And David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him, and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring here the ephod.

Then said David, O LORD, the God of Israel, thy servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake.

Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down as thy servant has heard? O LORD, the God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And LORD said, He will come down.

Then David said, Will the men of Keilah deliver up me and my men into the hand of Saul? And LORD said, They will deliver thee up.

And he said to him, Fear not, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee. And thou shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to thee. And that, Saul my father also knows.

And Saul said, Blessed be ye of LORD, for ye have had compassion on me.

And the men of David said to him, Behold, the day of which LORD said to thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thy hand, and thou shall do to him as it shall seem good to thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul

And he said to his men, LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, LORD's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, since he is LORD's anointed.

And David said to Saul, Why do thou hearken to men's words, saying, Behold, David seeks thy hurt?

Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that LORD had delivered thee today into my hand in the cave. And some bade me kill thee, but [I] spared thee. And I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord, for he is LORD's anoi

And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.

And he said to David, Thou are more righteous than I, for thou have rendered to me good, whereas I have rendered to thee evil.

And David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.

And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants now-a-days who break away every man from his master.

And David said to his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And there went up after David about four hundred men, and two hundred abode by the baggage.

And she said to her young men, Go on before me, behold, I come after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him, and he has returned me evil for good.

And she fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me be the iniquity, and let thy handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thy handmaid.

And David said to Abigail, Blessed be LORD, the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me,

So David received from her hand that which she had brought him. And he said to her, Go up in peace to thy house. See, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.

And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil, and the evil-doing of Nabal LORD has returned upon his ow

And she arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, thy handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.

Then David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee.

Then said Abishai to David, God has delivered up thine enemy into thy hand this day. Now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not smite him the second time.

And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not, for who can put forth his hand against LORD's anointed, and be guiltless?

And David said, As LORD lives, LORD will smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go down into battle and perish.

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

And David said to Abner, Are not thou a [valiant] man? And who is like to thee in Israel? Why then have thou not kept watch over thy lord the king? For there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord.

And Saul knew David's voice, and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king.

And he said, Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in my hand?

Then Saul said, I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do thee harm because my life was precious in thine eyes this day. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.

And David answered and said, Behold the spear, O king! Let then one of the young men come over and fetch it.

Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David. Thou shall both do mightily, and shall surely prevail. So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines, and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the bor

And David said to Achish, If now I have found favor in thine eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country that I may dwell there, for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?

And Achish said, Against whom have ye made a raid today? And David said, Against the South of Judah, and against the South of the Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the Kenites.

And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shall go out with me in the army, thou and thy men.

And David said to Achish, Therefore thou shall know what thy servant will do. And Achish said to David, Therefore I will make thee my chief bodyguard forever.

Then Saul said to his servants, Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at En-dor.

And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night, and he said, Divine to me, I pray thee, by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I shall name to

And the woman said to him, Behold, thou know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. Why then do thou lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?

Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up to thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.

And the king said to her, Be not afraid, for what do thou see? And the woman said to Saul, I see gods coming up out of the earth.

And he said to her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man comes up, and he is covered with a robe. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance.

And Samuel said to Saul, Why have thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am greatly distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by prophets, no

And Samuel said, Why then do thou ask of me, since LORD departed from thee, and has become thine adversary?

And the woman came to Saul, and saw that he was greatly troubled, and said to him, Behold, thy handmaid has hearkened to thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have hearkened to thy words which thou spoke to me.

But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, constrained him, and he hearkened to their voice. So he arose from the ground, and sat upon the bed.

Then the rulers of the Philistines said, What [are] these Hebrews? And Achish said to the rulers of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or [rather] these year

But the rulers of the Philistines were angry with him. And the rulers of the Philistines said to him, Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where thou have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, l

Then Achish called David, and said to him, As LORD lives, thou have been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the army is good in my sight, for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming to me to t

And David said to Achish, But what have I done? And what have thou found in thy servant so long as I have been before thee to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

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

And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, I pray thee, bring me here the ephod. And Abiathar brought there the ephod to David.

