Chapter Sixteen
16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen for myself a king among his sons.”
16:2 And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’
16:3 And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.”
16:4 Samuel did what the LORD told and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?”
16:5 And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
16:6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’S anointed stands here before the LORD.”
16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
16:8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.”
16:9 Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the LORD chosen this one.”
16:10 And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.”
16:11 Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Is that all the young men?” He [Jesse] replied, “There is still the youngest one, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.”“Send and get him, for we cannot turn our attention to other things until he comes here.”
16:12 And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the LORD said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.”
16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers. And the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
16:14 Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.
16:15 And Saul’s servants said to him, “Behold now, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you.
16:16 Let our lord now command your servants who are before you to search for a man who knows how to play the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play with his hand and you will be well.
16:17 So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.”
16:18 One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who knows how to play the lyre, a a strong man of courage and a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the LORD is with him.
16:19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.”
16:20 And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul.
16:21 David came to Saul and stood before him. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer.
16:22 And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.”
16:23 And whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit departed from him.
Chapter Seventeen
17:1 Now the Philistines gathered their camps [of troops] for battle. And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim.
17:2 And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines.
17:3 The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites on another hill, with the valley between them.
17:4 Then a champion came out from the camp of the Philistines. His name was Goliath, who was from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
17:5 And he had a helmet of bronze on his head and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekelsof bronze.
17:6 And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.
17:7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer was walking before him.
17:8 He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? “Am I not a Philistine, and you servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.
17:9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.”
17:10 And the Philistine said, “I defy the army of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight each other.”
17:11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
17:12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was old among men.
17:13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
17:14 David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul,
17:15 but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
17:16 For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.
17:17 And Jesse said to David his son, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers.
17:18 Also take these ten portions of cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well, and bring some token [of assurance] from them.”
17:19 Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
17:20 And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went as Jesse had instructed him. And he came to the encampment as the army was going out to the battle line, shouting the battle cry.
17:21And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army.
17:22 David left the supplies in charge of the keeper of the supplies and ran to the ranks and asked for his brothers to check on their welfare.
17:23 As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words as before. And David heard him.
17:24 All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were very afraid.
17:25 And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who keeps coming out? For he has come up to defy Israel. The king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and give to him his daughter. And he will make his father’s house free in Israel.
17:26 And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
17:27 And the soldiers answered him in the same words, saying, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
17:28 Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab’s anger burned against David, and he said,“Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.”
17:29 And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not but a word?”
17:30 And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke this word in the same way, and the people answered him as before.
17:31 When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him.
17:32 And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail upon him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
17:33 And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”
17:34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock,
17:35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out from his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his jaw and struck him and killed him.
17:36 Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”
17:37 And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you!”
17:38 Then Saul dressed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and dressed him with a coat of mail,
17:39 and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried to walk because he had not used them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, because I have not used them. So David took them off.
17:40 Then he took his staff in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the stream and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.
17:41 Then the Philistine moved forward approaching David, with the man carrying his shield in front of him.
17:42 And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance.
17:43 And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
17:44 The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.”
17:45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of war, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
17:46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head from you. And I will give the corpses from the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth, that all the earth may know that Israel has a God,
17:47 and all this assembly will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves! For the battle is the LORD’s and he will deliver you into our hand.”
17:48 When the Philistine arose and walked and approached to attack David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.
17:49 And David put his hand in his pouch and took out a stone from there and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
17:50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck down the Philistine and killed him. And there was no sword in the hand of David.
17:51 Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
17:52 And the men of Israel and Judah rose up and were shouting and pursued the Philistines until you come to the valley and unto the gates of Ekron. The wounded of the Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.
17:53 And the sons of Israel returned from pursuing the Philistines and they plundered their camp.
17:54 And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put his armor in his tent.
17:55 As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?” “As surely as you live, O king, I don’t know.”
17:56 And the king said, “You find out whose son this young man is.”
17:57 And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul and the head of the Philistine was in his hand.
17:58 And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
Chapter Eighteen
18:1 As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the inner person of Jonathan was bound together to the inner person of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own self [inner person].
18:2 And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.
18:3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own self.
18:4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.
18:5 On every mission on which Saul sent him, David was successful. So Saul appointed him over men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.
18:6 As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.
