2:26a

During the high priesthood of Abiathar: The phrase During the high priesthood of Abiathar refers to Abiathar’s lifetime or to the general time period when he became high priest. The name of the high priest who gave the bread to David was Ahimelech. After Ahimelech died, his son Abiathar became high priest for David. In your translation it is good to use a general expression that does not say explicitly that Abiathar was the high priest at this time. For example, the New Century Version says:

During the time of Abiathar the high priest

high priesthood: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as high priesthood is literally “high priest.” The “high priest” was the leader of all the Jewish priests. All Jewish priests offered sacrifices on behalf of the people, but the high priest offered certain special sacrifices that no other priest could offer. In a special way, he represented the Jewish people to God.

Here are some other ways to translate “high priest”:

the chief/leader of all the priests
-or-
the Main/Principal Priest
-or-
the highest/leading priest

See how you translated priest at 1:44b.

priests: Jewish priests were men who offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. They also performed other rituals for them.

Here are some other ways to translate priests:

• Use a descriptive term that focuses on the function of priests. For example:

sacrificers
-or-
men/people who offer sacrifices to God
-or-
people who represent other people to God

• Use a local word for priest. This option may be acceptable if the duties of a local priest are similar to those of a Jewish priest. You may need to indicate that the word refers to a Jewish priest. For example:

Jewish people’s priests/sacrificers

If possible, you should choose a term that can be used in both Old Testament and New Testament contexts. Remember that in the book of Hebrews believers are called priests and Christ is called our high priest.

2:26b

the house of God: The house of God was a Jewish expression that could refer to either the tabernacle or the temple. In this context, it refers to the tabernacle. The tabernacle was a tent that was like a portable temple. It was the place where the Jewish people presented sacrifices to God and where God revealed his presence to them.

Here are some other ways to translate this:

God’s house/dwelling
-or-
the big tent where our ancestors worshiped God

God: See the note on 2:7.

ate the consecrated bread: In the story in 1 Samuel 21:1–6, David asked the priest for the bread, and the priest gave it to him. This information is not mentioned explicitly in this verse. Your readers might think that David stole the bread and ate it. If that is true, you may need to make explicit that the priest gave it to him or to mention this fact in a footnote. For example:

ate the consecrated bread that the priest gave him

the consecrated bread: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the consecrated bread refers to the bread that the priests offered or presented to God. Every Sabbath, the bread was replaced with fresh bread. Then, only the priests were allowed to eat the old bread. See Leviticus 24:5–9 and Exodus 25:30.

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

the sacred/holy bread
-or-
the bread offered to God (Good News Bible)
-or-
special bread (New Living Translation, 1996 edition)

It may also be helpful to include a footnote to explain this. For example, the TRT suggests this footnote:

Every Sabbath/resting day twelve fresh loaves of bread were put on a gold table in the Holy Place as a sacrifice to God. The old loaves were eaten by the priests (see Leviticus 24:5–9).

bread: The word bread refers to the main food of the Jewish people. Other ways to translate this could be “loaf” or “loaf of bread.” If the people for whom you are translating do not eat bread, you could translate this with a generic term, such as “food.” Since this refers to a specific Jewish tradition, do not substitute another specific kind of food.

2:26c

was lawful only for the priests: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as was lawful only for the priests is literally “not lawful/permitted for anyone to eat except the priests.”

Here are some other ways to translate this phrase:

not lawful for any but the priests to eat (Revised Standard Version)
-or-
against the law for any but the priests to eat (NET Bible)
-or-
no one but a priest is allowed to eat it

lawful: The word lawful here means “permitted.” In this context it refers to what the Jewish religious and ceremonial law allowed. The law about the dedicated bread is stated in the Law of Moses (see Leviticus 24:9).

priests: The term priests means men who were authorized to offer sacrifices to God for the people. Refer to the term you used for priests in 1:44b.

2:26d

In this part of the verse Jesus told the part of David’s story that was similar to what he and his disciples were doing. Like David, Jesus was allowing his disciples to break a rule, and he had the authority to do that.

And he gave some to his companions as well: In this clause, Jesus finished his story about what David did. The clause implies that although David gave some consecrated bread to his companions, it was not wrong. God did not punish him for it. You may need to make this explicit in your translation. For example:

He also gave some of the bread to his companions and they ate it too. But God did not punish David for doing that.
-or-
He even gave some to his companions and they also ate it. But what David did was not wrong.

he: The pronoun he refers to David.

gave some: The Berean Standard Bible has supplied the object some, meaning “some consecrated bread.” The Greek text does not have an explicit object of gave. You should supply an object if it is natural in your language.

his companions: Use the same term for his companions as you used in 2:25b.

as well: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as as well is emphatic here. It means “even.” David even gave some of the bread that only priests should eat to his companions, who were ordinary people.

General Comment on 2:25–26

In Greek these verses are one long sentence. In some languages, it may be necessary to use shorter sentences. It also may be necessary to reorder some of the information and perhaps to combine 2:25–26. For example:

25aJesus said: “Have you not read what our ancestor David did long ago 26awhen Abiathar was High Priest? 25bWhen David and his friends were hungry, 26bhe entered into the worship house and ate the bread that was dedicated to God, 26dand he also distributed it to his companions. 26cAccording to our religious laws, it is only priests who are allowed to eat that bread.”

If you combine these verses you can use a combined verse number (25–26) at the beginning of 2:25.

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