Saul’s Growing Fear of David
1After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. 3And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.
5Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so successful that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the troops, and Saul’s officers as well.
6When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with timbrels and lyres. 7As they danced, they sang:
“Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands.”
8Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” 9And from that time on Saul kept a close eye on David.
10The next day an evil18:10 Or a harmful spirit from God came forcefully on Saul. He was prophesying in his house, while David was playing the lyre, as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand 11and he hurled it, saying to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.
12Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had departed from Saul. 13So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns. 14In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. 15When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. 16But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them in their campaigns.
17Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage; only serve me bravely and fight the battles of the Lord.” For Saul said to himself, “I will not raise a hand against him. Let the Philistines do that!”
18But David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” 19So18:19 Or However, when the time came for Merab, Saul’s daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.
20Now Saul’s daughter Michal was in love with David, and when they told Saul about it, he was pleased. 21“I will give her to him,” he thought, “so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law.”
22Then Saul ordered his attendants: “Speak to David privately and say, ‘Look, the king likes you, and his attendants all love you; now become his son-in-law.’ ”
23They repeated these words to David. But David said, “Do you think it is a small matter to become the king’s son-in-law? I’m only a poor man and little known.”
24When Saul’s servants told him what David had said, 25Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’ ” Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
26When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed, 27David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
28When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, 29Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days.
30The Philistine commanders continued to go out to battle, and as often as they did, David met with more success than the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name became well known.
