The World English Bible (WEB) Part 36

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 its head, 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 its head. 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 dine with the king; 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 both went out into the field. 20:12 Jonathan said to David, "Yahweh, the G.o.d 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 its side, 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 n.o.b 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 to 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 G.o.d 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 n.o.b, 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 n.o.b: 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 n.o.b, the city of the priests, struck he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing babies, and cattle 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 livestock, 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, G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d. 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 compa.s.sion 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. 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. 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 surrounded David and his men 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 there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. 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 pa.s.s, 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 you sh.e.l.l 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 who break away from their masters these days. 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 cl.u.s.ters 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 G.o.d 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. 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 trespa.s.s 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 G.o.d; and the souls of your enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling.

25:30 It shall come to pa.s.s, 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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. 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.

26:1 The Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doesn't David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert? 26:2 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. 26:3 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. 26:4 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come of a certainty. 26:5 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 around him. 26:6 Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hitt.i.te, 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. 26:7 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 around him. 26:8 Then said Abishai to David, G.o.d 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. 26:9 David said to Abishai, Don't destroy him; for who can put forth his hand against Yahweh's anointed, and be guiltless? 26:10 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. 26:11 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. 26:12 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. 26:13 Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of the mountain afar off; a great s.p.a.ce being between them; 26:14 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? 26:15 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. 26:16 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. 26:17 Saul knew David's voice, and said, Is this your voice, my son David? David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king. 26:18 He said, Why does my lord pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in my hand? 26:19 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 G.o.ds. 26:20 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. 26:21 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. 26:22 David answered, Behold the spear, O king!

let then one of the young men come over and get it. 26:23 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. 26:24 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. 26:25 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.

27:1 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.

27:2 David arose, and pa.s.sed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 27:3 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. 27:4 It was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him. 27:5 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? 27:6 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: why Ziklag pertains to the kings of Judah to this day.

27:7 The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months. 27:8 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. 27:9 David struck the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the cattle, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the clothing; and he returned, and came to Achish. 27:10 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. 27:11 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. 27:12 Achish believed David, saying, He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant forever.

28:1 It happened in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. Achish said to David, Know you a.s.suredly, that you shall go out with me in the army, you and your men. 28:2 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. 28:3 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. 28:4 The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa. 28:5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 28:6 When Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh didn't answer him, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. 28:7 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. 28:8 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. 28:9 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? 28:10 Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, As Yahweh lives, there shall no punishment happen to you for this thing.

28:11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up to you? He said, Bring me up Samuel. 28:12 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. 28:13 The king said to her, Don't be afraid: for what do you see? The woman said to Saul, I see a G.o.d coming up out of the earth. 28:14 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.

28:15 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 G.o.d 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. 28:16 Samuel said, Why then do you ask of me, seeing Yahweh is departed from you, and is become your adversary?

28:17 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.

28:18 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. 28:19 Moreover Yahweh will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me: Yahweh will deliver the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines. 28:20 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. 28:21 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. 28:22 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. 28:23 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. 28:24 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: 28:25 and she brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they ate. Then they rose up, and went away that night.

29:1 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites encamped by the spring which is in Jezreel. 29:2 The lords of the Philistines pa.s.sed on by hundreds, and by thousands; and David and his men pa.s.sed on in the rearward with Achish. 29:3 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? 29:4 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? 29:5 Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands? 29:6 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. 29:7 Therefore now return, and go in peace, that you not displease the lords of the Philistines. 29:8 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? 29:9 Achish answered David, I know that you are good in my sight, as an angel of G.o.d: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle. 29:10 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.

29:11 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.

30:1 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, 30:2 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. 30:3 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. 30:4 Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. 30:5 David's two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 30:6 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 G.o.d. 30:7 David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, Please bring me here the ephod. Abiathar brought there the ephod to David. 30:8 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. 30:9 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. 30:10 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. 30:11 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. 30:12 They gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two cl.u.s.ters 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.

30:13 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. 30:14 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. 30:15 David said to him, Will you bring me down to this troop? He said, Swear to me by G.o.d, 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. 30:16 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.

30:17 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. 30:18 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives. 30:19 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. 30:20 David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other livestock, and said, This is David's spoil. 30:21 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. 30:22 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. 30:23 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. 30:24 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.

30:25 It was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. 30:26 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: 30:27 To those who were in Bethel, and to those who were in Ramoth of the South, and to those who were in Jattir, 30:28 and to those who were in Aroer, and to those who were in Siphmoth, and to those who were in Eshtemoa, 30:29 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, 30:30 and to those who were in Hormah, and to those who were in Borashan, and to those who were in Athach, 30:31 and to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men used to stay.

31:1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa.

31:2 The Philistines followed hard on Saul and on his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. 31:3 The battle went sore against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers. 31:4 Then said Saul to his armor bearer, Draw your sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncirc.u.mcised 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. 31:5 When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword, and died with him. 31:6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor bearer, and all his men, that same day together. 31:7 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. 31:8 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. 31:9 They cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines all around, to carry the news to the house of their idols, and to the people. 31:10 They put his armor in the house of the Ashtaroth; and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan. 31:11 When the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard concerning him that which the Philistines had done to Saul, 31:12 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. 31:13 They took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

Notes:

[1] back to 25:22 or, male.

[2] back to 25:34 or, male.

The Second Book of Samuel

1:1 It happened after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in Ziklag; 1:2 it happened on the third day, that behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul, with his clothes torn, and earth on his head: and so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth, and did obeisance. 1:3 David said to him, From whence come you? He said to him, Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped. 1:4 David said to him, How went the matter? Please tell me. He answered, The people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also. 1:5 David said to the young man who told him, How know you that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead? 1:6 The young man who told him said, As I happened by chance on Mount Gilboa, behold, Saul was leaning on his spear; and behold, the chariots and the hors.e.m.e.n followed hard after him. 1:7 When he looked behind him, he saw me, and called to me. I answered, Here am I. 1:8 He said to me, Who are you? I answered him, I am an Amalekite. 1:9 He said to me, Stand, I pray you, beside me, and kill me; for anguish has taken hold of me, because my life is yet whole in me. 1:10 So I stood beside him, and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen: and I took the crown that was on his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my lord. 1:11 Then David took hold on his clothes, and tore them; and likewise all the men who were with him: 1:12 and they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of Yahweh, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword. 1:13 David said to the young man who told him, Whence are you? He answered, I am the son of a foreigner, an Amalekite. 1:14 David said to him, How were you not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed? 1:15 David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall on him. He struck him, so that he died. 1:16 David said to him, Your blood be on your head; for your mouth has testified against you, saying, I have slain Yahweh's anointed.