thousands, and David his ten thousands'?"
13And David laid these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish king of Gath.
14And he changed his behavior in their eyes, and feigned madness in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run down on his beard.
15And Achish said to his servants, "Behold, you see a man (ish) behaving madly; why do you bring him to me?
16Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act mad before me? Shall this one come into my house?"