1 Samuel 19; 1 Samuel 20; 1 Samuel 21; Luke 11:29-54

1 And Saul spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, the son of Saul, loved David exceedingly.

2 And Jonathan told David, saying: Saul, my father, seeketh to kill thee: wherefore look to thyself, I beseech thee, in the morning and thou shalt abide in a secret place, and shalt be hid.

3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art: and I will speak of thee to my father, and whatsoever I shall see, I will tell thee.

4 And Jonathan spoke good things of David to Saul, his father: and said to him: Sin not, O king, against thy servant, David, because he hath not sinned against thee, and his works are very good towards thee.

5 And he put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the Lord wrought great salvation for all Israel. Thou sawest it and didst rejoice. Why therefore wilt thou sin against innocent blood, by killing David, who is without fault?

6 And when Saul heard this, he was appeased with the words of Jonathan, and swore: As the Lord liveth, he shall not be slain.

7 Then Jonathan called David, and told him all these words: and Jonathan brought in David to Saul, and he was before him, as he had been yesterday and the day before.

8 And the war began again, and David went out, and fought against the Philistines, and defeated them with a great slaughter, and they fled from his face.

9 And the evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul; and he sat in his house, and held a spear in his hand: and David played with his hand.

10 And Saul endeavoured to nail David to the wall with his spear. And David slipt away out of the presence of Saul: and the spear missed him, and was fastened in the wall, and David fled, and escaped that night.

11 Saul therefore sent his guards to David’s house to watch him, that he might be killed in the morning. And when Michol, David’s wife, had told him this, saying: Unless thou save thyself this night, to morrow thou wilt die:

12 She let him down through a window. And he went and fled away, and escaped.

13 And Michol took an image, and laid it on the bed, and put a goat’s skin, with the hair at the head of it, and covered it with clothes.

14 And Saul sent officers to seize David; and it was answered that he was sick.

15 And again Saul sent to see David, saying: Bring him to me in the bed, that he may be slain.

16 And when the messengers were come in, they found an image upon the bed, and a goat skin at his head.

17 And Saul said to Michol: Why hast thou deceived me so, and let my enemy go and flee away? And Michol answered Saul: Because he said to me: Let me go, or else I will kill thee.

18 But David fled and escaped, and came to Samuel in Ramatha, and told him all that Saul had done to him: and he and Samuel went and dwelt in Najoth.

19 And it was told Saul by some, saying: Behold David is in Najoth, in Ramatha.

20 So Saul sent officers to take David: and when they saw a company of prophets prophesying, and Samuel presiding over them, the Spirit of the Lord came also upon them, and they likewise began to prophesy.

21 And when this was told Saul, he sent other messengers: but they also prophesied. And again Saul sent messengers the third time: and they prophesied also. And Saul being exceeding angry,

22 Went also himself to Ramatha, and came as far as the great cistern, which is in Socho, and he asked, and said: In what place are Samuel and David? And it was told him: Behold they are in Najoth, in Ramatha.

23 And he went to Najoth, in Ramatha, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied till he came to Najoth, in Ramatha.

24 And he stripped himself also of his garments, and prophesied with the rest before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and night. This gave occasion to a proverb: What! is Saul too among the prophets?

1 But David fled from Najoth, which is in Ramatha, and came and said to Jonathan: What have I done? what is my iniquity, and what is my sin against thy father, that he seeketh my life?

2 And he said to him: (God forbid, thou shalt not die: for my father will do nothing, great or little, without first telling me: hath then my father hid this word only from me? no, this shall not be.

3 And he swore again to David. And David said: Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, and he will say: Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly as the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, there is but one step (as I may say) between me and death.

4 And Jonathan said to David: Whatsoever thy soul shall say to me, I will do for thee.

5 And David said to Jonathan: Behold to morrow is the new moon, and I, according to custom, am wont to sit beside the king to eat: let me go then that I may be hid in the field till the evening of the third day.

6 If thy father look and inquire for me, thou shalt answer him: David asked me that he might run to Bethlehem, his own city: because there are solemn sacrifices there for all of his tribe.

