Nevi'im
Shemu'el Alef24
1 Samuel · Chapter 24
And it came to pass, when Sha'ul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, Dawid is in the wilderness of En-gedi.
Then Sha'ul took three thousand chosen men out of all Yisra'el, and went to seek Dawid and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.
And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where
was a cave; and Sha'ul went in to cover his feet: and Dawid and his men remained in the sides of the cave.
And the men of Dawid said unto him, Behold the day of which 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good unto thee. Then Dawid arose, and cut off the skirt of Sha'ul’s robe privily.
And it came to pass afterward, that Dawid’s heart smote him, because he had cut off Sha'ul’s skirt.
And he said unto his men, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH)’S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH).
So Dawid stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Sha'ul. But Sha'ul rose up out of the cave, and went on
his
way.
Dawid also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Sha'ul, saying, My lord the king. And when Sha'ul looked behind him, Dawid stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself.
And Dawid said to Sha'ul, Wherefore hearest thou men’s words, saying, Behold, Dawid seeketh thy hurt?
Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and
some bade
me
kill thee: but
mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he
is 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH)’S anointed.
Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe and killed thee not, know thou and see that
there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou huntest my nephesh to take it.
𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) judge between me and thee, and 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) avenge me of thee: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.
As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.
After whom is the king of Yisra'el come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.
𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine hand.
And it came to pass, when Dawid had made an end of speaking these words unto Sha'ul, that Sha'ul said,
Is this thy voice, my son Dawid? And Sha'ul lifted up his voice, and wept.
And he said to Dawid, Thou
art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.
And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not.
For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day.
And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Yisra'el shall be established in thine hand.
Swear now therefore unto me by 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father’s house.
And Dawid sware unto Sha'ul. And Sha'ul went home; but Dawid and his men gat them up unto the hold.
Nevi'im
Shemu'el Alef25
1 Samuel · Chapter 25
And Shemu'el died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And Dawid arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
And
there was a man in Maon, whose possessions
were
in Carmel; and the man
was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
Now the name of the man
was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and
she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man
was churlish and evil in his doings; and he
was of the house of Caleb.
And Dawid heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.
And Dawid sent out ten young men, and Dawid said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name:
And thus shall ye say to him that liveth
in prosperity, Peace
be both to thee, and peace
be to thine house, and peace
be unto all that thou hast.
And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.
Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son Dawid.
And when Dawid’s young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of Dawid, and ceased.
And Nabal answered Dawid’s servants, and said, Who
is Dawid? and who
is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master.
Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give
it unto men, whom I know not whence they
be?
So Dawid’s young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.
And Dawid said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and Dawid also girded on his sword: and there went up after Dawid about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff.
But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold, Dawid sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.
But the men
were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:
They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he
is such a son of Belial, that
a man cannot speak to him.
Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched
corn,
and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid
them on asses.
And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.
And it was
so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, Dawid and his men came down against her; and she met them.
Now Dawid had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this
fellow
hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that
pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.
So and more also do Elohim unto the enemies of Dawid, if I leave of all that
pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
And when Abigail saw Dawid, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before Dawid on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,
And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord,
upon me
let this iniquity
be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid.
Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial,
even
Nabal: for as his name
is, so
is he; Nabal
is his name, and folly
is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.
Now therefore, my lord,
as 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) liveth, and
as
thy nephesh liveth, seeing 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) hath withholden thee from coming to
shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.
I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), and evil hath not been found in thee
all thy days.
Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy nephesh: but the nephesh of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) thy Elohim; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out,
as out of the middle of a sling.
And it shall come to pass, when 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Yisra'el;
That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
And Dawid said to Abigail, Blessed
be 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) Elohim of Yisra'el, which sent thee this day to meet me:
And blessed
be thy advice, and blessed
be thou, which hast kept me this day from coming to
shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.
For in very deed,
as 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) Elohim of Yisra'el liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.
So Dawid received of her hand
that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.
And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal’s heart
was merry within him, for he
was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became
as a stone.
And it came to pass about ten days
after, that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) smote Nabal, that he died.
And when Dawid heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed
be
𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And Dawid sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.
And when the servants of Dawid were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, Dawid sent us unto thee to take thee to him to wife.
And she arose, and bowed herself on
her face to the earth, and said, Behold,
let thine handmaid
be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went after her; and she went after the messengers of Dawid, and became his wife.
Dawid also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives.
But Sha'ul had given Michal his daughter, Dawid’s wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which
was of Gallim.
Nevi'im
Shemu'el Alef26
1 Samuel · Chapter 26
And the Ziphites came unto Sha'ul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not Dawid hide himself in the hill of Hachilah,
which is before Jeshimon?
Then Sha'ul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Yisra'el with him, to seek Dawid in the wilderness of Ziph.
And Sha'ul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which
is before Jeshimon, by the way. But Dawid abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Sha'ul came after him into the wilderness.
Dawid therefore sent out spies, and understood that Sha'ul was come in very deed.
And Dawid arose, and came to the place where Sha'ul had pitched: and Dawid beheld the place where Sha'ul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and Sha'ul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him.
Then answered Dawid and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Sha'ul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee.
So Dawid and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Sha'ul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people lay round about him.
Then said Abishai to Dawid, Elohim hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day: now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not
smite him the second time.
And Dawid said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH)’S anointed, and be guiltless?
Dawid said furthermore,
As 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) liveth, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle, and perish.
𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH)’S anointed: but, I pray thee, take thou now the spear that
is at his bolster, and the cruse of water, and let us go.
So Dawid took the spear and the cruse of water from Sha'ul’s bolster; and they gat them away, and no man saw
it, nor knew
it, neither awaked: for they
were all asleep; because a deep sleep from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) was fallen upon them.
Then Dawid went over to the other side, and stood on the top of an hill afar off; a great space
being between them:
And Dawid cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Answerest thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who
art
thou
that criest to the king?
And Dawid said to Abner,
Art not thou a
valiant
man? and who
is like to thee in Yisra'el? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord.
This thing
is not good that thou hast done.
As
𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) liveth, ye
are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH)’S anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is, and the cruse of water that
was at his bolster.
And Sha'ul knew Dawid’s voice, and said,
Is this thy voice, my son Dawid? And Dawid said,
It is my voice, my lord, O king.
And he said, Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil
is in mine hand?
Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if
they be the children of men, cursed
be
they before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH); for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), saying, Go, serve other gods.
Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH): for the king of Yisra'el is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.
Then said Sha'ul, I have sinned: return, my son Dawid: for I will no more do thee harm, because my nephesh was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.
And Dawid answered and said, Behold the king’s spear! and let one of the young men come over and fetch it.
𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH) delivered thee into
my hand to day, but I would not stretch forth mine hand against 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH)’S anointed.
And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 (YHWH), and let him deliver me out of all tribulation.
Then Sha'ul said to Dawid, Blessed
be thou, my son Dawid: thou shalt both do great things, and also shalt still prevail. So Dawid went on his way, and Sha'ul returned to his place.