Study Desk

If your father misses me at all, say, ‘David begged me to let him hurry to Beit-Lechem, his city; because it's the annual sacrifice there for his whole family.'

Y'honatan had David swear it again, because of the love he had for him — he loved him as he loved himself.

Y'honatan said to him, "Tomorrow is Rosh-Hodesh, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.

But if I tell the boy, ‘The arrows are out there, beyond you,' then get going, because Adonai is sending you away.

However, Sha'ul didn't say anything that day; because he thought, "Something has happened to him, he is unclean. Yes, that's it, he isn't clean."

He said, ‘Please let me go, because our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother demanded that I come. So now, if you look on me favorably, please let me get away and see my brothers.' That's why he hasn't come to the king's table."

Because as long as the son of Yishai lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be secure. Now send and bring him here to me — he deserves to die."

Y'honatan got up from the table in a fury, and he ate no food the second day of the month, both because he was upset over David and because his father had put him to shame.

Y'honatan said to David, "Go in peace; because we have sworn, both of us, in the name of Adonai , that Adonai will be between me and you, and between my descendants and yours, forever."

So the cohen gave him consecrated bread, because there was no bread there other than the showbread that had been removed from before Adonai to be replaced by freshly baked bread on the day the old bread was removed.

David said to Achimelekh, "Perhaps you have here with you a spear or a sword? I brought neither my sword nor my other weapons, because the king's mission was urgent."

Then the king told the guards standing around him, "Go around, and kill the cohanim of Adonai , because they are siding with David, and because they knew he was escaping, yet they didn't tell me." But the king's servants refused to lift their hands against the cohanim of Adonai .

Stay with me; don't be afraid; because the one who is seeking my life seeks yours too. You'll be safe with me."

David consulted Adonai again; and Adonai answered him, "Set out, and go down to Ke‘ilah, because I will hand the P'lishtim over to you."

He said to him, "Don't be afraid, because my father's forces will not find you; you will be king over Isra'el, and I will be second to you. Sha'ul my father knows this, too."

Please go and make still more certain exactly where he is and who has seen him there, because I've been told that he's very tricky.

But then a messenger came to Sha'ul, saying, "Hurry, come, because the P'lishtim are invading the country!"

David was told, "The P'lishtim are fighting Ke‘ilah and plundering the threshing-floors." David consulted Adonai , asking, "Should I go and attack these P'lishtim?" Adonai answered David, "Go, and attack the P'lishtim, and save Ke‘ilah." David's men said to him, "Look, we're already afraid here in Y'hudah. How much more, then, if we go to Ke‘ilah to fight the armies of the P'lishtim!" David consulted Adonai again; and Adonai answered him, "Set out, and go down to Ke‘ilah, because I will hand the P'lishtim over to you." David and his men went to Ke‘ilah and fought the P'lishtim. They defeated them in a great slaughter and led away their livestock. Thus David saved the inhabitants of Ke‘ilah. When Avyatar the son of Achimelekh fled to David in Ke‘ilah, he had brought a ritual vest with him. Now Sha'ul, on being informed that David had gone to Ke‘ilah, had said, "God has put him into my hands. He's trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars." So Sha'ul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Ke‘ilah and besiege David and his men. David knew that Sha'ul was plotting something against him, so he told Avyatar the cohen, "Bring the ritual vest here." Then David said, " Adonai God of Isra'el, your servant has certainly heard that Sha'ul intends to come to Ke‘ilah and destroy the city just to get me. Will the men of Ke‘ilah turn me over to him? Will Sha'ul come down, as your servant has heard? Adonai God of Isra'el, please tell your servant!" Adonai said, "He will come down." Then David asked, "Will the men of Ke‘ilah hand me and my men over to Sha'ul?" Adonai said, "They will hand you over." So David and his men, now around six hundred, got up, left Ke‘ilah and went wherever they could. It was told Sha'ul that David had escaped from Ke‘ilah, so he called off the expedition. David stayed in the desert strongholds, remaining in the hills of the Zif Desert. Sha'ul kept trying to find him, but God did not hand him over to him. David saw that Sha'ul had mounted another expedition to seek his life. David was then at Horesh in the Zif Desert. Y'honatan Sha'ul's son set out and went to David at Horesh to encourage him in God. He said to him, "Don't be afraid, because my father's forces will not find you; you will be king over Isra'el, and I will be second to you. Sha'ul my father knows this, too." Then the two of them made a covenant in the presence of Adonai , after which David stayed at Horesh and Y'honatan returned home. The people of Zif came to Sha'ul in Giv‘ah and said, "David is hiding himself with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on Hakhilah Hill, south of Yeshimon. So now, king, since you've wanted so much to come down, come down! Our part will be to turn him over to you." Sha'ul said, "May Adonai bless you for showing me compassion! Please go and make still more certain exactly where he is and who has seen him there, because I've been told that he's very tricky. So look closely, find out where all his hiding-places are, and come back when you're sure. Then I will go with you, and if he is there in that territory, I'll search till I find him among all the thousands of Y'hudah." They set out and went to Zif before Sha'ul. But David and his men had gone on to the Ma‘on Desert, in the ‘Aravah south of Yeshimon. Sha'ul and his men went searching for him. David was told, so he came down to the rock and stayed in the Ma‘on Desert. When Sha'ul heard that, he pursued David in the Ma‘on Desert. Sha'ul went along one side of the mountain, while David and his men went along the other. David was hurrying to get away from Sha'ul, while Sha'ul and his men were trying to surround David and his men in order to capture them. But then a messenger came to Sha'ul, saying, "Hurry, come, because the P'lishtim are invading the country!" So Sha'ul stopped chasing David and went to fight the P'lishtim. Therefore they called that place Sela-Hamachlekot [rock of divisions].

Here, today you have seen with your own eyes that Adonai put you in my power there in the cave. Some of my men said I should kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I won't raise my hand against my lord, because he is Adonai 's anointed.'

and he said to David, "You are more righteous than I, because you have treated me well, while I have been treating you badly.