When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were discouraged and greatly afraid.

And this David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, named Jesse; which Jesse had eight sons, and was an old man in the days of Saul among the people.

And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to battle. And the names of his three sons that went to battle were: Eliab the eldest, and the next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.

And David was the youngest. And when the three eldest were gone after Saul,

David went and departed from Saul, to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.

And Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in Oakdale fighting with the Philistines.

And they that heard the words which David spake, rehearsed them before Saul, which caused him to be fetched.

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

And Saul said to David again, "Thou art not able to go unto this Philistine, to fight with him. For thou art but a lad, and he hath been a man of war even from his youth."

Then said David unto Saul, "As thy servant kept his father's sheep, there came a Lion and likewise a Bear, and took a sheep out of the flock.

And David spake moreover, "The LORD that delivered me out of the hands of the Lion and out of the hands of the Bear, he shall deliver me also out of the hands of the Philistine." Then said Saul to David, "Go, and the LORD be with thee."

And Saul put his raiment upon David, and put a helmet of brass upon his head, and put a coat of mail upon him,

and gird David with his own sword upon his raiment. And he assayed to go, for he never proved it. Then said David unto Saul, "I cannot go in these, for I have not been used thereto." And put them off him,

When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said unto Abner the captain of his host, "Abner, whose son is this lad?" And Abner answered, "As truly as thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell."

And so when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand.

And Saul said to him, "Whose son art thou, thou lad?" And David answered, "The son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."

And when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David; insomuch that Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

And Saul took him that day and would let him go no more home to his father's house.

And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely. And when Saul had set him over his men of war, he pleased all the people, and Saul's servants thereto.

And it happened as they went, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that women came out of all cities of Israel singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with timbrels, with joy, and with fiddles.

And the women that played sang thereto, and said, "Saul hath slain his thousand, and David his ten thousand."

Then was Saul exceeding wroth and that saying displeased him, and he said, "They have ascribed unto David ten thousand, and to me but a thousand. And what more can he have, save the kingdom?"

Wherefore Saul looked sourly upon David from that day forward.

And it happened on the morrow, that the evil spirit sent of God came upon Saul, so that he prophesied in the midst of the house. And David played on the instrument with his hand as he was daily wont.

And Saul had a spear in his hand, and hurled it; intending to have nailed David to the wall. But David avoided out of his presence two times.

For Saul was afraid of David: because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul.

And then Saul put David from him and made him a captain over a thousand, and he went out and in before the people.

Wherefore, when Saul saw that he was so exceeding wise, he was afraid of him.

Then said Saul to David, "Behold, my eldest daughter Merab: her I will give thee to wife; only play the man and fight the LORD's battles." For Saul thought, "Mine hand shall not be upon him, but the hand of the Philistines."

And David answered Saul, "What am I? And what is my life or the kindred of my father in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?"

Howbeit, when the time was come that Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David she was given unto Adriel, a Meholathite, to wife.

Nevertheless, Michal Saul's daughter loved David. And when it was showed Saul, the thing pleased him well.

And he said, "I will give him her that she may be a snare to him, to bring the hand of the Philistines upon him." And Saul said to David, "Thou shalt this day be my son-in-law again."

And Saul commanded his servants to commune with David secretly and say, "Behold, the king hath a favour to thee, and all his servants love thee - be therefore the king's son-in-law."

And Saul's servants spake those words in the ears of David. But David answered, "Seemeth it to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, when I am a poor man and of small reputation?"

And Saul's servants told him again, saying, "Of this manner answered David."

Then said Saul, "This wise say to David: 'The king careth for no other dowry but for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies." For Saul thought to make David fall into the hands of the Philistines.

And shortly after that, David arose with his men, and went, and slew of the Philistines, two hundred men; and brought their foreskins, and satisfied the king thereof to be his son-in-law. And so Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

And when Saul saw and understood, how that the LORD was with David, and that Michal his daughter loved him,

And when the Philistines went out to war, David behaved himself wiselier than all the servants of Saul: so that his name was much set by.

Then Saul communed with Jonathan his son, and with all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan Saul's son had a great favour to David,

and told David saying, "Saul my father goeth about to slay thee. Now therefore take heed to thyself betimes and abide in some secret place and hide thyself.

And Jonathan spake the best of David unto Saul his father and said unto him, "Let not the king sin against his servant David, for he hath not sinned against thee, and his works are to thee ward very good.

And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan and sware, "As truly as the LORD liveth, he shall not die."

Then Jonathan called David and showed him all those words, and brought him to Saul. And he was in his presence as in times past.

And the evil spirit of the LORD was upon Saul as he sat in his house having a javelin in his hand, and David played with his hand.

And Saul intended to nail David to the wall with the Javelin: But David rid himself out of Saul's presence and he smote the spear into the wall. But David fled and saved himself that same night.

Then Saul sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him and to slay him in the morning. But Michal his wife told it him saying, "If thou save not thyself this night, tomorrow thou art a dead man."

And when Saul sent messengers to fetch David, she said that he was sick.

Then Saul sent the messengers to see David saying, "Bring him to me, bed and all, that he may be slain."