ሳኦል በዳዊት ቀና
1ዳዊት ከሳኦል ጋር የሚያደርገውን ንግግር እንዳበቃ፤ የዮናታን ነፍስ ከዳዊት ነፍስ ጋር ተቈራኘች፤ እንደ ራሱም አድርጎ ወደደው። 2ከዚያች ዕለት አንሥቶ ሳኦል ዳዊትን አብሮት እንዲኖር አደረገ፤ ወደ አባቱም ቤት እንዲመለስ አላሰናበተውም። 3ዮናታን እንደ ራሱ አድርጎ ስለ ወደደው፣ ከዳዊት ጋር ኪዳን አደረገ፤ 4ዮናታን የለበሰውን ካባ አውልቆ ከነጦር ልብሱ፣ በተጨማሪም ሰይፉን፣ ቀስቱንና መታጠቂያውን ሰጠው።
5ሳኦል በሚልከው በማናቸውም ስፍራ፣ ዳዊት ተልእኮውን በሚገባ18፥5 ወይም በብልኀት ይፈጽም ስለ ነበር፣ በሰራዊቱ ላይ ሾመው፤ ይህም ሕዝቡን በሙሉ፣ የሳኦልንም የጦር ሹማምት ደስ አሰኘ።
6ዳዊት ፍልስጥኤማዊውን ከገደለ በኋላ፣ ሰዎቹ ወደየቤታቸው በሚመለሱበት ጊዜ፣ ሴቶች ከበሮና መሰንቆ ይዘው እየዘፈኑ፣ እየጨፈሩና እልል እያሉ ንጉሥ ሳኦልን ለመቀበል ከእስራኤል ከተሞች ሁሉ ወጡ። 7ሴቶቹም እንዲህ ሲሉ በመቀባበል ዘፈኑ፤
“ሳኦል ሺሕ ገደለ፤
ዳዊት ግን ዐሥር ሺሕ ገደለ።”
8ሳኦል እጅግ ተቈጣ፤ ይህም ነገር አላስደሰተውም። እርሱም፣ “ለዳዊት ዐሥር ሺሕ አሉለት፤ ለእኔ ግን ሺሕ ብቻ! እንግዲህ መንግሥት እንጂ ሌላ ምን ቀረው” አለ። 9ከዚያች ዕለት አንሥቶ ሳኦል ዳዊትን በቅናት ዐይን ይመለከተው ጀመር።
10በማግስቱም ከእግዚአብሔር የታዘዘ ክፉ18፥10 ወይም የሚጐዳ መንፈስ በሳኦል ላይ በኀይል መጣበት፣ በዚህ ጊዜ ዳዊት ወትሮ እንደሚያደርገው ሁሉ በገና ሲደረድር፣ ሳኦል በቤቱ ሆኖ ትንቢት ይናገር ነበር። ሳኦል በእጁ ጦር ይዞ ነበር፤ 11እርሱም፣ “ዳዊትን ከግድግዳው ጋር አጣብቀዋለሁ” ብሎ በማሰብ ጦሩን ወረወረበት፤ ዳዊት ግን ሁለት ጊዜ ከፊቱ ዘወር አለ።
12እግዚአብሔር ከእርሱ ተለይቶ ከዳዊት ጋር ስለሆነ፣ ሳኦል ዳዊትን ፈራው። 13ስለዚህ ዳዊትን ከአጠገቡ በማራቅ የሺሕ አለቃ አደረገው። ዳዊትም ሰራዊቱን እየመራ በፊታቸው ይወጣና ይገባ ነበር። 14እግዚአብሔር ከእርሱ ጋር ስለ ነበር የሚያደርገው ነገር ሁሉ ይሳካለት18፥14 ወይም እጅግ ብልኅ ነበር ነበር። 15ሳኦልም፣ ዳዊት እንደ ተሳካለት18፥15 ወይም ብልኅ እንደ ሆነ ባየ ጊዜ ፈራው፤ 16መላው እስራኤልና ይሁዳ ግን ዳዊትን ወደዱት፤ በፊታቸው እየወጣና እየገባ የሚመራቸው እርሱ ነበርና።
17ሳኦል ዳዊትን፣ “ታላቋ ልጄ ሜሮብ እነኋት፤ እርሷን እድርልሃለሁ፤ አንተ ግን በጀግንነት አገልግለኝ፤ የእግዚአብሔርንም ጦርነቶች ተዋጋ” አለው፤ ሳኦል በልቡ፣ “ፍልስጥኤማውያን እጃቸውን ያንሡበት እንጂ እኔ በእርሱ ላይ እጄን አላነሣም” ብሎ ነበርና።
18ዳዊት ግን ሳኦልን፣ “የንጉሥ ዐማች እሆን ዘንድ እኔ ማን ነኝ? ቤተ ሰቤም ሆነ የአባቴ ጐሣስ በእስራኤል ዘንድ ምንድን ነው?” አለው። 19ይሁን እንጂ18፥19 ወይም ስለዚህ ተብሎ የሳኦል ልጅ ሜሮብ ለዳዊት የምትዳርበት ጊዜ ሲደርስ ለመሓላታዊው ለኤስድሪኤል ተዳረች።
20በዚህ ጊዜ የሳኦል ልጅ ሜልኮል ዳዊትን ወደደችው፤ ሳኦልም ይህን ሲሰማ ደስ አለው። 21ሳኦልም በልቡ፣ “ወጥመድ እንድትሆነው፣ በፍልስጥኤማውያንም እጅ እንዲጠፋ እርሷን እድርለታለሁ” ሲል ዐሰበ። ስለዚህ ሳኦል ዳዊትን፣ “እነሆ፤ ዛሬ ለሁለተኛ ጊዜ ዐማቼ ትሆናለህ” አለው።
22ከዚያም ሳኦል ባለሟሎቹን፣ “ለዳዊት፣ ‘እነሆ፤ ንጉሡ በአንተ ደስ ብሎታል፤ ባለሟሎቹም ሁሉ ይወዱሃል፤ ስለዚህ ዐማቹ ሁንለት’ ብላችሁ በምስጢር ንገሩት” ብሎ አዘዛቸው።
23እነርሱም ይህንኑ ለዳዊት ደግመው ነገሩት፤ ዳዊት ግን “ለመሆኑ የንጉሥ አማች መሆንን እስከዚህ ትንሽ ነገር አድርጋችሁ ትቈጥራላችሁን? እኔ አንድ ምስኪን ድኻና እምብዛም የማልታወቅ ሰው ነኝ” አላቸው።
24የሳኦል ባለሟሎችም ዳዊት ያላቸውን በነገሩት ጊዜ፣ 25ሳኦል፣ “ዳዊትን፣ ‘ንጉሡስ ለልጂቱ ካንተ የሚፈልገው ጥሎሽ ጠላቶቹን ለመበቀል የመቶ ፍልስጥኤማውያንን ሸለፈት እንጂ ሌላ አይደለም ብላችሁ ንገሩት’ ” አላቸው። ሳኦል ይህን ያቀደው ዳዊት በፍልስጥኤማውያን እጅ እንዲወድቅ ነበር።
26ባለሟሎቹ ይህን ለዳዊት በነገሩት ጊዜ የንጉሥ ዐማች መሆኑ ደስ አሰኘው። ስለዚህ የተወሰነው ጊዜ ከማለፉ በፊት፣ 27ዳዊትና አብረውት የነበሩት ሰዎቹ ሄደው ሁለት መቶ ፍልስጥኤማውያንን ገደሉ፤ ለንጉሡ ዐማች ይሆን ዘንድ፣ ሸለፈታቸውን አምጥቶ በቍጥራቸው ልክ ለንጉሡ አቀረበ፤ ከዚያም ሳኦል ልጁን ሜልኮልን ለዳዊት ዳረለት።
28ሳኦል እግዚአብሔር ከዳዊት ጋር እንደ ሆነና ልጁ ሜልኮልም እንደ ወደደችው በተረዳ ጊዜ፣ 29ሳኦል ከቀድሞው ይልቅ ፈራው፤ እስከ ዕድሜውም ፍጻሜ ድረስ ጠላቱ ሆነ።
30የፍልስጥኤማውያን ጦር አዛዦች እንደ ወትሮው ሁሉ፣ ለጦርነት ይወጡ ነበር፤ ዳዊትም ከቀሩት የሳኦል መኳንንት የበለጠ ድል አገኘ18፥30 ወይም ዳዊት…የበለጠ በብልኀት አደረገ፤ ስሙም የታወቀ ሆነ።
