Jonathan summoned David and told him all this. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and David served him as before.

When Saul and his men went to search for David, some people told David, and he went down to the Rock of Escape and remained in the wilderness of Maon. Saul heard this and he pursued David into the wilderness of Maon.

Saul went on one side of the mountain while 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.

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.

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."

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 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.'"

David came to the 200 men who were too exhausted to follow him and who had been left at the Wadi Besor. They came out to meet David and the people who were with him. As David approached the people, he asked them how they were doing.

Right about then, David's servants returned from a raid, bringing plenty of war booty with them, but Abner wasn't in Hebron with David, since David had sent him away and Abner had left in peace.

As a result, David was unwilling to take the ark of the LORD into his care in the City of David. Instead, David left it at the home of Obed-edom the Gittite.

Later on, David was informed, "The LORD has blessed the home of Obed-edom and everything he has since he's in possession of the Ark of God." So David went out joyfully and brought up the Ark of God to the City of David from Obed-edom's home.

He threw rocks at David and all of David's staff who were accompanying him, while all the rest of the entourage, including all of David's security detail, were close by him.

The inhabitants of Jebus told David, "You're not coming in here!" Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion, now known as the City of David.

So David received them and assigned them to be officers over troops. Some of the descendants of Manasseh joined David when he was going to fight against Saul, accompanied by the Philistines. Even so, David was of no help to them, because the Philistine rulers were counseled to send him away. They told themselves, "He's going to go over to his master Saul at the cost of our heads."

When the Philistines learned that David had been anointed king over all of Israel, all of the Philistines invaded to look for David. David heard about it and went out to fight them.

As David approached Ornan, Ornan looked around and observed David, left the threshing floor, and fell to the ground before David with his face on the ground.

King David also rejoiced greatly. Then David blessed the LORD in the presence of the entire assembly. David said, How blessed you are, LORD, the God of our ancestor Israel, from eternity to eternity!

At that time, the LORD will defend those who live in Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them at that time will be like David. The entire house of David will be like God indeed, like the angel of the LORD in their midst!

LORD, may your gracious love be upon us, even as we hope in you. By David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away. So David left.