Then, one of the troops said, “Your father made the troops solemnly swear, ‘The man who eats food today is cursed,’ and the troops are exhausted.”

Some reported to Saul: “Look, the troops are sinning against the Lord by eating meat with the blood still in it.”

Saul said, “You have been unfaithful. Roll a large stone over here at once.”

He then said, “Go among the troops and say to them, ‘Each man must bring me his ox or his sheep. Do the slaughtering here and then you can eat. Don’t sin against the Lord by eating meat with the blood in it.’” So every one of the troops brought his ox that night and slaughtered it there.

Saul said, “Let’s go down after the Philistines tonight and plunder them until morning. Don’t let even one remain!”

“Do whatever you want,” the troops replied.

But the priest said, “We must consult God here.”

Saul said, “All you leaders of the troops, come here. Let us investigate how this sin has occurred today.

So he said to all Israel, “You will be on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will be on the other side.”

And the troops replied, “Do whatever you want.”

So Saul said to the Lord, “God of Israel, give us the right decision.” Jonathan and Saul were selected, and the troops were cleared of the charge.

Then Saul said, “Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan,” and Jonathan was selected.

But the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die, who accomplished such a great deliverance for Israel? No, as the Lord lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he worked with God’s help today.” So the people redeemed Jonathan, and he did not die.

Saul came to the city of Amalek and set up an ambush in the wadi.

Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but it was reported to Samuel, “Saul went to Carmel where he set up a monument for himself. Then he turned around and went down to Gilgal.”

When Samuel came to him, Saul said, “May the Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

“Stop!” exclaimed Samuel. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

“Tell me,” he replied.

and then sent you on a mission and said: ‘Go and completely destroy the sinful Amalekites. Fight against them until you have annihilated them.’

So why didn’t you obey the Lord? Why did you rush on the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight?”

The troops took sheep and cattle from the plunder—the best of what was set apart for destruction—to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

Then Samuel said:

Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?

Look: to obey is better than sacrifice,
to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.

Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingship of Israel away from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.

Saul said, “I have sinned. Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me so I can bow in worship to the Lord your God.”

Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of Amalek.”

Agag came to him trembling, for he thought, “Certainly the bitterness of death has come.”

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem because I have selected a king from his sons.”

When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and said, “Certainly the Lord’s anointed one is here before Him.”

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature, because I have rejected him. Man does not see what the Lord sees, for man sees what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.”

Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either,” Samuel said.

Then Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either.”

Samuel asked him, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” he answered, “but right now he’s tending the sheep.” Samuel told Jesse, “Send for him. We won’t sit down to eat until he gets here.”

So Jesse sent for him. He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome appearance.

Then the Lord said, “Anoint him, for he is the one.”

So Samuel took the horn of oil, anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord took control of David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah.

so Saul’s servants said to him, “You see that an evil spirit from God is tormenting you.

Then Saul dispatched messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.”

Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!”

So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with someone to keep it, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him.

He arrived at the perimeter of the camp as the army was marching out to its battle formation shouting their battle cry.

What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, so he had David brought to him.

David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged by him; your servant will go and fight this Philistine!”

Then David said, “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and may the Lord be with you.”

David strapped his sword on over the military clothes and tried to walk, but he was not used to them. “I can’t walk in these,” David said to Saul, “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off.

He said to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?” Then he cursed David by his gods.

David said to the Philistine: “You come against me with a dagger, spear, and sword, but I come against you in the name of Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel’s armies—you have defied Him.

The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is!”

Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?”

“The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David answered.

“I’ll give her to him,” Saul thought. “She’ll be a trap for him, and the hand of the Philistines will be against him.” So Saul said to David a second time, “You can now be my son-in-law.”

Saul’s servants reported these words directly to David, but he replied, “Is it trivial in your sight to become the king’s son-in-law? I am a poor man who is common.”

so he told him: “My father Saul intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning and hide in a secret place and stay there.

Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul. He said to him: “The king should not sin against his servant David. He hasn’t sinned against you; in fact, his actions have been a great advantage to you.

When Saul sent agents to seize David, Michal said, “He’s sick.”

Saul sent the agents back to see David and said, “Bring him on his bed so I can kill him.”

Saul asked Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away, and he has escaped!”

She answered him, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’”

Then Saul himself went to Ramah. He came to the large cistern at Secu, looked around, and asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”

“At Naioth in Ramah,” someone said.

Jonathan said to him, “No, you won’t die. Listen, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This can’t be true.”

But David said, “Your father certainly knows that you have come to look favorably on me. He has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or else he will be grieved.’” David also swore, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”

Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”

So David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I’m supposed to sit down and eat with the king. Instead, let me go, and I’ll hide in the field until the third night.

Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the New Moon; you’ll be missed because your seat will be empty.

The following day hurry down and go to the place where you hid on the day this incident began and stay beside the rock Ezel.

Then I will send the young man and say, ‘Go and find the arrows!’ Now, if I expressly say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you—get them,’ then come, because as the Lord lives, it is safe for you and there is no problem.

So David hid in the field.

At the New Moon, the king sat down to eat the meal.

He sat at his usual place on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat facing him and Abner took his place beside Saul, but David’s place was empty.

He said, ‘Please let me go because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the town, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if you are pleased with me, let me go so I can see my brothers.’ That’s why he didn’t come to the king’s table.”

He said to the young man, “Run and find the arrows I’m shooting.” As the young man ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.

He came to the location of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, but Jonathan called to him and said, “The arrow is beyond you, isn’t it?”

Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the young man who was with him and said, “Go, take it back to the city.”

When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone Ezel, fell with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept with each other, though David wept more.

Jonathan then said to David, “Go in the assurance the two of us pledged in the name of the Lord when we said: The Lord will be a witness between you and me and between my offspring and your offspring forever.” Then David left, and Jonathan went into the city.

David went to Ahimelech the priest at Nob. Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?”

David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword on hand? I didn’t even bring my sword or my weapons since the king’s mission was urgent.”

The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, then take it, for there isn’t another one here.”

“There’s none like it!” David said. “Give it to me.”

But Achish’s servants said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Don’t they sing about him during their dances:

Saul has killed his thousands,
but David his tens of thousands?”

“Look! You can see the man is crazy,” Achish said to his servants. “Why did you bring him to me?

From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”

Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Don’t stay in the stronghold. Leave and return to the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

Saul said to his servants, “Listen, men of Benjamin: Is Jesse’s son going to give all of you fields and vineyards? Do you think he’ll make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds?

Then Saul said, “Listen, son of Ahitub!”

“I’m at your service, my lord,” he said.

But the king said, “You will die, Ahimelech—you and your father’s whole family!”

So the king said to Doeg, “Go and execute the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite went and executed the priests himself. On that day, he killed 85 men who wore linen ephods.

Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that Doeg the Edomite was there that day and that he was sure to report to Saul. I myself am responsible for the lives of everyone in your father’s family.

Stay with me. Don’t be afraid, for the one who wants to take my life wants to take your life. You will be safe with me.”

But David’s men said to him, “Look, we’re afraid here in Judah; how much more if we go to Keilah against the Philistine forces!”

When it was reported to Saul that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has handed him over to me, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with barred gates.”

When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”

Then David said, “Lord God of Israel, Your servant has heard that Saul intends to come to Keilah and destroy the town because of me.

Some Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “David is hiding among us in the strongholds in Horesh on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon.

Saul went along one side of the mountain and David and his men went along the other side. Even though David was hurrying to get away from Saul, Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them.

so they said to him, “Look, this is the day the Lord told you about: ‘I will hand your enemy over to you so you can do to him whatever you desire.’” Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

He said to his men, “I swear before the Lord: I would never do such a thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed. I will never lift my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.”

David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of people who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’?

You can see with your own eyes that the Lord handed you over to me today in the cave. Someone advised me to kill you, but I took pity on you and said: I won’t lift my hand against my lord, since he is the Lord’s anointed.

and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have done what is good to me though I have done what is evil to you.

David’s young men went and said all these things to Nabal on David’s behalf, and they waited.

He said to his men, “All of you, put on your swords!” So David and all his men put on their swords. About 400 men followed David while 200 stayed with the supplies.

Then she said to her male servants, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

David had just said, “I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness for nothing. He was not missing anything, yet he paid me back evil for good.

She fell at his feet and said, “The guilt is mine, my lord, but please let your servant speak to you directly. Listen to the words of your servant.

Then David said to Abigail, “Praise to the Lord God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!

Then David accepted what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. See, I have heard what you said and have granted your request.”

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise the Lord who championed my cause against Nabal’s insults and restrained His servant from doing evil. The Lord brought Nabal’s evil deeds back on his own head.”

Then David sent messengers to speak to Abigail about marrying him.

When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David sent us to bring you to him as a wife.”

She stood up, then bowed her face to the ground and said, “Here I am, your servant, to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has handed your enemy over to you. Let me thrust the spear through him into the ground just once. I won’t have to strike him twice!”

But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him, for who can lift a hand against the Lord’s anointed and be blameless?”

David crossed to the other side and stood on top of the mountain at a distance; there was a considerable space between them.