1 And Dawiḏ came to Noḇ, to Aḥimeleḵ the kohĕn. And Aḥimeleḵ trembled when he met Dawiḏ, and asked him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”
2 And Dawiḏ said to Aḥimeleḵ the kohĕn, “The sovereign has commanded me a word, and said to me, ‘Let no one know whatever of the word about which I send you, and which I have commanded you.’ And I have directed my young men to such and such a place.
3 “And now, what do you have on hand? Give five loaves into my hand, or whatever is found.”
4 And the kohĕn answered Dawiḏ and said, “There is no ordinary bread on hand, but there is qodesh bread – provided the young men have kept themselves from women.”
5 And Dawiḏ answered the kohĕn, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young men are qodesh, and it is an ordinary mission, and also, it was qodesh in the vessel today.”
6 Then the kohĕn gave him qodesh bread, for there was no bread there except the showbread which had been taken from before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, in order to put hot bread in on the day it is taken away.
7 Now one of the servants of Sha’ul was there that day, detained before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄. And his name was Do’ĕḡ, an Eḏomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Sha’ul.
8 And Dawiḏ said to Aḥimeleḵ, “Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the matter of the sovereign was urgent.”
9 And the kohĕn said, “The sword of Golyath the Pelishtite, whom you smote in the Valley of Ĕlah. See, it is wrapped in a garment behind the shoulder garment. If you would take it, take it. For there is none other except this one here.” And Dawiḏ said, “There is none like it, give it to me.”
10 And Dawiḏ rose and fled that day from before Sha’ul, and went to Aḵish the sovereign of Gath.
11 But the servants of Aḵish said to him, “Is this not Dawiḏ the sovereign of the land? Did they not sing of him to each other in dances, saying, ‘Sha’ul smote his thousands, and Dawiḏ his ten thousands’?”
12 And Dawiḏ took these words to heart, and was very much afraid of Aḵish the sovereign of Gath,
13 and changed his behaviour before them, and feigned madness in their hands, and scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down on his beard.
14 Then Aḵish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is acting like a madman. Why do you bring him to me?
15 “Am I short of madmen, that you have brought this one to act as a madman near me? Should this one come into my house?”