1 And David went to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, Why are you alone, and no one with you?
2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has charged me with some matter, and he said to me, Let no man know anything about the matter that I have sent you on and charged you with. So I have made an appointment with my young men at such and such a place.
3 Now then what do you have on hand? Give five loaves of bread into my hand, or whatever there is to be found.
4 And the priest answered David and said, There is no common bread on hand; yet there is holy bread, but only if the young men have kept themselves from women.
5 And David answered the priest and said to him, Women have indeed been kept from us, as previously when I went forth; and the vessels of the young men were holy, even if it was a common journey. How much more then today will their vessels be holy!
6 So the priest gave him what was holy, for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which was taken from before Jehovah, to be replaced by hot bread at the time it was taken.