The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 9: 1 Kings

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20:19. For thy seat will be empty till after to morrow. So thou shalt go
down quickly, and come to the place where thou must he hid, on the day
when it is lawful to work, and thou shalt remain beside the stone, which
is called Ezel.

20:20. And I will shoot three arrows near it, and will shoot as if I
were exercising myself at a mark.

20:21. And I will send a boy, saying to him: Go and fetch me the arrows.

20:22. If I shall say to the boy: Behold the arrows are on this side of
thee, take them up: come thou to me, because there is peace to thee, and
there is no evil, as the Lord liveth. But if I shall speak thus to the
boy: Behold the arrows are beyond thee: go in peace, for the Lord hath
sent thee away.

20:23. And concerning the word which I and thou have spoken, the Lord be
between thee and me forever.

20:24. So David was hid in the field, and the new moon came, and the
king sat down to eat bread.

20:25. And when the king sat down upon his chair, (according to custom)
which was beside the wall, Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side,
and David's place appeared empty.

20:26. And Saul said nothing that day, for he thought it might have
happened to him, that he was not clean, nor purified.

20:27. And when the second day after the new moon was come, David's
place appeared empty again. And Saul said to Jonathan, his son: Why
cometh not the son of Isai to meat neither yesterday, nor to day?

20:28. And Jonathan answered Saul: He asked leave of me earnestly to go
to Bethlehem.

20:29. And he said: Let me go, for there is a solemn sacrifice in the
city, one of my brethren hath sent for me: and now if I have found
favour in thy eyes, I will go quickly, and see my brethren. For this
cause he came not to the king's table.

20:30. Then Saul being angry against Jonathan, said to him: Thou son of
a woman that is the ravisher of a man, do I not know that thou lovest
the son of Isai to thy own confusion, and to the confusion of thy
shameless mother?

20:31. For as long as the son of Isai liveth upon earth, thou shalt not
be established, nor thy kingdom. Therefore now presently send, and fetch
him to me: for he is the son of death.

The son of death... That is, one that deserveth death, and shall surely
be put to death.

20:32. And Jonathan answering Saul, his father, said: Why shall he die?
What hath he done?

20:33. And Saul caught up a spear to strike him. And Jonathan understood
that it was determined by his father to kill David.

20:34. So Jonathan rose from the table in great anger, and did not eat
bread on the second day after the new moon. For he was grieved for
David, because his father had put him to confusion.

20:35. And when the morning came, Jonathan went into the field according
to the appointment with David, and a little boy with him.

20:36. And he said to his boy: Go, and fetch me the arrows which I
shoot. And when the boy ran, he shot another arrow beyond the boy.

20:37. The boy therefore came to the place of the arrow which Jonathan
had shot: and Jonathan cried after the boy, and said: Behold the arrow
is there further beyond thee.

20:38. And Jonathan cried again after the boy, saying: Make haste
speedily, stand not. And Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows, and
brought them to his master:

20:39. And he knew not at all what was doing: for only Jonathan and
David knew the matter.

20:40. Jonathan therefore gave his arms to the boy, and said to him: Go,
and carry them into the city.

20:41. And when the boy was gone, David rose out of his place, which was
toward the south, and falling on his face to the ground, adored thrice:
and kissing one another, they wept together; but David more.

20:42. And Jonathan said to David: Go in peace: and let all stand that
we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying: The Lord be
between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever.

20:43. And David arose, and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.

1 Kings Chapter 21

David receiveth holy bread of Achimelech, the priest: and feigneth
himself mad before Achis, king of Geth.

21:1. And David came to Nobe, to Achimelech, the priest and Achimelech
was astonished at David's coming. And he said to him: Why art thou
alone, and no man with thee?

Nobe... A city in the tribe of Benjamin, to which the tabernacle of the
Lord had been translated from Silo.

21:2. And David said to Achimelech, the priest: The king hath commanded
me a business, and said: Let no man know the thing for which thou art
sent by me, and what manner of commands I have given thee: and I have
appointed my servants to such and such a place.

21:3. Now therefore if thou have any thing at hand, though it were but
five loaves, give me, or whatsoever thou canst find.

21:4. And the priest answered David, saying: I have no common bread at
hand, but only holy bread, if the young men be clean, especially from
women?

