Saul recognized David’s voice and asked, “Is that your voice, my son David?”

“It is my voice, my lord and king,” David said.

David did not let a man or woman live to be brought to Gath, for he said, “Or they will inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.’” This was David’s custom during the whole time he stayed in the Philistine territory.

So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam. When David’s brothers and his father’s whole family heard, they went down and joined him there.

David’s young men went and said all these things to Nabal on David’s behalf, and they waited.

Then Saul had his own military clothes put on David. He put a bronze helmet on David’s head and had him put on armor.

Then Saul replied, “Say this to David: ‘The king desires no other bride-price except 100 Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’” Actually, Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.

and he became even more afraid of David. As a result, Saul was David’s enemy from then on.

Saul sent agents to David’s house to watch for him and kill him in the morning. But his wife Michal warned David, “If you don’t escape tonight, you will be dead tomorrow!”

Then Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord hold David’s enemies accountable.”

When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David sent us to bring you to him as a wife.”

However, the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why didn’t Jesse’s son come to the meal either yesterday or today?”

Afterward, David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

David’s oldest brother Eliab listened as he spoke to the men, and became angry with him. “Why did you come down here?” he asked. “Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and your evil heart—you came down to see the battle!”

don’t ever withdraw your faithful love from my household—not even when the Lord cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”

He sat at his usual place on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat facing him and Abner took his place beside Saul, but David’s place was empty.

But David’s men said to him, “Look, we’re afraid here in Judah; how much more if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!”

David’s men retraced their steps. When they returned to him, they reported all these words.

Then Abigail got up quickly, and with her five female servants accompanying her, rode on the donkey following David’s messengers. And so she became his wife.

But Saul gave his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had also been kidnapped.

He took all the sheep and cattle, which were driven ahead of the other livestock, and the people shouted, “This is David’s plunder!”

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise the Lord who championed my cause against Nabal’s insults and restrained His servant from doing evil. The Lord brought Nabal’s evil deeds back on his own head.”

Then David sent messengers to speak to Abigail about marrying him.

Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much,

But Achish’s servants said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Don’t they sing about him during their dances:

Saul has killed his thousands,
but David his tens of thousands?”

David and his men stayed with Achish in Gath. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.

David strapped his sword on over the military clothes and tried to walk, but he was not used to them. “I can’t walk in these,” David said to Saul, “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off.

Saul went along one side of the mountain and David and his men went along the other side. Even though David was hurrying to get away from Saul, Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them.

David took Goliath’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.

Then David responded, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”

Saul’s servants reported these words directly to David, but he replied, “Is it trivial in your sight to become the king’s son-in-law? I am a poor man who is common.”

One of Nabal’s young men informed Abigail, Nabal’s wife: “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he yelled at them.