Therefore Saul said unto the LORD God of Israel, Give a perfect lot. And Saul and Jonathan were taken: but the people escaped.

Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what you have done. And Jonathan told him, and said, I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand, and, lo, I must die?

Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but everything that was despised and worthless, that they destroyed utterly.

Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but did pounce upon the spoil, and did evil in the sight of the LORD?

But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD your God in Gilgal.

But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.

But the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

If he is able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall you be our servants, and serve us.

But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.

And Saul said to David, you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.

And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he despised him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.

Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and slew him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent.

And Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?

But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.

And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give you as your wife: only be you valiant for me, and fight the LORD'S battles. For Saul said, Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.

But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite as his wife.

And Saul said, Thus shall you say to David, The king desires not any dowry, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeks to kill you: now therefore, I pray you, take heed to yourself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide yourself:

And Saul sought to pin David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he drove the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

And he said unto him, God forbid; you shall not die: behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will show it to me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.

And David swore again, and said, Your father certainly knows that I have found grace in your eyes; and he says, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.

And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at evening.

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

The LORD do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will show it to you, and send you away, that you may go in peace: and the LORD be with you, as he has been with my father.

But also you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever: no, not when the LORD has cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth.

But if I say thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond you; go your way: for the LORD has sent you away.

But the lad knew not anything: only Jonathan and David knew the matter.

And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread on hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women.

So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the showbread, that was taken away from before the LORD, to put hot bread in its place the day when it was taken away.

And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not show it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.

Abide you with me, fear not: for he that seeks my life seeks your life: but with me you shall be safe.

And David abode in the wilderness in strongholds, and remained in the mountains in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.

And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon.

But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste you, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land.

So David restrained his servants with these words, and allowed them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.

Behold, this day your eyes have seen how that the LORD 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 the LORD'S anointed.

The LORD judge between me and you, and the LORD avenge me of you: but my hand shall not be upon you.

As says the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceeds from the wicked: but my hand shall not be upon you.

And David swore unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men got themselves up unto the stronghold.

Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was surly and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.

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.

But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields:

And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.

Let not my lord, I pray you, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I your handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom you did send.

Yet a man has risen to pursue you, and to seek your soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God; and the souls of your enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.

That this shall be no grief unto you, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid.

But it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

And Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon, by the road. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.

So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the camp, and his spear stuck in the ground at his head: but Abner and the people lay round about him.

The LORD forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the LORD'S anointed: but, I pray you, take you now the spear that is at his head, and the jar of water, and let us go.

Now therefore, I pray you, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the LORD has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the LORD; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, Go, serve other gods.

The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for the LORD delivered you into my hand today, but I would not stretch forth my hand against the LORD'S anointed.

But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, compelled him; and he hearkened unto their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat upon the bed.

And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands: but David and his men passed on in the rear with Achish.

And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what have you found in your servant so long as I have been with you unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.

And 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 encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, who were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.

For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goes down to the battle, so shall his part be that waits by the supplies: they shall part alike.

Then said Saul unto his armorbearer, Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armorbearer would not; for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.

But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;

Ish-bosheth Saul's son was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.

And Abner said to him, Turn you aside to your right hand or to your left, and lay you hold on one of the young men, and take you his armor. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.

But the servants of David had struck down Benjamin, and Abner's men, so that three hundred and threescore men died.

Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.

And he said, Well; I will make a league with you: but one thing I require of you, that is, You shall not see my face, except you first bring Michal Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face.

And, behold, the servants of David and Joab came from pursuing a troop, and brought in a great spoil with them: but Abner was not with David in Hebron; for he had sent him away, and he was gone in peace.

And when Joab had come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, who brought him again from the well of Sirah: but David knew it not.

And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth, and buried it in the sepulcher of Abner in Hebron.

But when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines came up to seek David; and David heard of it, and went down to the stronghold.

And when David inquired of the LORD, he said, You shall not go up; but go around behind them, and come upon them opposite the mulberry trees.

So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within curtains.

For I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle.

But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.

And this was yet a small thing in your sight, O Lord GOD; but you have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD?

And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen: and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for a hundred chariots.

You therefore, and your sons, and your servants, shall till the land for him, and you shall bring in the fruits, that your master's son may have food to eat: but Mephibosheth your master's son shall eat bread always at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then you shall help me: but if the children of Ammon be too strong for you, then I will come and help you.

And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem.

But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.

And when David had called him, he did eat and drink before him; and he made him drunk: and at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but went not down to his house.

And when the mourning was past, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.

But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own food, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he refused to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to prepare for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and prepared it for the man that was come to him.

For you did it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.

And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.

But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.

Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that you have done? you did fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, you did rise and eat bread.

But now he is dead, why should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother: and Jonadab was a very subtle man.

And she took a pan, and poured them out before him; but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, Send out all men from me. And they went out every man from him.

However he would not hearken unto her voice: but, being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her.

And she said unto him, There is no cause: this evil in sending me away is greater than the other that you did unto me. But he would not hearken unto her.

And Absalom her brother said unto her, Hath Amnon your brother been with you? but hold now your peace, my sister: he is your brother; regard not this thing. So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house.

But when king David heard of all these things, he was very angry.