And when they were come, he looked on Eliab and said, "The LORD's anointed is before him."

But the LORD said unto Samuel, "Look not on his fashion nor on the height of his stature, for I have refused him. Because it is not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward appearance: but the LORD beholdeth the heart."

Then said Samuel to Jesse, "Are here all thy children?" And he said, "The youngest is yet behind. Behold, he keepeth the sheep." Then Samuel said unto Jesse, "Send and fetch him for we will not sit down, till he be come hither."

And he sent and brought him in. And he was brown with goodly eyes, and well favoured in sight. And then the LORD said, "Up and anoint him: for this is he."

Let our lord therefore command his servants to seek a man that is a cunning player with a harp. And then when the evil spirit sent of God cometh upon thee, that he may play with his hand and thou shalt be eased."

Then answered one of his servants and said, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that can play upon instruments, and is an active fellow and a man of war and prudent and well made, and the LORD is with him."

Whereupon Saul sent messengers unto Jesse and said, "Send me David thy son which is with the sheep."

And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a flacket of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul.

if he be able to fight with me and to beat me, then we will be your servants. But if I can overcome him and beat him, then ye shall be our servants and serve us."

And the Philistine said, "I have defied the host of Israel this day; give me a man and let us fight together."

And David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and took and went, as Jesse had commanded him, and came where the host lay. And the host was going out in array, and shouted in the battle:

And as he talked with them, behold, there stood a man in the midst: Goliath the Philistine by name, of Gath, which came out of the array of the Philistines, and spake of the manner above rehearsed, that David heard it.

And every man of Israel said, "See ye this man that is come forth; even to revile Israel is he come. And to him that beateth him will the king give great riches, and will give him his daughter thereto: yea and make his father's house free in Israel."

Then spake David to the men that stood by and said, "What shall be done to the man that beateth this Philistine and taketh away the shame from Israel? For what is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should revile the host of the living God?"

And the people answered as it is rehearsed, saying, "So shall it be done to the man that beateth him."

And David answered, "What have I now done? Is there any more, save a word?"

And departed from by him into another front, and spake of the same manner, and the people answered him again, as before.

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.

For both a Lion and also a Bear hath thy servant slain. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, for his railing on the host of the living God."

This day shall the LORD deliver thee into my hand, and I shall smite thee and take thine head from thee, and will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the earth - and all the world shall know that there is a God in Israel.

And all this congregation shall know that the LORD saveth not with the sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD's, and he shall give you into our hands."

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."

Then said the king, "Enquire thou, whose son the youngling is."

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 Jonathan and David bound themselves the one to the other, for Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

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 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 David was wise in all that he took in hand, and the LORD was with him.

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

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?"

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 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.

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

Then went he himself to Ramah, and when he came to a great well that is in Secu, he asked and said, "Where are Samuel and David?" And they said, "See, they be at Naioth in Ramah."

And as he went thither to Naioth in Ramah the spirit of God came upon him also and he went prophesying, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

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 David fled from Naioth in Ramah and went and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? Wherein am I faulty? What is the sin that I have committed before thy father that he seeketh my life?"

And David sware again and said, "Thy father knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes and therefore he thinketh, 'Jonathan shall not know it, lest he be sorry.' For in very deed even as truly as the LORD liveth, and as truly as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death."

And David said unto Jonathan, "Behold, tomorrow is the first day of the month, and I should sit with the king at meat. But let me go that I may hide myself in the fields unto this day three days at evening.

If thy father miss me, then say, 'David asked leave of me, that he might go to Bethlehem to his own city, for there is holden a yearly feast for all his kin.'

And if thy father say thus, 'It is well done,' then thy servant shall have peace. But and if he be angry, then be sure that wickedness is utterly concluded of him.

Then said Jonathan to David, "Come, and let us go out into the fields." And they went out both of them into the fields.

And in like manner, if evil to thee ward please my father, I will show thee and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace. And the LORD be with thee as he hath been with my father.

And with other words Jonathan adjured David, because he loved him. For as his own soul he loved him.

But this day three days, come in any wise unto the place where thou shalt hide thyself, when it is workday: even by the stone Ezel.

And I will shoot three arrows by the one side thereof, as though I shot at a mark, and will send after a lad, and bid him go seek the arrows.

If I say unto the lad, 'See the arrows are on this side of thee, bring them' - then come thou: for it is peace and nothing to do, as sure as the LORD liveth.

And of this which thou and I have spoke, behold the LORD is witness between thee and me forever."

