Did Wikipedia remove the word "massacre" from the Abiathar article?

Yes. "massacre" appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 2. We saved the article's opening paragraph at 6 moments between 2005 and 2025, and the counts come from those saved copies.

When did the Abiathar article stop using the word "massacre"?

The word appeared 1 times in the opening at its peak in 2005. It is absent from today's opening, the part search engines quote and AI systems train on, checked against the live article on 2026-08-02.

How can I verify what Wikipedia's Abiathar article used to say?

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Abiathar

The word “massacre” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak in 2005. Today the opening carries none. 2 remain further down the article, where a reader arriving from a search result does not go.

Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.

Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-02. “massacre” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 2.

We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since. Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now. ¹ tap a number or a side note to jump between them

The opening as it read in 2005

Ebyathar, the [divine] father is pre-eminent ), in the Bible , son of Ahimelech or Ahijah, priest at Nob.¹ The only one of the priests to escape from Saul's massacre, he fled to David at Keilah, taking with him the ephod (1 Sam. xxii. 20 f., xxiii. 6, 9). He was of great service to David, especially at the time of the rebellion of Absalom (2 Sam. xv. 24, 29, 35, xx. 25). In 1 Kings iv. 4 Zadok and Abiathar are found acting together as priests under Solomon. In 1 Kings i. 7, 19, 25, however, Abiathar appears as a supporter of Adonijah, and in ii. 22 and 26 it is said that he was deposed by Solomon and banished to Anathoth.² In 2 Sam. viii. 17 Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech should be read, with the Syriac, for Ahimelech, the son of Abiathar. Father of abundance, or my father excels, the son of Ahimelech the high priest. He was the tenth high priest, and the fourth in descent from Eli.³ When his father was slain with the priests of Nob, he escaped, and bearing with him the ephod, he joined David, who was then in the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22:20-23; 23:6). He remained with David, and became priest of the party of which he was the leader (1 Sam. 30:7). When David ascended the throne of Judah, Abiathar was appointed high priest (1 Chr. 15:11; 1 Kings 2:26) and the "king's companion" (1 Chr. 27:34). Meanwhile Zadok, of the house of Eleazar, had been made high priest. These appointments continued in force till the end of David's reign (1 Kings 4:4). Abiathar was deposed (the sole historical instance of the deposition of a high priest) and banished to his home at Anathoth by Solomon, because he took part in the attempt to raise Adonijah to the throne. The priesthood thus passed from the house of Ithamar (1 Sam. 2:30-36; 1 Kings 1:19; 2:26, 27).⁴ In Mark 2:26, reference is made to an occurrence in "the days of Abiathar the high priest." But from 1 Sam. 22, we learn explicitly that this event took place when Ahimelech, the father of Abiathar, was high priest. The apparent discrepancy is satisfactorily explained by interpreting the words in Mark as referring to the life-time of Abiathar, and not to the term of his holding the office of high priest. It is not implied in Mark that he was actual high priest at the time referred to. Others, however, think that the loaves belonged to Abiathar, who was at that time (Lev. 24:9) a priest, and that he either himself gave them to David, or persuaded his father to give them. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chisholm, Hugh , ed. Cambridge University Press. : Missing or empty |title= ( help )⁵

This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 15901133.

The opening as it stood in 2010 9 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear

Abiathar (אביתר, Ebyathar, Evyatar, the [divine] father is pre-eminent ), in the Hebrew Bible , son of Achimelech or Ahijah, High Priest at Nob , the fourth in descent from Eli . The only one of the priests to escape from Saul's massacre, he fled to David at Keilah , taking with him the ephod (1 Sam. 22:20 f., 23:6, 9). He was of great service to David, especially at the time of the rebellion of Absalom (2 Sam. 15:24, 29, 35, 20:25). In 1 Kings 4:4 Zadok and Abiathar are found acting together as priests under Solomon. In 1 Kings 1:7, 19, 25, however, Abiathar appears as a supporter of Adonijah, and in 2:22 and 26 it is said that he was deposed by Solomon and banished to Anathoth. In 2 Sam. 8:17 Abiathar, the son of Achimelech should be read, with the Syriac, for Achimelech, the son of Abiathar. A similar confusion occurs in Gospel of Mark 2:26: In reporting Jesus' words, the evangelist confused Abiathar with Ahimelech , a mistake into which he was led by the constant association of David‘s name with Abiathar. Suggestions made to resolve the difficulty—e.g. that father and son each bore the same double name, or that Abiathar officiated during his father's lifetime and in his father's stead—have been supported by great names, but have not been fully accepted. When his father was slain with the priests of Nob, he escaped, and bearing with him the ephod , he joined David, who was then in the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22:20-23; 23:6). He remained with David, and became priest of the party of which he was the leader (1 Sam. 30:7). Ahimelech great-grandson of Eli; slain by Doeg the Edomite -fulfilling part of the curse on the House of Eli that none of his male descendants would live to old age. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia on David descendant Jehoash of Judah : In Rabbinical Literature: As the extermination of the male descendants of David was a divine retribution for the extermination of the priests because of David (comp. I Sam. 22:17-21), Joash escaped death because in the latter case one priest, Abiathar, survived (Sanh. 95b) . When David ascended the throne of Judah , Abiathar was appointed high priest (1 Chr. 15:11; 1 Kings 2:26) and the "king's counselor" (1 Chr. 27:33-34). Meanwhile Zadok, of the house of Eleazar, had been made high priest. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia Abiathar was deposed from office when he was deserted by the Holy Spirit without which the Urim and Thummin could not be consulted. These appointments continued in force till the end of David's reign (1 Kings 4:4). Abiathar was deposed (the sole historical instance of the deposition of a high priest) and banished to his home at Anathoth by Solomon , because he took part in the attempt to raise Adonijah to the throne. The priesthood thus passed from the house of Ithamar (1 Sam. 2:30-36; 1 Kings 1:19; 2:26, 27). Abiathar's removal from the Priesthood fulfilled that other part of the curse on the House of Eli—that the Priesthood would pass out of the House of Eli.