18:7 And the women sang as they celebrated,
“Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands.”
18:8 Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?”
18:9 So Saul was keeping an eye on David from that day on.
18:10 The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the lyre with his hand, day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand
18:11 and Saul threw the spear, thinking, “I’ll impale David to the wall!” But David evaded him twice.
18:12 Saul was afraid of the presence of David because the LORD was with him but had departed from Saul.
18:13 So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and came in before the troops.
18:14 And David had success in all his ways, for the LORD was with him.
18:15 When Saul saw how very successful he was, he was afraid of him.
18:16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.
18:17 Then Saul said to David, “Here is my elder daughter Merab. I will give her to you for a wife. Only be a son of valor for me and fight the battles of the LORD.”For Saul thought, “Let not my hand be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
18:18 And David said to Saul, “Who am I, and who are my relatives, the clan of my father in Israel that I should be son-in-law to the king?”
18:19 But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite for a wife.
18:20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.
18:21 Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David a second time, “You shall now be my son-in-law, this day.”
18:22 Then Saul ordered his servants, “Speak to David in private and say, “Behold, the king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. Now then become the king’s son-in-law.’”
18:23 And Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. Then David said, “Does it seem to you a small thing to become the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man and have no reputation?”
18:24 When Saul’s servants reported what David had said,
18:25 Then Saul said, “Thus shall you say to David, ‘The king desires no bride-price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
18:26 And when his servants told David these words, it was pleasing in the sight of David to be the son-in-law of the king. So before the time had expired,
18:27 David arose and went along with his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistine men. And David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the son-in-law of the king. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife.
18:28 But when Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him,
18:29 Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy all the days.
18:30 Then the commanders of the Philistines came out as often as they did, David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.
Chapter Nineteen
19:1 Then Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much.
19:2 And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father aims to kill you. Therefore be careful in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself.
19:3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you.”
19:4 And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have been very good for you.
19:5 For he took his life in his hand and he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great deliverance for all Israel.You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David for nothing?”
19:6 And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, “As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death.”
19:7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these words. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.
19:8 And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him.
19:9 Then an evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing the lyre.
19:10 And Saul sought to impale David to the wall with the spear, but he got away from the presence of Saul and the spear struck into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.
19:11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.”
19:12 So Michal let David down through the window, and he ran and fled away and escaped.
19:13 Michal took an household image and laid it on the bed and put a quilt of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with the clothes.
19:14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”
19:15 Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.”
19:16 And when the messengers came in, behold, the image was in the bed, with the quilt of goats’ hair at its head.
19:17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me this way by sending my enemy away so he escaped? And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Send me away. Why should I kill you?’”
19:18 Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.
19:19 And it was told Saul, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.”
19:20 Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
19:21 When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.
19:22 Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great cistern that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.”
19:23 And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah.
19:24 And he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay without his clothes all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
Chapter Twenty
20:1 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”
20:2 And he said to him, “Far from it! You shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me. And why should my father hide this matter from me? It is not so.”
20:3 But David swore again, saying, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thinks, Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But truly, as the LORD lives and as you live, there is but a step between me and death.”
20:4 Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”
20:5 David said to Jonathan, “Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to sit at the table with the king. But let me go, that I may hide myself in the field till the third evening.
20:6 If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave from me to run to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the clan.’
20:7 If he says, ‘Good!’ it will be well with your servant, but if he becomes very angry at me, know that he is determined to harm me.
20:8 “Therefore show lovingkindness with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you. If I am guilty, you yourself kill me! Why bother taking me to your father?”
20:9 And Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! If I knew that it was determined by my father that harm should come to you, would I not tell you?”
20:10 Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you roughly?”
20:11 And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So they both went out into the field.
20:12 And Jonathan said to David, “The LORD, the God of Israel, be witness! When I have sounded out my father, about this time the day after tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send word and disclose it to you?
20:13 But should it please my father to do you harm, the LORD do so to Jonathan and more also if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. May the LORD be with you, as he has been with my father.
20:14 If I am still alive, show me the lovingkindness of the LORD, that I may not die;
20:15 and do not cut off your lovingkindness from my house forever, even when the LORD cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth
20:16 and called David’s enemies to account.” So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David.
20:17 And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for by the love his own life he loved him.
20:18 Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.
