CHAPTER 24
1 And when Saul turned again, after that he pursued [the] Philistines, they told to him, and said, Lo! David is in the desert of Engedi.
2 Therefore Saul took three thousand chosen men of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men, yea upon the most broken rocks, the which be thorough-ways [or throughways] to wild goats alone.
3 And he came to the folds of sheep, that offered themselves to the way-goer. And there was a cave, into which Saul entered, that he would purge his womb; forsooth David and his men were hid in the inner part of the den.
4 And the servants of David said to him, Lo! the day of which the Lord spake to thee, I shall betake to thee thine enemy, that thou do to him as it pleaseth in thine eyes. Therefore David rose up, and cutted the hem of the mantle of Saul privily.
5 After these things, David smote his heart, that is, his conscience reproved him, for he had cut away the hem of the mantle of Saul.
6 And David said to his men, The Lord be merciful to me, lest I do this thing to my lord, the anointed of the Lord, or that I send mine hand on him, for he is the christ or the anointed of the Lord.
7 The Lord liveth, for but the Lord smite him, either his day come, that he die, either he go down into battle, and perish, the Lord be merciful to me, that I send not mine hand into the christ of the Lord; and David brake his men by such words, and suffered not them, that they rised against Saul. And Saul rose out of the den, and went in the way begun.
8 And David rose up after him, and he went out of the den, and cried after the back of Saul, and said, My lord, the king! And Saul beheld behind himself; and David bowed him-self low to the earth, and worshipped him.
9 And David said to Saul, Why hearest thou the words of men speak-ing, David seeketh evil against thee?
10 Lo! today thine eyes saw, that the Lord betook thee in mine hand in the den, and I thought that I would slay thee, but mine eye spared thee; for I said, I shall not hold forth mine hand into my lord, for he is the anointed of the Lord.
11 But rather, my father, see thou, and know the hem of thy mantle in mine hand; for when I cutted away the hem off thy mantle, I would not hold forth mine hand against thee; perceive thou, and see, for neither evil neither wickedness is in mine hand, neither I have sinned against thee; but thou ambushest my life, that thou do it away.
12 The Lord deem betwixt me and thee, and the Lord avenge me of thee; but mine hand be not against thee,
13 as it is said in [the] eld [or old] proverb, Wickedness shall go out of wicked men; therefore mine hand be not against thee.
14 Whom pursuest thou, king of Israel, whom pursuest thou? Thou pursuest a dead hound, and a quick flea.
15 The Lord be judge, and the Lord deem betwixt me and thee, and see, and deem my cause, and deliver me from thine hand.
16 And when David had filled, or ended, speaking such manner words to Saul, Saul said, Whether this is thy voice, my son David? And Saul raised up his voice, and wept.
17 And he said to David, Thou art more just [or rightwise] than I; for thou gavest good things to me; but I have yielded evils [or evil things] to thee.
18 And thou hast showed to me today, what goods [or good things] thou hast done to me, how the Lord betook me in thine hand, and thou killedest not me.
19 For who, when he findeth his enemy, shall deliver him into good way? But the Lord yield to thee this while, for that, thou hast wrought today in me.
20 And now, for I know, that thou shalt reign most certainly, and shalt have in thine hand the realm of Israel,
21 swear thou to me in the Lord, that thou do not away my seed after me, neither take away my name from the house of my father.
22 And David swore to Saul. There-fore Saul went into his house, and David and his men went up to secure places.