And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of [a place] toward the South, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. And they kissed each other, and wept one with another until David surpassed [him].

And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, inasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of LORD, saying, LORD shall be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed, forever. And he arose and departed, and Jonathan went i

Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, Why are thou alone, and no man with thee?

And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, Let no man know anything of the business about which I send thee, and what I have commanded thee, and I have assigned the young men t

And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread. If only the young men have kept themselves from women.

And David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today sh

And David said to Ahimelech, And is there not here under thy hand spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.

And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

And the servants of Achish said to 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?

And David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

David therefore departed from there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him.

And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, [and be] with you, till I know what God will do for me.

And he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the stronghold.

And the prophet Gad said to David, Abide not in the stronghold. Depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.

And Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree in Ramah with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.

Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who among all thy servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and is taken into thy council, and is honorable in thy house?

And the king said to the guard who stood about him, Turn, and kill the priests of LORD, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me. But the servants of the king would no

And one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David.

And Abiathar told David that Saul had slain LORD's priests.

And David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned [the death] of all the persons of thy father's house.

And they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing-floors.

Therefore David inquired of LORD, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And LORD said to David, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah.

And David's men said to him, Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?

Then David inquired of LORD yet again. And LORD answered him, and said, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into thy hand.

And David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

And it was told Saul that David came to Keilah. And Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand, for he is shut in by entering into a town that has gates and bars.

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

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.

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.

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 ceased to go forth.

And David abode in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill-country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.

And David saw that Saul came out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the forest.

And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and went to David into the forest, and strengthened his hand in God.

And those two made a covenant before LORD. And David abode in the forest, and Jonathan went to his house.

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

And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul, but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert.

And Saul and his men went to seek him. And they told David. Therefore he came down to the rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard [that], he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain. And David made haste to get away for fear of Saul. For Saul and his men encompassed David and his men round about to take them.

So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines. Therefore they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth.

And David went up from there, and dwelt in the strongholds of En-gedi.

And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.

And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave, and Saul went in to cover his feet. Now David and his men were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave.

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 it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.

So David restrained his men with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.

David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance.

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

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 swore to Saul. And Saul went home, but David and his men got up to the stronghold.

And Samuel died. And all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

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.

Ask thy young men, and they will tell thee. Therefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes, for we come in a good day. Give, I pray thee, whatever comes to thy hand to thy servants, and to thy son David.

And when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.

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.

So David's young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words.

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.

But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he railed at them.

And it was so, as she rode on her donkey, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them.

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.

God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertains to him by the morning light so much as one man-child.

And when Abigail saw David, she hastened, and alighted from her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.

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 when the servants of David came to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to thee, to take thee to him to wife.

And Abigail hastened, and arose, and rode upon a donkey, with five of her damsels who followed her. And she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they became his wives, both of them.

Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

And the Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert?

Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

And Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.

David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul definitely came.

And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his army. And Saul lay within the place of the wagons, and the people were encamped

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.

So David and Abishai came to the people by night. And, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the place of the wagons with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the people lay round about him.

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.

So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's head, and they got away. And no man saw it, nor knew it, neither did any awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from LORD was fallen upon them.

Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of the mountain afar off, a great space being between them.

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.

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 arose, and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.

And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath, and he sought no more again for him.

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 the number of the days that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.

And David and his men went up, and made a raid upon the Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for those [nations] were the inhabitants of the land, who were of old as thou go to Shur, even to the land of Egypt.

And David smote the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the apparel, and he returned, and came to Achish.

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.