And Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them, for ye showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the

And Samuel came to Saul. And Saul said to him, Blessed be thou of LORD. I have performed the commandment of LORD.

And Samuel said, What then means this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?

And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to LORD thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop, and I will tell thee what LORD has said to me this night. And he said to him, Say on.

And Samuel said, Though thou were little in thine own sight, were thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And LORD anointed thee king over Israel.

And LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.

And Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I have obeyed the voice of LORD, and have gone the way which LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

And Samuel said, Has LORD as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of LORD, and thy words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

And Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with thee, for thou have rejected the word of LORD, and LORD has rejected thee from being king over Israel.

And Samuel said to him, LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and has given it to a neighbor of thine, who is better than thou.

Then he said, I have sinned. Yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship LORD thy God.

Then Samuel said, Bring ye here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.

And Samuel said, As thy sword has made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before LORD in Gilgal.

And LORD said to Samuel, How long will thou mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill thy horn with oil, and go. I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for me a king among

And Samuel said, How do I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. And LORD said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, I have come to sacrifice to LORD.

And Samuel did that which LORD spoke, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, Do thou come peaceably?

And he said, Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to LORD. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

And it came to pass, when they came, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely LORD's anointed is before him.

But LORD said to Samuel, Do not look on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For [LORD sees] not as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but LORD looks on the heart.

Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither has LORD chosen this man.

Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither has LORD chosen this man.

And Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, LORD has not chosen these men.

And Samuel said to Jesse, Are all thy sons here? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and, behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.

And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and of a beautiful countenance, and fine to look upon. And LORD said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he.

And Saul's servants said to him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubles thee.

And Saul said to his servants, Provide for me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.

Then one of the young men answered, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skilful in playing, and a mighty man of valor, and a man of war, and prudent in speech, and a comely man, and LORD is with him

Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, Send to me David thy son, who is with the sheep.

And he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, Why have ye come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.

And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.

And Jesse said to David his son, Take now for thy brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry [them] quickly to the camp to thy brothers.

And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man who has come up? Surely to defy Israel he has come up. And it shall be, that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and m

And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why have thou come down? And with whom have thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and t

And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause?

And David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.

And Saul said to David, Thou are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.

And David said to Saul, Thy servant was keeping his father's sheep, and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock,

And David said, 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. And Saul said to David, Go, and LORD shall be with thee.

And David girded his sword upon his apparel, and he attempted to go, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them. And David put them off of him.

And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that thou come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the field.

Then David said to the Philistine, Thou come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin, but I come to thee in the name of LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou have defied.

And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the army, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul lives, O king, I cannot tell.

And the king said, Inquire thou whose son the stripling is.

And Saul said to him, Whose son are thou, young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.

And the women sang one to another as they played, and said, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him, and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands, and what can he have more but the kingdom?

And Saul cast the spear, for he said, I will smite David even to the wall. And David turned away from his presence twice.

And Saul said to David, Behold, my elder daughter Merab, I will give her to thee for a wife. Only be thou valiant for me, and fight LORD's battles. For Saul said, Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be

And David said to Saul, Who am I, and what is my life, [or] my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?

And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David, Thou shall this day be my son-in-law a second time.

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

And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king does not desire any dowry, but a 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.

And Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against thee, and because his works have been very good toward thee.

And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.

And Saul said to Michal, Why have thou deceived me thus, and let my enemy go, so that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said to me, Let me go. Why should I kill thee?

Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.

And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? What is my iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeks my life?

And he said to him, Far from it. Thou shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me, and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so.

And David swore moreover, and said, Thy father knows well that I have found favor in thine eyes, and he says, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly as LORD lives, and as thy soul lives, there is but a step betwe

Then Jonathan said to David, Whatever thy soul desires, I will even do it for thee.

And David said to Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening.

And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee, for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would I not tell it to thee?

Then David said to Jonathan, Who shall tell me if perchance thy father answers thee roughly?

And Jonathan said to David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field.

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

Then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon, and thou will be missed because thy seat will be empty.

And it came to pass on the morrow after the new moon, [which was] the second [day], that David's place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why has the son of Jesse not come in to the food, neither yesterday, nor today?

And he said, Let me go, I pray thee, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother, he has commanded me. And now, if I have found favor in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brothers. Therefore he has

Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, Thou son of a perverse rebellious woman, do I not know that thou have chosen the son of Jesse to thine own shame, and to the shame of thy mother's nakedness?

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

And he said to his lad, Run, now find the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee?

And Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad, and said to him, Go, carry them to the city.

And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, inasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of LORD, saying, LORD shall be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed, forever. And he arose and departed, and Jonathan went i

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

And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, Let no man know anything of the business about which I send thee, and what I have commanded thee, and I have assigned the young men t

And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread. If only the young men have kept themselves from women.

And David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today sh

And David said to Ahimelech, And is there not here under thy hand spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.

And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou killed in the vale of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If thou will take that, take it, for there is no other except that here. And Da

And the servants of Achish said to him, Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?

Then Achish said to his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad. Why then have ye brought him to me?

And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, [and be] with you, till I know what God will do for me.

And the prophet Gad said to David, Abide not in the stronghold. Depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.

And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites. Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards. Will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds,

Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.

And Saul said, Hear now, thou son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my lord.

And Saul said to him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou have given him bread, and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me to lay in wait as at this day?

Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who among all thy servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and is taken into thy council, and is honorable in thy house?

And the king said, Thou shall surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father's house.

And the king said to the guard who stood about him, Turn, and kill the priests of LORD, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me. But the servants of the king would no

And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore a linen ephod.

And David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned [the death] of all the persons of thy father's house.

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

And David's men said to him, Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?

Then David inquired of LORD yet again. And LORD answered him, and said, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into thy hand.

And it was told Saul that David came to Keilah. And Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand, for he is shut in by entering into a town that has gates and bars.