Then David went to the other side and stood on the top of the hill at a distance; the distance [was] great between them.

David called out to the army and to Abner the son of Ner, "Will you not answer, Abner?" And Abner answered and said, "Who [are] you [that] you call to the king?"

So David said to Abner, "[Are] you not a man? And who [is] like you in Israel? Why did you not keep watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came to destroy your lord the king.

This thing that you have done [is] not good. {As Yahweh lives}, {surely you people deserve to die} since you have not kept watch over your lord, over Yahweh's anointed one! So then, see where the king's spear [is] and the jar of water that [was] near his head!"

And so then, please let my lord the king listen to the words of his servant: If Yahweh has incited you against me, may he delight in an offering; but if {it is mortals}, [may] they be accursed {before} Yahweh, for they have driven me away today from sharing in the inheritance of Yahweh, 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."

Then Saul said, "I have sinned! Come back, David my son, for I will not harm you again, because my life [was] precious in your eyes this day. Look, I have acted like a fool and {have made a terrible mistake}."

Yahweh repays to each [one] his righteousness and his faithfulness, for Yahweh gave you into my hand today, but I was not willing to stretch out my hand against Yahweh's anointed.

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."

Then Saul said to David, "Blessed are you, my son David; {you will not only do many things, but also will always succeed}!" Then David went on his way and Saul returned to his place.

Then David {thought to himself}, "Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul! There is nothing better for me but [that] I must certainly escape to the land of [the] Philistines. Then Saul will desist from searching for me further in all of the territories of Israel, and so I will escape from his hand."

So David got up and crossed over, he and the six hundred men who [were] with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, the king of Gath.

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 it was reported to Saul that David had fled [to] Gath, so {he no longer searched for him}.

Then David said to Achish, "Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, then let them give me a place in one of the {country towns} that I can live there. Why should your servant live in {the royal city} with you?"

So Achish gave him Ziklag on that day. (Therefore, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah until this day.)

So David struck the land and did not leave a man or a woman alive; he took the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned and came to Achish.

And David did not leave alive a man or a woman to bring [them back] to Gath, thinking, "So that they will not report about us, saying, 'David did thus and so.'" Thus was his practice all the days that he lived in the countryside of [the] Philistines.

{Now} in those days [the] Philistines gathered their forces for war to fight against Israel. So Achish said to David, "Certainly you realize that you must go out with me in the army, you and your men."

David said to Achish, "Very well, you will know what your servant can do." Achish said to David, "Very well, I will make you {my bodyguard} for life."

So Saul said to his servants, "Search for me {a woman who is a medium} so that I may go to her and inquire of her." His servants said to him, "Look [there is] a woman who [is] a medium in Endor."

So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went {with two of his men}. And they came to the woman [by] night and he said, "Please consult a spirit for me through {the ritual pit}, and bring up for me [the one] whom I tell you."

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?"

Then Saul swore to her by Yahweh, "{As Yahweh lives}, {you will not be punished} for this thing."

When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice, and the woman said to Saul, "Why did you deceive me? You [are] Saul!"

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!"

Then he said to her, "What [is] his appearance?" She said, "An old man [is] coming up, and {he is wrapped in a robe}." Then Saul realized that it was Samuel, and he knelt [with] his face to the ground and bowed down.

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul said, "{I am in distress}! For [the] Philistines [are about] to make war against me, but God has turned away from me, and he does not answer me any more, not {by the prophets} or by the dreams. So I called to you to let me know what I should do."

Then Samuel said, "Why do you ask me, since Yahweh has turned away from you and has become your enemy?

Yahweh has done to you just as he spoke by my hand! Yahweh has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor, to David.

Because you {did not obey} Yahweh and did not carry out the fierce anger of his {wrath} against Amalek, therefore Yahweh has done this thing to you today.

{Then Saul immediately fell prostrate} to the ground, and he was very afraid because of the words of Samuel; there was no more strength in him, for he had not eaten food all day and all night.

Then the woman came to Saul and realized that he was absolutely terrified, so she said to him, "Look, your female servant {has obeyed you}, and I have {risked my life}. I have listened to your words that you have spoken to me.

So then, you also please listen to the voice of your female servant, and let me set before you a morsel of bread, and [you] eat so that {you will have strength} in you when you go on your way."

But he refused and said, "I will not eat!" However, his servants urged him, and the woman also. So he listened {to what they said}, and he got up from the ground and sat on the bed.

Now the woman had a fattened bull calf in the house, {so she quickly slaughtered it} and took flour, kneaded [dough], and baked him [some] unleavened bread.

The rulers of [the] Philistines [were] passing on according to hundreds and thousands, David and his men passing on at the rear with Achish.

Then the commanders of [the] Philistines said, "What [are] these Hebrews [doing here]?" And Achish said to the commanders of [the] Philistines, "Is this not David, the servant of Saul, the king of Israel, who has been with me {for days and years}? I have not found anything [threatening] in him from the day of his desertion until this day!"

But the commanders of [the] Philistines were angry with him and they said to him, "Send the man back so that he might return to his place where you have assigned him! But he will not go down with us into the battle, so that he does not become an adversary to us in the battle. By what could this fellow make himself favorable to his lord? Is it not with the heads of these men?

So Achish called David and said to him, "{As Yahweh lives}, certainly you were honest, and {I am pleased to have you marching with me} in the campaign. For I have not found any wrong in you from the day you came to me until this day, but in the eyes of the rulers, you [are] not good.

So then, return and go in peace, so that you do not do {something that displeases} the rulers of [the] Philistines."

Then David said to Achish, "But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant from the day that I {entered your service} until this day, that I should not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?"