If the young men be clean, etc... If this cleanness was required of them
that were to eat that bread, which was a figure of the bread of life
which we receive in the blessed sacrament; how clean ought Christians to
be when they approach to our tremendous mysteries. And what reason hath
the church of God to admit none to be her ministers to consecrate and
daily receive this most pure sacrament, but such as devote themselves to
a life of perpetual purity.

21:5. And David answered the priest, and said to him: Truly, as to what
concerneth women, we have refrained ourselves from yesterday and the day
before, when we came out, and the vessels of the young men were holy.
Now this way is defiled, but it shall also be sanctified this day in the
vessels.

The vessels... i. e., the bodies, have been holy, that is, have been
kept from impurity.-Ibid. Is defiled... Is liable to expose us to
dangers of uncleanness.-Ibid. Be sanctified, etc... That is, we shall
take care, notwithstanding these dangerous circumstances, to keep our
vessels holy, that is, to keep our bodies from every thing that may
defile us.

21:6. The priest therefore gave him hallowed bread: for there was no
bread there, but only the loaves of proposition, which had been taken
away from before the face of the Lord, that hot loaves might be set up.

21:7. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day,
within the tabernacle of the Lord: and his name was Doeg, an Edomite,
the chiefest of Saul's herdsmen.

21:8. And David said to Achimelech: Hast thou here at hand a spear, or a
sword? for I brought not my own sword, nor my own weapons with me, for
the king's business required haste.

21:9. And the priest said: Lo, here is the sword of Goliath, the
Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of Terebinth, wrapped up in
a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take this, take it, for here
there is no other but this. And David said: There is none like that,
give it me.

21:10. And David arose and fled that day from the face of Saul: and came
to Achis, the king of Geth:

21:11. And the servants of Achis, when they saw David, said to him: Is
not this David, the king of the land? Did they not sing to him in their
dances, saying: Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten
thousands?

21:12. But David laid up these words in his heart, and was exceedingly
afraid at the face of Achis, the king of Geth.

21:13. And he changed his countenance before them, and slipt down
between their hands: and he stumbled against the doors of the gate, and
his spittle ran down upon his beard.

21:14. And Achis said to his servants: You saw the man was mad: why have
you brought him to me?

21:15. Have we need of mad men, that you have brought in this fellow, to
play the madman in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?

1 Kings Chapter 22

Many resort to David. Doeg accuseth Achimelech to Saul. He ordereth him
and all the other priests of Nobe to be slain. Abiathar escapeth.

22:1. David therefore went from thence, and fled to the cave of Odollam.
And when his brethren, and all his father's house, had heard of it, they
went down to him thither.

22:2. And all that were in distress, and oppressed with debt, and under
affliction of mind, gathered themselves unto him: and he became their
prince, and there were with him about four hundred men.

22:3. And David departed from thence into Maspha of Moab: and he said to
the king of Moab: Let my father and my mother tarry with you, I beseech
thee, till I know what God will do for me.

22:4. And he left them under thc eyes of the king of Moab, and they
abode with him all the days that David was in the hold.

The hold... The strong hold, or fortress of Maspha.

22:5. And Gad the prophet said to David: Abide not in the hold, depart,
and go into the land of Juda. And David departed, and came into the
forest of Haret.

22:6. And Saul heard that David was seen, and the men that were with
him. Now whilst Saul abode in Gabaa, and was in the wood, which is by
Rama, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing
about him,

22:7. He said to his servants that stood about him: Hear me now, ye sons
of Jemini: will the son of Isai give every one of you fields, and
vineyards, and make you all tribunes, and centurions:

22:8. That all of you have conspired against me, and there is no one to
inform me, especially when even my son hath entered into league with the
son of Isai? There is not one of you that pitieth my case, nor that
giveth me any information: because my son hath raised up my servant
against me, plotting against me to this day.

22:9. And Doeg, the Edomite, who stood by, and was the chief among the
servants of Saul, answering, said: I saw the son of Isai, in Nobe, with
Achimelech, the son of Achitob, the priest.

22:10. And he consulted the Lord for him, and gave him victuals, and
gave him the sword of Goliath, the Philistine.

22:11. Then the king sent to call for Achimelech, the priest, the son of
Achitob, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nobe, and
they came all of them to the king.

22:12. And Saul said to Achimelech: Hear, thou son of Achitob. He
answered: Here I am, my lord.

