Saul stayed in the uttermost part of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people who were with him were about six hundred men;

Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, "Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the LORD will work for us; for there is no restraint on the LORD to save by many or by few."

His armor bearer said to him, ?Do all that your heart inclines toward. Behold, I am with you, my heart is as your heart."

If they say thus to us, 'Wait until we come to you.' then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up to them.

But if they say this, 'Come up to us.' then we will go up; for the LORD has delivered them into our hand. This shall be the sign to us."

The men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer, and said, "Come up to us, and we will show you something." Jonathan said to his armor bearer, "Come up after me; for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel."

That first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow's length in an acre of land.

Then Saul said to the people who were with him, "Count now, and see who is missing from us." When they had counted, behold, Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there.

Now the Hebrews who were with the Philistines as before, and who went up with them into the camp, from all around, even they also turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.

The men of Israel were distressed that day; for Saul had adjured the people, saying, "Cursed is the man who eats any food until it is evening, and I am avenged of my enemies." So none of the people tasted food.

Then one of the people answered, and said, "Your father directly commanded the people with an oath, saying, 'Cursed is the man who eats food this day.'" The people were faint.

Saul said, "Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and take spoil among them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them." They said, "Do whatever seems good to you." Then the priest said, "Let us draw near here to God."

For, as the LORD lives, who saves Israel, though it is in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die." But there was not a man among all the people who answered him.

Therefore Saul said, ?LORD, God of Israel, why have you not answered your servant this day? If this sin is mine or in Jonathan my son, LORD, God of Israel, give Urim. But if this sin is in your people Israel, give Thummim.? And Jonathan and Saul were chosen, but the people were cleared.

And Saul said, ?Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. Whomever the LORD shall indicate to be taken by lot, let him die.? And the people said to Saul, ?This thing is not to be done.? And Saul prevailed over the people, and they cast lots between him and Jonathan his son. And Jonathan was selected.

The people said to Saul, "Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it. As the LORD lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he has worked with God this day." So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.

Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, that is before Egypt.

Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."

As Samuel turned about to go away, he grabbed the skirt of his robe, and it tore.

Samuel said to him, "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent."

Then Samuel said, "Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites." Agag came to him with faltering steps. Agag said, "Surely the bitterness of death is past."

Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women." Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.

It happened, when they had come, that he looked at Eliab, and said, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before him."

But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his face, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him. For man does not see as God sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your children here?" He said, "There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is keeping the sheep." Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and get him; for we will not sit down until he comes here."

And he sent and brought him in. And he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him, for he is the one."

Let our lord now command your servants who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp. It shall happen, when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play with his hand, and you shall be well."

Then one of the young men answered, and said, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a comely person; and the LORD is with him."

Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, "Send me David your son, who is with the sheep."

There went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then you will be our servants, and serve us."

Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons. And in the days of Saul the man was old among men.

David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the place of the wagons, as the army which was going forth to the fight shouted for the battle.

As he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke according to the same words: and David heard them.

David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, "What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?"

David said, "What have I now done? Is there not a cause?"

Your servant struck both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them [Should I not go and smite him, and remove this day a reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised one], since he has defied the armies of the living God?"

Today, the LORD will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you, and take your head from off you. I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky, and to the wild animals of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

and that all this assembly may know that the LORD doesn't save with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hand."

When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the army, "Abner, whose son is this youth?" Abner said, "As your soul lives, O king, I can't tell."

The king said, "Inquire whose son the young man is."

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

Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, you young man?" David answered, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."

It happened, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

It happened as they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music.

The women sang one to another as they played, and said, "Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands."

It happened on the next day, that an evil spirit from God came mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house. David played with his hand, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand;

Saul said to David, "Behold, my elder daughter Merab, I will give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight the LORD's battles." For Saul said, "Do not let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him."

David said to Saul, "Who am I, and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?"

But it happened at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as wife.

and David arose and went, he and his men, and killed of the Philistines one hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife.

Then the leaders of the Philistines went forth: and it happened, as often as they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was highly esteemed.

Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, "As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death."

Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as before.

An evil spirit from the LORD was on Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand.

When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, "He is sick."

Saul said to Michal, "Why have you deceived me thus, and let my enemy go, so that he is escaped?" Michal answered Saul, "He said to me, 'Let me go. Why should I kill you?'"

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

Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came on the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked, "Where are Samuel and David?" One said, "Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah."

He also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?"

He said to him, "Far from it; you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so."

David swore moreover, and said, "Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, 'Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved:' but truly as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death."

David said to Jonathan, "Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to dine with the king; but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening.

If your father miss me at all, then say, 'David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city; for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family.'

If he says, 'It is well;' your servant shall have peace: but if he be angry, then know that evil is determined by him.

Therefore deal kindly with your servant; for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you: but if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself; for why should you bring me to your father?"

Jonathan said to David, "Come, and let us go out into the field." They both went out into the field.

Jonathan said to David, "By the LORD, the God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if there is good toward David, shall I not then send to you, and disclose it to you?

The LORD do so to Jonathan, and more also, should it please my father to do you evil, if I do not disclose it to you, and send you away, that you may go in peace: and the LORD be with you, as he has been with my father.

Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had to him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

Then Jonathan said to him, "Tomorrow is the new moon: and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.

I will shoot three arrows on its side, as though I shot at a mark.

Behold, I will send the boy, saying, 'Go, find the arrows.' If I tell the boy, 'Behold, the arrows are on this side of you. Take them;' then come; for there is peace to you and no hurt, as the LORD lives.

Concerning the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, the LORD is between you and me forever."

The king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul's side: but David's place was empty.

Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day: for he thought, "Something has happened to him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean."

For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Therefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die."

He said to his boy, "Run, find now the arrows which I shoot." As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

As soon as the boy was gone, David arose from beside the mound, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. They kissed one another, and wept one with another, and David wept the most.

Now therefore what is under your hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present."

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."

David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly, 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 shall their vessels be holy?"

The priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it; for there is no other except that here." David said, "There is none like that. Give it to me."

Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me?

that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none who discloses to me when my son makes a treaty with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you who is sorry for me, or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?"

Saul said to him, "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread, and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?"

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

The king said to the guard who stood about him, "Turn, and kill the priests of the 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 wouldn't put forth their hand to fall on the priests of the LORD.

It was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. Saul said, "God has delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that has gates and bars."

Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? LORD, the God of Israel, I beg you, tell your servant." The LORD said, "He will come down."

Then the Ziphites came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, "Doesn't David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert?

Please go make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who has seen him there; for it is told me that he deals very subtly.

See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself, and come again to me with certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall happen, if he is in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah."

It happened, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, "Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi."

The men of David said to him, "Behold, the day of which the LORD said to you, 'Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.'" Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe secretly.