And Saul made an altar unto the LORD. And that was the first altar that he made unto the LORD.
because thou obeyedest not the voice of the LORD, nor executedest his fierce wrath upon the Amalekites. Therefore hath the LORD done this unto thee this day.
But Saul and the people spared Agag, and they left of the sheep and of the oxen and fat things and the lambs and all that was good, and would not destroy them. But all that was nought worth and flaggy, that they destroyed utterly. Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, "It repenteth me that I have made Saul king. For he is turned from me and hath not performed my commandments." Wherefore Samuel was evil apaid and cried unto the LORD all night.
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And Samuel rose early, to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel that Saul was come to Carmel, and had set him up a pillar of triumph, and was turned and departed and gone to Gilgal. And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said unto him, "Blessed be thou in the LORD. I have done the commandment of the LORD." And Samuel answered, "What meaneth then the bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the noise of the oxen which I hear?" And Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites. For the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God. And the remnant we have destroyed." But Samuel said to Saul, "Cease, and let me tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night." And he said unto him, "Say on." And Samuel said, "When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed thee king over Israel. And then the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said unto thee, 'See that thou utterly destroy those sinners, the Amalekites and fight against them until ye have utterly destroyed them.' And wherefore hast thou now not obeyed the voice of the LORD: But didst turn to the prey and hast wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD?" And Saul said unto Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and went the way which the LORD sent me; and have brought Agag the king of the Amalekites, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. And the people took of the spoil, sheep, oxen, and the chiefest of the things which should have been destroyed, to offer unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal." Then said Samuel, "Hath the LORD as great pleasure in burnt sacrifices and offerings, as he hath that thou shouldest obey his voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to give heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebelliousness is as the sin of witchcraft; and stubbornness is wickedness and idolatry. Because therefore thou hast cast away the word of the LORD, therefore hath the LORD cast away thee also, from being king." Then said Saul to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the mouth of the LORD, and thy words; because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. But now take away my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD." Then said Samuel unto Saul, "I will not return with thee: for thou hast cast away the bidding of God, and therefore the LORD hath cast away thee also, that thou shalt not be king over Israel."
Then said Samuel unto Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint thee king over his people Israel. Now therefore obey thou the voice of the words of the LORD. Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: 'I have called to remembrance that which Amalek did to Israel; how they lay in wait for them in the way, as they came out of Egypt. Now therefore go and smite the Amalekites, and only destroy ye all that pertaineth unto them, and see thou have no compassion on them. But slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, and ox, sheep, camel and ass.'"
And Saul told it the people, and numbered them in Telaim two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came unto a city of the Amalekites, and fought in a valley. But Saul said unto the Kenites, "Go and depart and get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them, for ye showed mercy with Israel when they came out of Egypt." And the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
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And Saul slew the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur that lieth before Egypt, and took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
And whithersoever he turned himself, there he won, and played the man and slew the Amalekites, and rid Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled them.
Then was Saul angry with Jonathan and said unto him, "O froward and rebellious, thinkest thou I know not how thou hast chosen the son of Jesse unto thine own rebuke, and unto the rebuke and shame of thy mother?
And so Saul died and his three sons and his harness bearer, and thereto all his men, that same day together.
And then Samuel took a box of oil and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, "The LORD hath anointed thee to be a captain over his inheritance.
"Tomorrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin: him shalt thou anoint to be captain over my people Israel, that he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines, for I have looked upon my people and their cry is come unto me."
Then said Samuel unto Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint thee king over his people Israel. Now therefore obey thou the voice of the words of the LORD.
because thou obeyedest not the voice of the LORD, nor executedest his fierce wrath upon the Amalekites. Therefore hath the LORD done this unto thee this day.
Then said Samuel unto Saul, "I will not return with thee: for thou hast cast away the bidding of God, and therefore the LORD hath cast away thee also, that thou shalt not be king over Israel." And as Samuel turned to go away, he caught the lap of his coat, and it rent. Then Samuel said, "The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine that is better than thou.
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And thereto he that giveth victory to Israel, will not beguile nor repent: for he is not a man, that can repent."
For Saul was afraid of David: because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul.
And Samuel said to Saul, "Why hast thou unquieted me, to make me be brought up?" And Saul answered, "I am sore encumbered. For the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me and answered me no more, neither by prophets, neither by dreams. And therefore have I called thee, to tell me what I shall do."
And so Saul died and his three sons and his harness bearer, and thereto all his men, that same day together.
And David went to Saul and came before him, and he loved him very well; so that he was made his harness bearer.
"It repenteth me that I have made Saul king. For he is turned from me and hath not performed my commandments." Wherefore Samuel was evil apaid and cried unto the LORD all night.
Then said Samuel unto Saul, "I will not return with thee: for thou hast cast away the bidding of God, and therefore the LORD hath cast away thee also, that thou shalt not be king over Israel." And as Samuel turned to go away, he caught the lap of his coat, and it rent. Then Samuel said, "The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine that is better than thou.
"It repenteth me that I have made Saul king. For he is turned from me and hath not performed my commandments." Wherefore Samuel was evil apaid and cried unto the LORD all night.
Then when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the young man that was with him, "Come, let us return, lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us." And he answered him,
And Saul had a concubine named Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ishbosheth said to Abner, "Wherefore liest thou with my father's concubine?"
Then said Saul to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the mouth of the LORD, and thy words; because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
Then said Saul to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the mouth of the LORD, and thy words; because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
And he tarried seven days, as Samuel had appointed. But Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people scattered from him. Wherefore Saul said, "Bring burnt sacrifice to me and peace offerings." And he offered burnt sacrifice. And as soon as he had made an end of offering burnt offerings behold, Samuel came. And Saul went against him, to salute him. Then said Samuel to Saul, "What hast thou done?"
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And Saul said, "Because I saw that the people scattered from me, and yet thou camest not within the days appointed - and that the Philistines gathered themselves together to Michmash - then said I, 'The Philistines shall come down upon me to Gilgal, before I have made supplication unto the LORD.' And therefore I took a courage with me and offered burnt offerings." Then said Samuel to Saul, "Thou hast done foolishly and hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God which he commanded thee. For at this time would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and hath commanded him to be a captain over his people: because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee."
But Saul and the people spared Agag, and they left of the sheep and of the oxen and fat things and the lambs and all that was good, and would not destroy them. But all that was nought worth and flaggy, that they destroyed utterly.
And wherefore hast thou now not obeyed the voice of the LORD: But didst turn to the prey and hast wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD?"
And so Saul died for his trespass that he trespassed against the LORD, in that he kept not the word of the LORD, and in that he asked counsel of a woman that wrought with a spirit, and asked not of the LORD. And therefore the Lord killed him and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.
And it happened on the morrow, that the evil spirit sent of God came upon Saul, so that he prophesied in the midst of the house. And David played on the instrument with his hand as he was daily wont. And Saul had a spear in his hand, and hurled it; intending to have nailed David to the wall. But David avoided out of his presence two times.
But the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul; and an evil spirit, sent of the LORD, vexed him. Then said his servants unto him, "Behold, an evil spirit sent of God vexeth thee. Let our lord therefore command his servants to seek a man that is a cunning player with a harp. And then when the evil spirit sent of God cometh upon thee, that he may play with his hand and thou shalt be eased."
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And Saul said unto his servants, "Seek me a man that can well play, and bring him to me." Then answered one of his servants and said, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that can play upon instruments, and is an active fellow and a man of war and prudent and well made, and the LORD is with him." Whereupon Saul sent messengers unto Jesse and said, "Send me David thy son which is with the sheep." And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a flacket of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. And David went to Saul and came before him, and he loved him very well; so that he was made his harness bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse saying, "Let David remain with me, for he hath found favour in my sight." And when the spirit of God came upon Saul, David took a harp and played with his hand, and so Saul was refreshed, and did amend; and the evil spirit departed from him.
And the evil spirit of the LORD was upon Saul as he sat in his house having a javelin in his hand, and David played with his hand. And Saul intended to nail David to the wall with the Javelin: But David rid himself out of Saul's presence and he smote the spear into the wall. But David fled and saved himself that same night.
because thou obeyedest not the voice of the LORD, nor executedest his fierce wrath upon the Amalekites. Therefore hath the LORD done this unto thee this day.
Then was Saul exceeding wroth and that saying displeased him, and he said, "They have ascribed unto David ten thousand, and to me but a thousand. And what more can he have, save the kingdom?"
And so Saul died for his trespass that he trespassed against the LORD, in that he kept not the word of the LORD, and in that he asked counsel of a woman that wrought with a spirit,
Samuel was then dead, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah his own city. And Saul had put the soothsayers and expounders of tokens out of the land. And the Philistines gathered together and came and pitched in Shunem. And Saul and all Israel gathered together and pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart was sore astonished.
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And Saul asked counsel of the LORD, but the LORD answered him not: neither by dream, nor by the light, nor yet by prophets. Then said Saul unto his servants, "Seek me a woman that is mistress of a spirit of prophecy; that I may go to her and ask of her." And his servants said to him, "See, there is a woman that hath a spirit of Prophecy in her possession at Endor." And Saul changed his clothes and put on other raiment; and then went he, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. And he said, "Prophesy unto me by the spirit, and bring me him up whom I shall name unto thee." And the woman said unto him, "Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath destroyed the women that had prophesying spirits, and the sorcerers, out of the land. Wherefore then layest thou a net for my soul to kill me?" And Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying, "As surely as the LORD liveth, there shall no harm chance thee for this thing." Then said the woman, "Whom shall I fetch up unto thee?" And he said, "Bring me up Samuel." When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice and spake to Saul, saying, "Why hast thou mocked me? For thou art Saul." And the king said unto her, "Be not afraid. But what seest thou?" And the woman said unto Saul, "I see a god ascending up out of the earth." And he said, "What fashion is he of?" And the woman said, "There cometh up an old man with a mantle upon him." And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and stooped with his face to the ground and bowed himself. And Samuel said to Saul, "Why hast thou unquieted me, to make me be brought up?" And Saul answered, "I am sore encumbered. For the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me and answered me no more, neither by prophets, neither by dreams. And therefore have I called thee, to tell me what I shall do." Then said Samuel, "Wherefore dost thou ask of me? While the LORD is gone from thee and is thine enemy, the LORD will do to thee as he said by my hand. For the LORD will rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and give it thy neighbour David, because thou obeyedest not the voice of the LORD, nor executedest his fierce wrath upon the Amalekites. Therefore hath the LORD done this unto thee this day. And moreover, the LORD will deliver Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines. And tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me, and the LORD shall give the host of Israel into the hands of the Philistines." Then Saul fell straightway flat on the earth as long as he was, and was sore a dread of the words of Samuel. And thereto there was no strength in him: for he had not eaten all the day and the night before. And the woman came unto Saul and saw that he was sore troubled, and said unto him, "See, thine handmaid hath obeyed thy voice and have put my soul in thy hand, and have hearkened unto thy words which thou saidst unto me. Now therefore hearken thou also unto the voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee, and eat, and get the strength to go thy journey." But he refused it and said, "I will not eat." But his servants and the woman together compelled him, that he heard their voice. And so he arose from the earth and sat him on a bed. The woman had a fat calf in the house, and that she hasted and killed it, and took flour and kneaded it and did bake him sweet cakes, and brought them before Saul and before his servants. And when they had eaten, they stood up, and went away the same night.
Then Saul fell straightway flat on the earth as long as he was, and was sore a dread of the words of Samuel. And thereto there was no strength in him: for he had not eaten all the day and the night before.
And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart was sore astonished.
"It repenteth me that I have made Saul king. For he is turned from me and hath not performed my commandments." Wherefore Samuel was evil apaid and cried unto the LORD all night.
And the prophet Gad said unto David, "Abide not in castles, but depart and go to the land of Judah." Then David departed and came into the forest of Hereth.
