The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 9: 1 Kings

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12:6. And Samuel said to the people: It is the Lord who made Moses and
Aaron, and brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt.

12:7. Now, therefore, stand up, that I may plead in judgment against you
before the Lord, concerning all the kindness of the Lord, which he hath
shewn to you, and to your fathers:

12:8. How Jacob went into Egypt, and your fathers cried to the Lord: and
the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, and brought your fathers out of Egypt,
and made them dwell in this place.

12:9. And they forgot the Lord their God, and he delivered them into the
hands of Sisara, captain of the army of Hasor, and into the hands of the
Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought
against them.

12:10 But afterwards they cried to the Lord, and said: We have sinned,
because we have forsaken the Lord, and have served Baalim and Astaroth:
but now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.

12:11. And the Lord sent Jerobaal, and Badan, and Jephte, and Samuel,
and delivered you from the hand of your enemies round about, and you
dwelt securely.

Jerobaal and Badan... That is, Gedeon and Samson called here Badan or
Bedan, because he was of Dan.

12:12. But seeing that Naas, king of the children of Ammon, was come
against you, you said to me: Nay, but a king shall reign over us:
whereas the Lord your God was your king.

12:13. Now, therefore, your king is here, whom you have chosen and
desired: Behold the Lord hath given you a king.

12:14. If you will fear the Lord, and serve him, and hearken to his
voice, and not provoke the mouth of the Lord: then shall both you, and
the king who reigneth over you, be followers of the Lord your God.

12:15. But if you will not hearken to the voice of the Lord, but will
rebel against his words, the hand of the Lord shall be upon you, and
upon your fathers.

12:16. Now then stand, and see this great thing which the Lord will do
in your sight.

12:17. Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call upon the Lord, and he
shall send thunder and rain: and you shall know, and see that you
yourselves have done a great evil in the sight of the Lord, in desiring
a king over you.

Wheat harvest... At which time of the year, it never thunders or rains
in those countries.

12:18. And Samuel cried unto the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and
rain that day.

12:19. And all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel. And all
the people said to Samuel: Pray for thy servants to the Lord thy God,
that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask
for a king.

12:20. And Samuel said to the people: Fear not, you have done all this
evil: but yet depart not from following the Lord, but serve the Lord
with all your heart.

12:21. And turn not aside after vain things, which shall never profit
you, nor deliver you, because they are vain.

12:22. And the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's
sake: because the Lord hath sworn to make you his people.

12:23. And far from me be this sin against the Lord, that I should cease
to pray for you: and I will teach you the good and right way.

12:24. Therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in truth, and with your
whole heart, for you have seen the great works which he hath done among
you.

12:25. But if you will still do wickedly: both you and your king shall
perish together.

1 Kings Chapter 13

The war between Saul and the Philistines. The distress of the
Israelites. Saul offereth sacrifice before the coming of Samuel: for
which he is reproved.

13:1. Saul was a child of one year when he began to reign, and he
reigned two years over Israel.

Of one year... That is, he was good and like an innocent child, and for
two years continued in that innocency.

13:2. And Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel: and two thousand
were with Saul in Machmas, and in mount Bethel: and a thousand with
Jonathan in Gabaa of Benjamin: and the rest of the people he sent back
every man to their dwellings.

13:3. And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines which was in
Gabaa. And when the Philistines had heard of it, Saul sounded the
trumpet over all the land, saying: Let the Hebrews hear.

13:4. And all Israel heard this report: Saul hath smitten the garrison
of the Philistines: and Israel took courageagainst the Philistines. And
the people were called together after Saul to Galgal.

13:5. The Philistines also were assembled to fight against Israel,
thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and a multitude of
people besides, like the sand on the seashore for number. And going up
they camped in Machmas, at the east of Bethaven.

13:6. And when the men of Israel saw that they were straitened (for the
people were distressed), they hid themselves in caves, and in thickets,
and in rocks, and in dens, and in pits.

13:7. And some of the Hebrews passed over the Jordan into the land of
Gad and Galaad. And when Saul was yet in Galgal, all the people that
followed him were greatly afraid.

13:8. And he waited seven days, according to the appointment of Samuel,
and Samuel came not to Galgal, and the people slipt away from him.

13:9. Then Saul said: Bring me the holocaust, and the peace offerings.
And he offered the holocaust.

13:10. And when he had made an end of offering the holocaust, behold
Samuel came: and Saul went forth to meet him and salute him.

13:11. And Samuel said to him: What hast thou done? Saul answered:
Because I saw that the people slipt from me, and thou wast not come
according to the days appointed, and the Philistines were gathered
together in Machmas,

13:12. I said: Now will the Philistines come down upon me to Galgal, and
I have not appeased the face of the Lord. Forced by necessity, I offered
the holocaust.

13:13. And Samuel said to Saul: Thou hast done foolishly, and hast not
kept the commandments of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee. And
if thou hadst not done thus, the Lord would now have established thy
kingdom over Israel for ever:

13:14. But thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord hath sought him a
man according to his own heart: and him hath the Lord commanded to be
prince over his people, because thou hast not observed that which the
Lord commanded.

13:15. And Samuel arose and went up from Galgal to Gabaa of Benjamin.
And the rest of the people went up after Saul, to meet the people who
fought against them, going from Galgal to Gabaa, in the hill of
Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people, that were found with him, about
six hundred men.

13:16. And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present
with them, were in Gabaa of Benjamin: But the Philistines encamped in
Machmas.

13:17. And there went out of the camp of the Philistines three companies
to plunder. One company went towards the way of Ephra to the land of
Sual;

13:18. And another went by the way of Bethoron, and the third turned to
the way of the border, above the valley of Seboim towards the desert.

13:19. Now there was no smith to be found in all the land of Israel, for
the Philistines had taken this precaution, lest the Hebrews should make
them swords or spears.

13:20. So all Israel went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man
his ploughshare, and his spade, and his axe, and his rake.

13:21. So that their shares, and their spades, and their forks, and
their axes, were blunt, even to the goad, which was to be mended.

13:22. And when the day of battle was come, there was neither sword nor
spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and
Jonathan, except Saul and Jonathan his son.

13:23. And the army of the Philistines went out in order to advance
further in Machmas.

1 Kings Chapter 14

Jonathan attacketh the Philistines. A miraculous victory. Saul's
unadvised oath, by which Jonathan is put in danger of his life, but is
delivered by the people.

14:1. Now it came to pass one day that Jonathan, the son of Saul, said
to the young man that bore his armour: Come, and let us go over to the
garrison of the Philistines, which is on the other side of yonder place.
But he told not this to his father.

14:2. And Saul abode in the uttermost part of Gabaa, under the
pomegranate tree, which was in Magron: and the people with him were
about six hundred men.

14:3. And Achias, the son of Achitob, brother of Ichabod the son of
Phinees, the son of Heli, the priest of the Lord in Silo, wore the
ephod. And the people knew not whither Jonathan was gone.

14:4. Now there were between the ascents, by which Jonathan sought to go
over to the garrison of the Philistines, rocks standing up on both
sides, and steep cliffs like teeth on the one side, and on the other,
the name of the one was Boses, and the name of the other was Sene:

14:5. One rock stood out toward the north, over against Machmas, and the
other to the south, over against Gabaa.

14:6. And Jonathan said to the young man that bore his armour: Come, let
us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised, it may be the Lord
will do for us: because it is easy for the Lord to save either by many,
or by few.

14:7. And his armourbearer said to him: Do all that pleaseth thy mind:
go whither thou wilt, and I will be with thee wheresoever thou hast a
mind.

14:8. And Jonathan said: Behold we will go over to these men. And when
we shall be seen by them,

14:9. If they shall speak thus to us: Stay till we come to you: let us
stand still in our place, and not go up to them.

14:10. But if they shall say: Come up to us: let us go up, because the
Lord hath delivered them into our hands, this shall be a sign unto us.

This shall be a sign... It is likely Jonathan was instructed by divine
inspiration to make a choice of this sign: otherwise the observation of
omens is superstitious and sinful.

14:11. So both of them discovered themselves to the garrison of the
Philistines: and the Philistines said: Behold the Hebrews come forth out
of the holes wherein they were hid.

14:12. And the men of the garrison spoke to Jonathan, and to his
armourbearer, and said: Come up to us, and we will shew you a thing. And
Jonathan said to his armourbearer: Let us go up, follow me: for the Lord
hath delivered them into the hands of Israel.

14:13. And Jonathan went up creeping on his hands and feet, and his
armourbearer after him. And some fell before Jonathan, others his
armourbearer slew as he followed him.

14:14. And the first slaughter which Jonathan and his armourbearer made,
was of about twenty men, within half an acre of land, which a yoke of
oxen is wont to plough in a day.

14:15. And there was a miracle in the camp, in the fields: and all the
people of their garrison, who had gone out to plunder, were amazed, and
the earth trembled: and it happened as a miracle from God.

14:16. And the watchmen of Saul, who were in Gabaa of Benjamin looked,
and behold a multitude overthrown, and fleeing this way and that.

14:17. And Saul said to the people that were with him: Look, and see who
is gone from us. And when they had sought, it was found that Jonathan
and his armourbearer were not there.

14:18. And Saul said to Achias: Bring the ark of the Lord. (For the ark
of God was there that day with the children of Israel.)

14:19. And while Saul spoke to the priest, there arose a great uproar in
the camp of the Philistines: and it increased by degrees, and was heard
more clearly. And Saul said to the priest: Draw in thy hand.

14:20. Then Saul, and all the people that were with him, shouted
together, and they came to the place of the fight: and behold every
man's sword was turned upon his neighbour, and there was a very great
slaughter.

14:21. Moreover, the Hebrews that had been with the Philistines
yesterday and the day before, and went up with them into the camp,
returned to be with the Israelites, who were with Saul and Jonathan.

14:22. And all the Israelites that had hid themselves in mount Ephraim,
hearing that the Philistines fled, joined themselves with their
countrymen in the fight. And there were with Saul about ten thousand
men.

14:23. And the Lord saved Israel that day. And the fight went on as far
as Bethaven.

14:24. And the men of Israel were joined together that day: and Saul
adjured the people, saying: Cursed be the man that shall eat food till
evening, till I be revenged of my enemies. So none of the people tasted
any food.

14:25. And all the common people came into a forest, in which there was
honey upon the ground.

14:26. And when the people came into the forest, behold the honey
dropped, but no man put his hand to his mouth. For the people feared the
oath.

14:27. But Jonathan had not heard when his father adjured the people:
and he put forth the end of the rod, which he had in his hand, and dipt
it in a honeycomb: and he carried his hand to his mouth, and his eyes
were enlightened.

14:28. And one of the people answering, said: Thy father hath bound the
people with an oath, saying: Cursed be the man that shall eat any food
this day. (And the people were faint.)

14:29. And Jonathan said: My father hath troubled the land: you have
seen yourselves that my eyes are enlightened, because I tasted a little
of this honey:

14:30. How much more if the people had eaten of the prey of their
enemies, which they found? had there not been made a greater slaughter
among the Philistines?

14:31. So they smote that day the Philistines, from Machmas to Aialon.
And the people were wearied exceedingly.

14:32. And falling upon the spoils, they took sheep, and oxen, and
calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people ate them with the
blood.

14:33. And they told Saul that the people had sinned against the Lord,
eating with the blood. And he said: You have transgressed: roll here to
me now a great stone.

14:34. And Saul said: Disperse yourselves among the people, and tell
them to bring me every man his ox and his ram and slay them upon this
stone, and eat, and you shall not sin against the Lord, in eating with
the blood. So all the people brought every man his ox with him till the
night: and slew them there.

14:35. And Saul built an altar to the Lord: and he then first began to
build an altar to the Lord.

14:36. And Saul said: Let us fall upon the Philistines by night, and
destroy them till the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them.
And the people said: Do all that seemeth good in thy eyes. And the
priest said: Let us draw near hither unto God.

14:37. And Saul consulted the Lord: Shall I pursue after the
Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into the hands of Israel? And he
answered him not that day.

14:38. And Saul said: Bring hither all the corners of the people: and
know, and see by whom this sin hath happened to day.

14:39. As the Lord liveth, who is the Saviour of Israel, if it was done
by Jonathan, my son, he shall surely die. In this none of the people
gainsayed him.

14:40. And he said to all Israel: Be you on one side and I, with
Jonathan, my son, will be on the other side. And the people answered
Saul: Do what seemeth good in thy eyes.

