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The Blue Letter Bible

1 Samuel 21 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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David Runs from Saul

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:1

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:1 - [fn]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?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:2

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:2 - “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.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:3

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:3 - Now, what is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:4

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:4 - “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.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:5

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:5 - “Don’t worry,” David replied. “I never allow my men to be with women when they are on a campaign. And since they stay clean even on ordinary trips, how much more on this one!”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:6

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:6 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:7

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:7 - Now Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, was there that day, having been detained before the LORD.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:8

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:8 - 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!”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:9

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:9 - “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.”
“There is nothing like it!” David replied. “Give it to me!”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:10

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:10 - So David escaped from Saul and went to King Achish of Gath.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:11

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:11 - 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,
‘Saul has killed his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:12

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:12 - David heard these comments and was very afraid of what King Achish of Gath might do to him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:13

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:13 - So he pretended to be insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:14

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:14 - Finally, King Achish said to his men, “Must you bring me a madman?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 21:15

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 21:15 - We already have enough of them around here! Why should I let someone like this be my guest?”
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
Verses 21:1-15 are numbered 21:2-16 in Hebrew text.
The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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1 Samuel Chapter 21 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras