David and the Holy Bread

21 Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And ^(A)Ahimelech was ^(B)afraid when he met David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”

³² in Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah;

²⁶ how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, ^(A)which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”

⁴ So Samuel did what the Lord said, and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town ^(A)trembled at his coming, and said, ^(B)“Do you come peaceably?”

^3 (A)Ahijah the son of Ahitub, ^(B)Ichabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh, was ^(C)wearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.

⁹ Then answered ^(A)Doeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said, “I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to ^(B)Ahimelech the son of ^(C)Ahitub. ^10 (D)And he inquired of the Lord for him, ^(E)gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

¹¹ So the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were in Nob. And they all came to the king. ¹² And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub!”

He answered, “Here I am, my lord.”

¹³ Then Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day?”

¹⁴ So Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as ^(F)faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, who goes at your bidding, and is honorable in your house? ¹⁵ Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king impute anything to his servant, or to any in the house of my father. For your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much.”

¹⁶ And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all ^(G)your father’s house!” ¹⁷ Then the king said to the guards who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me.” But the servants of the king ^(H)would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the Lord. ¹⁸ And the king said to Doeg, “You turn and kill the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite turned and ^[a]struck the priests, and ^(I)killed on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod. ^19 (J)Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep—with the edge of the sword.