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Then Saul sayd to Dauid, Beholde mine eldest daughter Merab, her I will giue thee to wife: onely be a valiant sonne vnto me, & fight the Lordes battels: for Saul thought, Mine hand shal not be vpon him, but the hand of the Philistims shalbe vpon him.

And Saul sayd, This wise shal ye say to Dauid, The King desireth no dowrie, but an hundred foreskinnes of the Philistims, to bee auenged of the Kings enemies: for Saul thought to make Dauid fall into the handes of the Philistims.

Then Saul spake to Ionathan his sonne, and to all his seruantes, that they shoulde kill Dauid: but Ionathan Sauls sonne had a great fauour to Dauid.

And Ionathan spake good of Dauid vnto Saul his father, & said vnto him, Let not the King sinne against his seruat, against Dauid: for he hath not sinned against thee, but his works haue bene to thee very good.

And Saul intended to smite Dauid to the wall with the speare: but hee turned aside out of Sauls presence, & he smote the speare against the wall: but Dauid fled, & escaped the same night.

But one tolde Saul, saying, Beholde, Dauid is at Naioth in Ramah.

And he sayde vnto him, God forbid, thou shalt not die: beholde, my father will do nothing great nor small, but he will shewe it me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? he will not doe it.

And Dauid sware againe and sayd, Thy father knoweth that I haue found grace in thine eyes: therefore he thinketh, Ionathan shall not knowe it, lest he be sorie: but in deede, as the Lord liueth, and as thy soule liueth, there is but a step betweene me and death.

And Dauid said vnto Ionathan, Behold, to morowe is the first day of the moneth, and I shoulde sit with the King at meate: but let me goe, that I may hide my selfe in the fieldes vnto the third day at euen.

And if he say thus, It is well, thy seruant shall haue peace: but if he be angrie, be sure that wickednesse is concluded of him.

The Lorde doe so and much more vnto Ionathan: but if my father haue minde to doe thee euill, I will shew thee also, and sende thee away, that thou mayest goe in peace: & the Lord be with thee as he hath bene with my father.

Likewise I require not whiles I liue: for I dout not but thou wilt shew me the mercy of the Lord, that I die not.

But I require that thou cut not off thy mercie from mine house for euer: no, not when the Lorde hath destroyed the enemies of Dauid, euery one from the earth.

But if I say thus vnto the boy, Behold, the arrowes are beyonde thee, goe thy way: for the Lord hath sent thee away.

And the King sate, as at other times vpon his seate, euen vpon his seate by the wall: and Ionathan arose, and Abner sate by Sauls side, but Dauids place was emptie.

But on the morowe which was the second day of the moneth, Dauids place was emptie againe: and Saul sayde vnto Ionathan his sonne, Wherefore commeth not the sonne of Ishai to meate, neither yesterday nor to day?

But the boy knewe nothing: onely Ionathan and Dauid knew the matter.

And the Priest answered Dauid, and saide, There is no common bread vnder mine hande, but here is halowed bread, if the yong men haue kept themselues, at least from women.

And the Prophet Gad sayde vnto Dauid, Abide not in the holde, but depart and goe into the land of Iudah. Then Dauid departed & came into the forest of Hareth.

And the King sayde vnto the sergeantes that stoode about him, Turne, & slay the Priestes of the Lorde, because their hand also is with Dauid, and because they knewe when he fled, and shewed it not vnto mee. But the seruantes of the King would not moue their hands to fall vpon the Priests of the Lord.