Nob

Nob was a city of priests near Jerusalem where the tabernacle stood during part of Samuel and Saul's era. David, fleeing from Saul, came to the priest Ahimelech there and received the consecrated bread and Goliath's sword, an act Saul's informant Doeg the Edomite reported back to the king (1 Samuel 21:1-9). In retaliation, Saul had Doeg slaughter Nob's entire priestly population, eighty-five priests along with the town's other inhabitants, one of the darkest episodes of his reign (1 Samuel 22:9-19). Isaiah later references Nob's proximity to Jerusalem in his description of an invading army's approach (Isaiah 10:32).