to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day? 022:009 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. 022:010 He inquired of Yahweh for him, and gave him food, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine. 022:011 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. 022:012 Saul said, Hear now, you son of Ahitub. He answered, Here I am, my lord. 022:013 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? 022:014 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? 022:015 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. 022:016 The king said, You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you, and all your father's house. 022:017 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. 022:018 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. 022:019 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. 022:020 One of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David. 022:021 Abiathar told David that Saul had slain Yahweh's priests. 022:022 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. 022:023 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. 023:001 They told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors. 023:002 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. 023:003 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? 023:004 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. 023:005 David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their livestock, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. 023:006 It happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. 023:007 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. 023:008 Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. 023:009 David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring here the ephod. 023:010 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. 023:011 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. 023:012 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. 023:013 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. 023:014 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. 023:015 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the wood. 023:016 Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God. 023:017 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. 023:018 They two made a covenant before Yahweh: and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house. 023:019 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? 023:020 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. 023:021 Saul said, Blessed be you of Yahweh; for you have had compassion on me. 023:022 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. 023:023 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. 023:024 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. 023:025 Saul and his men went to seek him. When David was told, he went down to the rock, and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard [that], he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. 023:026 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. 023:027 But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, Haste you, and come; for the Philistines have made a raid on the land. 023:028 So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela Hammahlekoth. 023:029 David went up from there, and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi. 024:001 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. 024:002 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. 024:003 He came to the sheep pens by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave. 024:004 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. 024:005 It happened afterward, that David's heart struck him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. 024:006 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. 024:007 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. 024:008 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. 024:009 David said to Saul, Why listen you to men's words, saying, Behold, David seeks your hurt? 024:010 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. 024:011 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. 024:012 Yahweh judge between me and you, and Yahweh avenge me of you; but my hand shall not be on you. 024:013 As says the proverb of the ancients, Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness; but my hand shall not be on you. 024:014 After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom do you pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea. 024:015 Yahweh therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand. 024:016 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. 024:017 He said to David, You are more righteous than I; for you have rendered to me good, whereas I have rendered to you evil. 024:018 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. 024:019 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. 024:020 Now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. 024:021 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. 024:022 David swore to Saul. Saul went home; but David and his men got them up to the stronghold. 025:001 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. 025:002 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. 025:003 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. 025:004 David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 025:005 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: 025:006 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. 025:007 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. 025:008 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. 025:009 When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. 025:010 Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there are many servants who break away from their masters these days. 025:011 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? 025:012 So David's young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words. 025:013 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. 025:014 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. 025:015 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: 025:016 they were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 025:017 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. 025:018 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. 025:019 She said to her young men, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she didn't tell her husband, Nabal. 025:020 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. 025:021 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. 025:022 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 who urinates on a wall.{or, male.} 025:023 When Abigail saw David, she hurried, and alighted from her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground. 025:024 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. 025:025 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. 025:026 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. 025:027 Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. 025:028 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. 025:029 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. 025:030 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, 025:031 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. 025:032 David said to Abigail, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me: 025:033 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. 025:034 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 who urinates on a wall.{or, male.} 025:035 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. 025:036 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. 025:037 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. 025:038 It happened about ten days after, that Yahweh struck Nabal, so that he died. 025:039 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. 025:040 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. 025:041 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. 