Then was Saul exceeding wroth and that saying displeased him, and he said, "They have ascribed unto David ten thousand, and to me but a thousand. And what more can he have, save the kingdom?" Wherefore Saul looked sourly upon David from that day forward.
And as soon as he had turned his shoulder to go from Samuel, God gave him another manner of heart, and all those tokens came to pass that same day.
But the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul; and an evil spirit, sent of the LORD, vexed him.
And it happened on the morrow, that the evil spirit sent of God came upon Saul, so that he prophesied in the midst of the house. And David played on the instrument with his hand as he was daily wont. And Saul had a spear in his hand, and hurled it; intending to have nailed David to the wall. But David avoided out of his presence two times. For Saul was afraid of David: because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul.
And the evil spirit of the LORD was upon Saul as he sat in his house having a javelin in his hand, and David played with his hand. And Saul intended to nail David to the wall with the Javelin: But David rid himself out of Saul's presence and he smote the spear into the wall. But David fled and saved himself that same night. Then Saul sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him and to slay him in the morning. But Michal his wife told it him saying, "If thou save not thyself this night, tomorrow thou art a dead man."
Then was Saul angry with Jonathan and said unto him, "O froward and rebellious, thinkest thou I know not how thou hast chosen the son of Jesse unto thine own rebuke, and unto the rebuke and shame of thy mother? For as long as the son of Jesse lieth upon the earth, thou shalt not be established, nor yet thy kingdom; wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he is the child of death." But Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, "Wherefore should he die? What hath he done?"
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Then Saul cast a spear at him to hit him, whereby Jonathan wist well, that it was utterly determined of his father to slay David.
he said unto his servants that stood about him, "Hear I pray you, you sons of Benjamin: will the son of Jesse also give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains over thousands and over hundreds, that ye have all conspired against me? So that there is none of you that openeth mine ear? Insomuch that my son hath made a bond with the son of Jesse, neither is there any of you that mourneth for me or showeth it in mine ear: because my son hath set up my servant to lie await against me, as it appeareth this day." Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which had the oversight of the servants of Saul, and said, "I saw the son of Jesse, when he came to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub,
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which asked counsel of the LORD for him, and gave him victuals, and the sword of Goliath the Philistine also." Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house: that is to say, the priests that were in Nob. And they came all to the king. And Saul said, "Hear, thou son of Ahitub." And he said, "Here I am, my lord." Then said Saul to him, "Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, insomuch that thou hast given him victuals and a sword, and hast asked counsel of God for him that he should arise against me and lie await as it is come to pass this day?" And Ahimelech answered the king, and said, "Who is so faithful among all thy servants as David and thereto the king's son-in-law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is had in honour in thine house? Have I this day begun first to ask counsel of God for him? God forbid that from me: let not the king put such a thing unto his servant and on all the house of my father. For thy servant knoweth nothing of all this, either less or more." But for all that, the king said, "Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech; both thou and all thy father's house." Then said the king unto his footmen that stood about him, "Turn and slay the priests of the LORD, both because their hand is with David and because they knew when David fled and showed it not to me." But the servants of the king would not move their hands, to run upon the priests of the LORD. Then said the king to Doeg, "Turn thou and smite the priests." And Doeg the Edomite turned and ran upon the priests, and slew that same day four score and five persons that did wear each man a linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, he smote with the edge of the sword: both man and woman, child and suckling, with ox, ass and sheep.
And Samuel said to Saul, "Why hast thou unquieted me, to make me be brought up?" And Saul answered, "I am sore encumbered. For the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me and answered me no more, neither by prophets, neither by dreams. And therefore have I called thee, to tell me what I shall do." Then said Samuel, "Wherefore dost thou ask of me? While the LORD is gone from thee and is thine enemy,
But my mercy will I not take away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put down before thee.
When they came to the hill, behold, the company of prophets met him, and the spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.
Then came the spirit of God upon Saul, when he heard those tidings, and he was exceeding angry.
When they came to the hill, behold, the company of prophets met him, and the spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.
Then came the spirit of God upon Saul, when he heard those tidings, and he was exceeding angry.
and said to David, "Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me with good, and I have rewarded thee with evil.
And Samuel said, "When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed thee king over Israel. And then the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said unto thee, 'See that thou utterly destroy those sinners, the Amalekites and fight against them until ye have utterly destroyed them.' And wherefore hast thou now not obeyed the voice of the LORD: But didst turn to the prey and hast wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD?"
And it happened on the morrow, that the evil spirit sent of God came upon Saul, so that he prophesied in the midst of the house. And David played on the instrument with his hand as he was daily wont.
But the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul; and an evil spirit, sent of the LORD, vexed him.
Then said the people to Samuel, "What are they that said, 'Shall Saul reign over us? Bring them that we may slay them.'" But Saul said, "There shall no man die this day, for today the LORD hath saved Israel." Then said Samuel unto the people, "Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there."
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And the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king there, before the LORD in Gilgal. And there they offered peace offerings before the LORD. And there Saul and all the people rejoiced exceedingly.
Now therefore behold the king, whom ye have chosen and whom ye have desired. See, the LORD hath given you a king!
For rebelliousness is as the sin of witchcraft; and stubbornness is wickedness and idolatry. Because therefore thou hast cast away the word of the LORD, therefore hath the LORD cast away thee also, from being king."
But the people said unto Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, which hath so mightily helped Israel? God forbid. As truly as the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground: for he hath wrought with God this day." And so the people delivered Jonathan, that he died not.
Then said Saul to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the mouth of the LORD, and thy words; because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
And the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king there, before the LORD in Gilgal. And there they offered peace offerings before the LORD. And there Saul and all the people rejoiced exceedingly. Then said Samuel unto all Israel, "Behold, I have obeyed your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made you a king. And see, your king walketh before you. But I am old and grayheaded: and behold my sons are with you and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.
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Behold, here I am. Answer me before the LORD and before his anointed, whose ox have I taken? Or whose ass have I taken? Whom have I done wrong to? Or whom have I oppressed? And of whose hand have I received any bribe, to blind mine eyes therewith? And I will restore it you again." And they said, "Thou hast done us no wrong, nor oppressed us; neither hast thou taken ought of any man's hand." Then said he to them, "The LORD is witness unto you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have found nought in my hands." And they answered, "We are witnesses." Then said Samuel unto the people, "It is the LORD that made Moses and Aaron, and which brought your fathers out of Egypt. Now therefore stand still, and let me reason with you before the LORD, of all the righteousnesses of the LORD which he showed both you and your fathers. After that Jacob was come into Egypt, your fathers cried unto the LORD, and the LORD sent Moses and Aaron: which brought your fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this place. Neverthelater, they forgot the LORD their God. And he sold them into the hand of Sisera chief captain of Jabin king of Hazor, and into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the king of Moab, which fought against them. Then they cried unto the LORD and said, 'We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth. But now deliver us out of the hands of our enemies and we will serve thee.' And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hands of your enemies on every side, so that ye dwelled without fear. And for all that, when you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, 'Not so, a king shall reign over us' - when yet the LORD your God was your king. Now therefore behold the king, whom ye have chosen and whom ye have desired. See, the LORD hath given you a king! Oh that ye would fear the LORD and serve him and hear his voice and not disobey the mouth of the LORD: and that both ye and the king that reigneth over you would follow the LORD your God. For if ye shall not hearken unto the voice of the LORD, but shall disobey the LORD's mouth: then shall the hand of the LORD be upon you and on your fathers. Now also stand and see this great thing which the LORD will do before your eyes: Is it not now wheat harvest? And yet for all that, I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain. Wherefore, perceive and understand how that your wickedness is great which ye have done in the sight of the LORD in asking you a king." And when Samuel called unto the LORD, the LORD sent thunder and rain the same day. And all the people feared the LORD and Samuel exceedingly. Then said all the people unto Samuel, "Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that we die not: for we have sinned in asking us a king, beside all the sins that ever we did." Then said Samuel unto the people, "Fear not. And though ye have done all this wickedness, yet depart not from the LORD in any case. But serve him with all your hearts. Neither turn ye after vain things which can not deliver you, for they are but vanities. But the LORD will not forsake his people, because of his great name's sake: because the LORD hath begun to make you his people. Moreover, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in leaving praying for you and to show you the good and right way. Only fear you the LORD and serve him truly with all your hearts: for he hath done great things for you. But and if ye shall do wickedly: then shall both ye and your king thereto perish." Saul was as a child of a year old, when he began to reign. And when he had reigned two years over Israel, he chose him three thousand men out of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and Mount Bethel, and a thousand with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. And the rest of the people he sent, every man to his own house. And Jonathan slew the Philistines in a hold they had in Gibeah, and it came to the Philistines' ears. And Saul caused the trumpet to be blown throughout all the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear." And all Israel heard say, how that Saul had destroyed a hold of the Philistines, and how that Israel stank unto the Philistines. And all the people cried after Saul to Gilgal. Then the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen with other people like the sand by the seaside in multitude and came up and pitched in Michmash eastward from Bethaven. And when the men of Israel saw themselves in a strait, and that the people were encumbered, they hid themselves in caves, in privy holes, in rocks, dens and pits. And the Hebrews went over Jordan unto the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul was yet in Gilgal, and all the people that followed him were astonished. And he tarried seven days, as Samuel had appointed. But Samuel came not to Gilgal; and the people scattered from him. Wherefore Saul said, "Bring burnt sacrifice to me and peace offerings." And he offered burnt sacrifice. And as soon as he had made an end of offering burnt offerings behold, Samuel came. And Saul went against him, to salute him. Then said Samuel to Saul, "What hast thou done?" And Saul said, "Because I saw that the people scattered from me, and yet thou camest not within the days appointed - and that the Philistines gathered themselves together to Michmash - then said I, 'The Philistines shall come down upon me to Gilgal, before I have made supplication unto the LORD.' And therefore I took a courage with me and offered burnt offerings." Then said Samuel to Saul, "Thou hast done foolishly and hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God which he commanded thee. For at this time would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and hath commanded him to be a captain over his people: because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee." And Samuel arose and gat him from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people that were found with him, about a six hundred men. And Saul and Jonathan his son and the people that were found with them, had their abiding in Gibeah of Benjamin. But the Philistines had pitched in Michmash. And there came out of the host of the Philistines three companies, to destroy: one company turned unto the way that leadeth to Ophrah unto the land of Shual; and another company turned the way to Bethhoron; and the third company turned to the way of the coast that turneth to the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness. But there was no smith throughout the land of Israel. For the Philistines thought that then the Hebrews might make them swords or spears. And therefore must all Israel go down to the Philistines, to mend every man his share, his mattock, his axe or his sickle: as oft as the edges of the sickles, mattocks, dung forks, and axes were blunt, and also to mend their goods. And so in time of battle there was neither sword nor spear found in the hands of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: save for Saul and Jonathan his son was there somewhat found. And the Garrison of the Philistines came out and stood on the other side before Michmash. And it fell on a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said unto his young man that bare his harness, "Come, and let us go over to the watchmen of the Philistines that are yonder on the other side" - and told not his father. But Saul tarried in the utmost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree, that was in Migron, and the people that were with him were upon a six hundred men. And Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, was the LORD's priest in Shiloh and bare an ephod. But the people knew not that Jonathan was gone. And in the way over by which Jonathan sought to go over unto the garrison of the Philistines, were there two sharp rocks, even one on the one side, and the other one the other side: the one called Bozez, and the other Seneh. And the one leaneth northward toward Michmash, and the other southward toward Gibeah. Then said Jonathan to the young man that bare his harness, "Come, and let us go over unto the standing of these uncircumcised, peradventure the LORD will work with us: for the LORD is free to save with many or with few." And his harness bearer said unto him, "Do all that is in thine heart. Set thee forward; and see, I am with thee, as thine heart lusteth." Then said Jonathan, "Behold, when we go over unto the men, and show ourselves unto them, if they say on this wise to us, 'Tarry until we come to you,' then we