Βασιλειῶν Αʹ 24
1 καὶ ἐγενήθη ὡς ἀνέστρεψεν Σαουλ ἀπὸ ὄπισθεν τῶν ἀλλοφύλων καὶ ἀπηγγέλη αὐτῷ λεγόντων ὅτι Δαυιδ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ Εγγαδδι
After Saul [and his soldiers] returned [home] after fighting against the Philistia army, someone reported to Saul that David [and his men] had gone into the desert near En-Gedi.
2 καὶ ἔλαβεν μεθ’ ἑαυτοῦ τρεῖς χιλιάδας ἀνδρῶν ἐκλεκτοὺς ἐκ παντὸς Ισραηλ καὶ ἐπορεύθη ζητεῖν τὸν Δαυιδ καὶ τοὺς ἄνδρας αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον Σαδαιεμ
[When] Saul [heard that, he] chose 3,000 men from various areas in Israel, and they went to search for David and his men at a place named Rocks of Wild Goats.
3 καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς τὰς ἀγέλας τῶν ποιμνίων τὰς ἐπὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ καὶ ἦν ἐκεῖ σπήλαιον καὶ Σαουλ εἰσῆλθεν παρασκευάσασθαι καὶ Δαυιδ καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες αὐτοῦ ἐσώτερον τοῦ σπηλαίου ἐκάθηντο
At a place where the road was alongside some sheep pens, Saul [left the road and] entered a cave to defecate [EUP]. [He did not know that] David and his men were hiding further inside that same cave!
4 καὶ εἶπον οἱ ἄνδρες Δαυιδ πρὸς αὐτόν ἰδοὺ ἡ ἡμέρα αὕτη ἣν εἶπεν κύριος πρὸς σὲ παραδοῦναι τὸν ἐχθρόν σου εἰς τὰς χεῖράς σου καὶ ποιήσεις αὐτῷ ὡς ἀγαθὸν ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς σου καὶ ἀνέστη Δαυιδ καὶ ἀφεῖλεν τὸ πτερύγιον τῆς διπλοΐδος τῆς Σαουλ λαθραίως
David’s men [saw Saul and] whispered to David, “Today is the day that Yahweh spoke about when he said, ‘I will enable you to defeat your enemy.’ You can do to him whatever you want to!” So David crept toward the entrance of the cave and [with his knife] he cut off a piece of Saul’s robe.
5 καὶ ἐγενήθη μετὰ ταῦτα καὶ ἐπάταξεν καρδία Δαυιδ αὐτόν ὅτι ἀφεῖλεν τὸ πτερύγιον τῆς διπλοΐδος αὐτοῦ
[And then he returned to his men]. But then David felt guilty for having cut off a piece of Saul’s robe.
6 καὶ εἶπεν Δαυιδ πρὸς τοὺς ἄνδρας αὐτοῦ μηδαμῶς μοι παρὰ κυρίου εἰ ποιήσω τὸ ῥῆμα τοῦτο τῷ κυρίῳ μου τῷ χριστῷ κυρίου ἐπενέγκαι χεῖρά μου ἐπ’ αὐτόν ὅτι χριστὸς κυρίου ἐστὶν οὗτος
He said to his men, “I should not have done that to the king! I hope/desire that Yahweh will never allow me to attack the one whom God has appointed, because Yahweh is the one who chose him [to be the king].”
7 καὶ ἔπεισεν Δαυιδ τοὺς ἄνδρας αὐτοῦ ἐν λόγοις καὶ οὐκ ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς ἀναστάντας θανατῶσαι τὸν Σαουλ καὶ ἀνέστη Σαουλ καὶ κατέβη εἰς τὴν ὁδόν
By saying that, David restrained his men, and did not allow them to kill Saul.
8 καὶ ἀνέστη Δαυιδ ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ σπηλαίου καὶ ἐβόησεν Δαυιδ ὀπίσω Σαουλ λέγων κύριε βασιλεῦ καὶ ἐπέβλεψεν Σαουλ εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ καὶ ἔκυψεν Δαυιδ ἐπὶ πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ προσεκύνησεν αὐτῷ
After Saul left the cave and started to walk on the road again, David came out of the cave and shouted to Saul, “King Saul!” Saul turned around and looked, and David bowed down with his face touching the ground.
9 καὶ εἶπεν Δαυιδ πρὸς Σαουλ ἵνα τί ἀκούεις τῶν λόγων τοῦ λαοῦ λεγόντων ἰδοὺ Δαυιδ ζητεῖ τὴν ψυχήν σου
Then he said to Saul, “(Why do you pay attention to people when they say ‘David wants to harm you’?/You should not pay attention to people when they say ‘David wants to harm you’.) [RHQ]
10 ἰδοὺ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ταύτῃ ἑοράκασιν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου ὡς παρέδωκέν σε κύριος σήμερον εἰς χεῖρά μου ἐν τῷ σπηλαίῳ καὶ οὐκ ἠβουλήθην ἀποκτεῖναί σε καὶ ἐφεισάμην σου καὶ εἶπα οὐκ ἐποίσω χεῖρά μου ἐπὶ κύριόν μου ὅτι χριστὸς κυρίου οὗτός ἐστιν
Today you can see with your own eyes that [what they say is not true]. Yahweh put you in a place where my men and I could have killed you when you were in this cave. Some of my men told me that I should do that, but I did not do that. I said to them, ‘I will not harm my master, because he is the king whom Yahweh appointed.’
