King James Version · The united kingdom
1 Samuel 20
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And fled from in , and came and said before , What have I done? what is mine ? and what is my before thy , that he seeketh my life? And he said unto him, forbid; thou shalt not : behold, will do nothing either great or small, but that he will shew it me: and why should hide this thing from me? it is not so. And sware moreover, and said, Thy certainly knoweth that I have found in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as liveth, and as thy liveth, there is but a step between me and . 4Then said unto , Whatsoever thy desireth, I will even do it for thee. And said unto , Behold, to morrow is the , and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even. If thy at all miss me, then say, earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Beth–lehem his city: for there is a yearly there for all the family. If he say thus, It is well; thy servant shall have peace: but if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him. Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a of with thee: notwithstanding, if there be in me , me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy ? And said, Far be it from thee: for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee? Then said to , Who shall tell me? or what if thy answer thee roughly? 11And said unto , Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field. And said unto , O of Israel, when I have sounded about to morrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward , and I then send not unto thee, and shew it thee; do so and much more to : but if it please to do thee evil, then I will shew it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace: and be with thee, as he hath been with . And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of , that I not: But also thou shalt not thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when hath the of every one from the of the earth. So made a with the house of , saying, Let even require it at the hand of ’s . And caused to again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own . Then said to , To morrow is the : and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty. And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shalt by the stone Ezel. 20And I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark. And, behold, I will send a lad, saying, Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them; then come thou: for there is peace to thee, and no hurt; as liveth. But if I say thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way: for hath sent thee away. And as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, be between thee and me for ever. So hid himself in the field: and when the was come, the king sat him down to eat meat. And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall: and arose, and sat by ’s side, and ’s place was empty. Nevertheless spake not any thing that day: for he thought, Something hath befallen him, he is not clean; surely he is not clean. And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that ’s place was empty: and said unto his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of to meat, neither yesterday, nor to day? And answered , earnestly asked leave of me to go to Beth–lehem: And he said, Let me go, I thee; for our family hath a in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found in thine eyes, let me get away, I thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king’s table. Then ’s was kindled against , and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother’s ? For as long as the son of liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely . And answered his , and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done? And cast a javelin at him to smite him: whereby knew that it was determined of his to . So arose from the table in , and did eat no meat the second day of the month: for he was grieved for , because his had done him . And it came to pass in the morning, that went out into the field at the time appointed with , and a little lad with him. And he said unto his lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which had shot, cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee? And cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And ’s lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master. 39But the lad knew not any thing: only and knew the matter. 40And gave his artillery unto his lad, and said unto him, Go, carry them to the city. And as soon as the lad was gone, arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until exceeded. And said to , Go in peace, forasmuch as we have both of us in the name of , saying, be between me and thee, and between my and thy for ever. And he arose and departed: and went into the city.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The united kingdom, 1050 BC to 931 BC ›
Saul, David, and Solomon. A rare window when both Egypt and Mesopotamia are weak, which is how a small kingdom in the corridor between them could briefly become a regional power.
- The power vacuum
- This is the whole political explanation for the united kingdom. Egypt is fragmented, Assyria is recovering but still local, the Hittites are gone, and nobody is in a position to object to a strong state in the corridor. It lasts about a century, and Israel's golden age fits exactly inside it.
- Phoenicia
- Tyre under Hiram is the commercial power of the coast, and supplies the cedar, the craftsmen, and the shipping for Solomon's building programme. The alliance is trade, not charity: Israel had grain and a land route, Tyre had timber and ships.
- Egypt
- Weak enough that a pharaoh gives a daughter in marriage to an Israelite king, which is the opposite of Egyptian practice in stronger centuries. Late in the era it recovers under a new house, and Shishak will invade within five years of Solomon's death.
- Further afield
- Greece is still in its dark age but beginning to recover, and will adopt the Phoenician alphabet within a century or two. Carthage is founded by settlers from Tyre by tradition in 814 BC. In the Americas the Olmec centre shifts to La Venta.