if he be able to fight with me, and have smitten me, then we have been to you for servants; and if I am able for him, and have smitten him, then ye have been to us for servants, and have served us.'

And the men of Israel say, 'Have ye seen this man who is coming up? for, to reproach Israel he is coming up, and it hath been -- the man who smiteth him, the king doth enrich him with great riches, and his daughter he doth give to him, and his father's house doth make free in Israel.'

The soldiers told him what had been promised, saying, "This is what will be done for the man who can strike him down."

But Saul said to David, "You will not be able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, because you are [only] a boy, whereas [he has] been a man of war since his childhood!"

And David said to Saul, "Your servant has been a shepherd of the flock for his father. If the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the group,

Both the lion and the bear hath thy servant smitten, and this uncircumcised Philistine hath been as one of them, for he hath reproached the ranks of the living God.'

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 it cometh to pass, when he finisheth to speak unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan hath been bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loveth him as his own soul.

And Saul is afraid of the presence of David, for Jehovah hath been with him, and from Saul He hath turned aside;

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

And his servants declare to David these words, and the thing is right in the eyes of David, to be son-in-law to the king; and the days have not been full,

and Jonathan son of Saul delighted exceedingly in David, and Jonathan declareth to David, saying, 'Saul my father is seeking to put thee to death, and, now, take heed, I pray thee, in the morning, and thou hast abode in a secret place, and been hidden,

And Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been toward thee very good:

And Saul said to Michal, why have you been false to me, letting my hater go and get safely away? And in answer Michal said to Saul, He said to me, Let me go, or I will put you to death.

And David saith unto Jonathan, 'Lo, the new moon is to-morrow; and I do certainly sit with the king to eat; and thou hast sent me away, and I have been hidden in a field till the third evening;

If, thus, he say - It is well, - thy servant shall have, peace, - but, if it, anger, him, know that harm hath been determined by him.

So, then, be kind to your servant; for you have been united with your servant in an agreement made before the Lord: but if there is any wrongdoing in me, put me to death yourself; why take me to your father?

And Jonathan saith, 'Far be it from thee! for I certainly do not know that the evil hath been determined by my father to come upon thee, and I do not declare it to thee.'

The LORD do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it shall please my father to do thee evil, then I will show it to 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 Jonathan saith to him, 'To-morrow is new moon, and thou hast been looked after, for thy seat is looked after;

Saul, however, spake nothing that day, - for he said to himself - It is, an accident, he is, not clean, because he hath not been cleansed.

And Jonathan answereth Saul, 'David hath been earnestly asked of me unto Beth-Lehem,

And Saul casteth the javelin at him to smite him, and Jonathan knoweth that it hath been determined by his father to put David to death.

And Jonathan riseth from the table in the heat of anger, and hath not eaten food on the second day of the new moon, for he hath been grieved for David, for his father put him to shame.

And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has given me orders and has said to me, Say nothing to anyone about the business on which I am sending you and the orders I have given you: and a certain place has been fixed to which the young men are to go.

And the priest answereth David, and saith, 'There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if the youths have been kept only from women.'

And David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yes, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel.

So the priest gave him holy bread, for there was no bread there other than the bread of the Presence. It had been removed from before the Lord in order to replace it with hot bread on the day it had been taken away.

Now Saul heard that David and the men who [were] with him had been located. Saul [was] sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk [tree] at Ramah. Now his spear [was] in his hand and all his servants [were] stationed around him.

For all of you have conspired against me, and {no one discloses to me} the {making} [of an agreement] between my son and the son of Jesse! None of you have had sympathy for me or {disclosed to me} [that] {my son commissioned my servant against me to ambush me} as [has been done] this day!"

Then Saul said to him, "Why did you conspire against me, you and the son of Jesse, when you gave to him bread and a sword, and by inquiring of God for him so that he might arise against me to ambush [me] as [has been done] this day?"

And the king saith to runners, those standing by him, 'Turn round, and put to death the priests of Jehovah, because their hand also is with David, and because they have known that he is fleeing, and have not uncovered mine ear;' and the servants of the king have not been willing to put forth their hand to come against the priests of Jehovah.

And it is declared to Saul that David hath come in to Keilah, and Saul saith, 'God hath made him known for my hand, for he hath been shut in, to enter into a city of doors and bar.'

Then David said, O Lord, the God of Israel, news has been given to your servant that it is Saul's purpose to come to Keilah and send destruction on the town because of me.

And David riseth -- and his men -- about six hundred men, and they go out from Keilah, and go up and down where they go up and down; and to Saul it hath been declared that David hath escaped from Keilah, and he ceaseth to go out.

Saul said, "May you be blessed by the LORD, because you have been gracious to me.

Go, I pray you, make ready yet further, and get to know and see his place, where may be his track, who hath seen him there, - for it hath been said unto me, Cunning indeed, is, he!

And see and know of all the hiding-places where he hideth himself, and ye have turned back unto me prepared, and I have gone with you, and it hath been, if he is in the land, that I have searched him out through all the thousands of Judah.'

Then Saul and his men departed, to seek him ; but it had been told David, and he had gone down the cliff, and taken up his abode in the wilderness of Maon, - and when Saul had, heard it, he pursued David in the wilderness of Maon.

And David said to his men, Before the Lord, never let it be said that my hand was lifted up against my lord, the man of the Lord's selection, for the Lord's holy oil has been put on him.