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 367087301.

The opening as it stood in 2015 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear

Abiathar (אביתר, Ebyathar, Evyatar, the [divine] father is pre-eminent or father of plenty ), in the Hebrew Bible , son of Ahimelech or Ahijah, High Priest at Nob , the fourth in descent from Eli (1 Sam. 23:6) and the last of Eli's House. The only one of the priests to escape from Saul's massacre, he fled to David at Keilah , taking with him the ephod and other priestly regalies (1 Sam. 22:20 f., 23:6, 9). He was of great service to David, especially at the time of the rebellion of Absalom (2 Sam. 15:24, 29, 35, 20:25). In 1 Kings 4:4 Zadok and Abiathar are found acting together as priests under Solomon. In 1 Kings 1:7, 19, 25, however, Abiathar appears as a supporter of Adonijah, and in 2:22 and 26 it is said that he was deposed by Solomon and banished to Anathoth. In 2 Sam. 8:17 Abiathar, the son of Achimelech should be read, with the Syriac, for Achimelech, the son of Abiathar. A similar confusion occurs in Gospel of Mark 2:26: in reporting Jesus' words, the evangelist used the name Abiathar when we might expect to see Jesus mention his father Ahimelech . Suggestions made to resolve the difficulty — e.g. that father and son each bore the same double name, or that Abiathar officiated during his father's lifetime and in his father's stead—have been supported by great names, but have not been fully accepted. When his father and the priests of Nob were slain on the command of Saul, Abiathar escaped, bearing with him the ephod . Rabbinical literature that linked the later extermination of the male descendants of David with the priests of Nob, also link the survival of David's descendant Joash with that of Abiathar. (Sanh. 95b) Abiathar joined David, who was then in the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22:20-23; 23:6). He remained with David, and became priest of the party of which he was the leader (1 Sam. 30:7). When David ascended the throne of Judah , Abiathar was appointed High Priest (1 Chr. 15:11; 1 Kings 2:26) and the "king's counselor" (1 Chr. 27:33-34). Meanwhile Zadok, of the house of Eleazar, had been made High Priest. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia Abiathar was deposed from office when he was deserted by the Holy Spirit without which the Urim and Thummin could not be consulted. Another version says he was Co-Pontiff with Zadok during King David. He supported Prince Adonijah over Prince Solomon , and was deposed by him and exiled in Anathoth . These appointments continued in force till the end of David's reign (1 Kings 4:4). Abiathar was deposed (the sole historical instance of the deposition of a high priest) and banished to his home at Anathoth by Solomon , because he took part in the attempt to raise Adonijah to the throne. The priesthood thus passed from the house of Ithamar (1 Sam. 2:30-36; 1 Kings 1:19; 2:26, 27). Abiathar's removal from the Priesthood fulfilled that other part of the curse on the House of Eli—that the Priesthood would pass out of the House of Eli. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chisholm, Hugh , ed.

Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 652881339.

Today

“massacre” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 2. Read the current article and compare.

Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
	2005	2010	2015	2020	Oct '23	2025
massacre	1	1	1	0	0	0

What Wikipedia says this is

Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2010 and 2020.

Then

pre-eminent )

Now

great")

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1. Removed: “Ebyathar, the [divine] father is pre-eminent ), in the Bible , son…” In the article until 2005 (rev), gone by 2010 (rev).

The etymological gloss of his name, the divine father is pre-eminent, is gone from the opening.

2. Removed 4 sentences: “…the priests to escape from Saul's massacre, he fled to David at Keilah, taking…” In the article until 2015 (rev), gone by 2020 (rev).

The account of his escape from Saul's massacre of the priests is gone from the opening, though massacre survives twice elsewhere in the article.

3. Removed 3 sentences: “In 2 Sam. viii. 17 Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech should be…” In the article until 2005 (rev), gone by 2010 (rev).

A biblical cross-reference noting a naming discrepancy in 2 Samuel 8:17 is gone from the opening.

4. Removed 7 sentences: “When his father was slain with the priests of Nob, he escaped,…” In the article until 2015 (rev), gone by 2020 (rev).

The detail that his father was slain along with the priests of Nob is gone from the opening.

5. Removed 6 sentences: “In Mark 2:26, reference is made to an occurrence in "the days…” In the article until 2005 (rev), gone by 2010 (rev).

The New Testament cross-reference in Mark 2:26 is gone from the opening.

Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.

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