20:19 On the third day go down quickly to the place where you hid yourself when the matter started, and remain beside the stone Ezel.
20:20 And I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I shot at a target.
20:21 And behold, I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you, get them,’ then come back. For, as the LORD lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger.
20:22 But if I say to the youth, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, for the LORD has sent you away.
20:23 And as for the matter of which you and I have spoken, behold, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”
20:24 So David hid in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat his meal.
20:25 The king sat down in his usual place by the wall, with Jonathan opposite him and Abner at his [Saul’s] side. But David’s place was empty.
20:26 Yet Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him. He is not clean; surely he is not clean.”
20:27 But on the second day, the day after the new moon, David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”
20:28 Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem.
20:29 He said, ‘Let me go, for our clan holds a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has urged me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away and see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king’s table.”
20:30 Then Saul’s burned with anger against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?
20:31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Therefore send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.”
20:32 Then Jonathan answered Saul his father, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”
20:33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death.
20:34 And Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food that second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had humiliated him.
20:35 In the morning Jonathan went out into the field to the appointment with David, and with him a little boy.
20:36 And he said to his boy, “Run now and find the arrows that I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
20:37 And when the boy came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the boy and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”
20:38 And Jonathan called after the boy, “Hurry! Go quick! Do not delay!” So Jonathan’s boy gathered up the arrows and came to his master.
20:39 But the boy knew nothing. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
20:40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy who was with him and said to him, “Go and carry them to the city.”
20:41 After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down three times. Then they kissed one another and wept with one another, David weeping the most.
20:42 Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD shall be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever.’”
(21:1) And he rose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.
Chapter Twenty-One
21:1 Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?”
21:2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has ordered me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have ordered you.’ I have told my soldiers to wait at a certain place.
21:3 Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.”
21:4 And the priest answered David, “I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread—if the young men have kept themselves from women.”
21:5 And David answered the priest, “Truly women have been kept from us as previous times past when I go out. The vessels [bodies] of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more then today will they be holy in their vessels?”
21:6 So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the LORD, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.
21:7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s herdsmen.
21:8 Then David said to Ahimelech, “Then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required urgency.”
21:9 And the priest said, c“The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the Valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is none but that here.” And David said, “There is none like that; give it to me.”
21:10 And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath.
21:11 And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing to him while dancing,
‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
21:12 And David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
21:13 So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard.
21:14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me?
21:15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
22:1 David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.
22:2 And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.
22:3 And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab. And he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother stay with you, till I know what God will do for me.”
22:4 And he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.
22:5 Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not remain in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.
22:6 Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.
22:7 And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, people of Benjamin; Is the son of Jesse giving to all of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds,
22:8 that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day.”
22:9 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub,
22:10 and he inquired of the LORD for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
22:11 Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king.
22:12 And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub.” And he answered, “Here I am, my lord.”
22:13 And Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me, to lie in wait, as he does this day?”
22:14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, “And who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and captain over your bodyguard, and honored in your house?
22:15 Was that day the first time that I have inquired toGod for him? Certainly not! The king should not accuse his servant or any of my father’s house, for your servant is not aware of all this—not in whole or in part!”
22:16 And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house.”
22:17 And the king said to the guard who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because their hand also is with David, and they knew that he fled and did not inform me.” But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the LORD.
22:18 Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn and strike the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests,and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore the linen ephod.
22:19 And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword; both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep, he put to the sword.
22:20 But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.
22:21 And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.
22:22 And David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of all the persons of your father’s house.
22:23 Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. You shall be in safekeeping with me.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
23:1 Now they told David, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are looting the threshing floors.”
23:2 Therefore David asked the LORD, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the LORD said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”
23:3 But David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”
23:4 Then David asked of the LORD again. And the LORD answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.”
23:5 And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
23:6 When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech had fled to David to Keilah, he had come down with an ephod in his hand.
23:7 Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “God has given him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and a bar.”
23:8 And Saul called up all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.
23:9 David knew that Saul was plotting harm against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”
23:10 Then David said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, your servant has clearly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city because of me.
23:11 Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O LORD, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the LORD said, “He will come down.”
23:12 Then David said, “Will the leaders of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will surrender you.”
23:13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he aborted the mission.
23:14 David stayed in the strongholds that were in the desert and in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.