will stand still where we be and not go up unto them. But and if they so say unto us, 'Come up unto us,' then we will go up, for the LORD hath delivered them into our hands. And this shall be a sign unto us." And when they had both showed themselves unto the garrison of the Philistines, the Philistines said, "See, the Hebrews come out of the holes where they had hid themselves in." And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his harness bearer and said, "Come up to us, and we will show you a thing." Then said Jonathan unto his harness bearer, "Come up after me, for the LORD hath delivered them into the hands of Israel." And Jonathan clame upon hands and feet, and his harness bearer after him. Then they fell before Jonathan: and his harness bearer slew them after him. And that first slaughter which Jonathan and his harness bearer made was upon a twenty men, within the compass as it were about a half acre of land. And there was a fear in the host that was in the field, and among all the people: insomuch that they that kept the hold, and they that were gone to rob, were afraid also: and the earth trembled and there was a fear sent of God. And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin saw. And behold, the people scattered and ran hither and thither. Then said Saul unto the people that was with him, "Number, and see who is gone away from us." And when they had told: behold, Jonathan and his harness bearer were not there. And then Saul said unto Ahijah, "Bring hither the ark of God." For the ark of God was at the time with the children of Israel. And while Saul talked unto the priest, the people that were in the host of the Philistines ran more and more. And Saul said unto the priest, "Withdraw thine hand." And Saul cried, and all the people that were with him, and went to battle. And behold every man's sword was against his fellow, with a mighty great slaughter. Moreover, the Hebrews that were with the Philistines before that time, and were come with them in all parts of the host, joined themselves unto Israel which were with Saul and Jonathan. And they also which had hid themselves in mount Ephraim, as soon as they heard how that the Philistines were fled, they followed after them in battle. And so God helped Israel that day. And the battle continued until they came unto Bethaven. And the men of Israel joined themselves together that day: and Saul adjured the people, saying, "Cursed be he that eateth any food until night, that I may be avenged of mine enemies." And so there was none of the people that tasted any sustenance. And all the land came to a wood where honey lay upon the ground. And when the people were come into the wood: Behold, the honey dropped. Howbeit, there was no man that moved his hand to his mouth, because that the people feared the curse. But Jonathan heard not when his father adjured the people, wherefore he put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and dipped it in a honey comb, and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes received sight. Then spake one of the people, and said, "Thy father adjured the people, saying, 'Cursed be the man that eateth any sustenance this day.'" And yet the people were fainty. Then said Jonathan, "My father hath troubled the land: for see, mine eyes hath received sight, because I tasted a little of this honey. How then, if all the people had eaten of the spoil of their enemies which they found, had there not been then a much greater slaughter among the Philistines?" And they laid on the Philistines that day, from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were exceeding fainty. Then the people gat them to the spoil and took sheep oxen and calves, and slew them on the ground and did eat with the blood. Then men told Saul, saying, "Behold, the people sin against the LORD, in that they eat with the blood." And he said, "Ye have trespassed. But roll a great stone unto me now, and go abroad among the people and bid them bring every man his ox and every man his sheep, and slay them here, and sin not against the LORD in eating with the blood." And the people brought every man his ox in his hand by night and slew them there. And Saul made an altar unto the LORD. And that was the first altar that he made unto the LORD. And Saul said, "Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and let us make havoc among them until it be day in the morning, and let us not leave one of them." And the people answered, "Do whatsoever thou thinkest best." Then said the priest, "Let us come hither unto God." And Saul asked of God, "Shall I go down after the Philistines? And wilt thou deliver them into mine hands?" But he answered him not at that time. Then said Saul, "Let the people come hither out of all quarters, and know and see, in whom this sin is chanced this day: for as truly as the LORD liveth, which hath saved Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall die for it." But no man answered him of all the people. Then he said unto all Israel, "Be ye on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on another." And the people said unto Saul, "What thou thinkest best, that do." And Saul said unto the LORD God of Israel, "Give perfect knowledge." And Saul and Jonathan were caught, and the people escaped free. Then said Saul, "Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son." And Jonathan was caught. Then Saul said to Jonathan, "Tell me what thou hast done." And Jonathan told him and said, "I tasted a little honey upon the end of my staff that was in mine hand, and see, I must die." Then said Saul, "God do so and so to me, except that thou die Jonathan." But the people said unto Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, which hath so mightily helped Israel? God forbid. As truly as the LORD liveth, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground: for he hath wrought with God this day." And so the people delivered Jonathan, that he died not. And then Saul departed from following the Philistines. And the Philistines went to their own place. And so Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side: against the Moabites; against the children of Ammon; against the Edomites; against the kings of Zobah; and against the Philistines. And whithersoever he turned himself, there he won, and played the man and slew the Amalekites, and rid Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled them. The sons of Saul were, Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua. And his two daughters were thus named: the elder was called Merab, and the younger Michal. And the name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. And the name of his chief captain was Abner the son of Ner, Saul's uncle. And Kish was Saul's father. And Ner, the father of Abner, was the son of Abiel. And there was sore war with the Philistines, all the days of Saul. For wheresoever Saul saw a strong man, and an active, he took him unto him. Then said Samuel unto Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint thee king over his people Israel. Now therefore obey thou the voice of the words of the LORD. Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts: 'I have called to remembrance that which Amalek did to Israel; how they lay in wait for them in the way, as they came out of Egypt. Now therefore go and smite the Amalekites, and only destroy ye all that pertaineth unto them, and see thou have no compassion on them. But slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, and ox, sheep, camel and ass.'" And Saul told it the people, and numbered them in Telaim two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came unto a city of the Amalekites, and fought in a valley. But Saul said unto the Kenites, "Go and depart and get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them, for ye showed mercy with Israel when they came out of Egypt." And the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul slew the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur that lieth before Egypt, and took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and they left of the sheep and of the oxen and fat things and the lambs and all that was good, and would not destroy them. But all that was nought worth and flaggy, that they destroyed utterly. Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, "It repenteth me that I have made Saul king. For he is turned from me and hath not performed my commandments." Wherefore Samuel was evil apaid and cried unto the LORD all night. And Samuel rose early, to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel that Saul was come to Carmel, and had set him up a pillar of triumph, and was turned and departed and gone to Gilgal. And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said unto him, "Blessed be thou in the LORD. I have done the commandment of the LORD." And Samuel answered, "What meaneth then the bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the noise of the oxen which I hear?" And Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites. For the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God. And the remnant we have destroyed." But Samuel said to Saul, "Cease, and let me tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night." And he said unto him, "Say on." And Samuel said, "When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed thee king over Israel. And then the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said unto thee, 'See that thou utterly destroy those sinners, the Amalekites and fight against them until ye have utterly destroyed them.' And wherefore hast thou now not obeyed the voice of the LORD: But didst turn to the prey and hast wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD?" And Saul said unto Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and went the way which the LORD sent me; and have brought Agag the king of the Amalekites, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. And the people took of the spoil, sheep, oxen, and the chiefest of the things which should have been destroyed, to offer unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal." Then said Samuel, "Hath the LORD as great pleasure in burnt sacrifices and offerings, as he hath that thou shouldest obey his voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to give heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebelliousness is as the sin of witchcraft; and stubbornness is wickedness and idolatry. Because therefore thou hast cast away the word of the LORD, therefore hath the LORD cast away thee also, from being king." Then said Saul to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the mouth of the LORD, and thy words; because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. But now take away my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD." Then said Samuel unto Saul, "I will not return with thee: for thou hast cast away the bidding of God, and therefore the LORD hath cast away thee also, that thou shalt not be king over Israel." And as Samuel turned to go away, he caught the lap of his coat, and it rent. Then Samuel said, "The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine that is better than thou. And thereto he that giveth victory to Israel, will not beguile nor repent: for he is not a man, that can repent." Then he said, "I have sinned. But yet honour me before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may pray unto the LORD thy God." And Samuel turned again and followed Saul. And Saul prayed unto the LORD. Then said Samuel, "Bring ye hither to me, Agag the king of the Amalekites." And Agag came unto him delicately. And Agag said, "Truly the bitterness of death cometh on." And Samuel said, "As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among other women." And so Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal. And then Samuel departed to Ramah. And Saul went home to his house, to Gibeah of Saul. But Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, because the LORD repented that he had made him king over Israel. And then the LORD said unto Samuel, "How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have cast him away from reigning over Israel? Fill a horn with ointment, and come: I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have spied me a king among his sons." But Samuel answered, "How shall I go? For Saul shall hear it and will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with thee, and say thou goest to offer to the LORD. And call Jesse to the offering, and I will show thee what thou shalt do: And thou shalt anoint him whom I say unto thee." And Samuel did as the LORD bade him. And when he came to Bethlehem, the elders of the town were astonished at his coming, and said, "Betokeneth thy coming peace?" And he said "Yea, for I am come to offer unto the LORD. Cleanse yourselves and come with me to the offering." And he purified Jesse and his sons, and bade them to the offering. And when they were come, he looked on Eliab and said, "The LORD's anointed is before him." But the LORD said unto Samuel, "Look not on his fashion nor on the height of his stature, for I have refused him. Because it is not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward appearance: but the LORD beholdeth the heart." Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him come before Samuel. And he said, "Neither hath the LORD chosen this." Then Jesse made Shammah come, and he said, "Neither hath the LORD chosen him." Then made Jesse seven of his sons come before Samuel. And Samuel said, "The LORD hath chosen none of these." Then said Samuel to Jesse, "Are here all thy children?" And he said, "The youngest is yet behind. Behold, he keepeth the sheep." Then Samuel said unto Jesse, "Send and fetch him for we will not sit down, till he be come hither." And he sent and brought him in. And he was brown with goodly eyes, and well favoured in sight. And then the LORD said, "Up and anoint him: for this is he." And Samuel took the horn with the ointment and anointed him in the presence of his brethren. And the spirit of the LORD came upon David, from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. But the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul; and an evil spirit, sent of the LORD, vexed him. Then said his servants unto him, "Behold, an evil spirit sent of God vexeth thee. Let our lord therefore command his servants to seek a man that is a cunning player with a harp. And then when the evil spirit sent of God cometh upon thee, that he may play with his hand and thou shalt be eased." And Saul said unto his servants, "Seek me a man that can well play, and bring him to me." Then answered one of his servants and said, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that can play upon instruments, and is an active fellow and a man of war and prudent and well made, and the LORD is with him." Whereupon Saul sent messengers unto Jesse and said, "Send me David thy son which is with the sheep." And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a flacket of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. And David went to Saul and came before him, and he loved him very well; so that he was made his harness bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse saying, "Let David remain with me, for he hath found favour in my sight." And when the spirit of God came upon Saul, David took a harp and played with his hand, and so Saul was refreshed, and did amend; and the evil spirit departed from him. The Philistines gathered their host to battle, and came together to Socoh in Judah, and pitched between Socoh and Azekah, in the end of Dammim. And Saul and the men of Israel came and pitched in Oakdale and put themselves in array, to fight against the Philistines. And the Philistines stood on a hill on the one side, and Israel stood on a hill on the other side; and a valley between them. And then came a man and stood in the midst, out of the tents of the Philistines, named Goliath of Gath: six cubits and a handbreadth long, and had a helmet of brass upon his head, and a coat of mail about him. And the weight of his coat of mail was five thousand sicles of brass. And he had a harness of brass upon his legs, and a shield of brass upon his shoulders. And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam. And his spearhead weighed six hundred sicles of iron. And one bearing a shield went before him. And he stood and called unto the host of Israel, and said unto them, "What needeth that ye should come out in array to battle? Am not I a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? Choose you a man, and let him come down to me: if he be able to fight with me and to beat me, then we will be your servants. But if I can overcome him and beat him, then ye shall be our servants and serve us." And the Philistine said, "I have defied the host of Israel this day; give me a man and let us fight together." When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were discouraged and greatly afraid. And this David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, named Jesse; which Jesse had eight sons, and was an old man in the days of Saul among the people. And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to battle. And the names of his three sons that went to battle were: Eliab the eldest, and the next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. And David was the youngest. And when the three eldest were gone after Saul, David went and departed from Saul, to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. And the Philistine came forth every morning and evening, and continued forty days. And Jesse said unto David his son, "Take for thy brethren this ephah of parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the host, to thy brethren. And carry these ten fresh cheeses unto the captain, and look how thy brethren fare, and set out their pledges." And Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in Oakdale fighting with the Philistines. And David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and took and went, as Jesse had commanded him, and came where the host lay. And the host was going out in array, and shouted in the battle: for Israel and the Philistines had put themselves in array, the one against the other. Then David put the pannier from him, unto the hands of the keeper of the vessels, and ran into the host and came and saluted his brethren. And as he talked with them, behold, there stood a man in the midst: Goliath the Philistine by name, of Gath, which came out of the array of the Philistines, and spake of the manner above rehearsed, that David heard it. