David Goes to See Ahimelech

21 David went to Nob to see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech ·shook with fear [trembled; ^Cperhaps rumors of Saul’s displeasure were circulating] when he saw David, and he asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”

² David answered him, “The king ·gave me a special order [sent me on a mission; commissioned me]. He told me, ‘No one must know ·what I am sending you to do or what I told you to do [about the mission I am sending you on].’ I told my [^Lyoung] men ·where to meet me [to meet me at a certain place]. ³ Now, what ·food do you have with you [^Lis at hand]? Give me five loaves of bread or anything you find.”

⁴ The priest said to David, “I don’t have any ·plain [ordinary; regular] bread here, but I do have some ·holy [consecrated; holy] bread [^Cfrom the Table of Presence; Ex. 25:23–30]. You may eat it if your men have ·kept themselves from [not recently slept with] women [^Csexual relations rendered a man ritually unclean; Lev. 15:16–18].”

⁵ David answered [^Lthe priest and said to him], “No women have been near us ·for days [or as usual on a campaign]. My men always keep ·themselves [their bodies/^Lvessels] holy, even ·when we do ordinary work [on an ordinary/common journey]. And this is especially true when the ·work [journey] is holy.”

⁶ So the priest gave David the ·holy [consecrated] bread ·from the presence of God [—the bread of the Presence—] because there was no other. Each day the holy bread was replaced with ·hot [fresh] bread.

⁷ One of Saul’s servants happened to be there that day. He had been ·held there [detained] before the Lord [^Cfor some unspecified ritual purpose]. He was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.

⁸ David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword here? The king’s business was very ·important [urgent], so I ·left without [brought neither…nor] my sword or any other weapon.”

⁹ The priest answered, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, the one you ·killed [^Lstruck] in the Valley of Elah [ch. 17], is here. It is wrapped in a cloth behind the ·holy vest [ephod; Ex. 28:6–14]. If you want it, you may take it. There’s no other sword here but that one.”

David said, “There is ·no other sword [none] like it. Give it to me.”