1Samuel:21-24
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Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest :
and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David ,
and said unto him ,
Why art thou alone ,
and no man with thee ?
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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 I have appointed my servants to such and such a place .
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Now therefore what is under thine hand ?
give me five loaves of bread in mine hand ,
or what there is present .
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And the priest answered David ,
and said ,
There is no common bread under mine hand ,
but there is hallowed bread ;
if the young men have kept themselves at least from women .
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And David answered the priest ,
and said unto him ,
Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days ,
since I came out ,
and the vessels of the young men are holy ,
and the bread is in a manner common ,
yea ,
though it were sanctified this day in the vessel .
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So the priest gave him hallowed bread :
for there was no bread there but the shewbread ,
that was taken from before the LORD ,
to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away .
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Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day ,
detained before the LORD ;
and his name was Doeg ,
an Edomite ,
the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul .
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And David said unto Ahimelech ,
And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword ?
for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me ,
because the king '
s business required haste .
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And the priest said ,
The sword of Goliath the Philistine ,
whom thou slewest in the valley 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 .
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And David arose ,
and fled that day for fear of Saul ,
and went to Achish the king of Gath .
*
And 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 ?
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And David laid up these words in his heart ,
and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath .
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And he changed his behaviour 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 .
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Then said Achish unto his servants ,
Lo ,
ye see the man is mad :
wherefore then have ye brought him to me ?
*
Have I need of mad men ,
that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence ?
shall this fellow come into my house ?
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David therefore departed thence ,
and escaped to the cave Adullam :
and when his brethren and all his father '
s house heard it ,
they went down thither to him .
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And 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 a captain over them :
and there were with him about four hundred men .
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And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab :
and he said unto the king of Moab ,
Let my father and my mother ,
I pray thee ,
come forth ,
and be with you ,
till I know what God will do for me .
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And he brought them before the king of Moab :
and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold .
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And the prophet Gad said unto David ,
Abide not in the hold ;
depart ,
and get thee into the land of Judah .
Then David departed ,
and came into the forest of Hareth .
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When Saul heard that David was discovered ,
and the men that were with him , (
now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah ,
having his spear in his hand ,
and all his servants were standing about him ;)
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Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him ,
Hear now ,
ye Benjamites ;
will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards ,
and make you all captains of thousands ,
and captains of hundreds ;
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That all of you have conspired against me ,
and there is none that sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse ,
and there is none of you that is sorry for me ,
or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me ,
to lie in wait ,
as at this day ?
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Then answered Doeg the Edomite ,
which was set over the servants of Saul ,
and said ,
I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob ,
to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub .
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And he enquired of the LORD for him ,
and gave him victuals ,
and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine .
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Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest ,
the son of Ahitub ,
and all his father '
s house ,
the priests that were in Nob :
and they came all of them to the king .
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And Saul said ,
Hear now ,
thou son of Ahitub .
And he answered ,
Here I am ,
my lord .
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And Saul said unto him ,
Why have ye conspired against me ,
thou and the son of Jesse ,
in that thou hast given him bread ,
and a sword ,
and hast enquired of God for him ,
that he should rise against me ,
to lie in wait ,
as at this day ?
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Then Ahimelech answered the king ,
and said ,
And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David ,
which is the king '
s son in law ,
and goeth at thy bidding ,
and is honourable in thine house ?
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Did I then begin to enquire of God for him ?
be it far from me :
let not the king impute any thing unto his servant ,
nor to all the house of my father :
for thy servant knew nothing of all this ,
less or more .
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And the king said ,
Thou shalt surely die ,
Ahimelech ,
thou ,
and all thy father '
s house .
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And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him ,
Turn ,
and slay the priests of the LORD ;
because their hand also is with David ,
and because they knew when he fled ,
and did not shew it to me .
But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD .
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And the king said to Doeg ,
Turn thou ,
and fall upon the priests .
And Doeg the Edomite turned ,
and he fell upon the priests ,
and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod .
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And Nob ,
the city of the priests ,
smote he with the edge of the sword ,
both men and women ,
children and sucklings ,
and oxen ,
and asses ,
and sheep ,
with the edge of the sword .
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And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub ,
named Abiathar ,
escaped ,
and fled after David .
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And Abiathar shewed David that Saul had slain the LORD '
S priests .
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And David said unto Abiathar ,
I knew it that day ,
when Doeg the Edomite was there ,
that he would surely tell Saul :
I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father '
s house .
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Abide thou with me ,
fear not :
for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy life :
but with me thou shalt be in safeguard .
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Then they told David ,
saying ,
Behold ,
the Philistines fight against Keilah ,
and they rob the threshingfloors .
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Therefore David enquired of the LORD ,
saying ,
Shall I go and smite these Philistines ?
And the LORD said unto David ,
Go ,
and smite the Philistines ,
and save Keilah .
*
And David '
s men said unto him ,
Behold ,
we be afraid here in Judah :
how much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines ?
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Then David enquired of the LORD yet again .
And the LORD answered him and said ,
Arise ,
go down to Keilah ;
for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand .
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So David and his men went to Keilah ,
and fought with the Philistines ,
and brought away their cattle ,
and smote them with a great slaughter .
So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah .
