1 Samuel 21:6

21:6 So the priest gave him holy bread, for there was no bread there other than the bread of the Presence. It had been removed from before the Lord in order to replace it with hot bread on the day it had been taken away.

Keluaran 25:30

25:30 You are to set the Bread of the Presence ¹  on the table before me continually.

Imamat 24:5-9

24:5 “You must take choice wheat flour ²  and bake twelve loaves; ³  there must be two tenths of an ephah of flour in ⁴  each loaf, 24:6 and you must set them in two rows, six in a row, ⁵  on the ceremonially pure table before the Lord. 24:7 You must put pure frankincense ⁶  on each row, ⁷  and it will become a memorial portion ⁸  for the bread, a gift ⁹  to the Lord. 24:8 Each Sabbath day ¹⁰  Aaron ¹¹  must arrange it before the Lord continually; this portion ¹²  is from the Israelites as a perpetual covenant. 24:9 It will belong to Aaron and his sons, and they must eat it in a holy place because it is most holy to him, a perpetual allotted portion ¹³  from the gifts of the Lord.”

Matius 12:3-4

12:3 He ¹⁴  said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry – 12:4 how he entered the house of God and they ate ¹⁵  the sacred bread, ¹⁶  which was against the law ¹⁷  for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests? ¹⁸ 

[25:30]  ¹ sn The name basically means that the bread is to be set out in the presence of Yahweh. The custom of presenting bread on a table as a thank offering is common in other cultures as well. The bread here would be placed on the table as a symbol of the divine provision for the twelve tribes – continually, because they were to express their thanksgiving continually. Priests could eat the bread after certain times. Fresh bread would be put there regularly.

[24:5]  ² sn See the note on Lev 2:1.

[24:5]  ³ tn Heb “and bake it twelve loaves”; KJV, NAB, NASB “cakes.”

[24:5]  ⁴ tn The words “of flour” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[24:5]  sn See the note on Lev 5:11.

[24:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “six of the row.”

[24:7]  ⁶ tn This is not just any “incense” (קְטֹרֶת, qÿtoret; R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 3:913-16), but specifically “frankincense” (לְבֹנָה, lÿvonah; R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:756-57).

[24:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “on [עַל, ’al] the row,” probably used distributively, “on each row” (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 395-96). Perhaps the frankincense was placed “with” or “along side of” each row, not actually on the bread itself, and was actually burned as incense to the Lord (cf. NIV “Along [Alongside CEV] each row”; NRSV “with each row”; NLT “near each row”; B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 165). This particular preposition can have such a meaning.

[24:7]  ⁸ sn The “memorial portion” (אַזְכָרָה, ’azkharah) was normally the part of the grain offering that was burnt on the altar (see Lev 2:2 and the notes there), as opposed to the remainder, which was normally consumed by the priests (Lev 2:3; see the full regulations in Lev 6:14-23 [6:7-16 HT]).

[24:7]  ⁹ sn See the note on Lev 1:9 regarding the term “gift.”

[24:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “In the day of the Sabbath, in the day of the Sabbath.” The repetition is distributive. A few medieval Hebrew mss, the LXX, and the Syriac delete the second occurrence of the expression.

[24:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Aaron) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:8]  ¹² tn The word “portion” is supplied in the translation here for clarity, to specify what “this” refers to.

[24:9]  ¹³ tn Or “a perpetual regulation”; NRSV “a perpetual due.”

[12:3]  ¹⁴ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[12:4]  ¹⁵ tc The Greek verb ἔφαγεν (efagen, “he ate”) is found in a majority of witnesses (Ì⁷⁰ C D L W Θ Ë^1,13 33 Ï latt sy co) in place of ἔφαγον (efagon, “they ate”), the wording found in א B pc. ἔφαγεν is most likely motivated by the parallels in Mark and Luke (both of which have the singular).

[12:4]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “the bread of presentation.”

[12:4]  sn The sacred bread refers to the “bread of presentation,” “showbread,” or “bread of the Presence,” twelve loaves prepared weekly for the tabernacle and later, the temple. See Exod 25:30; 35:13; 39:36; Lev 24:5-9. Each loaf was made from 3 quarts (3.5 liters; Heb “two tenths of an ephah”) of fine flour. The loaves were placed on a table in the holy place of the tabernacle, on the north side opposite the lampstand (Exod 26:35). It was the duty of the priest each Sabbath to place fresh bread on the table; the loaves from the previous week were then given to Aaron and his descendants, who ate them in the holy place, because they were considered sacred (Lev 24:9). See also Mark 2:23-28, Luke 6:1-5.

[12:4]  ¹⁷ sn Jesus’ response to the charge that what his disciples were doing was against the law is one of analogy: “If David did it for his troops in a time of need, then so can I with my disciples.” Jesus is clear that on the surface there was a violation here. What is not as clear is whether he is arguing a “greater need” makes this permissible or that this was within the intention of the law all along.

[12:4]  ¹⁸ sn See 1 Sam 21:1-6.