14:41. And Saul said to the Lord: O Lord God of Israel, give a sign, by
which we may know, what the meaning is, that thou answerest not thy
servant to day: If this iniquity be in me, or in my son Jonathan, give a
proof: or if this iniquity be in thy people, give holiness. And Jonathan
and Saul were taken, and the people escaped.

14:42. And Saul said: Cast lots between me, and Jonathan, my son. And
Jonathan was taken.

Jonathan was taken... Though Jonathan was excused from sin, through
ignorance of the prohibition, yet God was pleased on this occasion to
let the lot fall upon him, to shew unto all the great obligation of
obedience to princes and parents.

14:43. And Saul said to Jonathan: Tell me what thou hast done. And
Jonathan told him, and said: I did but taste a little honey with the end
of the rod, which was in my hand, and behold I must die.

14:44. And Saul said: May God do so and so to me, and add still more:
for dying thou shalt die, O Jonathan.

14:45. And the people said to Saul: Shall Jonathan then die, who hath
wrought this great salvation in Israel? this must not be: As the Lord
liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he
hath wrought with God this day. So the people delivered Jonathan, that
he should not die.

14:46. And Saul went back, and did not pursue after the Philistines: and
the Philistines went to their own places.

14:47. And Saul having his kingdom established over Israel, fought
against all his enemies round about, against Moab, and against the
children of Ammon, and Edom, and the kings of Soba, and the Philistines:
and whithersoever he turned himself, he overcame.

14:48. And gathering together an army, he defeated Amalec, and delivered
Israel from the hand of them that spoiled them.

14:49. And the sons of Saul, were Jonathan, and Jessui, and Melchisua:
and the names of his two daughters, the name of the firstborn was Merob,
and the name of the younger Michol.

14:50. And the name of Saul's wife was Achinoam, the daughter of
Achimaas; and the name of the captain of his army was Abner, the son of
Ner, the cousin german of Saul.

14:51. For Cis was the father of Saul, and Ner, the father of Abner, was
son of Abiel.

14:52. And there was a great war against the Philistines all the days of
Saul. For whomsoever Saul saw to be a valiant man, and fit for war, he
took him to himself.

1 Kings Chapter 15

Saul is sent to destroy Amalec: he spareth their king and the best of
their cattle: for which disobedience he is cast off by the Lord.

15:1. And Samuel said to Saul: The Lord sent me to anoint thee king over
his people Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the
Lord:

15:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have reckoned up all that Amalec
hath done to Israel: how he opposed them in the way when they came up
out of Egypt.

15:3. Now therefore go, and smite Amalec, and utterly destroy all that
he hath: spare him not, nor covet anything that is his: but slay both
man and woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

Child... The great Master of life and death (who cuts off one half of
all mankind whilst they are children) has been pleased sometimes to
ordain that children should be put to the sword, in detestation of the
crimes of their parents, and that they might not live to follow the same
wicked ways. But without such ordinance of God it is not allowable, in
any wars, how just soever, to kill children.

15:4. So Saul commanded the people, and numbered them as lambs: two
hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand of the men of Juda.

15:5. And when Saul was come to the city of Amalec, he laid ambushes in
the torrent.

15:6. And Saul said to the Cinite: Go, depart, and get ye down from
Amalec: lest I destroy thee with him. For thou hast shewn kindness to
all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. And the
Cinite departed from the midst of Amalec.

15:7. And Saul smote Amalec from Hevila, until thou comest to Sur, which
is over against Egypt.

15:8. And he took Agag, the king of Amalec, alive: but all the common
people he slew with the edge of the sword.

15:9. And Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the flocks of
sheep, and of the herds, and the garments and the rams, and all that was
beautiful, and would not destroy them: but every thing that was vile,
and good for nothing, that they destroyed.

15:10. And the word of the Lord came to Samuel,

15:11. It repenteth me that I have made Saul king: for he hath forsaken
me, and hath not executed my commandments. And Samuel was grieved, and
he cried unto the Lord all night.

15:12. And when Samuel rose early, to go to Saul in the morning, it was
told Samuel that Saul was come to Carmel, and had erected for himself a
triumphant arch, and returning had passed on, and gone down to Galgal.
And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul was offering a holocaust to the Lord,
out of the choicest of the spoils, which he had brought from Amalec.

