1 Samuel 21-24

Complete Jewish Bible

21 ^(20:42b)So David got up and left, and Y’honatan went back to the city.

²⁽¹⁾David went to see Achimelekh the cohen in Nov. Achimelekh came trembling to meet David and asked, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?” ³⁽²⁾David said to Achimelekh the cohen, “The king has sent me on a mission and told me not to let anyone know its purpose or what I’ve been ordered to do. I’ve arranged a place where the guards are to meet me. ⁴⁽³⁾Now, what do you have on hand? If you can spare five loaves of bread, give them to me, or whatever there is.” ⁵⁽⁴⁾The cohen answered David, “I don’t have any regular bread; however, there is consecrated bread — but only if the guards have abstained from women. ⁶⁽⁵⁾David answered the cohen, “Of course women have been kept away from us, as on previous campaigns. Whenever I go out on campaign, the men’s gear is clean, even if it’s an ordinary trip. How much more, then, today, when they will be putting something consecrated in their packs!” ⁷⁽⁶⁾So the cohen gave him consecrated bread, because there was no bread there other than the showbread that had been removed from before Adonai to be replaced by freshly baked bread on the day the old bread was removed.

⁸⁽⁷⁾One of the servants of Sha’ul happened to be there that day, detained before Adonai. His name was Do’eg the Edomi, the head of Sha’ul’s shepherds. ⁹⁽⁸⁾David said to Achimelekh, “Perhaps you have here with you a spear or a sword? I brought neither my sword nor my other weapons, because the king’s mission was urgent.” ¹⁰⁽⁹⁾The cohen said, “The sword of Golyat the P’lishti you killed in the Elah Valley, is over there behind the ritual vest, wrapped in a cloth. If you want it, take it; it’s the only one here.” David said, “There’s nothing like it; give it to me.”

¹¹⁽¹⁰⁾The same day, David took flight from Sha’ul and went to Akhish king of Gat. ¹²⁽¹¹⁾The servants of Akhish said to him, “Isn’t this David, king of the land? Weren’t they dancing and singing to each other,

‘Sha’ul has killed his thousands,
but David his tens of thousands’?”

¹³⁽¹²⁾These remarks were not lost on David, and he became very much afraid of Akhish king of Gat. ¹⁴⁽¹³⁾So, as they were watching, he changed his behavior and acted like a madman when they had hold of him, scratching marks on the doors of the city gate and drooling down his beard. ¹⁵⁽¹⁴⁾Akhish said to his servants, “Here, you see that the man is meshugga; why bring him to me? ¹⁶⁽¹⁵⁾Am I short of meshugga‘im? Is that why you’ve brought this one to go crazy on me? Must I have this one in my house?”

22 David left there and took refuge in the Cave of ‘Adulam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s family heard of it, they went down to see him there. ²Then all the people in distress, in debt or embittered began gathering around him, and he became their leader; there were about four hundred with him.

³David went from there to Mitzpeh of Mo’av and said to the king of Mo’av, “Please let my father and mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.” ⁴He presented them to the king of Mo’av, and they lived with him as long as David remained in his stronghold. ⁵But the prophet Gad said to David, “Don’t stay in the stronghold. Leave, and go to the land of Y’hudah.” So David left and went to the Forest of Heret.

⁶Sha’ul heard that David and the men with him had been located. Sha’ul was sitting in Giv‘ah, under the tamarisk tree on the hill, with his spear in his hand and all his servants standing around him. ⁷Sha’ul said to his servants standing around him, “Listen, you men of Binyamin! Is Yishai’s son going to give any of you fields and vineyards? Is he going to make you all commanders of thousands and hundreds? ⁸Is this why you have all conspired against me, why none of you told me when my son went in league with Yishai’s son? None of you is concerned about me! Otherwise you would have told me that my son had incited my servant to become my enemy, as he is now.”