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

For as long as the son of Jesse lieth upon the earth, thou shalt not be established, nor yet thy kingdom; wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he is the child of death."

And he said unto the boy, "Run and find out mine arrows which I shoot." And as the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

And when the lad was come to the place whither Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan cried after him and said, "The arrow is beyond thee."

And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place that was toward the south and fell on his face to the ground and bowed himself three times. And they kissed one another and wept together - but David more abundantly.

And the priest answered David and said, "There is no common bread under mine hand - but there is hallowed bread, if the young men have abstained only from women."

And David answered the priest and said unto him, "Of a truth, women hath been locked up from us about a three days, when I came out: and the vessels of the young men were holy. Howbeit, this way is impure: but it shall be hallowed in the vessel."

And David said unto Ahimelech, "Is not here under thine hand other spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor mine harness with me, because the king's business required haste."

Then the priest answered, "The sword of Goliath, the Philistine whom thou slewest in Oakdale; that is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here." And David said, "There is none to that, give it me."

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,

that ye have all conspired against me? So that there is none of you that openeth mine ear? Insomuch that my son hath made a bond with the son of Jesse, neither is there any of you that mourneth for me or showeth it in mine ear: because my son hath set up my servant to lie await against me, as it appeareth this day."

Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house: that is to say, the priests that were in Nob. And they came all to the king.

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 Ahimelech answered the king, and said, "Who is so faithful among all thy servants as David and thereto the king's son-in-law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is had in honour in thine house?

Then said the king unto his footmen that stood about him, "Turn and slay the priests of the LORD, both because their hand is with David and because they knew when David fled and showed it not to me." But the servants of the king would not move their hands, to run upon the priests of the LORD.

And Nob, the city of the priests, he smote with the edge of the sword: both man and woman, child and suckling, with ox, ass and sheep.

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."

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 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.

Go, I pray you, and mark more diligently; and know and see his haunt, where his foot hath been, and who hath seen him there: for it is told me that he is very subtle.

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.

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."

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 he said unto his men, "The LORD keep me from doing that thing unto my master that is the LORD's anointed, to lay mine hand upon him: seeing he is the LORD's anointed."

Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee this day into mine hand, in the cave. When they bade kill thee, mine eye had compassion on thee: and I said, 'I will not lay my hands on my master, for he is the LORD's anointed.'

And moreover my father, see yet the tip of thy coat in my hand. And inasmuch as I killed thee not too, when I cut off the tip of thy coat; understand and see that there is neither evil nor rebelliousness in me, and that I have not sinned against thee. And yet thou huntest after my soul to take it.

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 thou hast showed this day how that thou hast dealt lovingly with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had locked me in thine hands, thou slewest me not.

And there was a man in Maon whose cattle was in Carmel, and the man was exceeding mighty, and had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

And thus wise say unto my friend, "Peace be to thee, peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.

I have heard say that thou hast shearers. Now the shepherds were with us, and we did them no spite, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel:

And Nabal answered David's servants and said, "What is David? And what is the son of Jesse? There is plenty of servants nowadays, that break away every man from his master.

And yet the men were very good unto us and did us no displeasure, neither missed we anything, as long as were conversant with them, when we were in the fields.

But they were a wall of defense unto us both by night and also by day, all the while we were with them keeping sheep.

Now take heed and see what thou hast to do, for it is concluded to do mischief unto our master and to all his household. And he is ungracious to speak to."

And as she rode on her ass and was coming down in a slade of the hill, David and his men came down against her, and she met them.

God do this and yet more unto the enemies of David, if until tomorrow in the morning I leave this man, of all that he hath, so much as one that pisseth against the wall."

When Abigail saw David, she hasted and lighted off her ass and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,

Let not my lord regard this unthrifty man Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him. But I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord which thou sendest.

And now my lord as sure as the LORD liveth and as thy soul liveth, the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood and from avenging thyself with thine own hand. Furthermore, I pray God that thine enemies and they that intend to do my lord evil, may be as Nabal.

For in very deed - as sure as the LORD God of Israel liveth which hath kept me back from hurting thee - except thou hadst hasted and met me, there had not been left Nabal, by the dawning of the day, a pisser against the wall."

But in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these words, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone,

And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her saying, "David sent us unto thee, to take thee to his wife."

And Abigail hasted and arose and gat her up upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that went at her feet, and went after the messengers of David and was his wife.

And David said furthermore, "As sure as the LORD liveth, the LORD shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and there perish: