So the servants’ sin was very severe in the presence of the Lord, because they treated the Lord’s offering with contempt.

Now Eli was very old. He heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

The Ekronites called all the Philistine rulers together. They said, “Send the ark of Israel’s God away. It must return to its place so it won’t kill us and our people!” For the fear of death pervaded the city; God’s hand was oppressing them.

Previously, an Israelite man had declared: “Do you see this man who keeps coming out? He comes to defy Israel. The king will make the man who kills him very rich and will give him his daughter. The king will also make the household of that man’s father exempt from paying taxes in Israel.”

When Saul observed that David was very successful, he dreaded him.

Every time the Philistine commanders came out to fight, David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers. So his name became well known.

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

David took this to heart and became very afraid of King Achish of Gath,

A man in Maon had a business in Carmel; he was a very rich man with 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats and was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

Then Abigail went to Nabal, and there he was in his house, holding a feast fit for a king. Nabal was in a good mood and very drunk, so she didn’t say anything to him until morning light.

David replied to Achish, “Good, you will find out what your servant can do.”

So Achish said to David, “Very well, I will appoint you as my permanent bodyguard.”

David was in a difficult position because the troops talked about stoning him, for they were all very bitter over the loss of their sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.

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.