Then Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul's son Jonathan liked David very much.

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

Jonathan called to David and told him all of these words. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul and he was before him as {formerly}.

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

Then Saul sent messengers to check on David. He told them, "Bring him to me on the bed so I may kill him."

Then Saul told Michal, "Why did you deceive me like this and let my enemy go so he could escape?" Michal told Saul, "He told me, "Let me go or I'll kill you!'"

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

And it was told to Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.

And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also.

Then Saul went to Ramah himself and came to the great well that is in Secu; and he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And he was told, “They are at Naioth [with the prophets] in Ramah.”

Jonathan told him, "Far from it! You won't die. Look, my father never does anything, great or small, without telling me; so why should my father hide this thing from me? It's not like that!"

David again took an oath: "Your father certainly knows that I've found favor with you, and so he told himself, "Jonathan must not know this so he won't be upset.' But as certainly as the LORD is alive and living, and as certainly as I'm alive and living, too, there is only a step between me and death."

Jonathan told David, "Whatever you say, I'll do."

So David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I’m supposed to sit down and eat with the king. Instead, let me go, and I’ll hide in the field until the third night.

Then Jonathan said, "Far be it from you! For if I know for certain that {my father decided evil should come upon you}, would I not have told it to you?"

Then David told Jonathan, "Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?"

Then Jonathan told David, "Come, let's go into the field." So the two of them went into the field.

Jonathan told David, "The LORD God of Israel is my witness that I'll carefully question my father by tomorrow or the next day. And if the response is favorable for David, will I not then send word to you and let you know?

Jonathan told him, "Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed because your seat is empty.

Saul didn't say anything that day because he told himself, "Something has happened; he's unclean; surely he's not clean."

But the next day, on the second day of the New Moon, David's place was empty, and so Saul told his son Jonathan, "Why didn't Jesse's son come to the festival, either yesterday or today?"

He said, ‘Please let me go because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the town, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if you are pleased with me, let me go so I can see my brothers.’ That’s why he didn’t come to the king’s table.”

Saul flew into a rage and told Jonathan, "You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don't I know that you have chosen Jesse's son to your shame and to the shame of your mother who bore you?

Jonathan told his servant, "Run, find the arrows that I'm shooting." As the servant ran, Jonathan shot the arrow beyond him.

Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the servant who was with him and told him, "Go, take these things to the city."

Jonathan told David, "Go in peace since both of us swore in the name of the LORD: "May the LORD be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants forever.'" Then David got up and left, while Jonathan went to the city.

David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech was trembling as he came to meet David. Ahimelech told him, "Why are you alone, and no one with you?"

David replied to Ahimelech the priest, "The king instructed me to do something, but he said to me, 'Don't let anyone know the reason I am sending you or the instructions I have given you.' I have told my soldiers to wait at a certain place.

The priest told him, “There is no ordinary bread on hand. However, there is consecrated bread, but the young men may eat it only if they have kept themselves from women.”

David answered the priest, “Be assured that women have been kept from us in these three days since I set out, and the bodies of the young men were consecrated (ceremonially clean), although it was an ordinary (unconsecrated) journey; so how much more will their vessels be holy today?”

David told Ahimelech, "Is there no spear or sword available here? I took neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's mission is urgent."

The officials of Achish told him, "Isn't this David, king of the land? Isn't this the one about whom they sang as they danced, "Saul has struck down his thousands, but David his ten thousands'?"

Achish told his officials, "Look, you see a person acting like a madman. Why'd you bring him to me?

David went from there to Mizpah of Moab, and he told the king of Moab, "Please let my father and mother come and stay with you until I know what God is going to do for me."

The prophet Gad told David, "Don't remain in the stronghold. Go and enter the territory of Judah." So David left and went into the forest of Hereth.

Saul told his officials who were standing around him, "Listen, men of Benjamin! Will Jesse's son also give fields and vineyards to all of you? Will he make all of you officers over thousands and officers over hundreds?

The king told the guards, who were standing beside him, "Turn and kill the priests of the LORD because they supported David, and because they knew he was fleeing, but didn't inform me." But the officials of the king did not want to lift their hands to attack the priests of the LORD.

Then the king told Doeg, "You turn and attack the priests." Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests. That day he killed eighty-five men who carry the linen ephod.

Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of Yahweh.

David told Abiathar, "I knew on that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would certainly tell Saul! I'm responsible for the deaths of your father's whole family.

Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshing-floors.

David inquired of the LORD: "Shall I go and strike down these Philistines?" The LORD told David, "Go strike down the Philistines and deliver Keilah."

David's men told him, "Look, we're afraid here in Judah. How much then, if we go to Keilah against the Philistine army?"

And it was told to Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars.

When David realized that Saul was planning to harm him, he told Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod!"

Then David and his men who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah: and he forbore to go forth.