Then said Saul to Michal, "Why hast thou mocked me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped?" And Michal answered Saul, "He said unto me, 'Let me go, or else I will kill thee.'"

And so David fled and escaped and went to Samuel to Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.

And it was told Saul, saying, "Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah."

Then Saul sent messengers to fetch David. And when they saw a company of prophets prophesying and Samuel standing fast by them, the spirit of God fell upon the messengers of Saul, and they prophesied too.

And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers yet again the third time which prophesied also.

And he stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and fell naked all that day and all that night, wherefore it is a common saying, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

And the king sat him down after the old manner, in his seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty.

Nevertheless, yet Saul said nothing at all that day. For he thought, 'Something has chanced him that he is not clean.'

But on the morrow which was the second day of the moon, when David's place appeared empty, Saul said unto Jonathan his son, "Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday nor today?"

And Jonathan answered unto Saul, "David asked license of me to go to Bethlehem, saying,

Then was Saul angry with Jonathan and said unto him, "O froward and rebellious, thinkest thou I know not how thou hast chosen the son of Jesse unto thine own rebuke, and unto the rebuke and shame of thy mother?

But Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, "Wherefore should he die? What hath he done?"

Then Saul cast a spear at him to hit him, whereby Jonathan wist well, that it was utterly determined of his father to slay David.

And there was there, the same day, a certain man of the servants of Saul abiding before the LORD named Doeg; an Edomite, the chiefest of Saul's herdsmen.

And David arose and fled the same day from the presence of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

And the servants of Achish said of him, "Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing unto this fellow in dances saying, 'Saul hath slain his thousand, and David his ten thousand'?"

And Saul heard of it: for David was known, and also the men that were with him. And as Saul sat in Gibeah under a grove upon a high bank with his spear in his hand and all his men about him,

Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which had the oversight of the servants of Saul, and said, "I saw the son of Jesse, when he came to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub,

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

Then said Saul to him, "Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, insomuch that thou hast given him victuals and a sword, and hast asked counsel of God for him that he should arise against me and lie await as it is come to pass this day?"

and showed David how that Saul had slain the LORD's priests.

And David said unto Abiathar, "I wist it the same day, that Doeg the Edomite which was there would tell it Saul. And I am cause of the death of all the souls of thy father's house.

And it was told Saul, that David was come to Keilah. Then said Saul, "God hath delivered him into mine hand. For he is shut in, that he is come into a town with gates and bars."

And Saul called all the people to war, for to go to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

But David had knowledge that Saul imagined mischief against him, and said therefore to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod."

Then said David, "O LORD God of Israel, thy servant heareth that Saul is about to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake.

Will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Or will Saul come as thy servant heareth say? LORD God of Israel, tell thy servant." And the LORD said, "He will come."

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

Then David and his men, which were upon a six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah and went whither chance drave them. And when it was told Saul, that David was fled from Keilah, he let the journey alone.

And David abode in the wilderness in strongholds, and in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him all his life, but God delivered him not into his hand.

And David saw that Saul was come out, to seek his life, while David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a thicket.

And Jonathan Saul's son arose and went to David to the thicket, and strengthened him in God,

and said unto him, "Fear not, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee, and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I must be next unto thee: And Saul my father thereto knoweth that it shall be so."

Then came the Ziphites to Saul, to Gibeah, saying, "David hideth himself fast by us in strongholds that are in a thicket in the hill of Hachilah on the rightside of the wilderness.

Then said Saul, "Blessed are ye in the LORD: for ye have compassion on me.

And they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. But David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the wild field, on the righthand of the wilderness.

For when Saul was gone with his men to seek, it was told David. And therefore he went unto a rock and dwelt in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he followed after David into the wilderness of Maon.

And Saul and his men went on the one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other. And David, as a man amazed, made haste to get from Saul. For Saul and his men had compassed David and his men round about, to take them.

But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, "Haste thee and come, for the Philistines are come in and rove the land."

Wherefore Saul returned from persecuting David, and went against the Philistines. And therefore the place is called Selahammahelekoth.

Then Saul was come again from the Philistines, it was told him, "Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi."

Then Saul took three thousand men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men in the rocks, where nothing haunted but wild goats.

And he came to the flocks of the sheep by a wayside where was a cave. And Saul went in to cover his feet. And David and his men sat along by the sides of the cave.

And the men of David said unto him, "See, the day is come of which the LORD said unto thee, 'Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand, and thou shalt do with him what it pleaseth thee.'" Then David arose and cut off the tip of Saul's coat privily.

And immediately David's heart smote him, because he had cut off the tip of Saul's coat.

And so David kept off his servants with words, and suffered them not to go upon Saul.

And when Saul was up out of the cave and gone away, David arose and went out of the cave and cried after Saul, saying, "My lord king!" And Saul looked behind him. And David stooped to the earth and bowed himself,

and said to Saul, "Wherefore giveth thou an ear to men's words, that say, 'David seeketh thee evil?'

When David had made an end of speaking all these words to Saul, Saul said, "Is this thy voice, my son David?" And he lifted up his voice and wept,

And David sware unto Saul, and Saul went home. But David and his men gat up unto a hold.