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And it came to pass ,
when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah ,
that he came down with an ephod in his hand .
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And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah .
And Saul said ,
God hath delivered him into mine hand ;
for he is shut in ,
by entering into a town that hath gates and bars .
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And Saul called all the people together to war ,
to go down to Keilah ,
to besiege David and his men .
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And David knew that Saul secretly practised mischief against him ;
and he said to Abiathar the priest ,
Bring hither the ephod .
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Then said David ,
O LORD God of Israel ,
thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah ,
to destroy the city for my sake .
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Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand ?
will Saul come down ,
as thy servant hath heard ?
O LORD God of Israel ,
I beseech thee ,
tell thy servant .
And the LORD said ,
He will come down .
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Then said David ,
Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul ?
And the LORD said ,
They will deliver thee up .
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Then David and his men ,
which were about six hundred ,
arose and departed out of Keilah ,
and went whithersoever they could go .
And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah ;
and he forbare to go forth .
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And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds ,
and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph .
And Saul sought him every day ,
but God delivered him not into his hand .
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And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life :
and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood .
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And Jonathan Saul '
s son arose ,
and went to David into the wood ,
and strengthened his hand in God .
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And he said unto him ,
Fear not :
for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee ;
and thou shalt be king over Israel ,
and I shall be next unto thee ;
and that also Saul my father knoweth .
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And they two made a covenant before the LORD :
and David abode in the wood ,
and Jonathan went to his house .
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Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah ,
saying ,
Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood ,
in the hill of Hachilah ,
which is on the south of Jeshimon ?
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Now therefore ,
O king ,
come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down ;
and our part shall be to deliver him into the king '
s hand .
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And Saul said ,
Blessed be ye of the LORD ;
for ye have compassion on me .
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Go ,
I pray you ,
prepare yet ,
and know and see his place where his haunt is ,
and who hath seen him there :
for it is told me that he dealeth very subtilly .
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See therefore ,
and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hideth himself ,
and come ye again to me with the certainty ,
and I will go with you :
and it shall come to pass ,
if he be in the land ,
that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah .
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And they arose ,
and went to Ziph before Saul :
but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon ,
in the plain on the south of Jeshimon .
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Saul also and his men went to seek him .
And they told David :
wherefore he came down into a rock ,
and abode in the wilderness of Maon .
And when Saul heard that ,
he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon .
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And Saul went on this side of the mountain ,
and David and his men on that side of the mountain :
and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul ;
for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them .
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But there came a messenger unto Saul ,
saying ,
Haste thee ,
and come ;
for the Philistines have invaded the land .
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Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David ,
and went against the Philistines :
therefore they called that place Selahammahlekoth .
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And David went up from thence ,
and dwelt in strong holds at Engedi .
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And it came to pass ,
when Saul was returned from following the Philistines ,
that it was told him ,
saying ,
Behold ,
David is in the wilderness of Engedi .
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Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel ,
and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats .
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And he came to the sheepcotes by the way ,
where was a cave ;
and Saul went in to cover his feet :
and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave .
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And the men of David said unto him ,
Behold the day of which the LORD 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 David arose ,
and cut off the skirt of Saul '
s robe privily .
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And it came to pass afterward ,
that David '
s heart smote him ,
because he had cut off Saul '
s skirt .
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And he said unto his men ,
The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master ,
the LORD '
S anointed ,
to stretch forth mine hand against him ,
seeing he is the anointed of the LORD .
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So David stayed his servants with these words ,
and suffered them not to rise against Saul .
But Saul rose up out of the cave ,
and went on his way .
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David also arose afterward ,
and went out of the cave ,
and cried after Saul ,
saying ,
My lord the king .
And when Saul looked behind him ,
David stooped with his face to the earth ,
and bowed himself .
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And David said to Saul ,
Wherefore hearest thou men '
s words ,
saying ,
Behold ,
David seeketh thy hurt ?
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Behold ,
this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD 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 the LORD '
S anointed .
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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 soul to take it .
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The LORD judge between me and thee ,
and the LORD avenge me of thee :
but mine hand shall not be upon thee .
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As saith the proverb of the ancients ,
Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked :
but mine hand shall not be upon thee .
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After whom is the king of Israel come out ?
after whom dost thou pursue ?
after a dead dog ,
after a flea .
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The LORD therefore be judge ,
and judge between me and thee ,
and see ,
and plead my cause ,
and deliver me out of thine hand .
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And it came to pass ,
when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul ,
that Saul said ,
Is this thy voice ,
my son David ?
And Saul lifted up his voice ,
and wept .
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And he said to David ,
Thou art more righteous than I :
for thou hast rewarded me good ,
whereas I have rewarded thee evil .
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And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me :
forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thine hand ,
thou killedst me not .
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For if a man find his enemy ,
will he let him go well away ?
wherefore the LORD reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day .
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And now ,
behold ,
I know well that thou shalt surely be king ,
and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand .
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Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD ,
that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me ,
and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father '
s house .
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And David sware unto Saul .
And Saul went home ;
but David and his men gat them up unto the hold .
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And Samuel died ;
and all the Israelites were gathered together ,
and lamented him ,
and buried him in his house at Ramah .
And David arose ,
and went down to the wilderness of Paran .