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, ran away from him, and were sore afraid. And every man of Israel said, "See ye this man that is come forth; even to revile Israel is he come. And to him that beateth him will the king give great riches, and will give him his daughter thereto: yea and make his father's house free in Israel." Then spake David to the men that stood by and said, "What shall be done to the man that beateth this Philistine and taketh away the shame from Israel? For what is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should revile the host of the living God?" And the people answered as it is rehearsed, saying, "So shall it be done to the man that beateth him." And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake unto the man and was angry with David and said, "Why camest thou away, and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride and the malice of thine heart, that thou art come to see the battle." And David answered, "What have I now done? Is there any more, save a word?" And departed from by him into another front, and spake of the same manner, and the people answered him again, as before. And they that heard the words which David spake, rehearsed them before Saul, which caused him to be fetched. And David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail him because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with his Philistine." And Saul said to David again, "Thou art not able to go unto this Philistine, to fight with him. For thou art but a lad, and he hath been a man of war even from his youth." Then said David unto Saul, "As thy servant kept his father's sheep, there came a Lion and likewise a Bear, and took a sheep out of the flock. And I went out after him and smote him, and took it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by the beard and smote him and slew him. For both a Lion and also a Bear hath thy servant slain. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, for his railing on the host of the living God." And David spake moreover, "The LORD that delivered me out of the hands of the Lion and out of the hands of the Bear, he shall deliver me also out of the hands of the Philistine." Then said Saul to David, "Go, and the LORD be with thee." And Saul put his raiment upon David, and put a helmet of brass upon his head, and put a coat of mail upon him, and gird David with his own sword upon his raiment. And he assayed to go, for he never proved it. Then said David unto Saul, "I cannot go in these, for I have not been used thereto." And put them off him, and took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of a brook and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, and in a poke; and took a sling in his hand, and went to the Philistine. And the Philistine came and drew near to David, with the man that bare a shield before him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a lad, ruddy and goodly to look upon. And the Philistine said unto David, "Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with a staff?" And he cursed David in the name of his gods. And he said to David, "Come to me and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field." Then said David to the Philistine, "Thou comest to me with a sword, a spear, and a shield: But I come to thee in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the host of Israel whom thou hast railed upon. This day shall the LORD deliver thee into my hand, and I shall smite thee and take thine head from thee, and will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the earth - and all the world shall know that there is a God in Israel. And all this congregation shall know that the LORD saveth not with the sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD's, and he shall give you into our hands." And when the Philistine arose and came and drew nigh unto David, David hasted and ran in array even against the Philistine. And David put his hand in his poke and took out a stone and slung it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead that the stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell groveling to the earth. And so David overcame the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and smote the Philistine and slew him. And because David had no sword in his hand, he ran and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword and drew it out of his sheath and slew him and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted and followed after the Philistines, until they came to the valley and unto the gates of Ekron. And the Philistines fell down dead by the way, even unto Gath and Ekron. And then the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines and robbed their tents. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem: But he put his armour in his tent. When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner the captain of his host, "Abner, whose son is this lad?" And Abner answered, "As truly as thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell." Then said the king, "Enquire thou, whose son the youngling is." And so when David was 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, thou lad?" And David answered, "The son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite." And when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David; insomuch that Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would let him go no more home to his father's house. And Jonathan and David bound themselves the one to the other, for Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan put off his own coat that was upon him, and gave it David, and thereto his mantle, his sword, his bow and his girdle. And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely. And when Saul had set him over his men of war, he pleased all the people, and Saul's servants thereto. And it happened as they went, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that women came out of all cities of Israel singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with timbrels, with joy, and with fiddles. And the women that played sang thereto, and said, "Saul hath slain his thousand, and David his ten thousand." Then was Saul exceeding wroth and that saying displeased him, and he said, "They have ascribed unto David ten thousand, and to me but a thousand. And what more can he have, save the kingdom?" Wherefore Saul looked sourly upon David from that day forward. And it happened on the morrow, that the evil spirit sent of God came upon Saul, so that he prophesied in the midst of the house. And David played on the instrument with his hand as he was daily wont. And Saul had a spear in his hand, and hurled it; intending to have nailed David to the wall. But David avoided out of his presence two times. For Saul was afraid of David: because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul. And then Saul put David from him and made him a captain over a thousand, and he went out and in before the people. And David was wise in all that he took in hand, and the LORD was with him. Wherefore, when Saul saw that he was so exceeding wise, he was afraid of him. But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and in before them. Then said Saul to David, "Behold, my eldest daughter Merab: her I will give thee to wife; only play the man and fight the LORD's battles." For Saul thought, "Mine hand shall not be upon him, but the hand of the Philistines." And David answered Saul, "What am I? And what is my life or the kindred of my father in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?" Howbeit, when the time was come that Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David she was given unto Adriel, a Meholathite, to wife. Nevertheless, Michal Saul's daughter loved David. And when it was showed Saul, the thing pleased him well. And he said, "I will give him her that she may be a snare to him, to bring the hand of the Philistines upon him." And Saul said to David, "Thou shalt this day be my son-in-law again." And Saul commanded his servants to commune with David secretly and say, "Behold, the king hath a favour to thee, and all his servants love thee - be therefore the king's son-in-law." And Saul's servants spake those words in the ears of David. But David answered, "Seemeth it to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, when I am a poor man and of small reputation?" And Saul's servants told him again, saying, "Of this manner answered David." Then said Saul, "This wise say to David: 'The king careth for no other dowry but for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies." For Saul thought to make David fall into the hands of the Philistines. Then his servants told David these words, and it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. And shortly after that, David arose with his men, and went, and slew of the Philistines, two hundred men; and brought their foreskins, and satisfied the king thereof to be his son-in-law. And so Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife. And when Saul saw and understood, how that the LORD was with David, and that Michal his daughter loved him, he was the more afraid of David, and became David's enemy forever. And when the Philistines went out to war, David behaved himself wiselier than all the servants of Saul: so that his name was much set by. Then Saul communed with Jonathan his son, and with all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan Saul's son had a great favour to David, and told David saying, "Saul my father goeth about to slay thee. Now therefore take heed to thyself betimes and abide in some secret place and hide thyself. And I will go out and stand by my father in the field where thou art, and will commune with my father of thee, and if I can perceive ought I will tell thee." And Jonathan spake the best of David unto Saul his father and said unto him, "Let not the king sin against his servant David, for he hath not sinned against thee, and his works are to thee ward very good. For he did put his life in his hand and slew the Philistine, and the LORD gave a great victory to all Israel. And thou sawest it, and thou rejoicedest. Wherefore then shouldest thou sin against innocent blood, and slay David for nought?" And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan and sware, "As truly as the LORD liveth, he shall not die." Then Jonathan called David and showed him all those words, and brought him to Saul. And he was in his presence as in times past. And the war began again, and David went out and fought with the Philistines and slew a great slaughter, and put them to flight. And the evil spirit of the LORD was upon Saul as he sat in his house having a javelin in his hand, and David played with his hand. And Saul intended to nail David to the wall with the Javelin: But David rid himself out of Saul's presence and he smote the spear into the wall. But David fled and saved himself that same night. Then Saul sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him and to slay him in the morning. But Michal his wife told it him saying, "If thou save not thyself this night, tomorrow thou art a dead man." And so Michal let David down through a window, and he went and fled and saved himself. And then she took an image and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow stuffed with goat's hair under the head of it, and covered it with a cloth. And when Saul sent messengers to fetch David, she said that he was sick. Then Saul sent the messengers to see David saying, "Bring him to me, bed and all, that he may be slain." And when the messengers were come in, "Behold there lay an image in the bed, with a pillow of goat's hair under the head of it. Then said Saul to Michal, "Why hast thou mocked me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped?" And Michal answered Saul, "He said unto me, 'Let me go, or else I will kill thee.'" And so David fled and escaped and went to Samuel to Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth. And it was told Saul, saying, "Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah." Then Saul sent messengers to fetch David. And when they saw a company of prophets prophesying and Samuel standing fast by them, the spirit of God fell upon the messengers of Saul, and they prophesied too. And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers yet again the third time which prophesied also. Then went he himself to Ramah, and when he came to a great well that is in Secu, he asked and said, "Where are Samuel and David?" And they said, "See, they be at Naioth in Ramah." And as he went thither to Naioth in Ramah the spirit of God came upon him also and he went prophesying, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. And he stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and fell naked all that day and all that night, wherefore it is a common saying, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" And David fled from Naioth in Ramah and went and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? Wherein am I faulty? What is the sin that I have committed before thy father that he seeketh my life?" And Jonathan answered him, "God forbid, thou shalt not die. For see, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will show it me. For why should my father hide this thing from me? There shall be no such thing." And David sware again and said, "Thy father knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes and therefore he thinketh, 'Jonathan shall not know it, lest he be sorry.' For in very deed even as truly as the LORD liveth, and as truly as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death." Then said Jonathan unto David, "Whatsoever thy soul desireth, that I will do unto thee." And David said unto Jonathan, "Behold, tomorrow is the first day of the month, and I should sit with the king at meat. But let me go that I may hide myself in the fields unto this day three days at evening. If thy father miss me, then say, 'David asked leave of me, that he might go to Bethlehem to his own city, for there is holden a yearly feast for all his kin.' And if thy father say thus, 'It is well done,' then thy servant shall have peace. But and if he be angry, then be sure that wickedness is utterly concluded of him. And then thou shalt show mercy unto thy servant, for thou hast made with me thy servant a bond in the LORD. Notwithstanding, if there be in me any trespass, then slay me thyself, for what needeth thee to bring me to thy father?" And Jonathan answered, "God keep that from thee: that I should know that wickedness were concluded of my father to come upon thee, and should not tell it thee." Then said David, "Who shall tell me, if thy father answer cruelly?" Then said Jonathan to David, "Come, and let us go out into the fields." And they went out both of them into the fields. And Jonathan said unto David, "O LORD God of Israel, when I have groped my father's mind, one time or other within this three days, that it stand well with David: and I then send not unto thee and show it thee, the LORD do so and so unto Jonathan. And in like manner, if evil to thee ward please my father, I will show thee and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace. And the LORD be with thee as he hath been with my father. And thou shalt perform unto me the mercy of the LORD, not only while I live; but even when I am dead pluck not thy mercy away from my house forever. No, not when the LORD