Look! you have seen today how the Lord gave you up into my hands even now in the hollow of the rocks: and some would have had me put you to death, but I had pity on you: for I said, Never will my hand be lifted up against my lord, who has been marked with the holy oil.

And Jehovah hath been for judge, and hath judged between me and thee, yea, he seeth and pleadeth my cause, and doth deliver me out of thy hand.'

And you have made clear to me how good you have been to me today: because, when the Lord gave me up into your hands, you did not put me to death.

Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have now been with us, and we did not hurt them, neither was there anything missing from them, all the while they were in Carmel.

And Nabal answereth the servants of David and saith, 'Who is David, and who the son of Jesse? to-day have servants been multiplied who are breaking away each from his master;

But these men have been very good to us; they did us no wrong and nothing of ours was touched while we were with them in the fields:

a wall they have been unto us both by night and by day, all the days of our being with them, feeding the flock.

And so then, know and {consider} what you should do, for evil has been decided against our master and against all his household, and he [is such] {a wicked man}, {nobody can reason with him}!"

Now David had been thinking, "In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the desert. I didn't take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil.

And, now, this blessing which thy maid-servant hath brought to my lord -- it hath been given to the young men who are going up and down at the feet of my lord.

I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thy handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.

And man riseth to pursue thee and to seek thy soul, and the soul of my lord hath been bound in the bundle of life with Jehovah thy God; as to the soul of thine enemies, He doth sling them out in the midst of the hollow of the sling.

'And it hath been, when Jehovah doth to my lord according to all the good which He hath spoken concerning thee, and appointed thee for leader over Israel,

Then you will have no cause for grief, and my lord's heart will not be troubled because you have taken life without cause and have yourself given punishment for your wrongs: and when the Lord has been good to you, then give a thought to your servant.

For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, who hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light any male person.

And it cometh to pass in the morning, when the wine is gone out from Nabal, that his wife declareth to him these things, and his heart dieth within him, and he hath been as a stone.

And David saith unto Abishai, 'Destroy him not; for who hath put forth his hand against the anointed of Jehovah, and been acquitted?'

And David saith, 'Jehovah liveth; except Jehovah doth smite him, or his day come that he hath died, or into battle he go down, and hath been consumed --

Saul responded, “I have sinned. Come back, my son David, I will never harm you again because today you considered my life precious. I have been a fool! I’ve committed a grave error.”

and Jehovah doth turn back to each his righteousness and his faithfulness, in that Jehovah hath given thee to-day into my hand, and I have not been willing to put forth my hand against the anointed of Jehovah,

and lo, as thy soul hath been great this day in mine eyes, so is my soul great in the eyes of Jehovah, and He doth deliver me out of all distress.'

And David saith unto his heart, 'Now am I consumed one day by the hand of Saul; there is nothing for me better than that I diligently escape unto the land of the Philistines, and Saul hath been despairing of me -- of seeking me any more in all the border of Israel, and I have escaped out of his hand.'

David stayed with Achish in Gath along with his men, each of whom was with his household. David had his two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, who had been the wife of Nabal of Carmel.

And Achish giveth to him in that day Ziklag, therefore hath Ziklag been to the kings of Judah till this day.

Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites, for they had been living [in] the land for a long time {in the direction of} Shur and {as far as} the land of Egypt.

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."

And David did not keep alive man or woman to bring news to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So David did, and so has been his custom all the days he lived in the fields of the Philistines.

And Achish believeth in David, saying, 'He hath made himself utterly abhorred among his people, in Israel, and hath been to me for a servant age-during.'

And the woman cometh in unto Saul, and seeth that he hath been greatly troubled, and saith unto him, 'Lo, thy maid-servant hath hearkened to thy voice, and I put my soul in my hand, and I obey thy words which thou hast spoken unto me;

Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who hath been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell to me to this day?

Then Achish called David, and said to him, Surely, as the LORD liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee from the day of thy coming to me to this day: nevertheless the lords favor thee not.

And David said to Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant, so long as I have been with thee to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king.

When David and his men came to the city, {they saw}, and [it] was burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive.

Two of David's wives had been taken captive. Ahinoam {from Jezreel} and Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

and David hath great distress, for the people have said to stone him, for the soul of all the people hath been bitter, each for his sons and for his daughters; and David doth strengthen himself in Jehovah his God.

and David pursueth, he and four hundred men, (and two hundred men stand still who have been too faint to pass over the brook of Besor),

And David saith to him, 'Whose art thou? and whence art thou?' And he saith, 'An Egyptian youth I am, servant to a man, an Amalekite, and my lord forsaketh me, for I have been sick three days,

Nothing of theirs was missing whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken; David recovered it all.

Then David came to [the] two hundred men {who had been too exhausted to follow} David; they had left them behind at the Wadi Besor. They went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. David came near with the people and {asked them how they were doing}.

Then responded every man who was bad and abandoned, from among the men who had been with David, and said - Because they went not with me there shall not be given them of the spoil that we have rescued, - save, to every man, his wife and his children, let them put them forth, then, and go.

And it has been so from that day forward. David established this policy as a law and an ordinance for Israel and it continues to this very day.

and to them who were in Hebron, - and to all the places where David had been to and fro, he and his men.

and Saul saith to the bearer of his weapons, 'Draw thy sword, and pierce me with it, lest they come -- these uncircumcised -- and have pierced me, and rolled themselves on me;' and the bearer of his weapons hath not been willing, for he is greatly afraid, and Saul taketh the sword, and falleth upon it.