didst hide thyself in the day of which thou knowest, and shalt remain by yonder heap of stones. And I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark. And, behold, I will send the lad, saying, Go, find the arrows. If I say to the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee; come, for there is peace to thee and no hurt, as Jehovah liveth. But if I say thus to the boy, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go, for Jehovah hath sent thee away. And as touching the matter of which thou and I have spoken, behold, Jehovah is between thee and me for ever.

So David hid himself in the field; and the new moon came, and the king sat down to eat meat. And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, upon the seat by the wall; and Jonathan sat before him, and Abner sat by Saul's side; but David's place was empty. And Saul spake not any thing that day; for he thought: Some chance hath befallen him, that he is not clean; surely he is not clean. And it came to pass on the morrow, the second day of the month, when David's place was still empty, that Saul said to Jonathan his son: Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday, nor to-day? And Jonathan answered Saul: David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Beth-lehem, saying, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and, behold, my brother hath commanded. me to be there; and now, if I have found favor in thine eyes, let me go, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he is not come unto the king's table. Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said. to him: Thou son of perversity, do not I know that thou lovest Jesse's son to thy shame, and to the shame of thy mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse

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liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, thou, nor thy kingdom. Therefore send and fetch him. unto me, for he is worthy of death. And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him: Wherefore should he be put to death? What hath he done? And Saul cast his spear at him to smite him; and Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to put David to death. So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did eat no meat the second day of the month; for he was grieved for David, because his father had condemned him to death.

And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field to the place appointed with David, and a little lad with him. And he said to his lad: Run, find the arrows which I shoot. And the lad ran and he shot an arrow beyond him. And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said: Is not the arrow beyond thee? And Jonathan cried after the lad: Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows, and brought them to his master. But the lad knew not any thing; only Jonathan and David knew the matter.

CHAPTER III.

I. SAMUEL, xxi.-xxvi. Psalms, vii.

DAVID THE OUTLAW.

David and the Shewbread-The Band of Outlaws-Doeg, the Edomite The Murder of the Priests-David Succors Keilah-Consulting the Ephod-Ziphites Betray David-Nabal, the Churl-Abigail's Discretion-Nabal's Death-David Marries Abigail-The Rock of Escape-David Spares Saul's Life-The Truce-A Psalm of Deliverance.

THEN came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest ; and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him: Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? And David said to Ahimelech the priest: The king hath charged me with a certain business, and he said to me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee. And I have appointed the young men who attend me to meet me in such and such a place. And now what hast thou by thee? Give me a few loaves of bread in mine hand, or whatsoever thou hast. And the priest answered David, and said: I have no common bread by me, but there is holy bread. So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the shewbread, that had been taken from before Jehovah, to put there fresh bread in the day when it was taken away. And David said to Ahimelech: And is there not here by thee spear or sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor

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my armor with me, because the king's business required haste. And the priest said: The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the vale of the Terebinth, 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. And David departed thence, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And his brethren and all his father's house heard it, and went down to him thither.

Then David went to Mizpeh of Moab, and said to the king of Moab: Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come and be with you till I know what God will do for me. And he brought them unto the king of Moab ; and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in hiding. And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto David unto the cave of Adullam; and he became captain over them; and there were with him about four hundred men. Then Gad the prophet said to David: Abide not in this hold. Get thee into the land of Judah. So David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.

Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was in Nob the day that David came, detained there before Jehovah, Doeg the Edomite by name, chief of Saul's herdmen. And Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk-tree on the height, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants standing about him. And Saul said to his servants that stood about him: Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, or make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds; that all of you have conspired against me? For none shewed me when my son made a

covenant with the son of Jesse, and none was sorry for me, or shewed me when my son stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, and said: I saw the son of Jesse come to Nob, to Ahimelech son of Ahitub. And he inquired of Jehovah for him, and gave him food, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.

Then the king sent to call Ahimelech son of Ahitub, the priest, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob; and they came all of them unto the king. And Saul said Hear now, thou son of Ahitub. And he answered: Here am I, my lord. And Saul said to him: Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse? For thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast inquired of God for him, that he might rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day. Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said: And who among all thy servants was so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and captain of thy guard, and honorable in thine house? Is this the first time that I have inquired of God for him? Far be it from the king to impute any thing unto his servant, and to all the house of my father; for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less or more. But the king said: Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father's house. And the king said to the runners that stood about him: Turn and slay the priests of Jehovah; because their hand also is with. David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not disclose it to me. But the king's servants would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of Jehovah. Then the king said to Doeg: Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. So Doeg the Edomite turned and fell upon