23:15 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.
23:16 And Jonathan, son of Saul, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.
23:17 And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be your second in command. Saul my father also knows this.”
23:18 And the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went to his house.
23:19 Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon?
23:20 Now, O king, come down when it pleases you to do so, and it will be our part to surrender him into your hands.”
23:21 And Saul said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, for you have had compassion on me.
23:22 Go now, establish his location and learn and observe the place where he is, and who has seen him there, for I am told he is very cunning.
23:23 See therefore and take note of all the places where he hides, and come back to me with dependable information. Then I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”
23:24 And they arose and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon.
23:25 And Saul and his men went to seek him. But David was told, so he went down to the rock and lived in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.
23:26 Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. And David was hurrying to get away from Saul. As Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them,
23:27 a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have raided against the land.”
23:28 So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.
23:29 And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi.
Chapter Twenty-Four
24:1When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.”
24:2 Then Saul took three thousand select men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Mountain Goats.
24:3 And he came to the sheepfolds along the way, where there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the innermost parts of the cave.
24:4 And the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and quietly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
24:5 And afterward David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
24:6 He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’S anointed, to put out my hand against him, for he is the LORD’s anointed.
24:7 David restrained his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. Then Saul rose up from the cave and went on his way
24:8 Afterward David rose up and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David kneeled down and bowed with his face to the ground.
24:9 And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Behold, David seeks your harm’?
24:10 Behold, this day your eyes have seen how the LORD gave you today into my hand in the cave. And some told me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not put out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’S anointed.’
24:11 Look, my father, and see the corner of your robe in my hand! For by the fact that I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you, you may know and see that there is no wrong or treason in my hands. And I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it.
24:12 May the LORD judge between me and you, may the LORD avenge me against you, but my hand shall not be against you.
24:13 As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness.’ But my hand shall not be against you.
24:14 After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue? After a dead dog! After a single flea!
24:15 May the LORD therefore be judge and give sentence between me and you, and see to it and plead my cause and deliver me from your hand.”
24:16 As soon as David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.
24:17 He said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me good, whereas I have repaid you evil.
24:18 And you have declared this day how you have treated me well in that you did not kill me when the LORD put me into your hands.
24:19 For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? So may the LORD reward you with good for what you have done to me this day.
24:20 And now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.
24:21 Swear to me therefore by the LORD that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s house.”
24:22 And David swore this to Saul. Then Saul went to his house, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
Chapter Twenty-Five
25:1 Now Samuel died. And all Israel assembled and mourned for him, and they buried him in his house at Ramah.
Then David rose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
25:2 And there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. The man was very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
25:3 Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and his deeds were evil; he was a Calebite.
25:4 David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
25:5 So David sent ten young men and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal and greet him in my name.
25:6 And thus you shall say to him, “Peace to you and peace to your household and peace to all that you have.
25:7 Now I hear that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing all the time they were in Carmel.
25:8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”
25:9 When David’s young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of David, and then they waited.
25:10 And Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants these days who are breaking away from their masters.
25:11 Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men who come from I do not know where?”
25:12 So David’s young men turned away and came back and told him all these things.
25:13 And David said to his men, “Every man strap on his sword!” And every man of them strapped on his sword. David also strapped on his sword. And about four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the supplies.
25:14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master, and he screamed at them.
25:15 Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no harm, and we did not miss anything all the days we walked about with them when we were in the field.”
25:16 They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
25:17 Now therefore know this and consider what you should do, for disaster has been planned against our master and against all his house, and he is a son of worthlessness that no one can speak to him.”
25:18 Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves of bread and two skins of wine and five sheep already prepared and five seahs of parched grain and a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs, and loaded them on donkeys.
25:19 And she said to her young men, “Go on before me; behold, I come after you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
25:20 And as she rode on the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them.
25:21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I guarded all that this man has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him, and he has returned me evil for good.
25:22God do so to David and more also, if by morning I leave so much as one male from all who belong to him.”
25:23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell before David on her face and bowed to the ground.
25:24 She fell at his feet and said, “On me alone, my lord, be the guilt. Please let your servant speak in your ears, and hear the words of your servant.
25:25 Let not my lord regard this worthless man Nabal.
For as his name so he is— Fool is his name and foolishness goes with him. But I your servant did not see the young men of my lord, whom you sent.