⁹Then Do’eg the Edomi, who had been put in charge of Sha’ul’s servants, answered, “I saw Yishai’s son come to Nov, to Achimelekh the son of Achituv. ¹⁰He consulted Adonai for him, gave him food and gave him the sword of Golyat the P’lishti.” ¹¹The king sent to summon Achimelekh the cohen the son of Achituv, along with all his father’s family, the cohanim in Nov; and all of them went to the king. ¹²Sha’ul said, “Listen here, you son of Achituv!” He answered, “Here I am, my lord.” ¹³Sha’ul said to him, “Why did you conspire against me, you and Yishai’s son? By giving him bread and a sword and consulting God for him, you helped him rebel against me and become my enemy, which he now is!” ¹⁴Achimelekh answered the king, “Is there anyone among all your servants more trustworthy than David? He’s the king’s son-in-law, he carries out your every request, your household honors him. ¹⁵I didn’t start consulting God for him just today. Heaven forbid! The king shouldn’t accuse me or my father’s family of anything! Your servant knows nothing at all about any of this!” ¹⁶But the king said, “You must die, you and your father’s whole family.” ¹⁷Then the king told the guards standing around him, “Go around, and kill the cohanim of Adonai, because they are siding with David, and because they knew he was escaping, yet they didn’t tell me.” But the king’s servants refused to lift their hands against the cohanim of Adonai. ¹⁸So the king said to Do’eg, “You go around and kill the cohanim!” Do’eg the Edomi went around and fell on the cohanim; that day he killed eighty-five persons wearing linen ritual vests. ¹⁹He also attacked Nov, the city of the cohanim, with the sword; he put to the sword both men and women, children and babies, cattle, donkeys and sheep.

²⁰One of the sons of Achimelekh the son of Achituv, named Avyatar, escaped and fled to join David. ²¹Avyatar told David that Sha’ul had killed the cohanim of Adonai. ²²David said to Avyatar, “I knew it! That day, when Do’eg the Edomi was there, I knew he would tell Sha’ul. I caused the death of every person in your father’s family. ²³Stay with me; don’t be afraid; because the one who is seeking my life seeks yours too. You’ll be safe with me.”

23 David was told, “The P’lishtim are fighting Ke‘ilah and plundering the threshing-floors.” ²David consulted Adonai, asking, “Should I go and attack these P’lishtim?” Adonai answered David, “Go, and attack the P’lishtim, and save Ke‘ilah.” ³David’s men said to him, “Look, we’re already afraid here in Y’hudah. How much more, then, if we go to Ke‘ilah to fight the armies of the P’lishtim!” ⁴David consulted Adonai again; and Adonai answered him, “Set out, and go down to Ke‘ilah, because I will hand the P’lishtim over to you.” ⁵David and his men went to Ke‘ilah and fought the P’lishtim. They defeated them in a great slaughter and led away their livestock. Thus David saved the inhabitants of Ke‘ilah.

⁶When Avyatar the son of Achimelekh fled to David in Ke‘ilah, he had brought a ritual vest with him. ⁷Now Sha’ul, on being informed that David had gone to Ke‘ilah, had said, “God has put him into my hands. He’s trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.” ⁸So Sha’ul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Ke‘ilah and besiege David and his men. ⁹David knew that Sha’ul was plotting something against him, so he told Avyatar the cohen, “Bring the ritual vest here.” ¹⁰Then David said, “Adonai God of Isra’el, your servant has certainly heard that Sha’ul intends to come to Ke‘ilah and destroy the city just to get me. ¹¹Will the men of Ke‘ilah turn me over to him? Will Sha’ul come down, as your servant has heard? Adonai God of Isra’el, please tell your servant!” Adonai said, “He will come down.” ¹²Then David asked, “Will the men of Ke‘ilah hand me and my men over to Sha’ul?” Adonai said, “They will hand you over.” ¹³So David and his men, now around six hundred, got up, left Ke‘ilah and went wherever they could. It was told Sha’ul that David had escaped from Ke‘ilah, so he called off the expedition. ¹⁴David stayed in the desert strongholds, remaining in the hills of the Zif Desert. Sha’ul kept trying to find him, but God did not hand him over to him.

¹⁵David saw that Sha’ul had mounted another expedition to seek his life. David was then at Horesh in the Zif Desert. ¹⁶Y’honatan Sha’ul’s son set out and went to David at Horesh to encourage him in God. ¹⁷He said to him, “Don’t be afraid, because my father’s forces will not find you; you will be king over Isra’el, and I will be second to you. Sha’ul my father knows this, too.” ¹⁸Then the two of them made a covenant in the presence of Adonai, after which David stayed at Horesh and Y’honatan returned home.

¹⁹The people of Zif came to Sha’ul in Giv‘ah and said, “David is hiding himself with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on Hakhilah Hill, south of Yeshimon. ²⁰So now, king, since you’ve wanted so much to come down, come down! Our part will be to turn him over to you.” ²¹Sha’ul said, “May Adonai bless you for showing me compassion! ²²Please go and make still more certain exactly where he is and who has seen him there, because I’ve been told that he’s very tricky. ²³So look closely, find out where all his hiding-places are, and come back when you’re sure. Then I will go with you, and if he is there in that territory, I’ll search till I find him among all the thousands of Y’hudah.”