hath destroyed the enemies of David, every one, from the face of the earth." And so Jonathan made a bond with the house of David, desiring that the LORD should seek, out of the hands of David's enemies, their wickedness. And with other words Jonathan adjured David, because he loved him. For as his own soul he loved him. Then said Jonathan to David, "Tomorrow shall be the first day of the moon. And thou shalt be missed, because the place shall appear empty. But this day three days, come in any wise unto the place where thou shalt hide thyself, when it is workday: even by the stone Ezel. And I will shoot three arrows by the one side thereof, as though I shot at a mark, and will send after a lad, and bid him go seek the arrows. If I say unto the lad, 'See the arrows are on this side of thee, bring them' - then come thou: for it is peace and nothing to do, as sure as the LORD liveth. But and if I say thus unto the young fellow, 'Behold, the arrows are beyond thee' - then go: for the LORD hath sent thee away. And of this which thou and I have spoke, behold the LORD is witness between thee and me forever." And so David hid himself in the field. And when the new moon was come, the king sat him down at meat, for to eat. And the king sat him down after the old manner, in his seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty. Nevertheless, yet Saul said nothing at all that day. For he thought, 'Something has chanced him that he is not clean.' But on the morrow which was the second day of the moon, when David's place appeared empty, Saul said unto Jonathan his son, "Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday nor today?" And Jonathan answered unto Saul, "David asked license of me to go to Bethlehem, saying, 'Let me go I pray thee, for our kindred hold an offering in the city, and my brother hath sent for me. Now therefore if I have found favour in thine eyes let me go and see my brother.' And therefore he cometh not unto the table of the king." Then was Saul angry with Jonathan and said unto him, "O froward and rebellious, thinkest thou I know not how thou hast chosen the son of Jesse unto thine own rebuke, and unto the rebuke and shame of thy mother? For as long as the son of Jesse lieth upon the earth, thou shalt not be established, nor yet thy kingdom; wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he is the child of death." But Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, "Wherefore should he die? What hath he done?" Then Saul cast a spear at him to hit him, whereby Jonathan wist well, that it was utterly determined of his father to slay David. And so Jonathan arose from the table in a great anger and did eat no meat the second day of the month, for he was sorry for David, because his father had done him shame. On the next morning, Jonathan went out unto the field, at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him. And he said unto the boy, "Run and find out mine arrows which I shoot." And as the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. And when the lad was come to the place whither Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan cried after him and said, "The arrow is beyond thee." And he cried after the lad, "Haste! Make speed and stand not still." And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrow and came to his master. But the lad knew nothing of the matter: only Jonathan and David wist it. Then Jonathan gave his weapons unto the lad and said unto him, "Go and carry them to the town." And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place that was toward the south and fell on his face to the ground and bowed himself three times. And they kissed one another and wept together - but David more abundantly. And Jonathan said unto David, "Go thy way in peace. Whatsoever we both have sworn and spoken together in the name of the LORD, the LORD be witness between me and thee, and between my seed and thine forever." And Jonathan gat him up, and came into the city. Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was astonished at his coming, and said unto him, "Why cometh thou thyself alone, and no man with thee?" And David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king hath commanded me to do a certain thing and said unto me, 'Let no man know whereabouts I send and what I have commanded thee to do.' And therefore I have appointed my servants to such and such places. And now what hast thou under thine hand? Give me five loaves of bread or what cometh to hand." And the priest answered David and said, "There is no common bread under mine hand - but there is hallowed bread, if the young men have abstained only from women." And David answered the priest and said unto him, "Of a truth, women hath been locked up from us about a three days, when I came out: and the vessels of the young men were holy. Howbeit, this way is impure: but it shall be hallowed in the vessel." And so the priest gave him hallowed bread, for there was none other bread there save showbreads that were taken from before the LORD; to put fresh bread there the day that it was taken away. And there was there, the same day, a certain man of the servants of Saul abiding before the LORD named Doeg; an Edomite, the chiefest of Saul's herdsmen. And David said unto Ahimelech, "Is not here under thine hand other spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor mine harness with me, because the king's business required haste." Then the priest answered, "The sword of Goliath, the Philistine whom thou slewest in Oakdale; that is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here." And David said, "There is none to that, give it me." And David arose and fled the same day from the presence of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the servants of Achish said of him, "Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing unto this fellow in dances saying, 'Saul hath slain his thousand, and David his ten thousand'?" And David put those words into his heart and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. And he changed his countenance before them, and raved in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. Then said Achish unto his servant, "Lo, ye saw that this man was beside himself; wherefore then have ye brought him to me? Lack I madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? He shall not come into my house." And David departed thence and escaped, and came unto the cave of Adullam. When his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went thither to him. And there gathered unto him all men that were in cumbrance and in debt and troubled in their hearts, and he became a captain over them. And there were with him upon a four hundred men. And David went thence to Mizpeh in the land of Moab, and said unto the king of Moab, "Let my father and mother, I pray thee, have their abiding with you, till I know what God will do with me." And he left them with the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the while that David kept himself in holds. And the prophet Gad said unto David, "Abide not in castles, but depart and go to the land of Judah." Then David departed and came into the forest of Hereth. And Saul heard of it: for David was known, and also the men that were with him. And as Saul sat in Gibeah under a grove upon a high bank with his spear in his hand and all his men about him, he said unto his servants that stood about him, "Hear I pray you, you sons of Benjamin: will the son of Jesse also give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains over thousands and over hundreds, that ye have all conspired against me? So that there is none of you that openeth mine ear? Insomuch that my son hath made a bond with the son of Jesse, neither is there any of you that mourneth for me or showeth it in mine ear: because my son hath set up my servant to lie await against me, as it appeareth this day." Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which had the oversight of the servants of Saul, and said, "I saw the son of Jesse, when he came to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, which asked counsel of the LORD for him, and gave him victuals, and the sword of Goliath the Philistine also." Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house: that is to say, the priests that were in Nob. And they came all to the king. And Saul said, "Hear, thou son of Ahitub." And he said, "Here I am, my lord." Then said Saul to him, "Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, insomuch that thou hast given him victuals and a sword, and hast asked counsel of God for him that he should arise against me and lie await as it is come to pass this day?" And Ahimelech answered the king, and said, "Who is so faithful among all thy servants as David and thereto the king's son-in-law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is had in honour in thine house? Have I this day begun first to ask counsel of God for him? God forbid that from me: let not the king put such a thing unto his servant and on all the house of my father. For thy servant knoweth nothing of all this, either less or more." But for all that, the king said, "Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech; both thou and all thy father's house." Then said the king unto his footmen that stood about him, "Turn and slay the priests of the LORD, both because their hand is with David and because they knew when David fled and showed it not to me." But the servants of the king would not move their hands, to run upon the priests of the LORD. Then said the king to Doeg, "Turn thou and smite the priests." And Doeg the Edomite turned and ran upon the priests, and slew that same day four score and five persons that did wear each man a linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, he smote with the edge of the sword: both man and woman, child and suckling, with ox, ass and sheep. But yet one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled to David, and showed David how that Saul had slain the LORD's priests. And David said unto Abiathar, "I wist it the same day, that Doeg the Edomite which was there would tell it Saul. And I am cause of the death of all the souls of thy father's house. Abide with me and fear not: he that seeketh thy soul shall seek mine, and with me thou shalt be in safeguard." Then men told David, saying, "Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and spoil the barns." Then David asked the LORD's advice, saying, "Shall I go and smite the Philistines?" And the LORD said unto David, "Go, and smite the Philistines and save Keilah." Then said David's men unto him, "See, we be afraid here in Judah. What shall we then be, when we come to Keilah, to the host of the Philistines?" Then David asked the LORD again. And the LORD answered him and said, "Up, and go to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hands." And so David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines, and drave away their cattle and slew a great slaughter of them. And so David saved the inhabiters of Keilah. And it chanced when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah that he brought an ephod in his hand. And it was told Saul, that David was come to Keilah. Then said Saul, "God hath delivered him into mine hand. For he is shut in, that he is come into a town with gates and bars." And Saul called all the people to war, for to go to Keilah to besiege David and his men. But David had knowledge that Saul imagined mischief against him, and said therefore to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod." Then said David, "O LORD God of Israel, thy servant heareth that Saul is about to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Or will Saul come as thy servant heareth say? LORD God of Israel, tell thy servant." And the LORD said, "He will come." Then said David, "Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And the LORD said, "They will deliver you." Then David and his men, which were upon a six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah and went whither chance drave them. And when it was told Saul, that David was fled from Keilah, he let the journey alone. And David abode in the wilderness in strongholds, and in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him all his life, but God delivered him not into his hand. And David saw that Saul was come out, to seek his life, while David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a thicket. And Jonathan Saul's son arose and went to David to the thicket, and strengthened him in God, and said unto him, "Fear not, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee, and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I must be next unto thee: And Saul my father thereto knoweth that it shall be so." And they made a bond both of them together before the LORD. And David tarried still in the thicket, and Jonathan went to his house. Then came the Ziphites to Saul, to Gibeah, saying, "David hideth himself fast by us in strongholds that are in a thicket in the hill of Hachilah on the rightside of the wilderness. Now therefore, sir king, come down with all the lust that thy soul hath to come. And our part shall be to deliver him into the hands of the king." Then said Saul, "Blessed are ye in the LORD: for ye have compassion on me. Go, I pray you, and mark more diligently; and know and see his haunt, where his foot hath been, and who hath seen him there: for it is told me that he is very subtle. See therefore and know all the lurking places where he lurketh, and come again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you. And then if he be in the land, I will hunt him out with all the thousands of Judah. And they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. But David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the wild field, on the righthand of the wilderness. For when Saul was gone with his men to seek, it was told David. And therefore he went unto a rock and dwelt in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he followed after David into the wilderness of Maon. And Saul and his men went on the one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other. And David, as a man amazed, made haste to get from Saul. For Saul and his men had compassed David and his men round about, to take them. But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, "Haste thee and come, for the Philistines are come in and rove the land." Wherefore Saul returned from persecuting David, and went against the Philistines. And therefore the place is called Selahammahelekoth. And then David went thence and dwelt in holds at Engedi. Then Saul was come again from the Philistines, it was told him, "Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi." Then Saul took three thousand men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men in the rocks, where nothing haunted but wild goats. And he came to the flocks of the sheep by a wayside where was a cave. And Saul went in to cover his feet. And David and his men sat along by the sides of the cave. And the men of David said unto him, "See, the day is come of which the LORD said unto thee, 'Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, and thou shalt do with him what it pleaseth thee.'" Then David arose and cut off the tip of Saul's coat privily. And immediately David's heart smote him, because he had cut off the tip of Saul's coat. And he said unto his men, "The LORD keep me from doing that thing unto my master that is the LORD's anointed, to lay mine hand upon him: seeing he is the LORD's anointed." And so David kept off his servants with words, and suffered them not to go upon Saul. And when Saul was up out of the cave and gone away, David arose and went out of the cave and cried after Saul, saying, "My lord king!" And Saul looked behind him. And David stooped to the earth and bowed himself, and said to Saul, "Wherefore giveth thou an ear to men's words, that say, 'David seeketh thee evil?' Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee this day into mine hand, in the cave. When they bade kill thee, mine eye had compassion on thee: and I said, 'I will not lay my hands on my master, for he is the LORD's anointed.' And moreover my father, see yet the tip of thy coat in my hand. And inasmuch as I killed thee not too, when I cut off the tip of thy coat; understand and see that there is neither evil nor rebelliousness in me, and that I have not sinned against thee. And yet thou huntest after my soul to take it. The LORD be judge between thee and me, and the LORD avenge me of thee. But mine hand be not upon thee. According to the old proverb, wickedness shall proceed out of the wicked: But mine hand be not upon thee. After whom art thou come out, thou king of Israel? After whom chasest thou? Even after a dead dog, and after a flea! The LORD be judge, and judge between thee and me, and see and plead my cause, and judge me free out of thine hand." When David had made an end of speaking all these words to Saul, Saul said, "Is this thy voice, my son David?" And he lifted up his voice and wept, and said to David, "Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me with good, and I have rewarded thee with evil. And thou hast showed this day how that thou hast dealt lovingly with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had locked me in thine hands, thou slewest me not. For who shall find his enemy, and let him depart a good way? Wherefore the LORD reward thee with good, for that thou hast done unto me this day. And now I know well that thou shalt be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand. Swear therefore unto me by the LORD, that thou shalt not destroy my seed after me, and that thou shalt not destroy my name out of my father's house." And David sware unto Saul, and Saul went home. But David and his men gat up unto a hold. And then Samuel died, and all Israel gathered together and lamented him, and buried him in his own house at Ramah. And David arose and gat him to the wilderness of Paran. And there was a man in Maon whose cattle was in Carmel, and the man was exceeding mighty, and had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife was Abigail: and she was a woman of good wisdom and beautiful. But the man was churlish and of shrewd conditions and was a Calebite. And when David heard in the wilderness, that Nabal shore his sheep, he sent out ten of his young men, and said unto them, "Get you up to Carmel and go to Nabal and greet him in my name. And thus wise say unto my friend, "Peace be to thee, peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. I have heard say that thou hast shearers. Now the shepherds were with us, and we did them no spite, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel: ask thy lads, and they will show thee. Wherefore let these young men find favour in thine eyes - for we come in a good season - and give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants and to thine son David." And David's young men came and told Nabal all those words in the name of David and then stopped. And Nabal answered David's servants and said, "What is David? And what is the son of Jesse? There is plenty of servants nowadays, that break away every man from his master. Should I take my bread, my water and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men which I know not whence they be?" And David's servants turned their way and went again, and came and told him according to all those sayings. Then David said unto his men, "Gird every man his sword about him." And they girded every man his sword on, and David thereto girded on his sword. And there followed David upon a four hundred men, and two hundred abode by the stuff. But one of the lads told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "See, David sent messengers unto our master out of the wilderness to salute him, and he railed on them. And yet the men were very good unto us and did us no displeasure, neither missed we anything, as long as were conversant with them, when we were in the fields. But they were a wall of defense unto us both by night and also by day, all the while we were with them keeping sheep. Now take heed and see what thou hast to do, for it is concluded to do mischief unto our master and to all his household. And he is ungracious to speak to." Then Abigail made haste and took two hundred loaves and two bottles of wine and five sheep ready dressed and five measures of parched corn, and a hundred bundles of raisins and two hundred frails of figs, and laded them on asses, and said unto her young men, "Go before me, and see I come after you," and told her husband Nabal nothing thereof. And as she rode on her ass and was coming down in a slade of the hill, David and his men came down against her, and she met them. And David said, "In vain have I kept all that this fellow had in the wilderness: so that nought was missed that pertained unto him, for he hath quite me with evil for good. God do this and yet more unto the enemies of David, if until tomorrow in the morning I leave this man, of all that he hath, so much as one that pisseth against the wall." When Abigail saw David, she hasted and lighted off her ass and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and fell at his feet and said, "Let this unhappy deed be counted mine, my lord, and let thine handmaid speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thy handmaid. Let not my lord regard this unthrifty man Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him. But I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord which thou sendest. And now my lord as sure as the LORD liveth and as thy soul liveth, the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood and from avenging thyself with thine own hand. Furthermore, I pray God that thine enemies and they that intend to do my lord evil, may be as Nabal. And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought, let it be given unto the young men that follow my lord. Forgive the trespass of thine handmaid that the LORD may make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and there could none evil be found in thee in all thy life. And if any man rise to persecute thee and to seek thy soul, the soul of my lord be bound in a bundle of life with the LORD thy God. And the souls of thy enemies be slung in the middle of a sling. And moreover when the LORD shall have done to my lord all the good that he hath promised thee, and shall have made thee ruler over Israel: then shall it be no grudge of conscience unto thee or discourage of heart unto my lord, that thou sheddest blood causeless and didst avenge thyself. And moreover when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then think on thine handmaid." Then said David to Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me. And blessed be thy behaviour, and blessed be thou which hath kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging myself with mine own hand. For in very deed - as sure as the LORD God of Israel liveth which hath kept me back from hurting thee - except thou hadst hasted and met me, there had not been left Nabal, by the dawning of the day, a pisser against the wall." And so David received of her hand that she brought him, and said to her, "Go in peace to thine house. And see, I have obeyed thy voice and have received thee to grace." And when Abigail came to Nabal, behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, and he was drunk a good. Wherefore she told him nought, neither little nor more, until the morrow day. But in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these words, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone, and upon a ten days after, the LORD smote Nabal that he died. And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be the LORD that hath judged the cause of my rebuke of the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil, and hath turned the wickedness of Nabal again upon his own head." And David sent to commune with Abigail, to the intent to take her to his wife. And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her saying, "David sent us unto thee, to take thee to his wife." And she arose and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, "Behold thy handmaid, to be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord." And Abigail hasted and arose and gat her up upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went at her feet, and went after the messengers of David and was his wife. David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they were both his wives. But Saul gave Michal his daughter David's wife to Palti the son of Laish of Gallim. After that came the Ziphites unto Saul to Gibeah saying, "David hideth himself in the hill of Hachilah even before the wilderness." Then Saul arose and went to the wilderness of Ziph, and three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, for to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah which lieth before the wilderness, by the wayside. But David dwelt in the wilderness. And when he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness, he sent out spies and understood that Saul was come of surety. Wherefore David arose and went to the place where Saul had pitched, and beheld the place where Saul lay with Abner the son of Ner his chief captain. For Saul lay within a round bank and the people pitched round about him. Then answered David, and spake to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah and brother to Joab, saying, "Who will go down with me to Saul, to the host?" Abishai said, "I will go down with thee." And so David and Abishai came to the people by night. And behold, Saul lay sleeping within a round bank and his spear pitched in the ground at his head, Abner and the people lying round about him. The said Abishai to David, "God hath closed in thine enemy unto thine hand this day. Now therefore let me smite him a fellowship with my spear to the earth, even one stroke, and I will not smite him the second time." But David said to Abishai, "Destroy him not - for who can lay his hand on the LORD's anointed and be guiltless?" And David said furthermore, "As sure as the LORD liveth, the LORD shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and there perish: but the LORD keep me from laying mine hand upon the LORD's anointed. Now then take a fellowship the spear that is at his head, and the cruse of water, and let us go." And David took the spear and the cruse of water that were at Saul's head, and they gat them away, and no man saw or wist it or awoke. For they were all asleep, because the LORD had sent a slumber upon them. Then David went over to the other side and stood on the top of a hill afar off - a great space being between them - and cried to the people and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, "Answerest thou not Abner?" And Abner answered, and said, "What art thou that criest to the king?" And David said to Abner, "Art not thou a man? And who is like thee in Israel? But wherefore hast thou not kept thy lord the king? For there came one of the folk to destroy the king thy lord. It is not good that thou hast done. As truly as the LORD liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have no better kept the LORD's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is and the cruse of water that were at his head." Then Saul knew David's voice and said, "Is this thy voice, my son David?" And David said, "It is my voice, my lord king." And he said thereto, "Wherefore doth my lord persecute his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in mine hand? Now hear therefore, my lord king, the words of thy servant. If the LORD have stirred thee up against me, he shall smell the savour of sacrifice. But and if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the LORD. For they have cast me out from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, 'Hence and go serve other gods.' And yet I hope my blood shall not fall to the earth before the face of the LORD, though the king of Israel be come out to hunt a flea, as men hunt the partridges in the mountains." Then said Saul, "I have sinned. Come again, my son David, for I will do thee no more harm; because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day. Behold, I have played the fool and have erred exceeding much." And David answered and said, "Behold the king's spear: let one of the young men come over and fetch it. The LORD reward every man's righteousness and faith: for the LORD delivered thee into my hand this day, but I would not lay my hand upon the LORD's anointed. And as thy life was much set by this time in mine eyes: so be my life set by in the eyes of the LORD, that he deliver me out of all tribulation." And Saul said to David, "Blessed art thou, my son David: for thou shalt be a doer and prevail." And so David went his way, and Saul turned to his place again. Then thought David in his heart, "I may perish, one day or other, by the hands of Saul. There is no better for me, than to flee into the land of the Philistines; that Saul, of very despair to find me, may cease to seek me anymore in all the coasts of Israel: for so I may escape his hand." And David arose, and he and the six hundred men that were with him went unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath. And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, both he and his men, every man with his household; and David with his two wives: Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, Nabal's wife of Carmel. And when it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath, he sought no more for him. And David said unto Achish, "If I have found grace in thine eyes, let me have a place in some town in the fields, that I may dwell there. For what should thy servant dwell in the head city of the kingdom with thee?" Then Achish gave him Ziklag the same day; for which cause Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day. And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines, was a year and four months. And David and his men went and ran upon the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites: which nations were from the beginning the inhabiters of the land, as men go to Shur, and so forth to Egypt. And David smote the land and left neither man nor woman alive, and took the sheep, the oxen, the asses, camels, and clothes, and removed and came to Achish. And Achish said, "Have ye not been a roving this day?" And David answered, "Yes, in the south of Judah, and in the south of the Jezreelites, and in the south of the Kenites." But David let neither man nor woman come living unto Gath, and thought, "They might peradventure speak, and report against us, 'Thus did David.'" And this was his manner as long as he dwelt in the land of the Philistines. And Achish believed David, saying, "He hath made himself to stink unto his people Israel, and thereto he shall be my servant forever." And it chanced in those days, that the Philistines gathered their host together to war, intending to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, "Be sure: thou shalt go out with me in the host, and thy men also." And David said again to Achish, "Then thou shalt know what thy servant can do." And Achish said to David, "Then I will make thee keeper of my head forever." Samuel was then dead, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah his own city. And Saul had put the soothsayers and expounders of tokens out of the land. And the Philistines gathered together and came and pitched in Shunem. And Saul and all Israel gathered together and pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart was sore astonished. And Saul asked counsel of the LORD, but the LORD answered him not: neither by dream, nor by the light, nor yet by prophets. Then said Saul unto his servants, "Seek me a woman that is mistress of a spirit of prophecy; that I may go to her and ask of her." And his servants said to him, "See, there is a woman that hath a spirit of Prophecy in her possession at Endor." And Saul changed his clothes and put on other raiment; and then went he, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. And he said, "Prophesy unto me by the spirit, and bring me him up whom I shall name unto thee." And the woman said unto him, "Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath destroyed the women that had prophesying spirits, and the sorcerers, out of the land. Wherefore then layest thou a net for my soul to kill me?" And Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying, "As surely as the LORD liveth, there shall no harm chance thee for this thing." Then said the woman, "Whom shall I fetch up unto thee?" And he said, "Bring me up Samuel." When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice and spake to Saul, saying, "Why hast thou mocked me? For thou art Saul." And the king said unto her, "Be not afraid. But what seest thou?" And the woman said unto Saul, "I see a god ascending up out of the earth." And he said, "What fashion is he of?" And the woman said, "There cometh up an old man with a mantle upon him." And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and stooped with his face to the ground and bowed himself. And Samuel said to Saul, "Why hast thou unquieted me, to make me be brought up?" And Saul answered, "I am sore encumbered. For the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me and answered me no more, neither by prophets, neither by dreams. And therefore have I called thee, to tell me what I shall do." Then said Samuel, "Wherefore dost thou ask of me? While the LORD is gone from thee and is thine enemy, the LORD will do to thee as he said by my hand. For the LORD will rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and give it thy neighbour David, because thou obeyedest not the voice of the LORD, nor executedest his fierce wrath upon the Amalekites. Therefore hath the LORD done this unto thee this day. And moreover, the LORD will deliver Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines. And tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me, and the LORD shall give the host of Israel into the hands of the Philistines." Then Saul fell straightway flat on the earth as long as he was, and was sore a dread of the words of Samuel. And thereto there was no strength in him: for he had not eaten all the day and the night before. And the woman came unto Saul and saw that he was sore troubled, and said unto him, "See, thine handmaid hath obeyed thy voice and have put my soul in thy hand, and have hearkened unto thy words which thou saidst unto me. Now therefore hearken thou also unto the voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee, and eat, and get the strength to go thy journey." But he refused it and said, "I will not eat." But his servants and the woman together compelled him, that he heard their voice. And so he arose from the earth and sat him on a bed. The woman had a fat calf in the house, and that she hasted and killed it, and took flour and kneaded it and did bake him sweet cakes, and brought them before Saul and before his servants. And when they had eaten, they stood up, and went away the same night. The Philistines gathered all their hosts together unto Aphek: And Israel pitched by a fountain in Jezreel. And the lords of the Philistines went forth by hundreds and by thousands. But David and his men came behind with Achish. Then said the lords of the Philistines, "What are yonder Hebrews?" And Achish said unto the lords of the Philistines, "Is not this David the servant of Saul the king of Israel, which hath been with me days or years? And I have found no fault in him since he fled unto me unto this day." Nevertheless the lords of the Philistines were wroth with him and said unto him, "Make this fellow return, and let him go again to his place which thou hast appointed him. For he shall not go with us to do battle, lest he be an adversary to us in the battle. For wherewith could he better obtain the favour of his master, than upon the heads of our men? Is not this David to whom they sang in dances, 'Saul slew his thousand, but David his ten thousand?'" Then Achish called David and said unto him, "As sure as the LORD liveth thou art honest, and it pleaseth me well that thou shouldest accompany me in the host, for I have found none evil with thee since thou camest to me unto this day. Nevertheless, the lords of the Philistines favour thee not: wherefore return and go in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines." And David said again to Achish, "Why, what have I done? And what hast thou found in thy servant as long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king?" Achish answered and said to David, "I know well thou pleasest me, as it were an angel of God. Notwithstanding, the lords of the Philistines have said that thou shalt not go with them to battle. Wherefore rise up early in the morning, with thy master's servants that are come with thee. And when ye be up early as soon as ye have light, depart." And so David and his men rose early to depart in the morning, and to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel. But yer David and his men were come to Ziklag the third day, the Amalekites had run in a running upon the south and upon Ziklag, and had smitten Ziklag and burnt it with fire, and had taken the women that were therein prisoners, both small and great: but slew not a man, save carried them with them and went their ways. When David and his men came to the city: behold, it was burnt with fire, and their wives, their sons and their daughters were taken prisoners. Then David and the people that was with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they could weep no more. And David's two wives were taken prisoners also: Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And David was in a shrewd strait: for the people intended to stone him because the hearts of the people were vexed for their sons and their daughters. But David took a good courage to him in the LORD his God and said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, "Bring me the ephod." And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. And David asked the LORD, saying, "Shall I follow after this company? And shall I overtake them?" And he said to him, "Follow, for thou shalt overtake them and recover the prey." And he went, and the six hundred men that were with him, and they came to the river Besor, where a part of them abode. But David and four hundred men followed: But two hundred abode, behind being too weary to go over the river Besor. Then they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David and gave him bread to eat and water to drink, and gave him a few figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten his spirits came again to him: for he had eaten no bread nor drunk no water in three days and three nights. Then David said unto him, "To whom belongest thou and whence art thou?" And the lad answered, "I am an Egyptian and servant to an Amalekite: and my master left me behind, because it is three days a gone that I fell sick. We came a roving upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon them of Judah and on the south of Caleb. And we burnt Ziklag with fire." And David said to him, "Canst thou bring me to this company?" And he said, "Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee unto them." And when he had brought him: see, they lay scattered abroad upon the earth, eating and drinking and triumphing over all the great prey that they had carried away out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. And David laid upon them from the twilight until the evening on the morrow: so that there escaped not a man, save four hundred young men which rode away upon camels and fled. And David recovered all the Amalekites had carried away, and his two wives: so that there was no person lacking, small or great, son or daughter, or of the spoil of all that they had taken away - David brought all again. And David took all the sheep, and the oxen. And they drave the cattle before, and said, "This is David's prey." And then David came to the two hundred men that were too weary for to follow David which they made to abide at the river Besor. And they came to meet David and the people that were with him. And when David came to the people, he saluted them. Then answered all the wicked and the unthrifty of the men that went with David, and said, "Because they went not with us, therefore shall none of the prey that we have recovered be given unto them, save to every man his wife and his children: which let them carry away and be walking." Then said David, "Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that the LORD hath given us, and hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us, into our hands. For who should hearken unto you in this matter? But as his part is that goeth and fighteth, so good shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part it alike." And so from that day forward was that made a law and a custom in Israel, and endureth to this day. When David came to Ziklag, he sent of his prey unto the elders of Judah and to his friends, saying, "See there a blessing for you, of the spoil of the enemies of the LORD." He sent to them of Bethel; to them of south Ramah; to them of Jattir; to them of Aroer; to them of Siphmoth; to them of Eshtemoa; to them of Racal; to them of the cities of the Jerahmeelites; to them of the cities of the Kenites; to them of Hormah; to them of Borashan; to them of Athach; to them of Hebron, and to all places where David and his men were wont to haunt. And as the Philistines fought against Israel, the men of Israel fled away from the Philistines, and fell down dead in mount Gilboa. And the Philistines followed after Saul and his sons, and slew Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchishua, Saul's sons. And the battle went sore against Saul, insomuch that shooters with bows had found him, and he was sore wounded of the shooters. Then said Saul unto his harness bearer, "Draw out thy sword and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come thrust me through and make a mockingstock of me." But his harness bearer would not, for he was sore afraid. Wherefore Saul took a sword and fell upon it. And when his harness bearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword and died with him. And so Saul died and his three sons and his harness bearer, and thereto all his men, that same day together. When the men of Israel that were of the other side of the valley, and they of the other side Jordan, heard that the men of Israel were put to flight, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they left the cities, and ran away, and the Philistines came and dwelt in them. On the morrow when the Philistines were come to strip them that were slain, they found Saul and his sons lying in mount Gilboa. And they cut off his head and stripped him out of his harness, and sent unto the land of the Philistines everywhere, to publish in the houses of their gods and to the people. And they hanged up his harness in the house of Ashtaroth, but they hanged up his carcass on the walls of Bet-Shean. When the inhabiters of Jabesh in Gilead heard thereof what the Philistines had done to Saul, they arose as many as were men of war and went all night and took the carcass of Saul and the carcasses of his sons from the walls of Bet-Shean and brought them to Jabesh and burnt them there, and took their bones and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said unto him, "Blessed be thou in the LORD. I have done the commandment of the LORD."
Wherefore Saul looked sourly upon David from that day forward. And it happened on the morrow, that the evil spirit sent of God came upon Saul, so that he prophesied in the midst of the house. And David played on the instrument with his hand as he was daily wont. And Saul had a spear in his hand, and hurled it; intending to have nailed David to the wall. But David avoided out of his presence two times.
But the children of Belial said, "How shall he save us?" And despised him and brought him not presents. And he made as though he had not heard it.
After that Samuel called the people together unto the LORD to Mizpeh and said unto the children of Israel, "Thus sayeth the LORD God of Israel. 'I brought you out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hands of all kingdoms that oppressed you. And ye have this day cast away your God that helped you out of all your adversities and tribulations. And ye have said unto him: make a king over us. Now therefore stand before the LORD by your tribes and your thousands.'"
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And when Samuel had brought all the tribes of Israel the tribe of Benjamin was caught. When he had brought the tribe of Benjamin by their kindreds, the kindred of Matri was caught: and Saul the son of Kish was caught. And they sought him; but he could not be found. Then they asked the LORD further, whither the man should come thither. And the LORD answered, "Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff." And they ran and fetched him thence. And when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from the shoulders upward. And Samuel said to all the people, "There! See ye whom the LORD hath chosen, and how there is none like him among all the company?" And all the people shouted and said, "God save the king!" Then Samuel told the people the duty of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the LORD, and so sent all the people away; every man to his house.
But Saul answered, and said, "Am not I the son of a Benjaminite of the smallest tribe of Israel, and my kindred the least of all the kindreds of the tribe of Benjamin? Wherefore then speakest thou so to me?"
But Jonathan heard not when his father adjured the people, wherefore he put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and dipped it in a honey comb, and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes received sight.
Then said Saul, "God do so and so to me, except that thou die Jonathan."
Then Saul cast a spear at him to hit him, whereby Jonathan wist well, that it was utterly determined of his father to slay David.
And he said thereto, "Wherefore doth my lord persecute his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in mine hand?
When they came to the hill, behold, the company of prophets met him, and the spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.
Then came the spirit of God upon Saul, when he heard those tidings, and he was exceeding angry.
And Samuel said to Saul, "Why hast thou unquieted me, to make me be brought up?" And Saul answered, "I am sore encumbered. For the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me and answered me no more, neither by prophets, neither by dreams. And therefore have I called thee, to tell me what I shall do."
But Saul and the people spared Agag, and they left of the sheep and of the oxen and fat things and the lambs and all that was good, and would not destroy them. But all that was nought worth and flaggy, that they destroyed utterly.
For rebelliousness is as the sin of witchcraft; and stubbornness is wickedness and idolatry. Because therefore thou hast cast away the word of the LORD, therefore hath the LORD cast away thee also, from being king."
Then said Saul to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the mouth of the LORD, and thy words; because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. But now take away my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD." Then said Samuel unto Saul, "I will not return with thee: for thou hast cast away the bidding of God, and therefore the LORD hath cast away thee also, that thou shalt not be king over Israel."
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And as Samuel turned to go away, he caught the lap of his coat, and it rent. Then Samuel said, "The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine that is better than thou. And thereto he that giveth victory to Israel, will not beguile nor repent: for he is not a man, that can repent." Then he said, "I have sinned. But yet honour me before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may pray unto the LORD thy God."
For Saul was afraid of David: because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul.
And Samuel said to Saul, "Why hast thou unquieted me, to make me be brought up?" And Saul answered, "I am sore encumbered. For the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me and answered me no more, neither by prophets, neither by dreams. And therefore have I called thee, to tell me what I shall do."
But the spirit of the LORD departed from Saul; and an evil spirit, sent of the LORD, vexed him.
For rebelliousness is as the sin of witchcraft; and stubbornness is wickedness and idolatry. Because therefore thou hast cast away the word of the LORD, therefore hath the LORD cast away thee also, from being king."
And Saul said unto Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and went the way which the LORD sent me; and have brought Agag the king of the Amalekites, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. And the people took of the spoil, sheep, oxen, and the chiefest of the things which should have been destroyed, to offer unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal."
Then said the people to Samuel, "What are they that said, 'Shall Saul reign over us? Bring them that we may slay them.'" But Saul said, "There shall no man die this day, for today the LORD hath saved Israel."
Then said the people to Samuel, "What are they that said, 'Shall Saul reign over us? Bring them that we may slay them.'" But Saul said, "There shall no man die this day, for today the LORD hath saved Israel." Then said Samuel unto the people, "Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there."
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And the people went to Gilgal and made Saul king there, before the LORD in Gilgal. And there they offered peace offerings before the LORD. And there Saul and all the people rejoiced exceedingly.
Well, I gave thee a king in my wrath, and in my displeasure will I take him from thee again.
But Saul tarried in the utmost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree, that was in Migron, and the people that were with him were upon a six hundred men.
and go over the fiord. Geba shall be their resting place; Ramah shall be afraid; Gibeah of Saul shall flee away.
And then Samuel departed to Ramah. And Saul went home to his house, to Gibeah of Saul.
When Samlah was dead, Saul of the river Rehoboth reigned in his stead. When Saul was dead, Baalhanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.
And after the death of Samlah, Shaul of Rehoboth upon Euphrates reigned in his place. And after the death of Shaul, Baalhanan the son of Achbor reigned in his room.
and over all that Samuel the seer and Saul the son of Kish, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah had dedicated. All that was dedicated, was under the hand of Shelomoth and of his brethren.
