I Samuelis 21

1 Venit autem David in Nobe ad Achimelech sacerdotem: et obstupuit Achimelech, eo quod venisset David. Et dixit ei: Quare tu solus, et nullus est tecum?

Then David came 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?"

2 Et ait David ad Achimelech sacerdotem: Rex præcepit mihi sermonem, et dixit: Nemo sciat rem, propter quam missus es a me, et cuiusmodi præcepta tibi dederim: nam et pueris condixi in illum et illum locum.

David said to 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 arranged to meet the young men at a certain place.'

3 Nunc ergo si quid habes ad manum, vel quinque panes, da mihi, aut quidquid inveneris.

Now, if there are five loaves of bread under your control, give them into my hand, or whatever there is."

4 Et respondens sacerdos ad David, ait illi: Non habeo laicos panes ad manum, sed tantum panem sanctum: si mundi sunt pueri, maxime a mulieribus?

And the priest answered David, and said, "There is no common bread in my control, but there is holy bread. If the young men have kept themselves from women, they may eat of it."

5 Et respondit David sacerdoti, et dixit ei: Equidem, si de mulieribus agitur: continuimus nos ab heri et nudiustertius, quando egrediebamur, et fuerunt vasa puerorum sancta. Porro via hæc polluta est, sed et ipsa hodie sanctificabitur in vasis.

And David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly women have been kept from us as always when I set out. All the young men are holy, even when it is an ordinary mission. So how much more today will their vessels be holy?"

6 Dedit ergo ei sacerdos sanctificatum panem. Neque enim erat ibi panis, nisi tantum panes propositionis, qui sublati fuerant a facie Domini, ut ponerentur panes calidi.

So the priest gave him what had been consecrated, for there was no bread there but the show bread, that had been removed before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.

7 Erat autem ibi vir quidam de servis Saul, in die illa, intus in tabernaculo Domini: et nomen eius Doeg Idumæus, potentissimus pastorum Saul.

Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.

8 Dixit autem David ad Achimelech: Si habes hic ad manum hastam, aut gladium? Quia gladium meum, et arma mea non tuli mecum. Sermo enim regis urgebat.

David said to Ahimelech, "Isn't there here under your control spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste."

9 Et dixit sacerdos: Ecce hic gladius Goliath Philisthæi, quem percussisti in Valle Terebinthi, est involutus pallio post ephod: si istum vis tollere, tolle. Neque enim hic est alius absque eo. Et ait David: Non est huic alter similis, da mihi eum.

The priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, look, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind an 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."

10 Surrexit itaque David, et fugit in die illa a facie Saul: et venit ad Achis regem Geth:

David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

11 dixeruntque servi Achis ad eum cum vidissent David: Numquid non iste est David, rex terræ? Nonne huic cantabant per choros, dicentes: Percussit Saul mille, et David decem millia?

The servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another about him in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?'"

12 Posuit autem David sermones istos in corde suo, et extimuit valde a facie Achis regis Geth.

David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

13 Et immutavit os suum coram eis, et collabebatur inter manus eorum: et impingebat in ostia portæ, defluebantque salivæ eius in barbam.

He changed his behavior before them, and pretended to be mad in their hands, and drummed on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run down his beard.

14 Et ait Achis ad servos suos: Vidistis hominem insanum: quare adduxistis eum ad me?

Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me?

15 An desunt nobis furiosi, quod introduxistis istum, ut fureret me præsente? Hiccine ingredietur domum meam?

Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?"