LITMIR.BIZ

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Jonathan unto David: 'What doth thy soul desire, that I should do it for thee?' ⁵And David said unto Jonathan: 'Behold, to-morrow is the new moon, when I should sit with the king to eat; so let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even. ⁶If thy father miss me at all, then say: David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Beth-lehem his city; for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family. ⁷If he say thus: It is well; thy servant shall have peace; but if he be wroth, then know that evil is determined by him. ⁸Therefore deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the Lord with thee; but if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father?' ⁹And Jonathan said: 'Far be it from thee; for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee? ¹⁰Then said David to Jonathan: 'Who shall tell me if perchance thy father answer thee roughly?' ¹¹And Jonathan said unto David: 'Come and let us go out into the field.' And they went out both of them into the field.

      ¹²And Jonathan said unto David: 'The Lord, the God of Israel—when I have sounded my father about this time to-morrow, or the third day, behold, if there be good toward David, shall I not then send unto thee, and disclose it unto thee? ¹³The Lord do so to Jonathan, and more also, should it please my father to do thee evil, if I disclose it not unto thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace; and the Lord be with thee, as He hath been with my father. ¹⁴And thou shalt not only while yet I live show me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not; ¹⁵but also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever; no, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth.' ¹⁶So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David: 'The Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies.' ¹⁷And Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had to him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

      ¹⁸And Jonathan said unto him: 'To-morrow is the new moon; and thou wilt be missed, thy seat will be empty. ¹⁹And in the third day thou shalt hide thyself well, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself in the day of work, and shalt remain by the stone Ezel. ²⁰And I will shoot three arrows to the side-ward, as though I shot at a mark. ²¹And, behold, I will send the lad: Go, find the arrows. If I say unto the lad: Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee; take them, and come; for there is peace to thee and no hurt, as the Lord liveth. ²²But if I say thus unto the boy: Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way; for the Lord hath sent thee away. ²³And as touching the matter which I and thou have spoken of, behold, the Lord is between me and thee for ever.'

      ²⁴So David hid himself in the field; and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to the meal to eat. ²⁵And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon the seat by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul's side; but David's place was empty. ²⁶Nevertheless Saul spoke not any thing that day; for he thought: 'Something hath befallen him, he is unclean; surely he is not clean.' ²⁷And it came to pass on the morrow after the new moon, which was the second day, that David's place was empty; and Saul said unto Jonathan his son: 'Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to the meal, neither yesterday, nor to-day?' ²⁸And Jonathan answered Saul: 'David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Beth-lehem; ²⁹and he said: Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me; and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he is not come unto the king's table.'

      ³⁰Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him: 'Thou son of perverse rebellion, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own shame, and unto the shame of thy mother's nakedness? ³¹For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the earth, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he deserveth to die.' ³²And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him: 'Wherefore should he be put to death? what hath he done?' ³³And Saul cast his spear at him to smite him; whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to put David to death. ³⁴So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did eat no food the second day of the month; for he was grieved for David, and because his father had put him to shame.

      ³⁵And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him. ³⁶And he said unto his lad: 'Run, find now the arrows which I shoot.' And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said: 'Is not the arrow beyond thee?' ³⁸And Jonathan cried after the lad: 'Make speed, hasten, stay not.' And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master. ³⁹But the lad knew not any thing; only Jonathan and David knew the matter. ⁴⁰And Jonathan gave his weapons unto his lad, and said unto him: 'Go, carry them to the city.' ⁴¹And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the South, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times; and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded. ⁴²And Jonathan said to David: 'Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying: The Lord shall be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed, for ever.' 21¹And he arose and departed; and Jonathan went into the city.

      ²Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said unto him: 'Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?' ³ And David said unto Ahimelech the priest: 'The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me: Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee; and the young men have I appointed to such and such a place. ⁴ Now therefore what is under thy hand? five loaves of bread? give them in my hand, or whatsoever there is present.' ⁵And the priest answered David, and said: 'There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.' ⁶ And David answered the priest, and said unto him: 'Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days; when I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey; how much more then to-day, when there shall be holy bread in their vessels?' ⁷ So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread, that was taken from before the Lord, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.—⁸ Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.— ⁹ And David said unto Ahimelech: 'And is there peradventure here under thy hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.' ¹⁰And the priest said: 'The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the vale of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if thou wilt take that, take it; for there is no other save that here.' And David said: 'There is none like that; give it me.'

      ¹¹And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. ¹²And the servants of Achish said unto him: 'Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying:

      Saul hath slain his thousands,And David his ten thousands?'

      ¹³And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. ¹⁴And he changed his demeanour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. ¹⁵Then said Achish unto his servants: 'Lo, when ye see a man that is mad, wherefore do ye bring him to me? ¹⁶Do I lack madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?'

       22David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. ²And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became captain over them; and there were with him about four hundred

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