And the people took of the spoil, sheep, oxen, and the chiefest of the things which should have been destroyed, to offer unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal." Then said Samuel, "Hath the LORD as great pleasure in burnt sacrifices and offerings, as he hath that thou shouldest obey his voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to give heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebelliousness is as the sin of witchcraft; and stubbornness is wickedness and idolatry. Because therefore thou hast cast away the word of the LORD, therefore hath the LORD cast away thee also, from being king."
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Then said Saul to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the mouth of the LORD, and thy words; because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. But now take away my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD."
The Philistines gathered all their hosts together unto Aphek: And Israel pitched by a fountain in Jezreel.
Samuel was then dead, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah his own city. And Saul had put the soothsayers and expounders of tokens out of the land. And the Philistines gathered together and came and pitched in Shunem. And Saul and all Israel gathered together and pitched in Gilboa. And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart was sore astonished.
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And Saul asked counsel of the LORD, but the LORD answered him not: neither by dream, nor by the light, nor yet by prophets. Then said Saul unto his servants, "Seek me a woman that is mistress of a spirit of prophecy; that I may go to her and ask of her." And his servants said to him, "See, there is a woman that hath a spirit of Prophecy in her possession at Endor." And Saul changed his clothes and put on other raiment; and then went he, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. And he said, "Prophesy unto me by the spirit, and bring me him up whom I shall name unto thee." And the woman said unto him, "Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath destroyed the women that had prophesying spirits, and the sorcerers, out of the land. Wherefore then layest thou a net for my soul to kill me?" And Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying, "As surely as the LORD liveth, there shall no harm chance thee for this thing." Then said the woman, "Whom shall I fetch up unto thee?" And he said, "Bring me up Samuel." When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice and spake to Saul, saying, "Why hast thou mocked me? For thou art Saul." And the king said unto her, "Be not afraid. But what seest thou?" And the woman said unto Saul, "I see a god ascending up out of the earth." And he said, "What fashion is he of?" And the woman said, "There cometh up an old man with a mantle upon him." And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and stooped with his face to the ground and bowed himself. And Samuel said to Saul, "Why hast thou unquieted me, to make me be brought up?" And Saul answered, "I am sore encumbered. For the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me and answered me no more, neither by prophets, neither by dreams. And therefore have I called thee, to tell me what I shall do." Then said Samuel, "Wherefore dost thou ask of me? While the LORD is gone from thee and is thine enemy, the LORD will do to thee as he said by my hand. For the LORD will rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and give it thy neighbour David, because thou obeyedest not the voice of the LORD, nor executedest his fierce wrath upon the Amalekites. Therefore hath the LORD done this unto thee this day. And moreover, the LORD will deliver Israel with thee into the hands of the Philistines. And tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me, and the LORD shall give the host of Israel into the hands of the Philistines." Then Saul fell straightway flat on the earth as long as he was, and was sore a dread of the words of Samuel. And thereto there was no strength in him: for he had not eaten all the day and the night before. And the woman came unto Saul and saw that he was sore troubled, and said unto him, "See, thine handmaid hath obeyed thy voice and have put my soul in thy hand, and have hearkened unto thy words which thou saidst unto me. Now therefore hearken thou also unto the voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee, and eat, and get the strength to go thy journey." But he refused it and said, "I will not eat." But his servants and the woman together compelled him, that he heard their voice. And so he arose from the earth and sat him on a bed. The woman had a fat calf in the house, and that she hasted and killed it, and took flour and kneaded it and did bake him sweet cakes, and brought them before Saul and before his servants. And when they had eaten, they stood up, and went away the same night.
And there was sore war with the Philistines, all the days of Saul. For wheresoever Saul saw a strong man, and an active, he took him unto him.
And then Saul departed from following the Philistines. And the Philistines went to their own place.
the same had a son called Saul, a goodly young man, so that among the children of Israel, there was none goodlier than he, and was thereto, from the shoulders upward, higher than all the other people.
And they ran and fetched him thence. And when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from the shoulders upward.
And Saul said unto his servants, "Seek me a man that can well play, and bring him to me." Then answered one of his servants and said, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that can play upon instruments, and is an active fellow and a man of war and prudent and well made, and the LORD is with him." Whereupon Saul sent messengers unto Jesse and said, "Send me David thy son which is with the sheep."
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And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a flacket of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. And David went to Saul and came before him, and he loved him very well; so that he was made his harness bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse saying, "Let David remain with me, for he hath found favour in my sight." And when the spirit of God came upon Saul, David took a harp and played with his hand, and so Saul was refreshed, and did amend; and the evil spirit departed from him.
And Saul said, "Because I saw that the people scattered from me, and yet thou camest not within the days appointed - and that the Philistines gathered themselves together to Michmash - then said I, 'The Philistines shall come down upon me to Gilgal, before I have made supplication unto the LORD.' And therefore I took a courage with me and offered burnt offerings." Then said Samuel to Saul, "Thou hast done foolishly and hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God which he commanded thee. For at this time would the LORD have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever.
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But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The LORD hath sought him a man after his own heart, and hath commanded him to be a captain over his people: because thou hast not kept that which the LORD commanded thee."
When David had made an end of speaking all these words to Saul, Saul said, "Is this thy voice, my son David?" And he lifted up his voice and wept, and said to David, "Thou art more righteous than I, for thou hast rewarded me with good, and I have rewarded thee with evil. And thou hast showed this day how that thou hast dealt lovingly with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had locked me in thine hands, thou slewest me not.
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For who shall find his enemy, and let him depart a good way? Wherefore the LORD reward thee with good, for that thou hast done unto me this day. And now I know well that thou shalt be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand. Swear therefore unto me by the LORD, that thou shalt not destroy my seed after me, and that thou shalt not destroy my name out of my father's house." And David sware unto Saul, and Saul went home. But David and his men gat up unto a hold.
Then there fell a hunger in the days of David: three years, year by year. And David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, "It is for Saul's sake and the house of blood, because he slew the Gibeonites." And the king called the Gibeonites and spake unto them. Now these Gibeonites are not of the children of Israel, but a remnant of the Amorites - and the children of Israel sware unto them. And yet Saul sought to slay them, for a zeal that he had to the children of Israel and of Judah. Wherefore David said unto them, "What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I content you that ye may bless the inheritance of the LORD?"
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And the Gibeonites said unto him, "We have no matter of silver or of gold with Saul or with his house: neither have we any man that we would kill in Israel." Then he said, "What say ye that I shall do for you?" And they said unto the king, "The man that consumed and imagined to bring us to nought, him we ought to destroy, that nought of him continue in any of the coasts of Israel. Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, that we may hang them up unto the LORD, in Gibeah of Saul the LORD's elect." And David said, "I will give them you." But the king had compassion on Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the LORD's oath that was between them: that is to say, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. But he took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah which she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Miphiyboseth, and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul which she bare to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite, and delivered them unto the hands of the Gibeonites, which hanged them in the hill before the LORD. And they fell all seven together in the first days of harvest: even in the beginning of barley harvest.
Then Saul was come again from the Philistines, it was told him, "Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi." Then Saul took three thousand men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men in the rocks, where nothing haunted but wild goats. And he came to the flocks of the sheep by a wayside where was a cave. And Saul went in to cover his feet. And David and his men sat along by the sides of the cave.
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And the men of David said unto him, "See, the day is come of which the LORD said unto thee, 'Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, and thou shalt do with him what it pleaseth thee.'" Then David arose and cut off the tip of Saul's coat privily. And immediately David's heart smote him, because he had cut off the tip of Saul's coat. And he said unto his men, "The LORD keep me from doing that thing unto my master that is the LORD's anointed, to lay mine hand upon him: seeing he is the LORD's anointed."
And immediately David's heart smote him, because he had cut off the tip of Saul's coat. And he said unto his men, "The LORD keep me from doing that thing unto my master that is the LORD's anointed, to lay mine hand upon him: seeing he is the LORD's anointed." And so David kept off his servants with words, and suffered them not to go upon Saul.
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And when Saul was up out of the cave and gone away, David arose and went out of the cave and cried after Saul, saying, "My lord king!" And Saul looked behind him. And David stooped to the earth and bowed himself,
And so Saul died for his trespass that he trespassed against the LORD, in that he kept not the word of the LORD, and in that he asked counsel of a woman that wrought with a spirit,
Now there was a man of Benjamin named Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a man that was a Benjaminite, a man of might: the same had a son called Saul, a goodly young man, so that among the children of Israel, there was none goodlier than he, and was thereto, from the shoulders upward, higher than all the other people.
And Ner begat Kisk, and Kish, Saul, and Saul begat Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab and Eshbaal.
And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said unto him, "Blessed be thou in the LORD. I have done the commandment of the LORD."
And when Samuel was come to Saul, Saul said unto him, "Blessed be thou in the LORD. I have done the commandment of the LORD." And Samuel answered, "What meaneth then the bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the noise of the oxen which I hear?" And Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites. For the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God. And the remnant we have destroyed."
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But Samuel said to Saul, "Cease, and let me tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night." And he said unto him, "Say on." And Samuel said, "When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed thee king over Israel. And then the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said unto thee, 'See that thou utterly destroy those sinners, the Amalekites and fight against them until ye have utterly destroyed them.' And wherefore hast thou now not obeyed the voice of the LORD: But didst turn to the prey and hast wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD?" And Saul said unto Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and went the way which the LORD sent me; and have brought Agag the king of the Amalekites, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. And the people took of the spoil, sheep, oxen, and the chiefest of the things which should have been destroyed, to offer unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal." Then said Samuel, "Hath the LORD as great pleasure in burnt sacrifices and offerings, as he hath that thou shouldest obey his voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to give heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebelliousness is as the sin of witchcraft; and stubbornness is wickedness and idolatry. Because therefore thou hast cast away the word of the LORD, therefore hath the LORD cast away thee also, from being king." Then said Saul to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the mouth of the LORD, and thy words; because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. But now take away my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD." Then said Samuel unto Saul, "I will not return with thee: for thou hast cast away the bidding of God, and therefore the LORD hath cast away thee also, that thou shalt not be king over Israel." And as Samuel turned to go away, he caught the lap of his coat, and it rent. Then Samuel said, "The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine that is better than thou. And thereto he that giveth victory to Israel, will not beguile nor repent: for he is not a man, that can repent." Then he said, "I have sinned. But yet honour me before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may pray unto the LORD thy God." And Samuel turned again and followed Saul. And Saul prayed unto the LORD.
And wherefore hast thou now not obeyed the voice of the LORD: But didst turn to the prey and hast wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD?" And Saul said unto Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and went the way which the LORD sent me; and have brought Agag the king of the Amalekites, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. And the people took of the spoil, sheep, oxen, and the chiefest of the things which should have been destroyed, to offer unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal."
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Then said Samuel, "Hath the LORD as great pleasure in burnt sacrifices and offerings, as he hath that thou shouldest obey his voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to give heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebelliousness is as the sin of witchcraft; and stubbornness is wickedness and idolatry. Because therefore thou hast cast away the word of the LORD, therefore hath the LORD cast away thee also, from being king."
Then said Saul to Samuel, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the mouth of the LORD, and thy words; because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
When they came to the hill, behold, the company of prophets met him, and the spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.
Then came the spirit of God upon Saul, when he heard those tidings, and he was exceeding angry.
And Saul intended to nail David to the wall with the Javelin: But David rid himself out of Saul's presence and he smote the spear into the wall. But David fled and saved himself that same night.
And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan and sware, "As truly as the LORD liveth, he shall not die."
when before I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and a tyrant. But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly, through unbelief:
when before I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and a tyrant. But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly, through unbelief:
Then said the people to Samuel, "What are they that said, 'Shall Saul reign over us? Bring them that we may slay them.'" But Saul said, "There shall no man die this day, for today the LORD hath saved Israel."