17:1: Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle; and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.
17:2: Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.
17:3: The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.
17:4: There went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
17:5: He had a helmet of brass on his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass.
17:6: He had brass shin-armor on his legs, and a javelin of brass between his shoulders.
17:7: The staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head [weighed] six hundred shekels of iron: and his shield-bearer went before him.
17:8: He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, Why are you come out to set your battle in array? am I not a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
17:9: If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall you be our servants, and serve us.
17:10: The Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.
17:11: When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.
17:12: Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man was an old man in the days of Saul, stricken [in years] among men.
17:13: The three eldest sons of Jesse had gone after 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; and the three eldest followed Saul.
17:15: Now David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
17:16: The Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.
17:17: Jesse said to David his son, Take now 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: and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and look how your brothers fare, and take their pledge.
17:19: Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
17:20: David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the place of the wagons, as the host which was going forth to the fight shouted for the battle.
17:21: Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array, army against army.
17:22: David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers.
17:23: As he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke according to the same words: and David heard them.
17:24: All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid.
17:25: The men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come up: and it shall be, that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father's house free in Israel.
17:26: David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, What shall be done to 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: The people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man who kills him.
17:28: Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why are you come down? and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle.
17:29: David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?
17:30: He turned away from him toward another, and spoke after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.
17:31: When the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed them before Saul; and he sent for him.
17:32: David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
17:33: 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 a man of war from his youth.
17:34: David said to Saul, Your servant was keeping his father's sheep; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock,
17:35: I went out after him, and struck him, and delivered it out of his mouth; and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and struck him, and killed him.
17:36: Your servant struck both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.
17:37: David said, Yahweh who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. Saul said to David, Go, and Yahweh shall be with you.
17:38: Saul clad David with his clothing, and he put a helmet of brass on his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail.
17:39: David girded his sword on his clothing, and he tried to go; for he had not proved it. David said to Saul, I can't go with these; for I have not proved them. David put them off him.
17:40: He took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in the shepherd's bag which he had, even in his wallet; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.
17:41: The Philistine came on and drew near to David; and the man who bore the shield went before him.
17:42: When the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and withal of a fair face.
17:43: The Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? 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 sky, and to the animals of the field.
17:45: Then said David 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 Yahweh of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
17:46: This day will Yahweh deliver you into my hand; and I will strike you, and take your head from off you; and I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky, and to the wild animals of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,
17:47: and that all this assembly may know that Yahweh doesn't save with sword and spear: for the battle is Yahweh's, and he will give you into our hand.
17:48: It happened, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
17:49: David put his hand in his bag, and took there a stone, and slang it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.
17:50: So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and killed him; but 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 the sheath of it, and killed him, and cut off his head therewith. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
17:52: The men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until you come to Gai, and to the gates of Ekron. The wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath, and to Ekron.
17:53: The children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they plundered their camp.
17:54: David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent.
17:55: When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I can't tell.
17:56: The king said, "Inquire whose son the young man is!"
17:57: As David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
17:58: Saul said to him, Whose son are you, you young man? David answered, I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.


18:1: It happened, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
18:2: Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house.
18:3: Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
18:4: Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him, and gave it to David, and his clothing, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his sash.
18:5: David went out wherever Saul sent him, [and] behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.
18:6: It happened as they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music.
18:7: The women sang one to another as they played, and said, Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands.
18:8: Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?
18:9: Saul eyed David from that day and forward.
18:10: It happened on the next day, that an evil spirit from God came mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand;
18:11: and Saul cast the spear; for he said, I will strike David even to the wall. David avoided out of his presence twice.
18:12: Saul was afraid of David, because Yahweh was with him, and was departed from Saul.
18:13: Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.
18:14: David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and Yahweh was with him.
18:15: When Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood in awe of him.
18:16: But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them.
18:17: Saul said to David, Behold, my elder daughter Merab, her will I give you as wife: only be valiant for me, and fight Yahweh's battles. For Saul said, Don't let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him.
18:18: David said to Saul, Who am I, and what is my life, [or] my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?
18:19: But it happened at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as wife.
18:20: Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.
18:21: Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David, You shall this day be my son-in-law a second time.
18:22: Saul commanded his servants, [saying], Commune with David secretly, and say, Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you: now therefore be the king's son-in-law.
18:23: Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, Seems it to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?
18:24: The servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner spoke David.
18:25: Saul said, Thus shall you tell David, The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
18:26: When his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. The days were not expired;
18:27: and David arose and went, he and his men, and killed of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife.
18:28: Saul saw and knew that Yahweh was with David; and Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him.
18:29: Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul was David's enemy continually.
18:30: Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it happened, as often as they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was much set by