22:13. And Saul said to him: Why have you conspired against me, thou,
and the son of Isai, and thou hast given him bread and a sword, and hast
consulted the Lord for him, that he should rise up against me,
continuing a traitor to this day.

22:14. And Achimelech answering the king, said: And who amongst all thy
servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son in law, and
goeth forth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thy house?

22:15. Did I begin to day to consult the Lord for him? far be this from
me: let not the king suspect such a thing against his servant, or any
one in all my father's house: for thy servant knew nothing of this
matter, either little or great.

22:16. And the king said: Dying thou shalt die, Achimelech, thou and all
thy father's house.

22:17. And the king said to the messengers that stood about him: Turn,
and kill the priests of the Lord, for their hand is with David, because
they knew that he was fled, and they told it not to me. And the
king'sservants would not put forth their hands against the priests of
the Lord.

22:18. And the king said to Doeg: Turn thou, and fall upon the priests.
And Doeg, the Edomite, turned, and fell upon the priests, and slew in
that day eighty-five men that wore the linen ephod.

22:19. And Nobe, the city of the priests, he smote with the edge of the
sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and ox, and ass, and
sheep, with the edge of the sword.

22:20. But one of the sons of Achimelech, the son of Achitob, whose name
was Abiathar, escaped, and fled to David,

22:21. And told him that Saul had slain the priests of the Lord.

22:22. And David said to Abiathar: I knew that day when Doeg, the
Edomite, was there, that without doubt he would tell Saul: I have been
the occasion of the death of all the souls of thy father's house.

22:23. Abide thou with me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life,
seeketh thy life also, and with me thou shalt be saved.

1 Kings Chapter 23

David relieveth Ceila, besieged by the Philistines. He fleeth into the
desert of Ziph. Jonathan and he confirm their former covenant. The
Ziphites discover him to Saul, who pursuing close after him, is called
away by an invasion from the Philistines.

23:1. And they told David, saying: Behold the Philistines fight against
Ceila, and they rob the barns.

23:2. Therefore David consulted the Lord, saying: Shall I go and smite
these Philistines? And the Lord said to David: Go, and thou shalt smite
the Philistines, and shalt save Ceila.

23:3. And the men that were with David, said to him: Behold we are in
fear here in Judea, how much more if we go to Ceila against the bands of
the Philistines?

23:4. Therefore David consulted the Lord again. And he answered and said
to him: Arise, and go to Ceila: for I will deliver the Philistines into
thy hand.

23:5. David, therefore, and his men, went to Ceila, and fought against
the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and made a great
slaughter of them: and David saved the inhabitants of Ceila.

23:6. Now at that time, when Abiathar, the son of Achimelech, fled to
David, to Ceila, he came down, having an ephod with him.

An ephod... Or the ephod. That is, the vestment of the high priest, with
the urim and thummim, by which the Lord gave his oracle.

23:7. And it was told Saul that David was come to Ceila: and Saul said:
The Lord hath delivered him into my hands, and he is shut up, being come
into a city that hath gates and bars.

23:8. And Saul commanded all the people to go down to fight against
Ceila, and to besiege David and his men.

23:9. Now when David understood that Saul secretly prepared evil against
him, he said to Abiathar, the priest: Bring hither the ephod.

23:10. And David said: O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath heard a
report, that Saul designeth to come to Ceila, to destroy the city for my
sake:

23:11. Will the men of Ceila deliver me into his hands? and will Saul
come down, as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, tell thy
servant. And the Lord said: He will come down.

23:12. And David said: Will the men of Ceila deliver me and my men into
the hands of Saul? And the Lord said: They will deliver thee up.

23:13. Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose, and
departing from Ceila, wandered up and down, uncertain where they should
stay: and it was told Saul that David was fled from Ceila, and had
escaped: wherefore he forbore to go out.

23:14. But David abode in the desert in strong holds, and he remained in
a mountain of the desert of Ziph, in a woody hill. And Saul sought him
always: but the Lord delivered him not into his hands.

23:15. And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life. And David
was in the desert of Ziph, in a wood.

23:16. And Jonathan, the son of Saul, arose, and went to David, into the
wood, and strengthened his hands in God: and he said to him:

23:17. Fear not: for the hand of my father, Saul, shall not find thee,
and thou shalt reign over Israel, and I shall be next to thee; yea and
my father knoweth this.

