Thy servant smote both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.

and all this congregation shall know that Jehovah saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is Jehovah's, and he will give you into our hands.

And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this young man? And Abner said, As thy soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell.

And the king said, Inquire thou whose son this youth is.

And 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.

And Saul said to him, Whose son art thou, young man? And David said, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Beth-lehemite.

And it came to pass, when he had ended speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

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

And it came to pass 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 tambours, with joy, and with triangles.

And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath smitten his thousands, And David his ten thousands.

And Saul was very wroth, and that saying was evil in his sight; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed the thousands; and what is there more for him but the kingdom?

And it came to pass the next day that an evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house, but David played with his hand, as on other days; and the spear was in Saul's hand.

And 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?

And it came to pass 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 Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, Is it a light thing in your eyes to be the king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?

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

and I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and will speak of thee with my father: and see what it is, and tell thee.

And Saul hearkened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, As Jehovah liveth, he shall not be put to death!

Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan declared to him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as previously.

And Saul sent messengers to take David, and she said, He is sick.

Then Saul said to Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal said to Saul, He said to me, Let me go; why should I slay thee?

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

Then Saul sent messengers to take David; and they saw a company of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as president over them; and the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Sechu; and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, at Naioth by Ramah.

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

And David fled from Naioth by Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is mine iniquity, and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeks my life?

And he said to him, God forbid; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, and not apprise me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.

And David swore again and again, and said, Thy father certainly knows that I have found favour in thy sight: and he has thought, Jonathan shall not know this, lest he be grieved; but truly as Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.

And David said to Jonathan, Behold, to-morrow is new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat; but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field until the third evening.

If thy father should actually miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city; for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.

If he say thus, It is well, thy servant shall have peace; but if he be very wroth, be sure that evil is determined by him.

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

Jehovah do so and much more to Jonathan. Should it please my father to do thee evil, then I will apprise thee of it, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace; and Jehovah be with thee, as he has been with my father.

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

And Jonathan said to him, To-morrow is the new moon; and thou wilt be missed, for thy seat will be empty;

And I will shoot three arrows on the side of it, as though I shot at a mark.

And behold, I will send the lad, saying, Go, find the arrows. If I expressly say to the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them; then come, for there is peace for thee, and it is nothing; as Jehovah liveth.

And as to the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, Jehovah is between me and thee for ever.

And the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty.

And Saul said nothing that day; for he thought, Something has befallen him, that he is not clean: surely he is not clean.

And it came to pass the next day after the new moon, the second day of the month, as David's place was empty, that Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why has not the son of Jesse come to table, neither yesterday nor to-day?

For as long as the son of Jesse lives upon earth, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. And now send and fetch him to me, for he must die.

And when the lad came to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad and said, Is not the arrow away beyond thee?

And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have both of us sworn in the name of Jehovah, saying, Jehovah be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever! And he arose and departed; and Jonathan went into the city.

And now what is under thy hand? give me five loaves in my hand, or what may be found.

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

And David answered the priest and said to him, Yes indeed, women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, and the more so, because to-day new is hallowed in the vessels.

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, for the king's business was urgent.

And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in the valley of terebinths, behold, it 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 like that: give it me.

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 smitten his thousands, and David his ten thousands?

And Achish said to his servants, Behold, ye see the man is mad: why did ye bring him to me?

that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that informs me when my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse; and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or informs me that my son has stirred up my servant as a lier-in-wait against me, as at this day?

And Saul said to him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me as a lier-in-wait, as at this day?

And Ahimelech answered the king and said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and has access to thy secret council, and is honourable in thy house?

And the king said to the couriers that stood about him, Turn and put the priests of Jehovah to death; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not inform me. But the servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hand to fall on the priests of Jehovah.

And it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. Then Saul said, God has cast him off into my hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a city that has gates and bars.

Will the citizens of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? Jehovah, God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And Jehovah said, He will come down.

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

And now, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and it will be for us to deliver him up into the king's hand.

Go, I pray you, make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his track is, who has seen him there; for it is told me that he deals very subtilly.

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

And David's men said to him, Behold the day of which Jehovah said to thee, Behold, I will give thine enemy into thy hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall seem good to thee. And David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe secretly.

And he said to his men, Jehovah forbid that I should do this thing to my master, Jehovah's anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him, for he is the anointed of Jehovah.

Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that Jehovah had given thee this day into my hand in the cave; and they bade me kill thee; but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord, for he is the anointed of Jehovah.

And see, my father, yes, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand. For in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not, know and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou liest in wait for my life to take it.

As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked; but my hand shall not be upon thee.

After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a single flea.

And as soon as David had ended speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.

And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me, forasmuch as when Jehovah had delivered me up into thy hand, thou didst not kill me.

And there was a man at Maon, whose business was at Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his sheep at Carmel.

And now I have heard that thou hast shearers; now thy shepherds who were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there aught missed by them, all the while they were in Carmel.

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 that break away every man from his master.

And the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we companied with them, when we were in the fields.

They were a wall to us both by night and day, all the while we were with them feeding the sheep.

And now know and consider what thou wilt do, for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household; and he is such a son of Belial, that one cannot speak to him.

And as she was riding on the ass, and coming down by the covert of the hill, behold, David and his men came down opposite to her; and she met them.

So and more also do God to the enemies of David, if I leave of all that is his by the morning light any male.

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

Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, Nabal; for as his name is, so is he: Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; and I thy handmaid did not see the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.

And now, my lord, as Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing Jehovah has restrained thee from coming with bloodshed, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.

And if a man is risen up to pursue thee and to seek thy life, the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with Jehovah thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out from the hollow of the sling.

But indeed, as Jehovah the God of Israel liveth, who has restrained me from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light any male.

And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things; and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Jehovah, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil; but Jehovah has returned Nabal's evil upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her as his wife.

And the servants of David came to Abigail to Carmel, and spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to thee, to take thee as his wife.

And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

And David said, As Jehovah liveth, Jehovah will surely smite him; either his day shall come to die, or he shall descend into battle and perish.

Jehovah forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against Jehovah's anointed! But now take, I pray thee, the spear that is at his head, and the cruse of water, and let us go.

And David said to Abner, Art not thou a man? and who is like to thee in Israel? and why hast thou not guarded thy lord the king? for one of the people came in to destroy the king thy lord.

This thing is not good which thou hast done. As Jehovah liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not guarded your master, Jehovah's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his head.

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.

And he said, Why does my lord thus pursue after his servant? for what have I done? or what evil is in my hand?

And now, let not my blood fall to the earth far from the face of Jehovah; for the king of Israel is come out to seek a single flea, as when they hunt a partridge on the mountains.

And behold, as thy life was highly esteemed this day in mine eyes, so let my life be highly esteemed in the eyes of Jehovah, that he may deliver me out of all distress.

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 speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me to seek me any more within all the limits of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.

And David and his men went up and made a raid upon the Geshurites, and the Gerzites, and the Amalekites: for those were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, and as far as the land of Egypt.

And David left neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gath, for he said, Lest they should tell of us, saying, So did David. And such was his custom as long as he abode in the country of the Philistines.

Then said Saul to his servants, Seek me a woman that has a spirit of Python, that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman who has a spirit of Python at En-dor.

And Saul swore unto her by Jehovah, saying, As Jehovah liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.

And he said to her, What is his form? And she said, An old man comes up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.