He turned around from him to another opposite [him] and {he spoke to him in the same way}, and the people {answered him as before}.

Now the words which David had spoken were heard and they reported [them] {to} Saul, and he summoned him.

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

But Saul said to David, "You will not be able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, because you are [only] a boy, whereas [he has] been a man of war since his childhood!"

Then Saul clothed David with his [own] fighting attire and put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him [with] body armor.

Then the Philistine {came on, getting nearer and nearer} to David, with {his shield bearer} in front of him.

When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him, for he was [only] a boy and ruddy with a handsome appearance.

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 David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it from its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

So when David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. The head of the Philistine [was] in his hand.

Then Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, young man?" And David said, "[I am] the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."

{When} he finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan became attached to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his [own] soul.

Saul took him on that [very] day and did not allow him to return to his father's house.

Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his [own] soul.

David went out {whenever} Saul sent him, [and] he succeeded. So Saul appointed him over the men of the war, and it {pleased} all the people and even {pleased} the servants of Saul.

{Saul became very angry}, and {this saying displeased him}, and he thought, "They have attributed to David ten thousands, but to me they have attributed thousands! {What more can he have but the kingdom}?"

Then Saul hurled the spear and thought, "{I will pin David to the wall}." But David eluded him twice.

{Now Saul was threatened by the presence of David} because Yahweh was with him, but had departed from Saul.

So Saul removed him {from his presence}, and made him commander of a thousand, {so he marched in and out at the front of the army}.

And David was achieving success in all his ways and Yahweh [was] with him,

but when Saul saw that he [was] very successful, {he was severely threatened by him}.

Then Saul said to David, "Here [is] my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you as [your] wife. Only be {a brave warrior} for me and fight the battles of Yahweh." For Saul thought, "My hand will not be against him, but let the hand of [the] Philistines be against him."

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

And Saul thought, "I will give her to him, so that she may be a snare for him and the hand of [the] Philistines may be against him." So Saul said to David, "For a second [time] you can become my son-in-law today."

So the servants of Saul informed him, saying, "{This is what David said}."

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.

When Saul {realized} that Yahweh [was] with David and {his own daughter Michal} loved him,

So Jonathan spoke well about David to his father Saul and said to him, "The king should not sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his service for you [has been] very good.

Jonathan called to David and told him all of these words. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul and he was before him as {formerly}.

War came again, so David went out and fought against [the] Philistines and {defeated them thoroughly} so that they fled before him.

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 Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, "Bring him up to me in the bed, so that I can kill him."

So David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth.

So he went there to Naioth in Ramah and the Spirit of God came upon him also, and {he walked along prophesying} until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

And he said to him, "Far from it! You will not die! Look, my father does not do {anything large or small unless he reveals it to me}. Why should my father hide this thing or anything from me?"

And Jonathan again made David swear an oath, because he loved him; for with the love of his soul he loved him.

Then Jonathan said to him, "Tomorrow [is] the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will stay empty.

But Saul said nothing on that day, for he thought, "{Something happened to him}. He [is] not [ceremonially] clean; surely he [is] not clean."

Then {Saul became angry} at Jonathan and said to him, "[You] son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?

For {as long as} the son of Jesse [is] alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established! So then, send and bring him to me, for {he will surely die}!"

But Jonathan answered his father Saul and said to him, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?"

Then Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. So Jonathan knew {that his father had decided} to kill David.

Jonathan got up from the table {enraged}, and did not eat on the second day of the new moon because he was upset about David, because his father had disgraced him.

{And then} in the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a young boy [was] with him.

He said to his servant, "Run, please find the arrows that I am shooting!" The boy ran, and he shot the arrow to pass [over] him.

Jonathan gave his weapons to his servant and said to him, "Go, bring [them] to the city."

Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came trembling to meet David, and he said to him, "Why are you alone and there are no men with you?"

David answered the priest and said to him, "Indeed, women [were] held back from us {as it has been when I've gone out before}. And the things of the young men are holy when it [is] an ordinary journey. {How much more} {today} will the things be holy?"

So the priest gave him [the] holy [bread], for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which was removed from before Yahweh, in order to set hot bread [there] on the day when it was taken away.

The servants of Achish said to him, "[Is] not this David the king of the land? [Is] it not for this [one] that they sang in the dances, saying, 'Saul killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands?'"

Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see a madman! Why did you bring him to me?

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.

Every man in distress and every man who had a creditor and every embittered man gathered to him, and he became {their commander}. Now there [were] about four hundred men with him.

So {he brought them before the king of Moab}, and they stayed with him all the days David was in the stronghold.

Now Saul heard that David and the men who [were] with him had been located. Saul [was] sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk [tree] at Ramah. Now his spear [was] in his hand and all his servants [were] stationed around him.

Then Saul said to the servants who [were] standing around him, "Please listen, {Benjaminites}! Will the son of Jesse give you all fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds?

And he inquired of Yahweh for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine."

Then Saul said to him, "Why did you conspire against me, you and the son of Jesse, when you gave to him bread and a sword, and by inquiring of God for him so that he might arise against me to ambush [me] as [has been done] this day?"

[Only] today I began to inquire of God for him. Far be it from me that {the king should impute anything against his servant} or against my father's household, for your servant has not known any of this matter, little or much."

So the king said to the runners [who were] stationed around him, "Turn and kill the priests of Yahweh, because {they also support David} and because they knew that he was fleeing and {did not disclose it to me}." But the servants of the king [were] not willing to raise their hand to attack the priests of Yahweh.

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 again inquired of Yahweh, and Yahweh answered him and said, "Get up, go down [to] Keilah, for I [am] giving [the] Philistines into your hand.

When it was told to Saul that David had gone to Keilah, Saul said, "God {has given him} into my hand, because he has shut himself in by going into a city [with] {two barred gates}.

When David learned that Saul [was] plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here."

David remained in the wilderness, in the strongholds, and in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him {continually}, but God did not give him into his hand

So Jonathan the son of Saul got up and went to David [at] Horesh, and {encouraged him} through God.

He said to him, "Do not be afraid, for the hand of my father Saul will not find you. You will be king over Israel, and {I will be second to you}. My father Saul knows [this] also."

So then, O king, {whenever you want} to come down, come down, and [it will be] for us to deliver him into the hand of the king."

Go, please, make certain again! Find out and see {exactly where he is} and who has seen him there! For they have said to me, 'He [is] very cunning.'

Look, find out all of the hiding places where he hides. Then return to me {with dependable information}, and I will go with you. And then if he [is] there in the land, then I will seek him among all the thousands of Judah."

And Saul and his men went to seek [him], and they told David, so he went down [to] the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard [this], he pursued David [into] the wilderness of Maon.

When Saul returned from [pursuing the] Philistines, they told him, "Look, David [is] in the wilderness of En Gedi."

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.

He said to his men, "Far be it from me in Yahweh, that I do this thing to my lord, to Yahweh's anointed one, by stretching out my hand against him! For he [is] the anointed one of Yahweh."

Then David got up afterward and went out of the cave and called after Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked after him, David knelt down [with his] face to the ground and bowed down.

May Yahweh be [the] judge, and let him judge between me and you, and may he see and plead my case. {May he vindicate me against you}!"

For a man has found his enemy but sent him on [his] way safely. Now may Yahweh reward you with good in return for this day, for what you have done for me.

Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him. They buried him at his house at Ramah. Then David got up and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

So David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel and go to Nabal; {you will greet him in my name}.

Then you must say to him, '[Long] life [to you], and {may it go well with you, with your house, and with all that is yours}.

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

And so then, know and {consider} what you should do, for evil has been decided against our master and against all his household, and he [is such] {a wicked man}, {nobody can reason with him}!"

Please do not let my lord set his heart against {this worthless man}, Nabal; for as his name, so [is] he. Nabal [is] his name, and stupidity [is] with him! But I, your female servant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

Then David took from her hand what she had brought for him, and he said to her, "Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to your voice, and I have {granted your request}."

Then Abigail went to Nabal, and look, {he was holding a feast} in his house like the feast of the king. {Nabal was enjoying himself}, and he [was] very drunk, so she did not tell him a thing, {nothing at all}, until the light of morning.

{And then} in the morning when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these words. Then his heart died {within him}, and he became like a stone.

Then Saul got up and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, and three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

Now Saul was on the hill of Hakilah, which [is] opposite Jeshimon by the road, but David was staying in the wilderness. When he realized that Saul had come to the wilderness after him,

Then David got up and came to the place where Saul had encamped, and David saw the place where Saul [was] lying down, {as well as} Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. (Now Saul [was] lying in the encampment, and the army [was] encamping around him.)

So David and Abishai came to the army [by] night, and {there was} Saul lying asleep in the encampment with his spear thrust into the ground near his head, and Abner and the army [were] lying all around him.

Then Abishai said to David, "God has handed over your enemy into your hand today! So then, {please let me pin him to the ground with the spear} {one time}, and {I will not strike him twice}."

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

And David said, "{As Yahweh lives}, {certainly} Yahweh will strike him, or his day will come and he will die, or he will go down in the battle and {perish}.

So David got up and crossed over, he and the six hundred men who [were] with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, the king of Gath.

And it was reported to Saul that David had fled [to] Gath, so {he no longer searched for him}.

So Achish gave him Ziklag on that day. (Therefore, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah until this day.)

(Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him, and they had buried him in Ramah, his [own] city. And Saul had expelled the mediums and the soothsayers from the land.)

And Saul inquired of Yahweh, but Yahweh did not answer him, not by dreams or by the Urim or by the prophets.

So Saul said to his servants, "Search for me {a woman who is a medium} so that I may go to her and inquire of her." His servants said to him, "Look [there is] a woman who [is] a medium in Endor."

But the woman said to him, "Look, you know what Saul did, how he exterminated the mediums and the soothsayers from the land! Why [are] you setting a trap for my life to kill me?"