ዳዊት በዓዶላምና በምጽጳ
1ዳዊት ከጌት ወደ ዓዶላም ዋሻ ሸሸ፤ ወንድሞቹና የአባቱ ቤተ ሰቦች ይህን በሰሙ ጊዜ፣ እርሱ ወዳለበት ወደዚያው ወረዱ። 2የተጨነቁ፣ ዕዳ ያለባቸውና የተከፉ አራት መቶ ያህል ሰዎች፣ ወደ እርሱ ተሰባሰቡ፤ መሪያቸውም ሆነ።
3ዳዊት ከዚያ ተነሥቶ፣ በሞዓብ ምድር ወዳለችው ወደ ምጽጳ ሄደ፤ ለሞዓብ ንጉሥ፣ “እግዚአብሔር የሚያደርግልኝን እስካውቅ ድረስ፣ አባቴና እናቴ መጥተው ካንተ ዘንድ እንዲቀመጡ ፈቃድህ ነውን?” አለው። 4እርሱም በሞዓብ ንጉሥ ዘንድ አስቀመጣቸው፤ ዳዊት በዐምባ ውስጥ እስከ ቈየበትም ጊዜ ድረስ ከንጉሡ ዘንድ ተቀመጡ።
5ይሁን እንጂ ነቢዩ ጋድ ዳዊትን፣ “በዐምባው ውስጥ አትቈይ፤ ሂድና ወደ ይሁዳ ምድር ግባ” አለው። ስለዚህ ዳዊት ተነሥቶ ወደ ሔሬት ጫካ ገባ።
ሳኦል የኖብን ካህናት መግደሉ
6ሳኦልም፣ ዳዊትና ከእርሱ ጋር የነበሩ ሰዎች መገኘታቸውን በሰማ ጊዜ፣ በጊብዓ ኰረብታ ላይ በአጣጥ ዛፍ ሥር፣ ጦሩን በእጁ ይዞ ተቀምጦ ነበር፤ ሹማምቱም ሁሉ በዙሪያው ቆመው ነበር። 7ሳኦልም እንዲህ አላቸው፤ “እናንት የብንያም ሰዎች ስሙ! በውኑ የእሴይ ልጅ ዕርሻና የወይን ቦታ ለሁላችሁ ይሰጣችኋልን? ሁላችሁንስ ሻለቆችና የመቶ አለቆች ያደርጋችኋልን? 8በእኔ ላይ የዶለታችሁት ለዚህ ነውን? ልጄ ከእሴይ ልጅ ጋር ቃል ኪዳን ሲያደርግ ማንም አልነገረኝም፤ ዛሬ እንደሚያደርገው ሁሉ፣ ልጄ አገልጋዬን በእኔ ላይ እንዲያደባብኝ ማነሣሣቱን ከእናንተ ስለ እኔ ተቈርቍሮ የነገረኝ ማንም የለም።”
9ነገር ግን እዚያ ከነበሩት የሳኦል ሹማምት ጋር ቆሞ የነበረው ኤዶማዊው ዶይቅ እንዲህ አለ፣ “የእሴይ ልጅ በኖብ ወዳለው ወደ አኬጦብ ልጅ ወደ አቢሜሌክ ሲመጣ አይቻለሁ። 10አቢሜሌክም እግዚአብሔርን ጠየቀለት፤ እንዲሁም ስንቅና የፍልስጥኤማዊውን የጎልያድን ሰይፍ ሰጠው።”
11ከዚያም ንጉሡ፣ የአኪጦብን ልጅ ካህኑን አቢሜሌክን፣ በኖብ ካህናት የነበሩትን የአባቱን ቤተ ሰብ በሙሉ ልኮ አስጠራቸው፤ ሁሉም ወደ ንጉሡ መጡ። 12ሳኦልም፤ “የአኪጦብ ልጅ ሆይ፤ እንግዲህ ስማ” አለው።
አቢሜሌክም፣ “እሺ ጌታዬ” ብሎ መለሰ።
13ሳኦልም፤ “ዛሬ እንደሚያደርገው ሁሉ፣ በእኔ ላይ እንዲያምፅብኝና እንዲያደባብኝ፣ እንጀራና ሰይፍ በመስጠት፣ እግዚአብሔርን ስለ እርሱ በመጠየቅ ከእሴይ ልጅ ጋር ለምን ዶለታችሁብኝ?” አለው።
14አቢሜሌክም ለንጉሡ እንዲህ ሲል መለሰ፤ “የንጉሥ ዐማች፣ የክብር ዘቦችህ አዛዥና በቤተ ሰብህ ዘንድ እጅግ የተከበረው ዳዊትን የመሰለ ታማኝ ከአገልጋዮችህ ሁሉ ማን አለ? 15ስለ እርሱ እግዚአብሔርን ስጠይቅስ ያ ቀን የመጀመሪያ ጊዜዬ ነበርን? ፈጽሞ አልነበረም፤ ይህን ጕዳይ በተመለከተ አገልጋይህ የሚያውቀው ምንም ነገር ስለሌለ ንጉሥ እኔን አገልጋዩን ወይም ከአባቴ ቤተ ሰብ ማንንም ጥፋተኛ አያድርግ።”
16ንጉሡ ግን፣ “አቢሜሌክ ሆይ፤ አንተም የአባትህም ቤተ ሰብ በሙሉ በርግጥ ትሞታላችሁ” አለው።
17ከዚያም ንጉሡ በአጠገቡ የቆሙትን ዘቦች፣ “እነዚህም የእግዚአብሔር ካህናት ከዳዊት ጋር ስላበሩ፣ ዳዊት መኰብለሉንም እያወቁ ስላልነገሩኝ ዙሩና ግደሏቸው” ሲል አዘዛቸው።
የንጉሡ ሹማምት ግን እጃቸውን አንሥተው የእግዚአብሔርን ካህናት ለመምታት ፈቃደኞች አልሆኑም።
18ንጉሡም ዶይቅን፣ “እንግዲያውስ አንተው ዙርና ካህናቱን ግደላቸው” ብሎ አዘዘው። ኤዶማዊው ዶይቅም ዞረና ገደላቸው። በዚያች ዕለት ሰማንያ አምስት የበፍታ ኤፉድ የለበሱ ካህናትን ገደለ። 19የካህናቱንም ከተማ ኖብን በሰይፍ መታት፣ በዚያ የሚኖሩትንም ወንዶችንና ሴቶችን፣ ልጆችንና ጡት የሚጠቡ ሕፃናትን፣ እንዲሁም በሬዎችንና አህያዎችን፣ በጎችንም ሁሉ በሰይፍ ስለት ፈጃቸው።
20የአኪጦብ ልጅ፣ የአቢሜሌክ ልጅ አብያታር ግን አምልጦ ዳዊት ወዳለበት ሸሸ። 21እርሱም ሳኦል የእግዚአብሔርን ካህናት እንደ ገደላቸው ለዳዊት ነገረው። 22ዳዊትም አብያታርን እንዲህ አለው፤ “ያን ዕለት ኤዶማዊው ዶይቅ እዚያ ስለ ነበር፣ ነገሩን በትክክል ለሳኦል እንደሚናገር ዐውቄአለሁ፤ ለመላው የአባትህ ቤተ ሰብ ዕልቂት ተጠያቂው እኔ ነኝ። 23አሁንም ከእኔ ጋር ቈይ፤ አትፍራ፤ የአንተን ሕይወት የሚፈልግ የእኔን ሕይወት የሚፈልግ ነውና። አብረኸኝ በሰላም ትኖራለህ።”
David at Adullam and Mizpah
1David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. His brothers and the other members of his family heard about it. So they went down to join him there. 2Everyone who was in trouble or owed money or was unhappy gathered around him. He became their commander. About 400 men were with him.
3From there David went to Mizpah in Moab. He spoke to the king of Moab. He said, “Please let my father and mother come and stay with you. Let them stay until I learn what God will do for me.” 4So David left his parents with the king of Moab. They stayed with him as long as David was in his usual place of safety.
5But the prophet Gad spoke to David. He said, “Don’t stay in your usual place of safety. Go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.
Saul Kills the Priests at Nob
