There was bronze armor on his shins, and a bronze sword was slung between his shoulders.

His spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed 15 pounds. In addition, a shield-bearer was walking in front of him.

Now David was the son of the Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah named Jesse. Jesse had eight sons and during Saul’s reign was already an old man.

and David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul,

So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with someone to keep it, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him.

He arrived at the perimeter of the camp as the army was marching out to its battle formation shouting their battle cry.

While he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the Philistine battle line and shouted his usual words, which David heard.

“What have I done now?” protested David. “It was just a question.”

What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, so he had David brought to him.

But Saul replied, “You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young.”

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.

When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a youth, healthy and handsome.

David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword, pulled it from its sheath, and used it to kill him. Then he cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they ran.

Then Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his military tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

David marched out with the army and was successful in everything Saul sent him to do. Saul put him in command of the soldiers, which pleased all the people and Saul’s servants as well.

As the troops were coming back, when David was returning from killing the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing with tambourines, with shouts of joy, and with three-stringed instruments.

Saul was furious and resented this song. “They credited tens of thousands to David,” he complained, “but they only credited me with thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom?”

The next day an evil spirit sent from God took control of Saul, and he began to rave inside the palace. David was playing the lyre as usual, but Saul was holding a spear,

Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with David but had left Saul.

and continued to be successful in all his activities because the Lord was with him.

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

But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was leading their troops.

Saul told David, “Here is my oldest daughter Merab. I’ll give her to you as a wife, if you will be a warrior for me and fight the Lord’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “My hand doesn’t need to be against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

When it was time to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.

Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when it was reported to Saul, it pleased him.

When the servants reported these terms to David, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the wedding day arrived,

Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him,

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

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.

Now an evil spirit sent from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his palace holding a spear. David was playing the lyre,

When the messengers arrived, to their surprise, the household idol was on the bed with some goat hair on its head.

When it was reported to Saul that David was at Naioth in Ramah,

If my father intends to bring evil on you, may God punish Jonathan and do so severely if I do not tell you and send you away so you may go in peace. May the Lord be with you, just as He was with my father.

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.

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?”

Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan to kill him, so he knew that his father was determined to kill David.

He got up from the table in fierce anger and did not eat any food that second day of the New Moon, for he was grieved because of his father’s shameful behavior toward David.

In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointed meeting with David. A small young man was with him.

Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the young man who was with him and said, “Go, take it back to the city.”

David went to Ahimelech the priest at Nob. Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?”

So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that had been removed from the presence of the Lord. When the bread was removed, it had been replaced with warm bread.

One of Saul’s servants, detained before the Lord, was there that day. His name was Doeg the Edomite, chief of Saul’s shepherds.

David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword on hand? I didn’t even bring my sword or my weapons since the king’s mission was urgent.”

In addition, every man who was desperate, in debt, or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About 400 men were with him.

So he left them in the care of the king of Moab, and they stayed with him the whole time David was in the stronghold.

Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. At that time Saul was in Gibeah, sitting under the tamarisk tree at the high place. His spear was in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him.

Then Doeg the Edomite, who was in charge of Saul’s servants, answered: “I saw Jesse’s son come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob.

Was today the first time I inquired of God for him? Of course not! Please don’t let the king make an accusation against your servant or any of my father’s household, for your servant didn’t have any idea about all this.”

Then the king ordered the guards standing by him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord because they sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they didn’t tell me.” But the king’s servants would not lift a hand to execute the priests of the Lord.

However, one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub escaped. His name was Abiathar, and he fled to David.

Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that Doeg the Edomite was there that day and that he was sure to report to Saul. I myself am responsible for the lives of everyone in your father’s family.

It was reported to David: “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and raiding the threshing floors.”

When it was reported to Saul that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has handed him over to me, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with barred gates.”

When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”

So David and his men, numbering about 600, left Keilah at once and moved from place to place. When it was reported to Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he called off the expedition.

David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in Horesh when he saw that Saul had come out to take his life.

and Saul and his men went to look for him. When David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. Saul heard of this and pursued David there.

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.

So Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to engage the Philistines. Therefore, that place was named the Rock of Separation.

When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness near En-gedi.”

When Saul came to the sheep pens along the road, a cave was there, and he went in to relieve himself. David and his men were staying in the back of the cave,

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.

The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name, Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, but the man, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.

While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep,

I hear that you are shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel.

The men treated us well. When we were in the field, we weren’t harassed and nothing of ours was missing the whole time we were living among them.

David had just said, “I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness for nothing. He was not missing anything, yet he paid me back evil for good.

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.

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.

She stood up, then bowed her face to the ground and said, “Here I am, your servant, to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

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

Saul camped beside the road at the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon. David was living in the wilderness and discovered Saul had come there after him.

Immediately, David went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the general of his army, were lying down. Saul was lying inside the inner circle of the camp with the troops camped around him.

That night, David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and the troops were lying around him.

David crossed to the other side and stood on top of the mountain at a distance; there was a considerable space between them.

May the Lord repay every man for his righteousness and his loyalty. I wasn’t willing to lift my hand against the Lord’s anointed, even though the Lord handed you over to me today.

When it was reported to Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.

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.

When Saul saw the Philistine camp, he was afraid and trembled violently.

Then Saul asked her, “What does he look like?”

“An old man is coming up,” she replied. “He’s wearing a robe.” Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed his face to the ground and paid homage.

Immediately, Saul fell flat on the ground. He was terrified by Samuel’s words and was also weak because he hadn’t had any food all day and all night.

The woman came over to Saul, and she saw that he was terrified and said to him, “Look, your servant has obeyed you. I took my life in my hands and did what you told me to do.

The Philistines brought all their military units together at Aphek while Israel was camped by the spring in Jezreel.

“But what have I done?” David replied to Achish. “From the first day I was with you until today, what have you found against your servant to keep me from going along to fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

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.

Nothing of theirs was missing from the youngest to the oldest, including the sons and daughters, of all the plunder the Amalekites had taken. David got everything back.

Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me.” But his armor-bearer would not do it because he was terrified. Then Saul took his sword and fell on it.

When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died with him.

“What was the outcome? Tell me,” David asked him.

“The troops fled from the battle,” he answered. “Many of the troops have fallen and are dead. Also, Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”

“I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” he replied, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear. At that very moment the chariots and the cavalry were closing in on him.

So I stood over him and killed him because I knew that after he had fallen he couldn’t survive. I took the crown that was on his head and the armband that was on his arm, and I’ve brought them here to my lord.”

Mountains of Gilboa,
let no dew or rain be on you,
or fields of offerings,
for there the shield of the mighty was defiled—
the shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.

I grieve for you, Jonathan, my brother.
You were such a friend to me.
Your love for me was more wonderful
than the love of women.

Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. They told David: “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.”

Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was 40 years old when he began his reign over Israel; he ruled for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David.

The length of time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

The battle that day was extremely fierce, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by David’s soldiers.

The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel was a fast runner, like one of the wild gazelles.

The war between the house of Saul and the house of David was long and drawn out, with David growing stronger and the house of Saul becoming weaker.

Sons were born to David in Hebron:

his firstborn was Amnon,
by Ahinoam the Jezreelite;

his second was Chileab,
by Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite;
the third was Absalom,
son of Maacah the daughter of King Talmai of Geshur;