And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armorbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armorbearer, Come up after me: for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel.

Then said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armorbearer were not there.

And Saul said unto Ahijah, Bring here the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel.

And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the priest, that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on and increased: and Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw your hand.

Then answered one of the people, and said, your father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man that eats any food this day. And the people were faint.

Then said Jonathan, My father has troubled the land: see, I ask you, how my eyes have been brightened, because I tasted a little of this honey.

Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against the LORD, in that they eat with the blood. And he said, you have transgressed: roll a great stone unto me this day.

And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and say unto them, Bring me here every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and slay them here, and eat; and sin not against the LORD in eating with the blood. And all the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and slew them there.

And Saul said, Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and plunder them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. And they said, Do whatsoever seems good unto you. Then said the priest, Let us draw near here unto God.

And Saul said, Draw you near here, all you leaders of the people: and know and see what this sin has been this day.

Then said he unto all Israel, Be you on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side. And the people said unto Saul, Do what seems good unto you.

Therefore Saul said unto the LORD God of Israel, Give a perfect lot. And Saul and Jonathan were taken: but the people escaped.

And Saul said, Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken.

Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what you have done. And Jonathan told him, and said, I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand, and, lo, I must die?

And the people said unto Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? God forbid: as the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he has worked with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, so that he died not.

Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken you unto the voice of the words of the LORD.

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

And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be you of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.

And Samuel said, What means then 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 unto the LORD your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.

Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell you what the LORD has said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.

And Samuel said, When you were little in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed you king over Israel?

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

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

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

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

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

And Samuel said unto him, The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.

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

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

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

And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill your horn with oil, and go, I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.

And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hears it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take a heifer with you, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.

And Samuel did that which the LORD spoke, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Come you peaceably?

And he said, Peaceably: I am come to sacrifice unto the 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 were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD's anointed is before him.

But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.

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

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

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

And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all your children? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and, behold, he keeps the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and bring 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 handsome. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.

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

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

Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is skillful in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a handsome person, and the LORD is with him.

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

And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are you come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and you 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 unto David his son, Take now for your brethren an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to your brethren;

And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man that has come up? surely to defy Israel has he 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 make his father's house free in Israel.

And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke unto the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why came you down here? and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the insolence of your heart; for you are come down that you might see the battle.

And David said, What have I now done? Is it not a word?

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

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

And David said unto Saul, Your servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:

David said moreover, The LORD that 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 unto David, Go, and the LORD be with you.

And David girded his sword upon his armor, and he attempted to go; for he had not tried it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not tried them. And David put them off him.

And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog, that you 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 your flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.

Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

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

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

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

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

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

And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will pin David even to the wall with it. And David escaped out of his presence twice.

And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give you as your wife: only be you valiant for me, and fight the LORD'S battles. For Saul said, Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.

And David said unto 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 a second time, you shall this day be my son-in-law.

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 a king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?

And Saul said, Thus shall you say to David, The king desires not any dowry, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

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

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

And Saul said unto Michal, Why have you deceived me so, and sent away my enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill you?

Then went he also to Ramah, and came to a 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 your father, that he seeks my life?

And he said unto him, God forbid; you shall not die: behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will show it to me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.

And David swore again, and said, Your father certainly knows that I have found grace in your eyes; and he says, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.

Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever your soul desires, I will even do it for you.

And David said unto 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 unto the third day at evening.

And Jonathan said, Far be it from you: for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon you, then would not I tell it to you?

Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what if your father answers you roughly?

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

And Jonathan said unto David, O LORD God of Israel, when I have sounded out my father tomorrow about this time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto you, and show it to you;

Then Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the new moon: and you shall be missed, because your seat will be empty.

And it came to pass the next day, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty: and Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Why does not the son of Jesse come to the table, neither yesterday, nor today?

And he said, Let me go, I pray you; for our family has a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he has commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away, I pray you, and see my brethren. Therefore he comes not unto the king's table.

Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, You son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and unto the shame of your mother's nakedness?

And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Why shall he be slain? what has he done?

And he said unto his lad, Run, find out now 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 called after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond you?

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

And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, since as we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, The LORD be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants forever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.

Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why are you alone, and no man with you?

And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king has charged me with a business, and has said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you: and I have directed my young men to such and such a place.

And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread on hand, but there is hallowed bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from women.

And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us for these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel.

And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here on hand a 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 you slew in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if you will take that, take it: for there is no other except that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it to me.

And the servants of Achish said unto 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?