25:26 Now then, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as you live, it is the LORD who has kept you from shedding blood and from saving with your own hand, now then let your enemies and those who seek to do evil to my lord be as Nabal.
25:27 And now let this present that your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.
25:28 Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD, and evil shall not be found in you all your days.
25:29 If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living by the LORD your God. And the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the middle of the pocket of a sling.
25:30 And when the LORD has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you ruler over Israel,
25:31 my lord shall have no cause of grief or pangs of conscience for having shed blood without cause or for my lord working salvation himself. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”
25:32 And David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!
25:33 Blessed be your judgment, and blessed be you, who have kept me this day from shedding blood and from working salvation with my own hand!
25:34 For as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely by morning there there would not be left to Nabal so much as one man.
25:35 Then David received from her hand what she had brought him. And he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. See, I have obeyed your voice, and I have granted your request.”
25:36 And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing small or great until the morning light.
25:37 In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
25:38 And about ten days later the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.
25:39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the LORD who has avenged the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from wrongdoing. The LORD has returned the evil of Nabal on his own head.” Then David sent and spoke to Abigail, to take her as his wife.
25:40 When the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.”
25:41 And she rose and bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”
25:42 And Abigail hurried and rose and mounted a donkey, and her five young women walking at her feet. She walked after the messengers of David and became his wife.
25:43 David had also taken Ahinoam from Jezreel; the two of them became his wives.
25:44 Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.
Chapter Twenty-Six
26:1 The Ziphites went to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding on the hill of Hachilah, which faces Jeshimon?”
26:2 So Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.
26:3 Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hachilah facing Jeshimon, but David stayed in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness,
26:4 David sent out scouts and confirmed that Saul had indeed come.
26:5 Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, with Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the camp, while the army was encamped around him.
26:6 David said to Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.”
26:7 So David and Abishai went to the army by night. And there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay around him.
26:8 Then Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me drive the spear right through him into the ground with one thrust and I will not strike him twice.”
26:9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t kill him! For who can extend his hand against the LORD’s anointed and remain guiltless?”
26:10 David went on to say, “As the LORD lives, the LORD himself will strike him down or is day will come and he will die, or he will go down into battle and perish.
26:11 The LORD forbid that I should put out my hand against the LORD’S anointed. Now take the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go.”
26:12 So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul’s head, and they went away. No one saw or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen upon them.
26:13 Then David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill, with a great distance between them.
26:14 And David called to the army, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Will you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered, “Who are you who calls to the king?”
26:15 And David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept guard over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord.
26:16 This thing that you have done is not good. As the LORD lives, you deserve to die, because you have not kept guard over your lord, the anointed of the LORD. And now see where the king’s spear is and the jar of water that was at his head.”
26:17 Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.”
26:18 And he said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands?
26:19 Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the LORD who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is men, may they be cursed before the LORD! For they have driven me away this day from sharing in the inheritance, of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’
26:20 Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the LORD, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
26:21 Then Saul said, r“I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted foolishly, and have made a very great mistake.”
26:22 And David answered and said, “Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and take it.
26:23 The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the LORD gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the LORD’S anointed.
26:24 Behold, as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the LORD, and may he deliver me out of all trouble.”
26:25 Then Saul said to David, “Blessed be you, my son David! You will do many things and will succeed in them.” So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
27:1 Then David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.”
27:2 So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
27:3 And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.
27:4 And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him.
27:5 Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?”
27:6 So that day Achish gave him Ziklag. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.
27:7 And the number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.
27:8 Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt.
27:9 And David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and come back to Achish.
27:10 When Achish asked, “Where have you made a raid today?” David would say, “Against the Negev of Judah,” or, “Against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites,” or, “Against the Negev of the Kenites.”
27:11 And David would leave neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, thinking, “lest they should tell about us and say, ‘So David has done.’” Such was his custom all the while he lived in the country of the Philistines.
27:12 And Achish trusted David, thinking, “He has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
28:1 In those days the Philistines gathered their army for war, to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, “Understand completely that you and your men are to go out with me in the army.”
28:2 David said to Achish, “Very well, you shall know what your servant can do.” And Achish said to David, “Very well, I will make you my bodyguard from now on.
28:3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the necromancers out of the land.
28:4 The Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa.