7 If he shall say: It is well: thy servant shall have peace: but if he be angry, know that his malice is come to its height.

8 Deal mercifully then with thy servant: for thou hast brought me, thy servant, into a covenant of the Lord with thee. But if there be any iniquity in me, do thou kill me, and bring me not in to thy father.

9 And Jonathan said: Far be this from thee: for if I should certainly know that evil is determined by my father against thee, I could do no otherwise than tell thee.

10 And David answered Jonathan: Who shall bring me word, if thy father should answer thee harshly concerning me?

11 And Jonathan said to David: Come, and let us go out into the field. And when they were both of them gone out into the field,

12 Jonathan said to David: O Lord God of Israel, if I shall discover my father’s mind, to morrow, or the day after, and there be any thing good for David, and I send not immediately to thee, and make it known to thee,

13 May the Lord do so and so to Jonathan, and add still more. But if my father shall continue in malice against thee, I will discover it to thy ear, and will send thee away, that thou mayst go in peace, and the Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father.

14 And if I live, thou shalt shew me the kindness of the Lord: but if I die,

15 Thou shalt not take away thy kindness from my house for ever, when the Lord shall have rooted out the enemies of David, every one of them from the earth, may he take away Jonathan from his house, and may the Lord require it at the hands of David’s enemies.

16 Jonathan therefore made a covenant with the house of David: and the Lord required it at the hands of David’s enemies.

17 And Jonathan swore again to David, because he loved him: for he loved him as his own soul.

18 And Jonathan said to him: To morrow is the new moon, and thou wilt be missed:

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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?

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

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.

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?

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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:

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

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

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.

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 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?

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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

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.

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

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?

29 And the multitudes running together, he began to say: This generation is a wicked generation. It asketh a sign: and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.

30 For as Jonas was a sign to the Ninivites; so shall the Son of man also be to this generation.

31 The queen of the south shall rise in the judgment with the men of this generation and shall condemn them: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And behold more than Solomon here.

32 The men of Ninive shall rise in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it; Because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas. And behold more than Jonas here.

33 No man lighteth a candle and putteth it in a hidden place, nor under a bushel: but upon a candlestick, that they that come in may see the light.

34 The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body will be lightsome: but if it be evil, thy body also will be darksome.

35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

36 If then thy whole body be lightsome, having no part of darkness: the whole shall be lightsome and, as a bright lamp, shall enlighten thee.

37 And as he was speaking, a certain Pharisee prayed him that he would dine with him. And he going in, sat down to eat.

38 And the Pharisee began to say, thinking within himself, why he was not washed before dinner.

39 And the Lord said to him: Now you, Pharisees, make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter: but your inside is full of rapine and iniquity.

40 Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make also that which is within?

41 But yet that which remaineth, give alms: and behold, all things are clean unto you.

42 But woe to you, Pharisees, because you tithe mint and rue and every herb and pass over judgment and the charity of God. Now these things you ought to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

43 Woe to you, Pharisees, because you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues and salutations in the marketplace.

44 Woe to you, because you are as sepulchres that appear not: and men that walk over are not aware.

45 And one of the lawyers answering, saith to him: Master, in saying these things, thou reproachest us also.

46 But he said: Woe to you lawyers also, because you load men with burdens which they cannot bear and you yourselves touch not the packs with one of your fingers.

47 Woe to you who build the monuments of the prophets: and your fathers killed them.

48 Truly you bear witness that you consent to the doings of your fathers. For they indeed killed them: and you build their sepulchres.

49 For this cause also the wisdom of God said: I will send to them prophets and apostles: and some of them they will kill and persecute.

50 That the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation,

51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, who was slain between the altar and the temple. Yea I say to you: It shall be required of this generation.

52 Woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered in: and those that were entering in, you have hindered.

53 And as he was saying these things to them, the Pharisees and the lawyers began violently to urge him and to oppress his mouth about many things,

54 Lying in wait for him and seeking to catch something from his mouth, that they might accuse him.