15:13. And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said to him: Blessed be
thou of the Lord, I have fulfilled the word of the Lord.

15:14. And Samuel said: What meaneth then this bleating of the flocks,
which soundeth in my ears, and the lowing of the herds, which I hear?

15:15. And Saul said: They have brought them from Amalec: for the people
spared the best of the sheep and of the herds, that they might be
sacrificed to the Lord thy God, but the rest we have slain.

15:16. And Samuel said to Saul: Suffer me, and I will tell thee what the
Lord hath said to me this night. And he said to him: Speak.

15:17. And Samuel said: When thou wast a little one in thy own eyes,
wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord
anointed thee to be king over Israel.

15:18. And the Lord sent thee on the way, and said: Go, and kill the
sinners of Amalec, and thou shalt fight against them until thou hast
utterly destroyed them.

15:19. Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of the Lord: but
hast turned to the prey, and hast done evil in the eyes of the Lord?

15:20. And Saul said to Samuel: Yea, I have hearkened to the voice of
the Lord, and have walked in the way by which the Lord sent me, and have
brought Agag, the king of Amalec, and Amalec I have slain.

15:21. But the people took of the spoils, sheep and oxen, as the
firstfruits of those things that were slain, to offer sacrifice to the
Lord their God in Galgal.

15:22. And Samuel said: Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and
not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is
better than sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat or
rams.

15:23. Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel: and like the
crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey. Forasmuch, therefore, as thou hast
rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee from
being king.

15:24. And Saul said to Samuel: I have sinned, because I have
transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words, fearing the
people, and obeying their voice.

15:25. But now bear, I beseech thee, my sin, and return with me, that I
may adore the Lord.

15:26. And Samuel said to Saul: I will not return with thee, because
thou hath rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee
from being king over Israel.

15:27. And Samuel turned about to go away: but he laid hold upon the
skirt of his mantle, and it rent.

15:28. And Samuel said to him: The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel
from thee this day, and hath given it to thy neighbour who is better
than thee.

15:29. But the triumpher in Israel will not spare, and will not be moved
to repentance: for he is not a man that he should repent.

15:30. Then he said: I have sinned: yet honour me now before the
ancients of my people, and before Israel, and return with me, that I may
adore the Lord thy God.

15:31. So Samuel turned again after Saul: and Saul adored the Lord.

15:32. And Samuel said: Bring hither to me Agag, the king of Amalec. And
Agag was presented to him very fat, and trembling. And Agag said: Doth
bitter death separate in this manner? 15:33. And Samuel said: As thy
sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among
women. And Samuel hewed him in pieces before the Lord in Galgal.

15:34. And Samuel departed to Ramatha: but Saul went up to his house in
Gabaa.

15:35. And Samuel saw Saul no more till the day of his death:
nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul, because the Lord repented that he
had made him king over Israel.

Saw Saul no more till the day of his death... That is, he went no more
to see him: he visited him no more.

1 Kings Chapter 16

Samuel is sent to Bethlehem, where he anointeth David: who is taken into
Saul's family.

16:1. And the Lord said to Samuel: How long wilt thou mourn for Saul,
whom I have rejected from reigning over Israel? fill thy horn with oil,
and come, that I may send thee to Isai, the Bethlehemite: for I have
provided me a king among his sons.

16:2. And Samuel said: How shall I go? for Saul will hear of it, and he
will kill me. And the Lord said: Thou shalt take with thee a calf of the
herd, and thou shalt say: I am come to sacrifice to the Lord.

16:3. And thou shalt call Isai to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee
what thou art to do, and thou shalt anoint him whom I shall shew to
thee.

16:4. Then Samuel did as the Lord had said to him. And he came to
Bethlehem, and the ancients of the city wondered, and meeting him, they
said: Is thy coming hither peaceable?

16:5. And he said: It is peaceable: I am come to offer sacrifice to the
Lord, be ye sanctified, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he
sanctified Isai and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

16:6. And when they were come in, he saw Eliab, and said: Is the Lord's
anointed before him?

16:7. And the Lord said to Samuel: Look not on his countenance, nor on
the height of his stature: because I have rejected him, nor do I judge
according to the look of man: for man seeth those things that appear,
but the Lord beholdeth the heart.

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