9 That man Doeg, from Edom, he went back and told Saul, “I saw David at Nob. He went to see that old man Ahimelek, Ahitub’s son. 10 That old man prayed to God for David. He asked God what David should do. And he gave him food. He also gave him the long knife that belonged to Goliath from Philistia.”* 1 Samuel 21:7-9; Psalm 52

11 As soon as Saul heard it, he sent a messenger to get Ahimelek and his family to come to him. You see, at that time, Ahimelek and the men in his family used to look after God’s ceremonies at Nob. After they got Saul’s message, they all went to his place. 12 Then Saul said, “Listen to me, son of Ahitub.”

And Ahimelek said, “What is it, boss?”

13 Saul asked, “Why do you want to trick me? You don’t think about me any more. You want to make David the big boss. You helped him with food, and you gave him a long knife. And you even prayed to God for him. David has turned against me. He’s just waiting to kill me dead some time.”

14 The old man answered, “No way, boss. David truly works for you. He is your best worker. And he is also your son-in-law, a boss soldier. Everybody that works for you respects him very much. 15 I have prayed lots of times to God for him, but you did not get angry with me before. Do not blame me and my family. We know nothing about whatever is going on.”

16 But Saul said, “You and everybody in your family will die today.” 17 And he told his workers, “Kill all these men dead. They listen to David and not to me. They knew that he ran away from me, but they did not tell me.”

But the workers said, “No. We can’t kill these men that look after God’s ceremonies.”

18 So Saul said to Doeg, “All right. You kill those men yourself.” Doeg was from Edom, a different country. He didn’t care about those men, so he listened to Saul and did what he said. He got up straight away, and he killed dead 85 men that looked after God’s ceremonies, men that used to wear the special ceremony clothes. 19 Then he went to Nob, the town where Ahimelek’s family lived. They were the people who used to look after God’s ceremonies. Doeg killed dead everybody there too. He killed men dead, also women, kids, babies, bulls, donkeys, and sheep. He killed everything dead.

20 Only one man ran away safely from there. His name was Abiathar, one of Ahimelek’s sons. He ran away and joined up with David’s mob.