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?

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;

And you shall not only while yet I live show me the kindness of the LORD, that I die not:

But also you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever: no, not when the LORD has cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth.

Nevertheless Saul spoke not any thing that day: for he thought, Something has befallen him, he is not clean; surely he is not clean.

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?

For as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the ground, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Therefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die.

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 called after the lad, Make haste, hurry, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.

But the lad knew not anything: only Jonathan and David knew the matter.

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 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?

Have I need of mad men, that you have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?

And the prophet Gad said unto David, Abide not in the stronghold; depart, and get you into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.

Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? be it far from me: let not the king impute any thing unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father: for your servant knew nothing of all this, less or more.

And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not show it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.

Abide you with me, fear not: for he that seeks my life seeks your life: but with me you shall be safe.

Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he decided not to go there.

And David abode in the wilderness in strongholds, and remained in the mountains in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.

And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; and you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto you; and that also Saul my father knows.

Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does not David hide himself with us in strongholds in the forest, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?

So David restrained his servants with these words, and allowed them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.

Behold, this day your eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered you today into my hand in the cave: and some bade me kill you: but my eye spared you; and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord; for he is the LORD'S anointed.

Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of your robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and killed you not, know you and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned against you; yet you hunt my soul to take it.

The LORD judge between me and you, and the LORD avenge me of you: but my hand shall not be upon you.

As says the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceeds from the wicked: but my hand shall not be upon you.

And you have shown this day how that you have dealt well with me: for when the LORD had delivered me into your hand, you killed me not.

Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD, that you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house.

And now I have heard that you have shearers: now your shepherds which were with us, we hurt not, neither was there anything missing from them, all the while they were in Carmel.

Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not from where they be?

But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields:

They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal.

Let not my lord, I pray you, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I your handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom you did send.

I pray you, forgive the trespass of your handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord an enduring house; because my lord fights the battles of the LORD, and evil has not been found in you all your days.

For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel lives, who has kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hastened and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any remaining males.

And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does not David hide himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon?

So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the camp, and his spear stuck in the ground at his head: but Abner and the people lay round about him.

Then said Abishai to David, God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day: now therefore let me strike him, I pray you, with the spear even to the earth at once, and I will not strike him the second time.

And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the LORD'S anointed, and be guiltless?

And David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Answer you not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who are you that cry to the king?

And David said to Abner, are not you a valiant man? and who is like to you in Israel? why then have you not kept your lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king your lord.

This thing is not good that you have done. As the LORD lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept your master, the LORD'S anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the jar of water that was at his head.

Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one does hunt a partridge in the mountains.

The LORD render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: for the LORD delivered you into my hand today, but I would not stretch forth my hand against the LORD'S anointed.

And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.

And Saul disguised himself, and put on other clothing, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray you, divine unto me as a medium, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto you.

And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what saw you? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw a god ascending out of the earth.

Because you obeyed not the voice of the LORD, nor executed his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore has the LORD done this thing unto you this day.

Then Saul fell immediately full length on the ground, and was very much afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no food all the day, nor all the night.

But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, compelled him; and he hearkened unto their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat upon the bed.

And she brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they did eat. Then they rose up, and went away that night.

Then said the princes of the Philistines, What are these Hebrews doing here? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he deserted unto me unto this day?

And the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us: for with what should he reconcile himself unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men?

Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?

Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the LORD lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless the lords favor you not.

Therefore now return, and go in peace, that you displease not the lords of the Philistines.

And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what have you found in your servant so long as I have been with you unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

And Achish answered and said to David, I know that you are good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.

And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.

But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, who were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.

And David struck them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, except four hundred young men, who rode upon camels, and fled.

And David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them.

Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart.

Then said David, you shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the LORD has given us, who has preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand.

Then said Saul unto his armorbearer, Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armorbearer would not; for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.

All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.

So I stood upon him, and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen: and I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here unto my lord.

And David said unto him, How were you not afraid to stretch forth your hand to destroy the LORD's anointed?

Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.

You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil.

From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.

Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.

And Asahel pursued after Abner; and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner.

And Abner said to him, Turn you aside to your right hand or to your left, and lay you hold on one of the young men, and take you his armor. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him.

Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour forever? know you not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, before you bid the people return from following their brethren?

And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain, and passed over Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and they came to Mahanaim.

And they took up Asahel, and buried him in the sepulcher of his father, which was in Bethlehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at break of day.

Then was Abner very angry because of the words of Ish-bosheth, and said, Am I a dog's head, which against Judah does show kindness this day unto the house of Saul your father, to his brethren, and to his friends, and have not delivered you into the hand of David, that you charge me today with a fault concerning this woman?

And he could not answer Abner a word again, because he feared him.

And he said, Well; I will make a league with you: but one thing I require of you, that is, You shall not see my face, except you first bring Michal Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face.

And, behold, the servants of David and Joab came from pursuing a troop, and brought in a great spoil with them: but Abner was not with David in Hebron; for he had sent him away, and he was gone in peace.

And when Joab had come out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, who brought him again from the well of Sirah: but David knew it not.

Let it rest on the head of Joab, and on all his father's house; and let there not fail from the house of Joab one that has an issue, or that is a leper, or that leans on a staff, or that falls on the sword, or that lacks bread.

Your hands were not bound, nor your feet put into fetters: as a man falls before wicked men, so fell you. And all the people wept again over him.

For all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner.

And the king said unto his servants, Know you not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel?

For when they came into the house, he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, and they struck him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and got themselves away through the plain all night.

How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?

And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: who spoke unto David, saying, Except you take away the blind and the lame, you shall not come in here: thinking, David cannot come in here.

And David said on that day, Whosoever gets up the water shaft, and strikes the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. Therefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.

And when David inquired of the LORD, he said, You shall not go up; but go around behind them, and come upon them opposite the mulberry trees.

So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying,

For I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle.

In all the places in which I have moved about with all the children of Israel spoke I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, Why build you not me a house of cedar?

But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.