19:1: Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David.
19:2: Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeks to kill you: now therefore, please take care of yourself in the morning, and live 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 commune with my father of you; and if I see anything, I will tell you.
19:4: Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, Don't let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you:
19:5: for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and Yahweh worked a great victory for all Israel: you saw it, and did rejoice; why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?
19:6: Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.
19:7: Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as before.
19:8: There was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him.
19:9: An evil spirit from Yahweh was on Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand.
19:10: Saul sought to strike David even to the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he struck the spear into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.
19:11: Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning: and Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, If you don't save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be slain.
19:12: So Michal let David down through the window: and he went, and fled, and escaped.
19:13: Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it, and covered it with the clothes.
19:14: When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.
19:15: Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.
19:16: When the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it.
19:17: Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me thus, and let my enemy go, so that he is escaped? Michal answered Saul, He said to me, Let me go; why should I kill you?
19:18: Now David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and lived in Naioth.
19:19: It was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.
19:20: 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 on the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
19:21: When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.
19:22: Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? One said, Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.
19:23: He went there to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God came on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.
19:24: He also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

20:1: David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my iniquity?" and "What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?"
20:2: He said to him, "Far from it; you shall not die: behold, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so."
20:3: David swore moreover, and said, Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, Don't let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.
20:4: Then said Jonathan to David, Whatever your soul desires, I will even do it for you.
20:5: David said to Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening.
20:6: If your father miss me at all, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city; for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family.
20:7: If he says, 'It is well;' your servant shall have peace: but if he be angry, then know that evil is determined by him.
20:8: Therefore deal kindly with your servant; for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you: but if there be in me iniquity, kill me yourself; for why should you bring me to your father?
20:9: Jonathan said, Far be it from you; for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come on you, then wouldn't I tell you that?
20:10: Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me if perchance your father answer you roughly?
20:11: Jonathan said to David, Come, and let us go out into the field. They went out both of them into the field.
20:12: Jonathan said to David, Yahweh, the God of Israel, [be witness]: when I have sounded my father about this time tomorrow, [or] the third day, behold, if there be good toward David, shall I not then send to you, and disclose it to you?
20:13: Yahweh do so to Jonathan, and more also, should it please my father to do you evil, if I don't disclose it to you, and send you away, that you may go in peace: and Yahweh be with you, as he has been with my father.
20:14: You shall not only while yet I live show me the loving kindness of Yahweh, that I not die;
20:15: but also you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever; no, not when Yahweh has cut off the enemies of David everyone from the surface of the earth.
20:16: So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, [saying], Yahweh will require it at the hand of David's enemies.
20:17: Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had to him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
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: When you have stayed three days, you shall go down quickly, and come to the place where you did hide yourself when the business was in hand, and shall remain by the stone Ezel.
20:20: I will shoot three arrows on the side of it, as though I shot at a mark.
20:21: Behold, I will send the boy, [saying], Go, find the arrows. If I tell the boy, Behold, the arrows are on this side of you; take them, and come; for there is peace to you and no hurt, as Yahweh lives.
20:22: But if I say thus to the boy, Behold, the arrows are beyond you; go your way; for Yahweh has sent you away.
20:23: As touching the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, Yahweh is between you and me forever.
20:24: So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat food.
20:25: The king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul's side: but David's place was empty.
20:26: Nevertheless Saul didn't say anything that day: for he thought, Something has happened to him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean.
20:27: It happened on the next day after the new moon, [which was] the second [day], that David's place was empty: and Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why doesn't the son of Jesse come to meat, neither yesterday, nor today?
20:28: Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem:
20:29: and he said, Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he has commanded me [to be there]: and now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away, I pray you, and see my brothers. Therefore he is not come to the king's table.
20:30: Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, You son of a perverse rebellious woman, don't I 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, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Therefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.
20:32: Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?"
20:33: Saul cast his spear at him to strike him. By this Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death.
20:34: So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month; for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.
20:35: It happened in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy with him.
20:36: He said to his boy, Run, find now the arrows which I shoot. As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
20:37: When the boy was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the boy, and said, Isn't the arrow beyond you?
20:38: Jonathan cried after the boy, Go fast! Hurry! Don't delay! Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.
20:39: But the boy didn't know anything: only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
20:40: Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy, and said to him, Go, carry them to the city.
20:41: As soon as the boy was gone, David arose out of [a place] toward the South, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.
20:42: Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of Yahweh, saying, Yahweh shall be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever. He arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.

