And it came to pass as they came, when David had 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 tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music.

And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.

And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand.

And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall. And David escaped from his presence twice.

And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and had departed from Saul.

Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

When the time came for Merab, Saul's daughter, to be given to David, she instead was given in marriage to Adriel, who was from Meholah.

Saul became even more afraid of him. Saul continued to be at odds with David from then on.

And the princes of the Philistines come out, and it cometh to pass from the time of their coming out, David hath acted more wisely than any of the servants of Saul, and his name is very precious.

And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled from him.

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

And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away from Saul's presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

So she lowered David from the window, and he fled and escaped.

And, when he departed from thence towards Naioth in Ramah, then came upon, him also, the Spirit of God, and he went on and on, and was moved to prophesy, until he entered Naioth in Ramah.

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

And he said to him, Far be it from thee; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing, either great or small, but that he will show it to me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.

David said to Jonathan, "Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to join the king for a meal. You must send me away so I can hide in the field until the third evening from now.

If your father misses me at all, then you must say, 'David earnestly asked from me to run to Bethlehem his city, for {the yearly sacrifice} [is] there for all the clan.'

And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee: for if I knew certainly that evil is determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee?

And thou shalt perform unto me the mercy of the LORD, not only while I live; but even when I am dead pluck not thy mercy away from my house forever.

But also thou shalt not withdraw thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the LORD hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth.

And Jonathan covenanteth with the house of David, and Jehovah hath sought it from the hand of the enemies of David;

And on the third day I will send arrows from my bow against its side as if at a mark.

And behold, I will send the boy: Go find the arrows. If saying, I say to the boy, Behold, the arrows from thee, and behold, take it: and come, for peace to thee, and not a word; Jehovah lives.

And if saying thus to the young man, Behold, the arrows from thee, and forward; go: for Jehovah sent thee away.

And the king will sit upon his seat as from time to time, to a seat of the wall: and Jonathan will rise, and Abner will sit by Saul's side, and David's seat will be reviewed.

Jonathan answered Saul, "David earnestly asked permission from me [to go] up to Bethlehem.

And Saul will lift up his spear against him to strike him, and Jonathan will know that it was finished from his father to kill David.

So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month: for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.

And he said to the boy, Go and get the arrow I let loose from my bow. And while the boy was running, he sent an arrow past him.

And the boy will go even to the place of the arrows which Jonathan shot, and Jonathan will call after the boy and say, Is not the arrow from thee and forward?

The boy left, and then David got up from the south side, and he fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed {each other} and wept {together}, but David [wept] the most.

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

And David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth 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, yes, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel.

So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the show-bread, that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.

Now there was a man from the servants of Saul on that day, detained before Yahweh, whose name [was] Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's shepherds.

So David got up and fled on that day from the presence of Saul, and he came to Achish the king of Gath.

So changing his behaviour before them, he made it seem as if he was off his head, hammering on the doors of the town, and letting the water from his mouth go down his chin.

David went from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father's household heard, they came down to him there.

And David went up from there to Mizpah of Moab. He said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother {stay} with you until I know what God will do for me."

That ye have conspired, all of you, against me, and there is none to uncover mine ear as to the covenanting of my son with the son of Jesse? And none from among you that taketh pity upon me, and that uncovereth mine ear to this , - that, mine own son, hath stirred up, my servants, against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?

And he got directions from the Lord for him, and gave him food, and put in his hand the sword of Goliath the Philistine.

And Saul said to him, Why have you made designs against me with the son of Jesse, giving him food and a sword and getting directions from the Lord for him, and helping him to take up arms against me, and to be on the watch to make a secret attack on me as he is doing now?

Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? be it far from me. Let not the king impute any thing to his servant, nor to all the house of my father: for thy servant knew nothing of all this, less or more.

And {he put to the sword} Nob, the city of the priests, from man to woman, from child to infant, and ox and donkey and sheep; [all] {to the sword}.

And they sent word to David, saying, The Philistines are fighting against Keilah and taking the grain from the grain-floors.

So David, questioning the Lord, said, Am I to go and make an attack on these Philistines? And the Lord said to David, Go and make an attack on the Philistines so that Keilah may be kept from falling into their hands.

Then David and his men who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah: and he forbore to go forth.

People from Ziph came up to Saul at Gibeah and informed him, "David is hiding with us in the strongholds in Horesh and on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon, isn't he?

And Saul said, Blessed are you from Jehovah, for you have pity on me.

The people from Ziph got up and left Saul, while David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah south of Jeshimon.

