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.”