11 καὶ ἰδοὺ τὸ πτερύγιον τῆς διπλοΐδος σου ἐν τῇ χειρί μου ἐγὼ ἀφῄρηκα τὸ πτερύγιον καὶ οὐκ ἀπέκταγκά σε καὶ γνῶθι καὶ ἰδὲ σήμερον ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν κακία ἐν τῇ χειρί μου οὐδὲ ἀσέβεια καὶ ἀθέτησις καὶ οὐχ ἡμάρτηκα εἰς σέ καὶ σὺ δεσμεύεις τὴν ψυχήν μου λαβεῖν αὐτήν
Your majesty, look at this piece of your robe that is in my hand! I cut it from your robe, but I did not kill you. So now you should be able to understand that I am not planning to do anything evil to you. I have not done anything wrong to you, but you are searching for me to kill me.
12 δικάσαι κύριος ἀνὰ μέσον ἐμοῦ καὶ σοῦ καὶ ἐκδικήσαι με κύριος ἐκ σοῦ καὶ ἡ χείρ μου οὐκ ἔσται ἐπὶ σοί
I hope/desire that Yahweh will judge and decide which of us ([is doing what is right/pleases him]). And I hope/desire that he will punish you for the wrong things that you have done to me. But I will not try to harm you.
13 καθὼς λέγεται ἡ παραβολὴ ἡ ἀρχαία ἐξ ἀνόμων ἐξελεύσεται πλημμέλεια καὶ ἡ χείρ μου οὐκ ἔσται ἐπὶ σέ
There is a proverb that has the words, ‘Evil things are done by evil people.’ But [I am not evil, so] I will not do evil things to you.
14 καὶ νῦν ὀπίσω τίνος σὺ ἐκπορεύῃ βασιλεῦ Ισραηλ ὀπίσω τίνος καταδιώκεις σύ ὀπίσω κυνὸς τεθνηκότος καὶ ὀπίσω ψύλλου ἑνός
“You are the king of Israel. So (why are you pursuing me?/you should not be pursuing me.) [RHQ] I am [as harmless as] [MET] a dead dog or a flea.
15 γένοιτο κύριος εἰς κριτὴν καὶ δικαστὴν ἀνὰ μέσον ἐμοῦ καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον σοῦ ἴδοι κύριος καὶ κρίναι τὴν κρίσιν μου καὶ δικάσαι μοι ἐκ χειρός σου
I hope/desire that Yahweh will judge which of us [is doing what (he wants/is right)]. I trust that he will [act like a lawyer and] judge (my case/what I have done), and that he will rescue me from your power [MTY].”
16 καὶ ἐγένετο ὡς συνετέλεσεν Δαυιδ τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα λαλῶν πρὸς Σαουλ καὶ εἶπεν Σαουλ ἦ φωνή σου αὕτη τέκνον Δαυιδ καὶ ἦρεν τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ Σαουλ καὶ ἔκλαυσεν
When David finished speaking, Saul [called out to him and] asked, “My son David, is that your voice [that I am hearing]?” Then he began to cry loudly.
17 καὶ εἶπεν Σαουλ πρὸς Δαυιδ δίκαιος σὺ ὑπὲρ ἐμέ ὅτι σὺ ἀνταπέδωκάς μοι ἀγαθά ἐγὼ δὲ ἀνταπέδωκά σοι κακά
He said, “You are a better man than I am. You have done something very good to me when I tried to do something very bad to you.
18 καὶ σὺ ἀπήγγειλάς μοι σήμερον ἃ ἐποίησάς μοι ἀγαθά ὡς ἀπέκλεισέν με κύριος σήμερον εἰς χεῖράς σου καὶ οὐκ ἀπέκτεινάς με
When Yahweh put me in a place [in that cave] where you could have easily killed me, you did not do that.
19 καὶ ὅτι εἰ εὕροιτό τις τὸν ἐχθρὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν θλίψει καὶ ἐκπέμψαι αὐτὸν ἐν ὁδῷ ἀγαθῇ καὶ κύριος ἀνταποτείσει αὐτῷ ἀγαθά καθὼς πεποίηκας σήμερον
(Who else would/No one else would) find his enemy and allow his enemy to escape [when he could kill him instead] [RHQ]. I hope/desire that Yahweh will reward you for being kindly to me today.
20 καὶ νῦν ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ γινώσκω ὅτι βασιλεύων βασιλεύσεις καὶ στήσεται ἐν χερσίν σου βασιλεία Ισραηλ
I know that [some day] you will surely become the king, and that your kingdom will prosper as you rule the Israeli people.
21 καὶ νῦν ὄμοσόν μοι ἐν κυρίῳ ὅτι οὐκ ἐξολεθρεύσεις τὸ σπέρμα μου ὀπίσω μου καὶ οὐκ ἀφανιεῖς τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός μου
Now while Yahweh is listening, solemnly promise to me that you will not kill my family and get rid of all my descendants.”
22 καὶ ὤμοσεν Δαυιδ τῷ Σαουλ καὶ ἀπῆλθεν Σαουλ εἰς τὸν τόπον αὐτοῦ καὶ Δαυιδ καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες αὐτοῦ ἀνέβησαν εἰς τὴν Μεσσαρα στενήν
David solemnly promised Saul that he would not [harm Saul’s family]. Then Saul went back home, and David and his men went back up into the place where they had been hiding.