23:18. And they two made a covenant before the Lord: and David abode in
the wood: but Jonathan returned to his house.

23:19. And the Ziphites went up to Saul, in Gabaa, saying: Lo, doth not
David lie hid with us in the strong holds of the wood, in mount Hachila,
which is on the right hand of the desert.

23:20. Now therefore come down, as thy soul hath desired to come down:
and it shall be our business to deliver him into the king's hands.

23:21. And Saul said: Blessed be ye of the Lord, for you have pitied my
case.

23:22. Go, therefore, I pray you, and use all diligence, and curiously
inquire, and consider the place where his foot is, and who hath seen him
there: for he thinketh of me, that I lie craftily in wait for him.

23:23. Consider, and see all his lurking holes, wherein he is hid, and
return to me with the certainty of the thing, that I may go with you.
And if he should even go down into the earth to hide himself, I will
search him out in all the thousands of Juda.

23:24. And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: and David and his
men were in the desert of Maon, in the plain at the right hand of
Jesimon.

23:25. Then Saul and his men went to seek him: and it was told David,
and forthwith he went down to the rock, and abode in the wilderness of
Maon: and when Saul had heard of it, he pursued after David in the
wilderness of Maon.

23:26. And Saul went on this side of the mountain: and David and his men
were on the other side of the mountain: and David despaired of being
able to escape from the face of Saul: and Saul and his men encompassed
David and his men round about, to take them.

23:27. And a messenger came to Saul, saying: Make haste to come, for the
Philistines have poured in themselves upon the land.

23:28. Wherefore Saul returned, leaving the pursuit of David, and went
to meet the Philistines. For this cause they called that place the rock
of division.

1 Kings Chapter 24

Saul seeketh David in the wilderness of Engaddi: he goeth into a cave
where David hath him in his power.

24:1. Then David went up from thence, and dwelt in strong holds of
Engaddi.

24:2. And when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, they
told him, saying: Behold, David is in the desert of Engaddi.

24:3. Saul, therefore, took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel,
and went out to seek after David and his men, even upon the most craggy
rocks, which are accessible only to wild goats.

24:4. And he came to the sheepcotes which were in his way. And there was
a cave, into which Saul went, to ease nature: now David and his men lay
hid in the inner part of the cave.

24:5. And the servants of David said to him: Behold the day, of which
the Lord said to thee: I will deliver thy enemy unto thee, that thou
mayst do to him as it shall seem good in thy eyes. Then David arose, and
secretly cut off the hem of Saul's robe.

24:6. After which David's heart struck him, because he had cut off the
hem of Saul's robe.

Heart struck him... Viz., with remorse, as fearing he had done amiss.

24:7. And he said to his men: The Lord be merciful unto me, that I may
do no such thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, as to lay my hand
upon him, because he is the Lord's anointed.

24:8. And David stopped his men with his words, and suffered them not to
rise against Saul: but Saul, rising up out of the cave, went on his way.

24:9. And David also rose up after him: and going out of the cave, cried
after Saul, saying: My lord the king. And Saul looked behind him: and
David bowing himself down to the ground, worshipped,

24:10. And said to Saul: Why dost thou hear the words of men that say:
David seeketh thy hurt?

24:11 Behold this day thy eyes have seen, that the Lord hath delivered
thee into my hand, in the cave, and I had a thought to kill thee, but my
eye hath spared thee. For I said: I will not put out my hand against my
lord, because he is the Lord's anointed.

A thought to kill thee... That is, a suggestion, to which I did not
consent.

24:12. Moreover, see and know, O my father, the hem of thy robe in my
hand, that when I cut off the hem of thy robe, I would not put out my
hand against thee. Reflect, and see, that there is no evil in my hand,
nor iniquity, neither have I sinned against thee: but thou liest in wait
for my life, to take it away.

24:13. The Lord judge between me and thee and the Lord revenge me of
thee: but my hand shall not be upon thee.

Revenge me of thee... Or, as it is in the Hebrew, will revenge me. The
meaning is, that he refers his whole cause to God, to judge and punish
according to his justice: yet so as to keep himself in the mean time,
from all personal hatred to Saul, or desire of gratifying his own
passion, by seeking revenge. So far from it, that when Saul was
afterwards slain, we find, that instead of rejoicing at his death, he
mourned most bitterly for him.

