1 Samuel 19 - Douy-Rheims Bible Challoner Revision

¹ And when Saul heard this he was appeased with the words of Jonathan, and swore: As the Lord liveth he shall not be slain.

² 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.

³ 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.

⁴ 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.

⁵ 0 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.

⁶ 1 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,

⁷ 2 She let him down through a window. And he went and fled away and escaped.

⁸ 3 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.

⁹ 4 And Saul sent officers to seize David: and it was answered that he was sick.

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

¹¹ 6 And when the messengers were come in, they found an image upon the bed, and a goat's skin at its head.

¹² 7 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.

¹³ 8 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.

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

¹⁵ 0 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.

¹⁶ 1 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 exceedingly angry,

¹⁷ 2 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 axe in Najoth in Ramatha.

¹⁸ 3 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.

¹⁹ 4 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?

²⁰ 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?

²¹ 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.

²² 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.

²³ And Jonathan said to David: Whatsoever thy soul shall say to me, I will do for thee.

²⁴ 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.