The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 170

14:32. And falling upon the spoils, they took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people ate them with the blood.

14:33. And they told Saul that the people had sinned against the Lord, eating with the blood. And he said: You have transgressed: roll here to me now a great stone.

14:34. And Saul said: Disperse yourselves among the people, and tell them to bring me every man his ox and his ram and slay them upon this stone, and eat, and you shall not sin against the Lord, in eating with the blood. So all the people brought every man his ox with him till the night: and slew them there.

14:35. And Saul built an altar to the Lord: and he then first began to build an altar to the Lord.

14:36. And Saul said: Let us fall upon the Philistines by night, and destroy them till the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them.

And the people said: Do all that seemeth good in thy eyes. And the priest said: Let us draw near hither unto G.o.d.

14:37. And Saul consulted the Lord: Shall I pursue after the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into the hands of Israel? And he answered him not that day.

14:38. And Saul said: Bring hither all the corners of the people: and know, and see by whom this sin hath happened to day.

14:39. As the Lord liveth, who is the Saviour of Israel, if it was done by Jonathan, my son, he shall surely die. In this none of the people gainsayed him.

14:40. And he said to all Israel: Be you on one side and I, with Jonathan, my son, will be on the other side. And the people answered Saul: Do what seemeth good in thy eyes.

14:41. And Saul said to the Lord: O Lord G.o.d of Israel, give a sign, by which we may know, what the meaning is, that thou answerest not thy servant to day: If this iniquity be in me, or in my son Jonathan, give a proof: or if this iniquity be in thy people, give holiness. And Jonathan and Saul were taken, and the people escaped.

14:42. And Saul said: Cast lots between me, and Jonathan, my son. And Jonathan was taken.

Jonathan was taken... Though Jonathan was excused from sin, through ignorance of the prohibition, yet G.o.d was pleased on this occasion to let the lot fall upon him, to shew unto all the great obligation of obedience to princes and parents.

14:43. And Saul said to Jonathan: Tell me what thou hast done. And Jonathan told him, and said: I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod, which was in my hand, and behold I must die.

14:44. And Saul said: May G.o.d do so and so to me, and add still more: for dying thou shalt die, O Jonathan.

14:45. And the people said to Saul: Shall Jonathan then die, who hath wrought this great salvation in Israel? this must not be: As the Lord liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he hath wrought with G.o.d this day. So the people delivered Jonathan, that he should not die.

14:46. And Saul went back, and did not pursue after the Philistines: and the Philistines went to their own places.

14:47. And Saul having his kingdom established over Israel, fought against all his enemies round about, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and Edom, and the kings of Soba, and the Philistines: and whithersoever he turned himself, he overcame.

14:48. And gathering together an army, he defeated Amalec, and delivered Israel from the hand of them that spoiled them.

14:49. And the sons of Saul, were Jonathan, and Jessui, and Melchisua: and the names of his two daughters, the name of the firstborn was Merob, and the name of the younger Michol.

14:50. And the name of Saul's wife was Achinoam, the daughter of Achimaas; and the name of the captain of his army was Abner, the son of Ner, the cousin german of Saul.

14:51. For Cis was the father of Saul, and Ner, the father of Abner, was son of Abiel.

14:52. And there was a great war against the Philistines all the days of Saul. For whomsoever Saul saw to be a valiant man, and fit for war, he took him to himself.

1 Kings Chapter 15

Saul is sent to destroy Amalec: he spareth their king and the best of their cattle: for which disobedience he is cast off by the Lord.

15:1. And Samuel said to Saul: The Lord sent me to anoint thee king over his people Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the Lord:

15:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have reckoned up all that Amalec hath done to Israel: how he opposed them in the way when they came up out of Egypt.

15:3. Now therefore go, and smite Amalec, and utterly destroy all that he hath: spare him not, nor covet anything that is his: but slay both man and woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and a.s.s.

Child... The great Master of life and death (who cuts off one half of all mankind whilst they are children) has been pleased sometimes to ordain that children should be put to the sword, in detestation of the crimes of their parents, and that they might not live to follow the same wicked ways. But without such ordinance of G.o.d it is not allowable, in any wars, how just soever, to kill children.

15:4. So Saul commanded the people, and numbered them as lambs: two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand of the men of Juda.

15:5. And when Saul was come to the city of Amalec, he laid ambushes in the torrent.

15:6. And Saul said to the Cinite: Go, depart, and get ye down from Amalec: lest I destroy thee with him. For thou hast shewn kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. And the Cinite departed from the midst of Amalec.

15:7. And Saul smote Amalec from Hevila, until thou comest to Sur, which is over against Egypt.

15:8. And he took Agag, the king of Amalec, alive: but all the common people he slew with the edge of the sword.

15:9. And Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the flocks of sheep, and of the herds, and the garments and the rams, and all that was beautiful, and would not destroy them: but every thing that was vile, and good for nothing, that they destroyed.

15:10. And the word of the Lord came to Samuel,

15:11. It repenteth me that I have made Saul king: for he hath forsaken me, and hath not executed my commandments. And Samuel was grieved, and he cried unto the Lord all night.

15:12. And when Samuel rose early, to go to Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel that Saul was come to Carmel, and had erected for himself a triumphant arch, and returning had pa.s.sed on, and gone down to Galgal.

And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul was offering a holocaust to the Lord, out of the choicest of the spoils, which he had brought from Amalec.

15:13. And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said to him: Blessed be thou of the Lord, I have fulfilled the word of the Lord.

15:14. And Samuel said: What meaneth then this bleating of the flocks, which soundeth in my ears, and the lowing of the herds, which I hear?

15:15. And Saul said: They have brought them from Amalec: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the herds, that they might be sacrificed to the Lord thy G.o.d, but the rest we have slain.

15:16. And Samuel said to Saul: Suffer me, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said to him: Speak.

15:17. And Samuel said: When thou wast a little one in thy own eyes, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the Lord anointed thee to be king over Israel.

15:18. And the Lord sent thee on the way, and said: Go, and kill the sinners of Amalec, and thou shalt fight against them until thou hast utterly destroyed them.

15:19. Why then didst thou not hearken to the voice of the Lord: but hast turned to the prey, and hast done evil in the eyes of the Lord?

15:20. And Saul said to Samuel: Yea, I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord, and have walked in the way by which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag, the king of Amalec, and Amalec I have slain.

15:21. But the people took of the spoils, sheep and oxen, as the firstfruits of those things that were slain, to offer sacrifice to the Lord their G.o.d in Galgal.

15:22. And Samuel said: Doth the Lord desire holocausts and victims, and not rather that the voice of the Lord should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices: and to hearken rather than to offer the fat or rams.

15:23. Because it is like the sin of witchcraft, to rebel: and like the crime of idolatry, to refuse to obey. Forasmuch, therefore, as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath also rejected thee from being king.

15:24. And Saul said to Samuel: I have sinned, because I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words, fearing the people, and obeying their voice.