Every year this man went up from his city to worship and to offer sacrifices to the Lord of Armies at Shiloh. Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were serving there as priests of the Lord.

Once, when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the Lord’s temple.

Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the young boy served the Lord as an attendant to Eli the priest.

The practice of the priests with the people was that whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, while the meat was still boiling, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand.

He would thrust it into the basin, kettle, caldron, or cooking pot. The priest would then take for himself everything that the fork brought up. This is the way they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh.

Before the people had even burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and tell the person who was making the sacrifice, “Give me meat for the priest to roast, because he will not accept boiled meat from you, but only raw meat.”

Out of all the tribes of Israel, I chose him to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the special vest before me. I also gave the house of your father all the food offerings from the people of Israel.

I will raise up a faithful priest for myself, one who will act according to what is in my heart and in my soul. I will build an enduring house for him, and he will walk before my anointed one forever.

Then anyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to the faithful priest to receive a piece of silver and a loaf of bread. The one who is left will say, “Please appoint me to one of the priests’ offices, so that I can eat a scrap of bread.”

That is why the priests of Dagon and any people who enter Dagon’s temple in Ashdod do not step on the threshold of Dagon to this day.

The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and asked, “What should we do with the Lord’s ark? Advise us how we should send it back to its place.”

including Ahijah son of Ahitub. (Ahitub was the brother of Ichabod and the son of Phinehas, who was the son of Eli, the priest of the Lord in Shiloh.) Ahijah was wearing the special vest. The men did not know that Jonathan was gone.

While Saul was talking to the priest, the uproar in the camp of the Philistines continued and got even louder, so Saul said to the priest, “Stop drawing lots!”

Saul said, “We will pursue the Philistines by night and take plunder from them until the morning light. We will not allow a man of them to survive.” The people responded, “Do whatever seems good to you.” But the priest said, “We should consult God here.”

David and the Priests

David came to Ahimelek the priest at Nob. When he came to meet David, Ahimelek was trembling with fear, and he said to David, “Why are you alone? Why isn’t there anyone with you?”

David said to Ahimelek the priest, “The king sent me on a mission and told me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about where I am sending you or about your orders.’ I have instructed the young men to wait for me at a certain place.

The priest answered David, “I do not have any ordinary bread, but there is holy bread—I can give it to you only if your young men have kept themselves away from women.”

David answered the priest, “Yes indeed, women have been kept away from us just as they have been on previous occasions. Whenever I go out on a mission, the bodies of the young men are kept holy even if it is only an ordinary journey. How much more then shall their bodies be holy today?”

So the priest gave him holy bread, because there was no bread there except for the Bread of the Presence which had been removed from the presence of the Lord and replaced with hot bread.

The priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here. It is wrapped in a cloth behind the place where the special vest is kept. If you would like to take that, take it, because there is nothing else here.” David said, “There is no other like that one. Give it to me.”

The Massacre of the Priests

Saul heard that David and the men with him had been located. Saul was sitting under the tamarisk tree on an elevated location in Gibeah. He had his spear in his hand, and all his attendants were standing around him.

The priest inquired of the Lord for him and gave him supplies and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

Then the king summoned the priest, Ahimelek son of Ahitub, along with all of his father’s house, that is, all the priests who were in Nob, and all of them came to the king.

Then the king said to the bodyguards who were standing around him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand too is with David. They knew that he was fleeing, but they did not inform me.” But the attendants of the king would not raise a hand against the priests of the Lord.

The king said to Doeg, “You turn and attack the priests!” Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the special linen garment.