And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.

And I went after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth; and when he arose against me, I seized him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

And Saul clothed David with his dress, and put a helmet of bronze upon his head, and clothed him with a corselet.

And David girded his sword upon his dress, and endeavoured to go; for he had not yet tried it. And David said to Saul, I cannot go in these; for I have never tried them. And David put them off him.

And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in the shepherd's bag that he had, into the pocket; and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

And the Philistine came on and approached David; and the man that bore the shield was before him.

And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him; for he was a youth, and ruddy, and besides of a beautiful countenance.

So David overcame the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and smote the Philistine and killed him; and there was no sword in the hand of David.

And David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him completely, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they fled.

And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.

And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, young man? And David said, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Beth-lehemite.

And it came to pass, when he had ended speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

And Saul took him that day, and would not let him return to his father's house.

And Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his dress, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

And David went forth; whithersoever Saul sent him he prospered; and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.

And Saul was very wroth, and that saying was evil in his sight; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed the thousands; and what is there more for him but the kingdom?

And Saul cast the spear, and thought, I will smite David and the wall. But David turned away from him twice.

And Saul was afraid of David, because Jehovah was with him, and had departed from Saul.

And Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

And David prospered in all his ways; and Jehovah was with him.

And Saul saw that he prospered well, and he stood in awe of him.

And Saul said to David, Behold my eldest daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife; only be thou valiant for me, and fight Jehovah's battles. But Saul thought, My hand shall not be upon him, but the hand of the Philistines shall be upon him.

And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be upon him. And Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son-in-law a second time.

And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner did David speak.

when David arose and went, he and his men, and smote of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they delivered them in full to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife.

And Saul saw and knew that Jehovah was with David; and Michal Saul's daughter loved him.

And Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against thee; for also what he did was very advantageous to thee;

Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan declared to him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as previously.

And there was war again; and David went forth and fought with the Philistines, and smote them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him.

And Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning; and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to-night, to-morrow thou wilt be put to death.

And Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may put him to death.

And David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.

And he went thither to Naioth by Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth by Ramah.

And he said to him, God forbid; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, and not apprise me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.

If he say thus, It is well, thy servant shall have peace; but if he be very wroth, be sure that evil is determined by him.

And Jonathan caused David to swear again, by the love he had for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

And Jonathan said to him, To-morrow is the new moon; and thou wilt be missed, for thy seat will be empty;

And Saul said nothing that day; for he thought, Something has befallen him, that he is not clean: surely he is not clean.

And Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, Son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own shame and to the shame of thy mother's nakedness?

For as long as the son of Jesse lives upon earth, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. And now send and fetch him to me, for he must die.

And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, Why should he be put to death? what has he done?

Then Saul cast the spear at him to smite him; and Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to put David to death.

And Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no meat the second day of the new moon; for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.

And it came to pass in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field, to the place agreed on with David, and a little lad with him.

And he said to his lad, Run, find now the arrows which I shoot. The lad ran, and he shot the arrow beyond him.

And Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad, and said to him, Go, carry them to the city.

And David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech trembled at meeting David, and said to him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee?

And David answered the priest and said to him, Yes indeed, women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, and the more so, because to-day new is hallowed in the vessels.

And the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the shew-loaves that were taken from before Jehovah, to put on hot bread in the day when they were taken away.

And the servants of Achish said to him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul has smitten his thousands, and David his ten thousands?

And Achish said to his servants, Behold, ye see the man is mad: why did ye bring him to me?

And David departed thence, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And his brethren and all his father's house heard it, and they went down thither to him.

And every one in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one of embittered spirit collected round him; and he became a captain over them; and there were with him about four hundred men.

And he brought them before the king of Moab; and they abode with him all the while that David was in the stronghold.

And Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with him. Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah under the tamarisk upon the height, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing by him.

Then Saul said to his servants that stood by him, Hear now, ye Benjaminites: will the son of Jesse give every one of you also fields and vineyards? Will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds,

And he inquired of Jehovah for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.

And Saul said to him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me as a lier-in-wait, as at this day?

Was it to-day that I began to inquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king charge anything to his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less or more.

And the king said to the couriers that stood about him, Turn and put the priests of Jehovah to death; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not inform me. But the servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hand to fall on the priests of Jehovah.

But David's men said to him, Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?

And David inquired of Jehovah yet again. And Jehovah answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will give the Philistines into thy hand.

And it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. Then Saul said, God has cast him off into my hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a city that has gates and bars.

And when David knew that Saul devised mischief against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring the ephod.

And David abode in the wilderness in strongholds, and abode in the mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.

And he said to him, Fear not; for the hand of Saul my father will not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next to thee; and that also Saul my father knows.

And now, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and it will be for us to deliver him up into the king's hand.

Go, I pray you, make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his track is, who has seen him there; for it is told me that he deals very subtilly.

And see, and ascertain all the lurking-places where he hides himself, and come ye again to me with sure information, that I may go with you; and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search him out throughout the thousands of Judah.

And Saul and his men went to seek him. And they told David; and he came down from the rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And Saul heard that, and he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

And it came to pass when Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.

And David's men said to him, Behold the day of which Jehovah said to thee, Behold, I will give thine enemy into thy hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good to thee. And David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe secretly.

And it came to pass afterwards that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.

And he said to his men, Jehovah forbid that I should do this thing to my master, Jehovah's anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him, for he is the anointed of Jehovah.

David also arose afterwards, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king! And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance.

For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore Jehovah reward thee good for that thou hast done to me this day.

And Samuel died; and all Israel were gathered together, and lamented him; and they buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

Then David sent out ten young men; and David said to the young men, Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.

And David's young men turned their way, and went back, and came and reported to him according to all those words.

And now know and consider what thou wilt do, for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household; and he is such a son of Belial, that one cannot speak to him.

Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; and I thy handmaid did not see the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.

So David received of her hand what she had brought him, and said to her, Go up in peace to thy house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.

And 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 drunken to excess; so she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.

And it came to pass 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.

And 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.

And Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which faces the waste, by the way side. And David abode in the wilderness; and when he saw that Saul had come after him into the wilderness,

And David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped; and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host; and Saul lay within the wagon-defence, and the people were encamped round about him.

And David and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul lay sleeping within the wagon-defence, and his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people lay round about him.

And Abishai said to David, God has delivered thine enemy into thy hand this day; and now let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear, even to the ground once, and I will not do it the second time.

And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not; for who can stretch forth his hand against Jehovah's anointed, and be guiltless?

And David said, As Jehovah liveth, Jehovah will surely smite him; either his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and perish.

And now, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If Jehovah have moved thee against me, let him accept an oblation; but if the sons of men, cursed be they before Jehovah; for they have driven me out this day from adhering to the inheritance of Jehovah, saying, Go, serve other gods.

And David arose and passed over, he and the six hundred men that were with him, to Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath; and he sought no more for him.

And Achish gave him Ziklag that day; therefore Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah to this day.

(Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and they had buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away the necromancers and the soothsayers out of the land.)

And Saul inquired of Jehovah; but Jehovah did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets.

Then said Saul to his servants, Seek me a woman that has a spirit of Python, that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman who has a spirit of Python at En-dor.

And Saul disguised himself, and put on other garments, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night; and he said, I pray thee, divine to me by the spirit of Python, and bring me him up whom I shall name to thee.