24:14. As also it is said in the old proverb: From the wicked shall
wickedness come forth: therefore my hand shall not be upon thee. After
whom dost thou come out, O king of Israel?

24:15. After whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea.

24:16. Be the Lord judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and
judge my cause, and deliver me out of thy hand.

24:17. And when David had made an end of speaking these words to Saul,
Saul said: Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his
voice, and wept:

24:18. And he said to David: Thou art more just than I: for thou hast
done good to me, and I have rewarded thee with evil.

24:19. And thou hast shewed this day what good things thou hast done to
me: how the Lord delivered me into thy hand, and thou hast not killed
me.

24:20. For who when he hath found his enemy, will let him go well away?
But the Lord reward thee for this good turn, for what thou hast done to
me this day.

24:21. And now as I know that thou shalt surely be king, and have the
kingdom of Israel in thy hand:

24:22. Swear to me by the Lord, that thou wilt not destroy my seed after
me, nor take away my name from the house of my father.

24:23. And David swore to Saul. So Saul went home: and David and his men
went up into safer places.

1 Kings Chapter 25

The death of Samuel. David, provoked by Nabal, threateneth to destroy
him: but is appeased by Abigail.

25:1. And Samuel died, and all Israel was gathered together, and they
mourned for him, and buried him in his house in Ramatha. And David rose,
and went down into the wilderness of Pharan.

25:2. Now there was a certain man in the wilderness of Maon, and his
possessions were in Carmel, and the man was very great: and he had three
thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and it happened that he was
shearing his sheep in Carmel.

25:3. Now the name of the man was Nabal: and the name of his wife was
Abigail. And she was a prudent and very comely woman: but her husband
was churlish, and very bad and ill natured: and he was of the house of
Caleb.

25:4. And when David heard in the wilderness, that Nabal was shearing
his sheep,

25:5. He sent ten young men, and said to them: Go up to Carmel, and go
to Nabal, and salute him in my name with peace.

25:6. And you shall say: Peace be to my brethren, and to thee, and peace
to thy house, and peace to all that thou hast.

25:7. I have heard that thy shepherds that were with us in the desert
were shearing: we never molested them, neither was there ought missing
to them of the flock at any time, all the while they were with us in
Carmel.

25:8. Ask thy servants, and they will tell thee. Now therefore let thy
servants find favour in thy eyes: for we are come in a good day,
whatsoever thy hand shall find give to thy servants, and to thy son
David.

25:9. And when David's servants came, they spoke to Nabal all these
words in David's name, and then held their peace.

25:10. But Nabal answering the servants of David, said: Who is David?
and what is the son of Isai? servants are multiplied now days who flee
from their masters.

25:11. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and the flesh of my
cattle, which I have killed for my shearers, and give to men whom I know
not whence they are?

25:12. So the servants of David went back their way, and returning came
and told him all the words that he said.

25:13. Then David said to his young men: Let every man gird on his
sword. And they girded on every man his sword. And David also girded on
his sword: and there followed David about four hundred men, and two
hundred remained with the baggage.

25:14. But one of the servants told, Abigail, the wife of Nabal, saying:
Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness, to salute our
master: and he rejected them.

25:15. These men were very good to us, and gave us no trouble: Neither
did we ever lose any thing all the time that we conversed with them in
the desert.

25:16. They were a wall unto us, both by night and day, all the while we
were with them keeping the sheep.

25:17. Wherefore consider, and think what thou hast to do: for evil is
determined against thy husband, and against thy house, and he is a son
of Belial, so that no man can speak to him.

25:18. Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves, and two
vessels of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of
parched corn, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes
of dry figs, and laid them upon asses:

25:19. And she said to her servants: Go before me: behold, I will follow
after you: but she told not her husband, Nabal.

25:20. And when she had gotten upon an ass, and was coming down to the
foot of the mountain, David and his men came down over against her, and
she met them.

25:21. And David said: Truly in vain have I kept all that belonged to
this fellow in the wilderness, and nothing was lost of all that
pertained unto him: and he hath returned me evil for good.

25:22. May God do so and so, and add more to the foes of David, if I
leave of all that belong to him till the morning, any that pisseth
against the wall.

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