6Saul heard that the place where David and his men were hiding had been discovered. Saul was sitting under a tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah. He was holding his spear. All his officials were standing at his side. 7Saul said to them, “Men of Benjamin, listen to me! Do you think Jesse’s son will give all of you fields and vineyards? Do you think he’ll make some of you commanders of thousands of men? Do you think he’ll make the rest of you commanders of hundreds? 8Is that why all of you have joined together against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with Jesse’s son. None of you is concerned about me. No one tells me that my son has stirred up Jesse’s son to hide and wait to attack me. But that’s exactly what’s happening now.”
9Doeg was standing with Saul’s officials. He was from Edom. He said, “I saw Jesse’s son David come to Ahimelek at Nob. Ahimelek is the son of Ahitub. 10Ahimelek asked the Lord a question for David. He also gave him food and the sword of Goliath, the Philistine.”
11Then the king sent for the priest Ahimelek, the son of Ahitub. The king also sent for all the men in his family. They were the priests at Nob. All of them came to the king. 12Saul said, “Son of Ahitub, listen to me.”
“Yes, master,” he answered.
13Saul said to him, “Why have you and Jesse’s son joined together against me? Why did you give him bread and a sword? Why did you ask God a question for him? Now he has turned against me. He is hiding and waiting to attack me right now.”
14Ahimelek answered the king, “David is faithful to you. In fact, he’s more faithful to you than anyone else who serves you. He’s your own son-in-law. He’s the captain of your own personal guards. He’s highly respected by everyone in your palace. 15Was that day the first time I asked God a question for him? Of course not! Please don’t bring charges against me. Please don’t bring charges against anyone in my family. I don’t know anything at all about this whole matter.”
16But the king said, “Ahimelek, you will certainly be put to death. You and your whole family will be put to death.”
17Then the king gave an order to the guards at his side. He said, “Go and kill the priests of the Lord. They are on David’s side too. They knew he was running away from me. And they didn’t even tell me.”
But the king’s officials wouldn’t raise a hand to strike down the priests of the Lord.
18Then the king ordered Doeg, “You go and strike down the priests.” So Doeg, the Edomite, went and struck them down. That day he killed 85 priests who wore linen aprons. 19He also killed the people of Nob with his sword. Nob was a town where priests lived. Doeg killed its men and women. He killed its children and babies. He also destroyed its cattle, donkeys and sheep.
20But Abiathar, a son of Ahimelek, escaped. Ahimelek was the son of Ahitub. Abiathar ran away and joined David. 21He told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. 22Then David said to Abiathar, “One day I was at Nob. I saw Doeg, the Edomite, there. I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. Your whole family has been killed. And I’m responsible for it. 23So stay with me. Don’t be afraid. The man who wants to kill you wants to kill me too. You will be safe with me.”
