Then Saul recognized David's voice and said, "[Is] this your voice, my son David?" And David said, "[It is] my voice, my lord the king."

And David's men said to him, "Look, today [is] the day about which Yahweh said to you, 'See, I am giving your enemy into your hand, and you can do to him {whatever seems good to you}.'" So David got up and secretly cut the hem of Saul's robe.

So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and with the stone, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him, but there was no sword in David's hand.

Then Saul sent messengers to David's house to guard him and to kill him in the morning, but Michal his wife told David, saying, "If {you do not save your life} tonight, [then] tomorrow you [will be] killed!"

So David's young men came and they spoke all these words to Nabal in the name of David. Then they waited.

But Nabal answered David's servants and said, "Who [is] David? And who [is] the son of Jesse? Today, [there] are many servants breaking away from the presence of their masters.

When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell on her face before {David's anger}, and she bowed down to the ground.

And David took all of the sheep, and the cattle they drove along in front of that livestock, and they said, "This [is] David's plunder."

The king sat at his seat {as before}, the seat by the wall, and Jonathan got up, and Abner sat beside Saul, but David's place was empty.

{And then} on the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David's place was empty. So Saul asked Jonathan his son, "Why did the son of Jesse not come either yesterday or today to the feast?"

But David's men said to him, "Look, we [are] afraid here in Judah. {How much more} [if] we go [to] Keilah to the battle lines of [the] Philistines?"

So David's young men turned on their way and returned and came and told him according to all these words.

(Now Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who [was] from Gallim.)

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

And Saul's servants spoke these words {to David privately}. But David said, "[Is] it insignificant {in your sight} to become the son-in-law of the king, [as] I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?"

And David got up, and he and his men went and struck down two hundred men [of the] Philistines. Then David brought their foreskins, and {they presented the full number} to become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as [his] wife.

Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants about killing David, but Saul's son Jonathan {liked David very much}.

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 David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire, but he tried in vain to walk [around], for he was not trained to use [them]. So David said to Saul, "I am not able to walk with these, because I am not trained to use [them]." So David removed them.

Saul went {on one side of the mountain}, and David and his men {went on the other side of the mountain}. David was hurrying to get away from Saul, while Saul and his men [were] closing in on David and his men to capture them.

Then David said to his men, "Each man strap on his sword!" So each one strapped on his sword, and David also strapped on his sword. About four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

Then Saul said to David, "Blessed are you, my son David; {you will not only do many things, but also will always succeed}!" Then David went on his way and Saul returned to his place.

So David came to Saul and {entered his service}. He loved him greatly and {he became Saul's armor bearer}.

David said to Saul, "Do not let anyone's heart fail concerning him! Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."

{On} [the] next day, the evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. Now David was playing [the lyre] with his hand on [that] day {as usual}, and the spear was in Saul's hand.

{But} at the time Saul's daughter Merab [was] to be given to David, she was given [instead] to Adriel the Meholathite as wife.

Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David, so they told Saul, and the matter {pleased him}.

So Saul sent messengers to capture David. When they saw the company of the prophets prophesying and Samuel standing [as] chief over them, then the Spirit of God came upon Saul's messengers, and they also prophesied.

David asked Ahimelech, "Is there not {at your disposal} a spear or a sword? For I took neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's matter was urgent."

David went from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father's household heard, they came down to him there.

Then David said to Abiathar, "I knew on that day that Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would certainly tell Saul. {I am responsible for the deaths of all your father's household}!

{And then} afterward David {felt guilty}, because he had cut {the hem of Saul's robe}.

But a young man of the servants told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Look, David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but he addressed them angrily,

But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him! For who has stretched out his hand against Yahweh's anointed one and remained blameless?"

So David took the spear and the jar of water from [near] Saul's head, and they went [away]. {No one saw, no one knew, and no one awakened}, for all of them [were] sleeping because a deep sleep of Yahweh had fallen upon them.

David answered and said, "Here is the king's spear; let one of the young men come over and take it.

So David asked him, "Will you take me down to this band [of raiders]?" He said, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and that you will not deliver me into my master's hand! Then I will take you down to this band."