Saul and his men also went to look for him. And they told David. And he came down from the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard, he followed after David in the wilderness of Maon.

Saul went {on one side of the mountain}, and David and his men {went on the other side of the mountain}. David was hurrying to get away from Saul, while Saul and his men [were] closing in on David and his men to capture them.

Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela-hammah-lekoth.

Then David went up from thence, and dwelt in strong holds at En-gedi.

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

So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and he and his men went to search [for] David {in the direction of} the Rocks of the Mountain Goats.

He said to his men, "Far be it from me in Yahweh, that I do this thing to my lord, to Yahweh's anointed one, by stretching out my hand against him! For he [is] the anointed one of Yahweh."

So David rebuked his men with the words and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave, and he went on his way.

and David riseth afterwards, and goeth out from the cave, and calleth after Saul, saying, 'My lord, O king!' And Saul looketh attentively behind him, and David boweth -- face to the earth -- and doth obeisance.

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

May the Lord be our judge and arbiter. May he see and arbitrate my case and deliver me from your hands!"

So then, swear to me by Yahweh that you will not cut off my {descendants} after me and that you will not wipe out my name from my father's house."

Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have now been with us, and we did not hurt them, neither was there anything missing from 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 in these days that break away every man from his master.

Should I take my bread and my water and my meat which I have slaughtered for my shearers and give [it] to men whom I do not know where they [are] from?

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

But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither did we miss anything as long as we were going to and fro among them, when we were in the fields.

And now know and see what thou wilt do; for evil was finished against our lord and upon all his house: and he a son of Belial, from speaking to him.

And it happened, she was riding on the ass and coming down under cover of the mountain. And behold, David and his men came down across from her. And she met them.

Now David had been thinking, "In vain I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the desert. I didn't take anything from him. But he has repaid my good with evil.

God will severely punish David, if I leave alive until morning even one male from all those who belong to him!"

When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell on her face before {David's anger}, and she bowed down to the ground.

Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withheld thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thy own hand, now let thy enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.

Now, therefore, this blessing which thy maid-servant hath brought to my lord, let it even be given unto the young men who are going to and fro at the feet of my lord.

Yet a man hath risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thy enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the middle of a sling.

And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, who hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with my own hand.

For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, who hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light any male person.

So David received from her hand that which she had brought him, and said to her, Return in peace to thy house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.

And it cometh to pass in the morning, when the wine is gone out from Nabal, that his wife declareth to him these things, and his heart dieth within him, and he hath been as a stone.

And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent and communed with Abigail, to take her to himself for a wife.

David had also taken Ahinoam from Jezreel, and both of them became his wives.

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

People from Ziph came to Saul in Gibeah and informed him, "David is hiding on the hill of Hachilah which is across from Jeshimon, isn't he?"

Saul camped by the road on the hill of Hachilah, across from Jeshimon, while David was staying in the wilderness. When he realized that Saul had come after him in the wilderness,

And so David sent out watchers, and got word from them that Saul was certainly coming.

{Yahweh forbid me} from stretching out my hand against Yahweh's anointed one! So then, please take the spear that [is] near his head and the jar of water, and let us go."

So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's bolster; and they departed, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked: for they were all asleep: because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen upon them.

And David will pass over to the other side, and he will stand upon the head of the mountain from afar, and much place between them.

Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the LORD hath stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they are the children of men, cursed be they before the LORD; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, Go, serve other gods.

And so then, do not let my blood fall to the ground {away from} the presence of Yahweh, for the king of Israel has gone out to seek a single flea, as one hunts a partridge in the mountains."

Look, as your life was precious in my eyes this day, may my life be great in the eyes of Yahweh, and may he rescue me from all trouble."

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 in any border of Israel; so shall I escape from his hand.

David settled with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each with his household. David [took along] his two wives Ahinoam {from Jezreel} and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

And David and his men went up and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites. For they were the inhabitants of the land from the past days, as you come into Shur, even into the land of Egypt.

So Achish trusted David, thinking to himself, "He is really hated among his own people in Israel! From now on he will be my servant."

David replied to Achish, "That being the case, you will come to know what your servant can do!" Achish said to David, "Then I will make you my bodyguard from now on."

(Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him, and they had buried him in Ramah, his [own] city. And Saul had expelled the mediums and the soothsayers from the land.)

But the woman said to him, "Look, you know what Saul did, how he exterminated the mediums and the soothsayers from the land! Why [are] you setting a trap for my life to kill me?"

The king said to her, "Do not be afraid! What do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up from the ground!"