David Flees to Nob

21 David went to the priest Ahimelech^(A) at Nob.^(B) Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?”

² David answered the priest Ahimelech, “The king gave me a mission, but he told me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or what I have ordered you to do.’ I have stationed my young men at a certain place. ³ Now what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever can be found.”

⁴ The priest told him, “There is no ordinary bread on hand. However, there is consecrated bread,^(C) but the young men may eat it^[a] only if they have kept themselves from women.”^(D)

⁵ David answered him, “I swear that women are being kept from us, as always when I go out to battle.^(E) The young men’s bodies^[b] are consecrated^(F) even on an ordinary mission, so of course their bodies are consecrated today.” ⁶ So the priest gave him the consecrated bread,^(G) for there was no bread there except the Bread of the Presence^(H) that had been removed from the presence of the Lord. When the bread was removed, it had been replaced with warm bread.