David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made to stay at the brook Besor; and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him. When David came near to the people, he greeted them.

David strapped his sword on his clothing, and he tried to move; for he had not tested it. David said to Saul, "I can't go with these; for I have not tested them." David took them off.

Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men surrounded David and his men to take them.

David said to his men, "Every man put on his sword." Every man put on his sword. David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David; and two hundred stayed by the baggage.

Saul knew David's voice, and said, "Is this your voice, my son David?" David said, "It is my voice, my lord, O king."

Then Saul said to David, "You are blessed, my son David. You shall both do mightily, and shall surely prevail." So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

David said, "The LORD who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go; and the LORD shall be with you."

The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" The Philistine cursed David by his gods.

It happened, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and killed him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

and Saul threw the spear; for he said, "I will pin David even to the wall." David escaped from his presence twice.

Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, "Does it seems to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, since I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?"

Saul said, "You shall tell David, 'The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies.'" Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

When his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. The days were not expired;

and David arose and went, he and his men, and killed of the Philistines one hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife.

Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul was David's enemy continually.

Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David.

Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, "Do not let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you;

Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as before.

Saul sought to pin David even to the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he stuck the spear into the wall. David fled, and escaped that night.

Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, "If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed."

Jonathan said to David, "By the LORD, the God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if there is good toward David, shall I not then send to you, and disclose it to you?

So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "The LORD will require it at the hand of David's enemies."

As soon as the boy was gone, David arose from beside the mound, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. They kissed one another, and wept one with another, and David wept the most.

Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no man with you?"

The servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another about him in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?'"

The prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold. Depart, and go into the land of Judah." Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.

Therefore David inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go and strike these Philistines?" The LORD said to David, "Go strike the Philistines, and save Keilah."

David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their livestock, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. It was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he gave up going there.

David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the wood.

Saul and his men went to seek him. When David was told, he went down to the rock, and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard that, he pursued David in the wilderness of Maon.

The men of David said to him, "Behold, the day of which the LORD said to you, 'Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.'" Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe secretly.

David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, "My lord the king." When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and showed respect.

David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to men's words, saying, 'Behold, David seeks your hurt?'

It came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, "Is this your voice, my son David?" Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.

David swore to Saul. Saul went home; but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.

When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.

Nabal answered David's servants, and said, "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days.

When Abigail saw David, she hurried, and got off from her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed is the LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. The LORD has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head." David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to him as wife.

When the servants of David had come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife."

David arose, and came to the place where Saul had encamped; and David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his army: and Saul lay within the place of the wagons, and the people were encamped around him.

David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.

David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gath, saying, "Lest they should tell of us, saying, 'David has done this, and this has been his way all the time he has lived in the country of the Philistines.'"

David said to Achish, "Therefore you shall know what your servant will do." Achish said to David, "therefore I will make you my bodyguard for ever."

Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?'"

David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring me here the ephod." Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives.

David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other livestock, and said, "This is David's spoil."