1 After that, David went to a place called Nob. There was an old man there called Ahimelek. He used to look after God’s ceremonies. He saw David coming with no soldiers. There were just a few work-men with him. This made Ahimelek afraid. He was so frightened that he shook. He asked David, “Why did you come here all by yourself? Where are your soldiers? What happened?”

2 David told a lie. He said, “Saul sent me to do a secret job for him. I can’t tell you about it. I told my soldiers to go ahead of me, and to meet me at another place. 3 Do you have any food? I need some. Maybe 5 loaves of bread? Or maybe some other kind of food?”

4 The old man said, “I have nothing, no bread, I only have this special bread, that we make to give to God. Only men that do my kind of work can eat it. I’ll let you take it, but only if your men have not slept with women, like men do with their wives.”

5 David said, “Yes, we always do that when we work for the big boss. Today we have a special job to do, so we have to properly follow that rule. We have not slept with any women.” 6 So the old man gave him the special bread that was left from the day before, because the fresh bread was still on God’s table.* Leviticus 24:5-9; Matthew 12:3-4; Mark 2:25-26; Luke 6:3-4

7 On that same day a working man came to that place to show respect to God. He heard David and Ahimelek as they talked together. His name was Doeg, and he came from the country called Edom. He worked for Saul, and he looked after Saul’s sheep.

8 David said to the old man, “I came with nothing. The big boss told me to go quickly, so I came without my spear and my long knife. Do you have one here?”

9 The old man answered, “Yes, there is that long knife that belonged to Goliath from Philistia. You killed him dead, down in the valley at Elah. That is all I have. If you like, you can take it. There it is, covered with a blanket, near the special ceremony clothes.”* 1 Samuel 17:51

David said, “That is a good knife. It is better than anyone else’s knife. Give it to me.”