025:042 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. 025:043 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they became both of them his wives. 025:044 Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim. 026:001 The Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doesn't David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert? 026:002 Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. 026:003 Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert, by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. 026:004 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come of a certainty. 026:005 David arose, and came to the place where Saul had encamped; and David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his army: and Saul lay within the place of the wagons, and the people were encamped round about him. 026:006 Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? Abishai said, I will go down with you. 026:007 So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the place of the wagons, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people lay round about him. 026:008 Then said Abishai to David, God has delivered up your enemy into your hand this day: now therefore please let me strike him with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time. 026:009 David said to Abishai, Don't destroy him; for who can put forth his hand against Yahweh's anointed, and be guiltless? 026:010 David said, As Yahweh lives, Yahweh will strike him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle and perish. 026:011 Yahweh forbid that I should put forth my hand against Yahweh's anointed: but now please take the spear that is at his head, and the jar of water, and let us go. 026:012 So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head; and they got them away: and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from Yahweh was fallen on them. 026:013 Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of the mountain afar off; a great space being between them; 026:014 and David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Don't you answer, Abner? Then Abner answered, Who are you who cries to the king? 026:015 David said to Abner, Aren't you a [valiant] man? and who is like you in Israel? why then have you not kept watch over your lord, the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king your lord. 026:016 This thing isn't good that you have done. As Yahweh lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, Yahweh's anointed. Now see where the king's spear is, and the jar of water that was at his head. 026:017 Saul knew David's voice, and said, Is this your voice, my son David? David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king. 026:018 He said, Why does my lord pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in my hand? 026:019 Now therefore, please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it be Yahweh that has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering: but if it be the children of men, cursed be they before Yahweh: for they have driven me out this day that I shouldn't cling to Yahweh's inheritance, saying, Go, serve other gods. 026:020 Now therefore, don't let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of Yahweh: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one does hunt a partridge in the mountains. 026:021 Then said Saul, 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 played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. 026:022 David answered, Behold the spear, O king! let then one of the young men come over and get it. 026:023 Yahweh will render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness; because Yahweh delivered you into my hand today, and I wouldn't put forth my hand against Yahweh's anointed. 026:024 Behold, as your life was much set by this day in my eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of Yahweh, and let him deliver me out of all oppression. 026:025 Then Saul said to David, Blessed be you, my son David: you shall both do mightily, and shall surely prevail. So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place. 027:001 David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand. 027:002 David arose, and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 027:003 David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife. 027:004 It was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him. 027:005 David said to Achish, If now I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you? 027:006 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: why Ziklag pertains to the kings of Judah to this day. 027:007 The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months. 027:008 David and his men went up, and made a raid on the Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for those [nations] were the inhabitants of the land, who were of old, as you go to Shur, even to the land of Egypt. 027:009 David struck the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the clothing; and he returned, and came to Achish. 027:010 Achish said, Against whom have you made a raid today? David said, Against the South of Judah, and against the South of the Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the Kenites. 027:011 David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell of us, saying, So did David, and so has been his manner all the while he has lived in the country of the Philistines. 027:012 Achish believed David, saying, He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant forever. 028:001 It happened in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. Achish said to David, Know you assuredly, that you shall go out with me in the army, you and your men. 028:002 David said to Achish, Therefore you shall know what your servant will do. Achish said to David, Therefore will I make you keeper of my head for ever. 028:003 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. Saul had put away those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. 028:004 The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa. 028:005 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 028:006 When Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh didn't answer him, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. 028:007 Then said Saul to his servants, Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. His servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at Endor. 028:008 Saul disguised himself, and put on other clothing, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, Please divine to me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whoever I shall name to you. 028:009 The woman said to him, Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: why then lay you a snare for my life, to cause me to die? 028:010 Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, As Yahweh lives, there shall no punishment happen to you for this thing. 028:011 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up to you? He said, Bring me up Samuel. 028:012 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why have you deceived me? for you are Saul. 028:013 The king said to her, Don't be afraid: for what do you see? The woman said to Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth. 028:014 He said to her, What form is he of? She said, An old man comes up; and he is covered with a robe. Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance. 028:015 Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disquieted me, to bring me up? Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I shall do. 028:016 Samuel said, Why then do you ask of me, seeing Yahweh is departed from you, and is become your adversary? 028:017 Yahweh has done to you, as he spoke by me: and Yahweh has torn the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your neighbor, even to David. 