Jonathan told him, "Don't be afraid. My father Saul won't find you, and you will be king over Israel. I'll be your second-in-command. My father Saul also knows this."

Go, I pray you, prepare yet, and know, and see his place where his haunt is, and who hath seen him there: for it is told to me that he dealeth very subtilly.

Saul also and his men went to seek him. And they told David: wherefore he came down into a rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

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

so they said to him, “Look, this is the day the Lord told you about: ‘I will hand your enemy over to you so you can do to him whatever you desire.’” Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

He told his men, "God forbid that I should do this thing to your majesty, the LORD's anointed, by stretching out my hand against him, since he's the LORD's anointed."

Then David told Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of those who say, "Look, David is trying to harm you?'

Today your own eyes see how the Lord delivered you -- this very day -- into my hands in the cave. Some told me to kill you, but I had pity on you and said, 'I will not extend my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's chosen one.'

You yourself have told me today what good you did for me: when the Lord handed me over to you, you didn’t kill me.

David's young men came to Nabal and told him all this in David's name, and then they waited.

So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all these sayings.

David told his men, "Put on your swords." They put on their swords, and David put on his sword. Then about 400 men followed David, while 200 stayed with the supplies.

But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed at them.

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

David told Abigail, "Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today.

David took from her what she had brought him and told her, "Go up to your house in peace. Look, I've heard your request and will grant it."

And Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: Therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.

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

Then David sent word to Abigail that he would take her as his wife. David's servants went to Abigail at Carmel and told her, "David sent us to you to take you to him as his wife."

Abishai told David, "Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Let me run the spear through him into the ground with a single blow. I won't need to strike him twice!"

David told Abishai, "Don't destroy him. Who can raise his hand to strike the LORD's anointed and remain innocent?

David told Abner, "Are you not a man, and who is like you in Israel? Why didn't you guard your lord, the king? Indeed, a soldier came to destroy the king, your lord.

Saul told David, "Blessed are you, my son David. In whatever you do you will surely succeed." So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

David told himself, "One of these days I'll perish by Saul's hand. There is nothing better for me to do than to escape to Philistine territory. Saul will give up searching for me anymore within the borders of Israel, so I'll escape from him."

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

David told Achish, "If it pleases you, give me a place in one of the outlying towns, so I may live there. Why should your servant live with you in the royal city?"

David answered, "Against the Negev of Judah, against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites, and against the Negev of the Kenites." David did not leave a man or woman alive to bring to Gath. He told himself, "Otherwise, they'll say, "This is what David is doing, and this has been his practice all the time he has lived in Philistine territory.'"

At that time the Philistines assembled their army for war to fight against Israel. Achish told David, "You know, of course, that you and your men will go out with me into the battle."

David told Achish, "Very well, you will now see what your servant will do." Achish told David, "Very well, I'll appoint you as my permanent bodyguard."

Saul told his servants, "Find me a woman who is a medium so I can go to her and make my inquiry through her." His servants told him, "Look, there's a woman at Endor who is a medium."

The woman told him, "Look, you know what Saul has done. He has removed mediums and spiritists from the land, so why are you trying to entrap me, so as to cause my death?"

When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out loudly. The woman told Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!"

The king told her, "Don't be afraid; but what do you see?" The woman told Saul, "I see a divine being coming up out of the ground."

Saul told her, "What does he look like?" She said, "An old man is coming up, and he's wrapped in a robe." Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed low to the ground and prostrated himself.

Samuel told Saul, "Why did you disturb me by bringing me up?" Saul said, "I'm in great distress. The Philistines are waging war against me. God has departed from me and won't answer me anymore, either by messages written by the hand of the prophets or by dreams. So I've summoned you to tell me what I should do."

When the woman came to Saul and saw how terrified he was, she said to him, "Your servant has done what you asked. I took my life into my own hands and did what you told me.

The Philistine commanders, however, were enraged with Achish and told him, “Send that man back and let him return to the place you assigned him. He must not go down with us into battle only to become our adversary during the battle. What better way could he regain his master’s favor than with the heads of our men?

So Achish summoned David and told him, “As the Lord lives, you are an honorable man. I think it is good to have you working with me in the camp, because I have found no fault in you from the day you came to me until today. But the leaders don’t think you are reliable.

David told Achish, "What have I done, and what have you found in your servant from the time I came before you until this very moment, that I shouldn't go out and fight the enemies of your majesty?"

David told Ahimelech's son Abiathar the priest, "Bring me the ephod." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

The LORD told David, "Pursue them! You will definitely overtake them and rescue the captives." So David and 600 men who were with him set out. They came to the Wadi Besor where those who were left behind stayed.

David told him, "To whom do you belong and where are you from?"

Saul told his armor bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised people will come and run me through and make sport of me." But his armor bearer did not want to do it because he was very frightened, so Saul took the sword and fell on it.