And David said to him, To whom do thou belong? And from where are thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. And my master left me because three days ago I fell sick.

And David said to him, Will thou bring me down to this troop? And he said, Swear to me by God, that thou will neither kill me, nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this troop.

And David took all the flocks and the herds, [which] they drove before those [other] cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.

Then answered all the wicked men and base fellows of those who went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them anything of the spoil that we have recovered except to every man his wife and his childr

Then David said, Ye shall not do so, my brothers, with that which LORD has given to us, who has preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand.

Then Saul said to his armor bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armor bearer would not, for he was very afraid. Therefore Saul took his s

And David said to him, From where did thou come? And he said to him, I escaped out of the camp of Israel.

And David said to him, How did the matter go? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, The people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead, and Saul and Jonathan his son are also dead.

And David said to the young man who told him, How do thou know that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead?

And the young man who told him said, As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul was leaning upon his spear, and, lo, the chariots and the horsemen followed close after him.

And he said to me, Who are thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite.

And he said to me, Stand, I pray thee, beside me, and kill me, for anguish has taken hold of me, because my life is yet whole in me.

And David said to the young man who told him, From where are thou? And he answered, I am the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite.

And David said to him, Why were thou not afraid to put forth thy hand to destroy LORD's anointed?

And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him so that he died.

And David said to him, Thy blood be upon thy head, for thy mouth has testified against thee, saying, I have slain LORD's anointed.

And it came to pass after this, that David inquired of LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And LORD said to him, Go up. And David said, Where shall I go up? And he said, To Hebron.

And David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said to them, Blessed be ye of LORD, that ye have shown this kindness to your lord, even to Saul, and have buried him.

And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men, I pray thee, arise and play before us. And Joab said, Let them arise.

Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Is it thou, Asahel? And he answered, It is I.

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

And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me. Why should I smite thee to the ground? How then would I hold up my face to Joab thy brother?

Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? Know thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? How long shall it be then, before thou bid the people return from following their brothers?

And Joab said, As God lives unless thou had spoken, surely then in the morning the people would have gone up every man from followed his brother.

Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And [Ish-bosheth] said to Abner, Why have thou gone in to my father's concubine?

Then Abner was very angry for the words of Ish-bosheth, and said, Am I a dog's head that belongs to Judah? This day I show kindness to the house of Saul thy father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee i

And he said, Well! I will make a league with thee, but one thing I require of thee. That is, thou shall not see my face unless thou first bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when thou come to see my face.

And her husband went with her, weeping as he went, and followed her to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, Go, return, and he returned.

And Abner said to David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel to my lord the king that they may make a covenant with thee, and that thou may reign over all that thy soul desires. And David sent Abner away, and he went in

Then Joab came to the king, and said, What have thou done? Behold, Abner came to thee. Why is it that thou have sent him away, and he is quite gone?

And afterward, when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before LORD forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner.

And David said to Joab, and to all the people who were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David followed the bier.

And the king lamented for Abner, and said, Should Abner die as a fool dies?

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

And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, thine enemy, who sought thy life. And LORD has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of h

And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, As LORD lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity,

In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was thou who led out and brought in Israel. And LORD said to thee, Thou shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and thou shall be prince over Israel.

And David said on that day, Whoever smites the Jebusites, let him get up to the watercourse, and [smite] the lame and the blind, the hated by David's soul, because the blind and the lame say, He cannot come into the house.

And David inquired of LORD, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will thou deliver them into my hand? And LORD said to David, Go up, for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into thy hand.

And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there. And he said, LORD has broken my enemies before me, like the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.

And when David inquired of LORD, he said, Thou shall not go up. Make a circuit behind them, and come upon them opposite the mulberry trees.

And David was afraid of LORD that day, and he said, How shall the ark of LORD come to me?

Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants as on

And David said to Michal, [It was] before LORD, who chose me above thy father, and above all his house, to appoint me prince over the people of LORD, over Israel. Therefore I will play before LORD.

that the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within curtains.

And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thy heart, for LORD is with thee.