¹⁶ The king said, “Ahimelech, you will surely die, you and all your father’s family!” ¹⁷ The king told the guards, who were standing beside him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord because they supported David,^[a] and because they knew he was fleeing, but didn’t inform me.”^[b] But the officials of the king did not want to lift their hands^[c] to attack the priests of the Lord.

¹⁸ Then the king told Doeg, “You turn and attack the priests.” Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests. That day he killed eighty-five men who carry the linen ephod.^[d]