21:1: Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, Why are you alone, and no man with you?
21:2: David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, Let no man know anything of the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you: and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.
21:3: Now therefore what is under your hand? give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present.
21:4: The priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.
21:5: David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days; when I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey; how much more then today shall their vessels be holy?
21:6: So the priest gave him holy [bread]; for there was no bread there but the show bread, that was taken from before Yahweh, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
21:7: Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
21:8: David said to Ahimelech, Isn't there here under your hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.
21:9: The priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed 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 no other except that here. David said, There is none like that; give it me.
21:10: David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
21:11: The servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David the king of the land? Didn't they sing one to another about him in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?'"
21:12: David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
21:13: He changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard.
21:14: Then said Achish to his servants, Look, 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 play the madman in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?

22:1: David therefore departed 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: Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered themselves to him; and he became captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.
22:3: David went there to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said to the king of Moab, Please let my father and my mother come forth, [and be] with you, until I know what God will do for me.
22:4: He brought them before the king of Moab: and they lived with him all the while that David was in the stronghold.
22:5: The prophet Gad said to David, Don't stay in the stronghold; depart, and get you into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.
22:6: Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him: now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.
22:7: Saul said to his servants who stood about him, Hear now, you Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give everyone of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds,
22:8: that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none who discloses to me when my son makes a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you who 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, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.
22:10: He inquired of Yahweh for him, and gave him food, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.
22:11: Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests who were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king.
22:12: Saul said, Hear now, you son of Ahitub. He answered, Here I am, my lord.
22:13: 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, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
22:14: Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, Who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and is taken into your council, and is honorable in your house?
22:15: Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? be it far from me: don't let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for your servant knows nothing of all this, less or more.
22:16: The king said, You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you, and all your father's house.
22:17: The king said to the guard who stood about him, Turn, and kill the priests of Yahweh; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and didn't disclose it to me. But the servants of the king wouldn't put forth their hand to fall on the priests of Yahweh.
22:18: The king said to Doeg, Turn you, and fall on the priests. Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell on the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore a linen ephod.
22:19: Nob, the city of the priests, struck he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing babies, and oxen and donkeys and sheep, with the edge of the sword.
22:20: One of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David.
22:21: Abiathar told David that Saul had slain Yahweh's priests.
22:22: David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned [the death] of all the persons of your father's house.
22:23: Abide you with me, don't be afraid; for he who seeks my life seeks your life: for with me you shall be in safeguard.

23:1: They told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors.
23:2: Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, Shall I go and strike these Philistines? Yahweh said to David, Go, and strike the Philistines, and save Keilah.
23:3: 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 inquired of Yahweh yet again. Yahweh answered him, and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.
23:5: David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
23:6: It happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.
23:7: It was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that has gates and bars.
23:8: Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.
23:9: David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring here the ephod.
23:10: Then said David, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.
23:11: Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Yahweh, the God of Israel, I beg you, tell your servant. Yahweh said, He will come down.
23:12: Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver up to me and my men into the hand of Saul? Yahweh said, They will deliver you up.
23:13: Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. It was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he gave up going there.
23:14: David abode in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill-country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God didn't deliver him into his hand.
23:15: David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the wood.
23:16: Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.
23:17: He said to him, Don't be afraid; for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; and you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you; and that also Saul my father knows.
23:18: They two made a covenant before Yahweh: and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.
23:19: Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doesn't David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert?
23:20: Now therefore, O king, come down, according to all the desire of your soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him up into the king's hand.
23:21: Saul said, Blessed be you of Yahweh; for you have had compassion on me.
23:22: Please go make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his haunt is, [and] who has seen him there; for it is told me that he deals very subtly.
23:23: See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking-places where he hides himself, and come you again to me of a certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall happen, if he be in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.
23:24: They arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert.
23:25: Saul and his men went to seek him. They told David: why he came down to the rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard [that], he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.
23:26: Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them.
23:27: But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, Haste you, and come; for the Philistines have made a raid on the land.
23:28: So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela Hammahlekoth.
23:29: David went up from there, and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.

