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. When his brothers and his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there. 2All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered round him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him.
3From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, ‘Would you let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God will do for me?’ 4So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold.
5But the prophet Gad said to David, ‘Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah.’ So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.
Saul kills the priests of Nob
6Now Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. And Saul was seated, spear in hand, under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with all his officials standing at his side. 7He said to them, ‘Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? 8Is that why you have all conspired against me? No-one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned about me or tells me that my son has incited my servant to lie in wait for me, as he does today.’
9But Doeg the Edomite, who was standing with Saul’s officials, said, ‘I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelek son of Ahitub at Nob. 10Ahimelek enquired of the Lord for him; he also gave him provisions and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.’
11Then the king sent for the priest Ahimelek son of Ahitub and all the men of his family, who were the priests at Nob, and they all came to the king. 12Saul said, ‘Listen now, son of Ahitub.’
‘Yes, my lord,’ he answered.
13Saul said to him, ‘Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and enquiring of God for him, so that he has rebelled against me and lies in wait for me, as he does today?’
14Ahimelek answered the king, ‘Who of all your servants is as loyal as David, the king’s son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard and highly respected in your household? 15Was that day the first time I enquired of God for him? Of course not! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of his father’s family, for your servant knows nothing at all about this whole affair.’
16But the king said, ‘You shall surely die, Ahimelek, you and your whole family.’
17Then the king ordered the guards at his side: ‘Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me.’
But the king’s officials were unwilling to raise a hand to strike the priests of the Lord.
18The king then ordered Doeg, ‘You turn and strike down the priests.’ So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck them down. That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. 19He also put to the sword Nob, the town of the priests, with its men and women, its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep.
20But one son of Ahimelek son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled to join David. 21He told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. 22Then David said to Abiathar, ‘That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of your whole family. 23Stay with me; don’t be afraid. The man who wants to kill you is trying to kill me too. You will be safe with me.’
