ዳዊት ወደ ኖብ ሄደ
1ዳዊትም ካህኑ አቢሜሌክ ወዳለበት ወደ ኖብ ሄደ። አቢሜሌክም እየተንቀጠቀጠ ዳዊትን ሊገናኘው መጣና፣ “ምነው ብቻህን? ሰውስ ለምን አብሮህ የለም?” ሲል ጠየቀው።
2ዳዊት፣ ካህኑን አቢሜሌክን እንዲህ አለው፤ “ንጉሡ፣ ‘ስለ ላክሁህ ነገርና ስለ ሰጠሁህ መመሪያ ማንም ሰው ምንም ነገር አይወቅ’ ብሎ አዞኛል። ሰዎቼንም የት እንደምንገናኝ ነግሬያቸዋለሁ። 3ታዲያ አሁን በእጅህ ምን አለ? አምስት እንጀራ ወይም የተገኘውን ማንኛውንም ነገር ስጠኝ።”
4ካህኑም፣ “ሰው ሁሉ የሚበላው እንጀራ የለኝም፤ ነገር ግን ሰዎቹ በቅርቡ ከሴት የተጠበቁ ከሆነ፣ የተቀደሰ እንጀራ በዚህ አለ” አለው።
5ዳዊትም “እንደ ተለመደው ሁሉ ከወጣሁ ጊዜ ጀምሮ ሴቶች ከእኛ ተጠብቀዋል፤ ባልተቀደሰ ተልእኮ ውስጥ እንኳ የሰዎቹ ዕቃዎች21፥5 ወይም አካል የተቀደሱ ናቸው፤ ታዲያ ዛሬማ እንዴት!” ሲል መለሰ። 6ስለዚህ ካህኑ የተቀደሰውን እንጀራ ለዳዊት ሰጠው፤ ከእግዚአብሔር ፊት ተነሥቶ በትኵስ እንጀራ ከተተካው ከገጸ ኅብስቱ በስተቀር በዚያ ሌላ እንጀራ አልነበረምና።
7በዚያችም ዕለት ከሳኦል አገልጋዮች አንዱና የእረኞቹ አለቃ የሆነው ኤዶማዊው ዶይቅ እዚያው በእግዚአብሔር ፊት እንዲቈይ ተገዶ ነበር።
8ዳዊት አቢሜሌክን፣ “የንጉሡ ጕዳይ ስላስቸኰለኝ፣ ሰይፌንም ሆነ ሌላ የጦር መሣሪያ አላመጣሁም፤ እዚህ ካንተ ዘንድ ጦር ወይም ሰይፍ አይገኝምን?” ሲል ጠየቀው።
9ካህኑም፣ “በኤላ ሸለቆ አንተ የገደልኸው የፍልስጥኤማዊው የጎልያድ ሰይፍ እዚህ አለ፤ ከኤፉዱ በስተ ኋላ በጨርቅ ተጠቅልሏል ከፈለግህ ውሰደው፤ ከእርሱ በስተቀር ሌላ ሰይፍ እዚህ የለም” ብሎ መለሰለት።
ዳዊትም “እንደ እርሱ ያለ የለምና እርሱኑ ስጠኝ” አለው።
ዳዊት ወደ ጌት ሄደ
10በዚያች ዕለት ዳዊት ከሳኦል ሸሽቶ ወደ ጌት ንጉሥ ወደ አንኩስ ሄደ። 11የአንኩስ አገልጋዮችም፣ “የምድሪቱ ንጉሥ ዳዊት ይህ አይደለምን? ደግሞስ፣
“ ‘ሳኦል ሺሕ ገደለ፤ ዳዊት ግን ዐሥር ሺሕ ገደለ’
ብለው በጭፈራቸው የዘፈኑለትስ እርሱ አይደለምን?” አሉት።
12ዳዊት ነገሩን በልቡ አኖረ፤ የጌትን ንጉሥ አንኩስንም እጅግ ፈራው። 13ስለዚህ በፊታቸው አእምሮውን እንደ ሳተ ሰው ሆነ፤ በያዙትም ጊዜ የከተማዪቱን ቅጥሮች እየቦጫጨረ፣ ልጋጉንም በጢሙ ላይ እያዝረበረበ እንደ እብድ ሆነ።
14አንኩስም አገልጋዮቹን እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “ሰውየውን እስቲ ተመልከቱት፤ እብድ እኮ ነው! ታዲያ ወደ እኔ ያመጣችሁት ለምንድን ነው? 15በፊቴ እንዲህ ይሆን ዘንድ ይህን ሰው እዚህ ያመጣችሁት እብድ ዐጥቼ ነውን? እንዲህ ያለውስ ሰው ወደ ቤቴ መግባት ይገባዋልን?”
David at Nob
1David went to Ahimelek the priest at Nob. Ahimelek trembled with fear when he met him. He asked David, “Why are you alone? Why isn’t anyone with you?”
2David answered Ahimelek the priest, “The king gave me a special job to do. He said to me, ‘I don’t want anyone to know what I’m sending you to do. So don’t say anything about it.’ I’ve told my men to meet me at a certain place. 3Do you have anything for us to eat? Give me five loaves of bread, or anything else you can find.”
4But the priest answered David, “I don’t have any bread that isn’t holy. I only have some holy bread here. But it’s for men who haven’t slept with women recently.”
5David replied, “Well, we haven’t slept with women recently. That’s the way it is every time I lead my men out to battle. We keep ourselves holy even when we do jobs that aren’t holy. And that’s even more true today.” 6So the priest gave him the holy bread. It was the only bread he had. It had been removed from the table that was in front of the Lord. On the same day, hot bread had been put in its place.
7One of Saul’s servants was there that day. He had been made to stay at the holy tent for a while. He was Doeg from Edom. Doeg was Saul’s chief shepherd.
8David asked Ahimelek, “Don’t you have a spear or sword here? I haven’t brought my sword or any other weapon. That’s because the job the king gave me to do had to be done right away.”
9The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath, the Philistine, is here. You killed him in the Valley of Elah. His sword is wrapped in a cloth. It’s behind the sacred linen apron. If you want it, take it. It’s the only sword here.”
David said, “There isn’t any sword like it. Give it to me.”
David at Gath
10That day David ran away from Saul. He went to Achish, the king of Gath. 11But the servants of Achish spoke to him. They said, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one the Israelites sing about when they dance? They sing,
“ ‘Saul has killed thousands of men.
David has killed tens of thousands.’ ”
12David paid close attention to what the servants were saying. He became very much afraid of what Achish, the king of Gath, might do. 13So he pretended to be out of his mind when he was with them. As long as he was in Gath, he acted like a crazy person. He made marks on the doors of the city gate. He let spit run down his beard.
14Achish said to his servants, “Just look at the man! He’s out of his mind! Why are you bringing him to me? 15Don’t I have enough crazy people around me already? So why do you have to bring this fellow here? Just look at how he’s carrying on in front of me! Why do you have to bring this man into my house?”
