1 Samuel 21:1-6
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 21
The Priest and the Holy Band. 1 David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech was afraid when he encountered David and he said to him, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?” 2 David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king sent me on some business, and he said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about this task on which I am sending you or what I commanded you to do.’ I have sent my young men to such and such a place. 3 Now, therefore, what do you have at hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever can be found.”
4 The priest answered David saying, “I do not have any regular bread at hand, but there is consecrated bread, if the young men have abstained from being with women.” 5 David answered the priest saying, “We have assuredly abstained from being with women these three days since I set out. The young men’s gear is consecrated even on missions that are not consecrated. How much more is their gear consecrated today.”
6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, because there was no other bread than the shewbread. The shewbread had been removed from before the Lord and taken away when it was replaced by the hot bread.[a]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 Samuel 21:6 Ahimelech disregarded the law to give the holy bread—meant only for the priests—to David and his men. This act of kindness upheld the higher law (Lev 19:18). Jesus would later echo the precedence of the law of charity in Mt 12:1-8; Lk 6:1-5.
