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.

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

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

Now therefore know and consider what thou will do, for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house. For he is such a worthless fellow that [a man] cannot speak to him.

Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on don

And she said to her young men, Go on before me, behold, I come after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

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.

Now therefore, my lord, as LORD lives, and as thy soul lives, since LORD has withheld thee from blood guiltiness, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now therefore let thine enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, b

And now this present which thy servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.

And though men be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with LORD thy God. And the souls of thine enemies, them he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling.

And it shall come to pass, when LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee prince over Israel,

that this shall be no grief to thee, nor offence of heart to my lord, either that thou have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. And when LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thy handmaid

And David said to Abigail, Blessed be LORD, the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me,

and blessed be thy discretion, and blessed be thou, who have kept me this day from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand.

For in very deed, as LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from hurting thee, unless thou had hastened and come to meet me, surely there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child.

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 Abigail came to Nabal, and, behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king. And Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light.

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 it came to pass about ten days after, that LORD smote Nabal, so that he died.

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 she arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, thy handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.

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 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.

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.

This thing is not good that thou have done. As LORD lives, ye are worthy to die because ye have not kept watch over your lord, LORD's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his head.

Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it be LORD who has stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering, but if it be the sons of men, cursed be they before LORD. For they have d

Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of LORD. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when [a man] hunts a partridge in the mountains.

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 LORD will render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness, inasmuch as LORD delivered thee into my hand today, and I would not put forth my hand against LORD's anointed.

And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in my eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of LORD, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation.

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?

Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag pertains to the kings of Judah to this day.

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 David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring them to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell of us, saying, So did David, and so has been his manner all the while he has dwelt in the country of the Philistines.

And Achish believed David, saying, He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he shall be my servant forever.

And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shall go out with me in the army, thou and thy men.

And David said to Achish, Therefore thou shall know what thy servant will do. And Achish said to David, Therefore I will make thee my chief bodyguard forever.

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

And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night, and he said, Divine to me, I pray thee, by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I shall name to

And the woman said to him, Behold, thou know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. Why then do thou lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?

And Saul swore to her by LORD, saying, As LORD lives, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.

Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up to thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.

And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why have thou deceived me? For thou are Saul.

And the king said to her, Be not afraid, for what do thou see? And the woman said to Saul, I see gods coming up out of the earth.

And he said to her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man comes up, and he is covered with a robe. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance.

And Samuel said to Saul, Why have thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am greatly distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by prophets, no

And Samuel said, Why then do thou ask of me, since LORD departed from thee, and has become thine adversary?

And LORD has done to thee, as he spoke by me. And LORD has rent the kingdom out of thy hand, and given it to thy neighbor, even to David.

Because thou obeyed not the voice of LORD, and did not execute his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore LORD has done this thing to thee this day.

Then Saul fell straightway his full length upon the earth, and was greatly afraid because of the words of Samuel, and there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night.

And the woman came to Saul, and saw that he was greatly troubled, and said to him, Behold, thy handmaid has hearkened to thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have hearkened to thy words which thou spoke to me.

Now therefore, I pray thee, hearken thou also to the voice of thy handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee, and eat, that thou may have strength when thou go on thy way.

But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, constrained him, and he hearkened to their voice. So he arose from the ground, and sat upon the bed.

Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek, and the Israelites encamped by the fountain which is in Jezreel.

Then the rulers of the Philistines said, What [are] these Hebrews? And Achish said to the rulers of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or [rather] these year

But the rulers of the Philistines were angry with him. And the rulers of the Philistines said to him, Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where thou have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, l

Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands?

Then Achish called David, and said to him, As LORD lives, thou have been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the army is good in my sight, for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming to me to t

And David said to Achish, But what have I done? And what have thou found in thy servant so long as I have been before thee to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou are good in my sight, as an agent of God, notwithstanding the rulers of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.

So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

And it came to pass, when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid upon the South, and upon Ziklag, and had smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire,

And when David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire. And their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captive.

Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.

And David's two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, I pray thee, bring me here the ephod. And Abiathar brought there the ephod to David.

So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed.

But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.

And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread. And he ate, and they gave him water to drink.

And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him, for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.

And David said to him, To whom do thou belong? And from where are thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. And my master left me because three days ago I fell sick.

We made a raid upon the South of the Cherethites, and upon that which belongs to Judah, and upon the South of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.

And David said to him, Will thou bring me down to this troop? And he said, Swear to me by God, that thou will neither kill me, nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this troop.

And David smote them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day. And there escaped not a man of them, except four hundred young men who rode upon camels and fled.

And David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives.

And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them; David brought back all.

And David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made to abide at the brook Besor. And they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him. And when D

Then answered all the wicked men and base fellows of those who went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them anything of the spoil that we have recovered except to every man his wife and his childr

Then David said, Ye shall not do so, my brothers, with that which LORD has given to us, who has preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand.

And who will hearken to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down to the battle so shall his share be who remains by the baggage; they shall share alike.

And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.