24:1: It happened, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.
24:2: Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats.
24:3: He came to the sheep pens by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet. Now David and his men were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave.
24:4: The men of David said to him, Behold, the day of which Yahweh said to you, Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe secretly.
24:5: It happened afterward, that David's heart struck him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.
24:6: He said to his men, Yahweh forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, Yahweh's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is Yahweh's anointed.
24:7: So David checked his men with these words, and didn't allow them to rise against Saul. Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.
24:8: David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance.
24:9: David said to Saul, Why listen you to men's words, saying, Behold, David seeks your hurt?
24:10: Behold, this day your eyes have seen how that Yahweh had delivered you today into my hand in the cave: and some bade me kill you; but [my eye] spared you; and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord; for he is Yahweh's anointed.
24:11: Moreover, my father, behold, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and didn't kill you, know you and see that there is neither evil nor disobedience in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, though you hunt after my life to take it.
24:12: Yahweh judge between me and you, and Yahweh avenge me of you; but my hand shall not be on you.
24:13: As says the proverb of the ancients, Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness; but my hand shall not be on you.
24:14: After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom do you pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.
24:15: Yahweh therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.
24:16: It came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, Is this your voice, my son David? Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.
24:17: He said to David, You are more righteous than I; for you have rendered to me good, whereas I have rendered to you evil.
24:18: You have declared this day how that you have dealt well with me, because when Yahweh had delivered me up into your hand, you didn't kill me.
24:19: For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away unharmed? Therefore may Yahweh reward you good for that which you have done to me this day.
24:20: 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 now therefore to me by Yahweh, that you will not cut off my seed after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house.
24:22: David swore to Saul. Saul went home; but David and his men got them up to the stronghold.

25:1: Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
25:2: There was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
25:3: Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail; and the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful face: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.
25:4: David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
25:5: 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 shall you tell him who lives [in prosperity], Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.
25:7: Now I have heard that you have shearers: your shepherds have now been with us, and we did them no hurt, neither was there anything missing to them, all the while they were in Carmel.
25:8: Ask your young men, and they will tell you: therefore let the young men find favor in your eyes; for we come in a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand, to your servants, and to your son David.
25:9: When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
25:10: Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there are many servants now-a-days who break away every man from his master.
25:11: Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who I don't know where they come from?
25:12: So David's young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words.
25:13: David said to his men, Gird you on every man his sword. They girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the baggage.
25:14: But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to Greet our master; and he railed at them.
25:15: But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields:
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 and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house: for he is such a worthless fellow that one can't speak to him.
25:18: Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.
25:19: She said to her young men, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she didn't tell her husband, Nabal.
25:20: It was so, as she rode on her donkey, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that behold, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them.
25:21: Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him: and he has returned me evil for good.
25:22: God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one man-child.
25:23: When Abigail saw David, she hurried, and alighted from her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.
25:24: She fell at his feet, and said, On me, my lord, on me be the iniquity; and please let your handmaid speak in your ears. Hear the words of your handmaid.
25:25: Please don't let my lord regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal; for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I your handmaid didn't see the young men of my lord, whom you did send.
25:26: Now therefore, my lord, as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, seeing Yahweh has withheld you from blood guiltiness, and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.
25:27: Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
25:28: Please forgive the trespass of your handmaid: for Yahweh will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of Yahweh; and evil shall not be found in you all your days.
25:29: Though men be risen up to pursue you, and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with Yahweh your God; and the souls of your enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling.
25:30: It shall come to pass, when Yahweh shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and shall have appointed you prince over Israel,
25:31: that this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. When Yahweh shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid.
25:32: David said to Abigail, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me:
25:33: and blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, that have kept me this day from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand.
25:34: For in very deed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from hurting you, except you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn't have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child.
25:35: So David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he said to her, Go up in peace to your house; behold, I have listened to your voice, and have accepted your person.
25:36: Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.
25:37: It happened in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.
25:38: It happened about ten days after, that Yahweh struck Nabal, so that he died.
25:39: When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Yahweh, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil: and the evil-doing of Nabal has Yahweh returned on his own head. David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to him as wife.
25:40: When the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife.
25:41: She arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.
25:42: Abigail hurried, and arose, and rode on a donkey, with five ladies of hers who followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.
25:43: David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they became both of them his wives.
25:44: Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.