²⁴They set out and went to Zif before Sha’ul. But David and his men had gone on to the Ma‘on Desert, in the ‘Aravah south of Yeshimon. ²⁵Sha’ul and his men went searching for him. David was told, so he came down to the rock and stayed in the Ma‘on Desert. When Sha’ul heard that, he pursued David in the Ma‘on Desert. ²⁶Sha’ul went along one side of the mountain, while David and his men went along the other. David was hurrying to get away from Sha’ul, while Sha’ul and his men were trying to surround David and his men in order to capture them. ²⁷But then a messenger came to Sha’ul, saying, “Hurry, come, because the P’lishtim are invading the country!” ²⁸So Sha’ul stopped chasing David and went to fight the P’lishtim. Therefore they called that place Sela-Hamachlekot [rock of divisions].

24 ^(23:29)From there David went up and lived in the strongholds of ‘Ein-Gedi. ²⁽¹⁾When Sha’ul returned from pursuing the P’lishtim, he was told that David was in the desert at ‘Ein-Gedi. ³⁽²⁾Sha’ul took three thousand men chosen from all Isra’el and went searching for David and his men on the cliffs where the mountain goats are. ⁴⁽³⁾Near some sheep pens along the way was a cave, and Sha’ul went inside to relieve himself. It happened that David and his men were sitting in the recesses at the back of the cave; ⁵⁽⁴⁾and David’s men said to him, “Look! The day has come that Adonai told you about when he said to you, ‘I will turn your enemy over to you, and you will do to him whatever seems good to you.’” Then David stole over unobserved and cut off the corner of Sha’ul’s cloak. ⁶⁽⁵⁾But after doing this, David felt remorse over cutting Sha’ul’s garment. ⁷⁽⁶⁾He said to his men, “Adonai forbid that I should do such a thing to my lord, Adonai’s anointed, as raise my hand against him! After all, he is Adonai’s anointed.” ⁸⁽⁷⁾By saying this, David stopped his men and would not let them do anything to Sha’ul. Sha’ul got up, left the cave and went on his way.

⁹⁽⁸⁾Then David too got up and went outside the cave, where he called after Sha’ul, “My lord the king!” When Sha’ul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the ground and prostrated himself. ¹⁰⁽⁹⁾David said to Sha’ul, “Why do you listen to people who say, ‘David is out to harm you?’ ¹¹⁽¹⁰⁾Here, today you have seen with your own eyes that Adonai put you in my power there in the cave. Some of my men said I should kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I won’t raise my hand against my lord, because he is Adonai’s anointed.’ ¹²⁽¹¹⁾Moreover, my father, look! Here in my hand you see the corner of your cloak. By the fact that I only cut off a piece of your cloak and didn’t kill you, you can see and understand that I have no plan to do harm or rebel, and that I haven’t sinned against you — even though you are seeking every chance you get to take my life. ¹³⁽¹²⁾May Adonai judge between you and me, and may Adonai avenge me on you! But I will not lay a hand on you — ¹⁴⁽¹³⁾as the old saying has it, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness, but I will not lay a hand on you.’ ¹⁵⁽¹⁴⁾The king of Isra’el has come on a campaign — after whom? Whom are you chasing? A dead dog! A single flea! ¹⁶⁽¹⁵⁾Adonai be the judge; let him decide between you and me. May he take my side and rescue me from your power!”

¹⁷⁽¹⁶⁾After David had finished speaking to Sha’ul, Sha’ul said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” Then Sha’ul cried out and wept; ¹⁸⁽¹⁷⁾and he said to David, “You are more righteous than I, because you have treated me well, while I have been treating you badly. ¹⁹⁽¹⁸⁾You have made it clear to me today that you have done me good; for when Adonai put my fate in your hands, you didn’t kill me. ²⁰⁽¹⁹⁾A man finds his enemy and lets him go unharmed?! May Adonai reward you well for what you did to me today. ²¹⁽²⁰⁾Now I’m certain that you will indeed become king, and that the kingship of Isra’el will be established in your hands. ²²⁽²¹⁾So swear to me by Adonai that you will not kill my descendants after I die or blot out my name from my father’s family.” ²³⁽²²⁾David swore to Sha’ul, and Sha’ul went home, but David and his men went back up to the stronghold.