028:018 Because you didn't obey the voice of Yahweh, and didn't execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore has Yahweh done this thing to you this day. 028:019 Moreover Yahweh will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines; and tomorrow shall you and your sons be with me: Yahweh will deliver the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines. 028:020 Then Saul fell immediately his full length on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night. 028:021 The woman came to Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled, and said to him, Behold, your handmaid has listened to your voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have listened to your words which you spoke to me. 028:022 Now therefore, please listen also to the voice of your handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength, when you go on your way. 028:023 But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, constrained him; and he listened to their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat on the bed. 028:024 The woman had a fattened calf in the house; and she hurried, and killed it; and she took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread of it: 028:025 and she brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they ate. Then they rose up, and went away that night. 029:001 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites encamped by the spring which is in Jezreel. 029:002 The lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rearward with Achish. 029:003 Then said the princes of the Philistines, What [do] these Hebrews [here]? Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, Isn't this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or [rather] these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell away [to me] to this day? 029:004 But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; and the princes of the Philistines said to him, Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us: for with what should this [fellow] reconcile himself to his lord? should it not be with the heads of these men? 029:005 Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands? 029:006 Then Achish called David, and said to him, As Yahweh lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day: nevertheless the lords don't favor you. 029:007 Therefore now return, and go in peace, that you not displease the lords of the Philistines. 029:008 David said to Achish, But what have I done? and what have you found in your servant so long as I have been before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king? 029:009 Achish answered David, I know that you are good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle. 029:010 Therefore now rise up early in the morning with the servants of your lord who have come with you; and as soon as you are up early in the morning, and have light, depart. 029:011 So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. The Philistines went up to Jezreel. 030:001 It happened, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the South, and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag, and burned it with fire, 030:002 and had taken captive the women [and all] who were therein, both small and great: they didn't kill any, but carried them off, and went their way. 030:003 When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captive. 030:004 Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. 030:005 David's two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 030:006 David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God. 030:007 David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, Please bring me here the ephod. Abiathar brought there the ephod to David. 030:008 David inquired of Yahweh, saying, If I pursue after this troop, shall I overtake them? He answered him, Pursue; for you shall surely overtake [them], and shall without fail recover [all]. 030:009 So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. 030:010 But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they couldn't go over the brook Besor. 030:011 They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink. 030:012 They gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights. 030:013 David said to him, To whom belong you? and whence are you? He said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick. 030:014 We made a raid on the South of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the South of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire. 030:015 David said to him, Will you bring me down to this troop? He said, Swear to me by God, that you will neither kill me, nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this troop. 030:016 When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the ground, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. 030:017 David struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day: and there not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who rode on camels and fled. 030:018 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives. 030:019 There was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them: David brought back all. 030:020 David took all the flocks and the herds, [which] they drove before those [other] livestock, and said, This is David's spoil. 030:021 David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made to abide at the brook Besor; and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him: and when David came near to the people, he greeted them. 030:022 Then answered all the wicked men and base fellows, of those who went with David, and said, Because they didn't go with us, we will not give them anything of the spoil that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that he may lead them away, and depart. 030:023 Then said David, You shall not do so, my brothers, with that which Yahweh has given to us, who has preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand. 030:024 Who will listen to you in this matter? for as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who tarries by the baggage: they shall share alike. 030:025 It was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. 030:026 When David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil to the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of Yahweh: 030:027 To those who were in Bethel, and to those who were in Ramoth of the South, and to those who were in Jattir, 030:028 and to those who were in Aroer, and to those who were in Siphmoth, and to those who were in Eshtemoa, 030:029 and to those who were in Racal, and to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those who were in the cities of the Kenites, 030:030 and to those who were in Hormah, and to those who were in Borashan, and to those who were in Athach, 030:031 and to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men used to stay. 031:001 Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa. 031:002 The Philistines followed hard on Saul and on his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. 031:003 The battle went sore against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers. 031:004 Then said Saul to his armor bearer, Draw your sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armor bearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell on it. 031:005 When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword, and died with him. 031:006 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor bearer, and all his men, that same day together. 031:007 When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them. 031:008 It happened on the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 031:009 They cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry the news to the house of their idols, and to the people. 031:010 They put his armor in the house of the Ashtaroth; and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan. 031:011 When the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard concerning him that which the Philistines had done to Saul, 031:012 all the valiant men 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 burnt them there. 031:013 They took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

THE END