handmaid

¶ And the woman came vnto Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled, and sayd vnto him, Behold, thine handmayd hath obeyed thy voice, and I haue put my life in my hand, and haue hearkened vnto thy words which thou spakest vnto me:

Now therefore, I pray thee, hearken thou also vnto the voyce of thine handmaid, & let me set a morsel of bread before thee; & eat, that thou mayest haue strength, when thou goest on thy way.

And thy handmayd had two sonnes, and they two stroue together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other, and slew him.

1611 marginal noteHebr. no deliuerer betweene them.

And behold, the whole family is risen against thine handmayd, and they said, Deliuer him that smote his brother, that we may kill him, for the life of his brother whom he slew, and we will destroy the heire also: and so they shall quench my cole which is left, and shall not leaue to my husband neither name nor remainder vpon the earth.

1611 marginal noteHebr. vpon the face of the earth.

Then the woman said, Let thine handmayd, I pray thee, speake one word vnto my lord the king. And hee said, Say on.

Now therefore that I am come to speake of this thing vnto my lord the king, it is because the people haue made me afraid: and thy handmayd said, I will now speake vnto the king; it may bee that the king will performe the request of his handmayd.

For the king wil heare, to deliuer his handmayd out of the hand of the man that would destroy mee, and my sonne together out of the inheritance of God:

Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for as an Angel of God, so is my lord the king to discerne good and bad: therfore the LORD thy God will be with thee.

1611 marginal noteHebr. for rest.

1611 marginal noteHebr. to heare.

And the king said, Is not the hand of Ioab with thee in all this? And the woman answered and said, As thy soule liueth, my lord the king, none can turne to the right hand or to the left from ought that my lord the king hath spoken: for thy seruant Ioab, hee bade me, and he put all these wordes in the mouth of thine handmaid:

And when he was come neere vnto her, the woman said, Art thou Ioab? And he answered, I am he: Then shee said vnto him, Heare the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I doe heare.