1 David therefore departed there, and escaped to the cave of
Adullam: and when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went
down there to him. 2 Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in
debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered themselves to him; and he
became captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.
3 David went there to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said to the king of Moab,
Please let my father and my mother come forth, and be with you, until
I know what God will do for me. 4 He brought them before the king of Moab:
and they lived with him all the while that David was in the stronghold.
5 The prophet Gad said to David, Don’t stay in the stronghold; depart, and
get you into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest
of Hereth. 6 Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were
with him: now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree in Ramah,
with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.
7 Saul said to his servants who stood about him, Hear now, you
Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give everyone of you fields and vineyards,
will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds,
8 that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none who
discloses to me when my son makes a league with the son of Jesse, and there
is none of you who is sorry for me, or discloses to me that my son has
stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? 9 Then
answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, and said, I saw
the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10 He
inquired of Yahweh for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of
Goliath the Philistine. 11 Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the
priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were
in Nob: and they came all of them to the king. 12 Saul said, Hear now, you
son of Ahitub. He answered, Here I am, my lord. 13 Saul said to him, Why
have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you
have given him bread, and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he
should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? 14 Then Ahimelech
answered the king, and said, Who among all your servants is so faithful as
David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and is taken into your council, and is
honorable in your house? 15 Have I today begun to inquire of God for him?
be it far from me: don’t let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to
all the house of my father; for your servant knows nothing of all this, less
or more. 16 The king said, You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you, and all
your father’s house. 17 The king said to the guard who stood about him,
Turn, and kill the priests of Yahweh; because their hand also is with David,
and because they knew that he fled, and didn’t disclose it to me. But the
servants of the king wouldn’t put forth their hand to fall on the priests of
Yahweh. 18 The king said to Doeg, Turn you, and fall on the priests. Doeg
the Edomite turned, and he fell on the priests, and he killed on that day
eighty-five persons who wore a linen ephod. 19 Nob, the city of the
priests, struck he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children
and nursing babies, and oxen and donkeys and sheep, with the edge of the
sword. 20 One of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar,
escaped, and fled after David. 21 Abiathar told David that Saul had slain
Yahweh’s priests. 22 David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day, when Doeg
the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned
the death of all the persons of your father’s house. 23 Abide you
with me, don’t be afraid; for he who seeks my life seeks your life: for with
me you shall be in safeguard.
World English Bible - Public Domain |
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