28:5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.
28:6 And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets.
28:7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.”
28:8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Divine for me by a spirit and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you.”
28:9 The woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?”
28:10 But Saul swore to her by the LORD, “As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.”
28:11 Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up Samuel for me.”
28:12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul.”
28:13 The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the ground.”
28:14 He said to her, “What is his appearance?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and kneeled.
28:15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answered, “I am very distressed. The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no longer— not by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have summoned you to tell me what I shall do.”
28:16 And Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has turned from you and become your enemy?
28:17 The LORD has done to you as I prophesied, for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David.
28:18 Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD and did not carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day.
28:19 Moreover, the LORD will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The LORD will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”
28:20 Then Saul fell at once full length on the ground, filled with fear because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.
28:21 And the woman came to Saul, and when she saw that he was terrified, she said to him, “Behold, your servant has obeyed your voice. I have taken my life in my hand and listened to your words that you spoke to me.”
28:22 Now therefore, you also obey the voice of your servant. Let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat. When you regain your strength, you can go on your way.”
28:23 He refused and said, “I will not eat.” But his servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he listened to their voice. So he arose from the earth and sat on the bed.
28:24 Now the woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she quickly killed it, and she took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread.
28:25 and she put it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
29:1 Now the Philistines had gathered all their forces at Aphek. And the Israelites were encamped by the spring that is in Jezreel.
29:2 As the lords of the Philistines were passing through with hundreds and thousands and David and his men were passing though at the rear with Achish,
29:3 the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing?” And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me these days or years? I have found no fault with him from the day he fell away from Saul until this time.
29:4 But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here?
29:5 Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances,
‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
29:6 Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the LORD lives, you have been honest and good in my eyes that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day you came to me until this day. But in the eyes of the lords, you are not good.
29:7 So now turn and go back in peace that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.”
29:8 And David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I came before you until this day that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”
29:9 And Achish answered and said to David, I know that you are good in my eyes as an angel of God. However, the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’
29:10 Now then rise early in the morning with the servants of your lord who came with you. When you get up early in the morning, and you have light, leave.”
29:11 So David got up, he and his men marched in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
Chapter Thirty
30:1 Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire
30:2 and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way.
30:3 And when David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
30:4 Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.
30:5 David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
30:6 And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in themselves, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
30:7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
30:8 And David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue them.”
30:9 So David set out, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed.
30:10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men. Two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor.
30:11 They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. And they gave him bread and he ate. They gave him water to drink,
30:12 and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit revived, for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights.
30:13 And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, slave to an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because I was sick for three days.
30:14 We had made a raid against the Negeb of the Kerethites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negeb of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.”
30:15 And David said to him, “Will you take me down to this band?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this band.”
30:16 And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and celebrating, because of all the great plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
30:17 And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled.
30:18 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives.
30:19 Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all.
30:20 David took all the flocks and herds and they drove them in front of the rest of the livestock. They were saying, “This is David’s plunder!”
30:21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people he asked how they were doing.
30:22 Then all the wicked and worthless men among the men who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children, and depart.”
30:23 But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and given into our hand the band that came against us.
30:24 Who would listen to you in this matter? The portion of the one who went down into the battle will be the same as the portion of the one who remained with the supplies! They shall share alike.”
30:25 And from that day forward, he made it a statue and rule for Israel up to this time.
30:26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the plunder to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a present for you from the plunder of the enemies of the LORD.”
30:27 It was for those in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negeb, in Jattir,
30:28 in Aroer, in Siphmoth, in Eshtemoa,
30:29 in Racal, in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, in the cities of the Kenites,
30:30 in Hormah, in Bor-ashan, in Athach,
30:31 in Hebron, for all the places where David and his men had roamed.
Chapter Thirty-One
31:1 Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
31:2 And the Philistines kept close after Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan and Abinadab and Malki-shua, the sons of Saul.
31:3 The battle pushed hard against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was severely wounded by the archers.
31:4 Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and torture me.” But his armor-bearer would not, because he was very afraid. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.
31:5 And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him.
31:6 So Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his men died together that day.
31:7 And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them.
31:8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
31:9 So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.
31:10 They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his corpse to the wall of Beth-shan.
31:11 But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,
31:12 all the warriors arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there.
31:13 And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.