And Achish answered and said to David, "I know that you [are] good in my eyes, like an angel of God! However, the commanders of [the] Philistines have said, 'He must not go up with us into the battle.'

So David set out early, he and his men, to leave in the morning to return to the land of [the] Philistines, but [the] Philistines went up [to] Jezreel.

{Now} when David and his men came [to] Ziklag on the third day, [the] Amalekites had raided [the] Negev and Ziklag. When they attacked Ziklag, they burned it with fire.

They took captive the women who were in it, {from the youngest to the oldest}. They did not kill anyone, but carried [them] off and went on their way.

When David and his men came to the city, {they saw}, and [it] was burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive.

Then David and the people who [were] with him raised their voices and wept until there was not [enough] strength in them to weep.

Two of David's wives had been taken captive. Ahinoam {from Jezreel} and Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring the ephod here for me." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Should I pursue after this band [of raiders]? Will I overtake them?" He said to him, "Pursue [them], for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly rescue them."

So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the Wadi Besor, but the rest remained.

David pursued, he and four hundred men; but two hundred men stayed because they were too exhausted to pass over the Wadi Besor.

Then they found an Egyptian man in the open country and brought him to David, and they gave him food and he ate; they also gave him water.

They gave him a slice of fig cake and two raisin cakes; he ate and {this revived him}, because he had not eaten food or drunk water [for] three days and three nights.

Then David said to him, "{To whom do you belong}, and from where [are] you? The young man said, "I am an Egyptian young man, a servant of an Amalekite man, but my master abandoned me because I became ill three days ago.

We raided the Negev of the Kerethites and that [which belongs] to Judah and then the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire."

So David asked him, "Will you take me down to this band [of raiders]?" He said, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and that you will not deliver me into my master's hand! Then I will take you down to this band."

Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped {except} four hundred young men who rode [off] on camels and fled.

So David recovered all that [the] Amalekites had taken; David also rescued his two wives.

None of theirs [was] missing {from the smallest to the greatest}, even sons and daughters, from [the] plunder up to everything they had taken for themselves; David brought back everything.

Then David came to [the] two hundred men {who had been too exhausted to follow} David; they had left them behind at the Wadi Besor. They went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. David came near with the people and {asked them how they were doing}.

But David said to them, "You should not do so, my brothers, with what Yahweh has given to us! He has preserved us and has given the [raiding] band that came against us into our hand.

And who would listen to you regarding this matter? For as the share of the one who went down into the battle, so the share of the one who remained with the baggage will be. They will share alike."

So from that day and beyond, he made it a rule and a regulation for Israel until this day.

Then David came to Ziklag, and he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, "{Here is} a gift for you from the plunder of the enemies of Yahweh!"

Then Saul said to {his armor bearer}, "Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised do not come and thrust me through and make a fool of me!" But {his armor bearer} [was] not willing [to do so] because he [was] very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it.

So Saul died, and his three sons, {his armor bearer}, [and] all his men together that [same] day.

{And then} the next day, [the] Philistines came to strip the dead and they found Saul and his three sons lying [dead] on Mount Gilboa.

So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor. Then they sent [messengers] around in the land of [the] Philistines to proclaim [victory in] the temples of their idols and [to] the people.

And they put his armor [in] the temple of the Ashtoreth, and they fastened his corpse to the wall of Beth Shan.

When the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard about it, what [the] Philistines had done to Saul,

all of {the valiant men} set out and went all night and took the corpse of Saul and the corpses of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there.

{After} the death of Saul, David returned from defeating the Amalekites and he stayed at Ziklag two days.

On the third day, a man came from the camp from [being with] Saul, with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head. {When he came} to David, he fell to the ground and bowed down.

David said to him, "Where did you come from?" He said to him, "I have escaped from the camp of Israel."

Then David said to him, "{How did things go}? Please tell me." He answered, "{When} the army fled from the battle, and many of the people fell; also, Saul and Jonathan his son died."

Then David asked the young man who [was] reporting to him, "How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan died?"

The young man who [was] reporting to him said, "I merely happened to be on Mount Gilboa. Here Saul [was] leaning on his spear, and look, the chariots and the horsemen [were] getting close to him.

When he turned around and saw me, he called to me, and I said, 'Here I [am].'

Then he said to me, 'Who [are] you?' And I said to him, 'I [am] an Amalekite.'

He said to me, 'Please stand over me and kill me, for convulsions have seized me, even though my life [is still] in me.'

So I stood over him and killed him, for I knew that he could not live after his falling; I took the crown that [was] on his head and [the] bracelet which [was] on his arm; and here, I have brought them to my lord.

Then David said to the young man who [was] reporting to him, "Where [are] you from?" And he said, "I [am] the son of an alien man. I [am] an Amalekite."

David said to him, "How [is it that] you [were] not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy Yahweh's anointed one?"

Then David called to one of the young men and said to him, "Come near; strike him." So he struck him down and he died.

David said to him, "Your blood [is] on your head, for your mouth has testified against you by saying, 'I killed Yahweh's anointed one!'"

And he ordered "The Bow" to be taught to the children of Judah. Look, it [is] written on the scroll of Jashar.

Do not tell it in Gath; do not proclaim it in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of [the] Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.

O mountains of Gilboa, [let there be] no dew or rain upon you or on the fields of [grain for] offerings, for there the small shield of [the] mighty [was] defiled, the small shield of Saul [was] not anointed with oil.

{I am distressed} over you, my brother Jonathan. you [were] very dear to me; your love [was] more wonderful to me than the love of women.

It happened after this that David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Shall I go up into one of the cities of Judah?" And Yahweh said to him, "Go up." David asked, "Where shall I go up?" And he said, "To Hebron."

So David went up there {along with} his two wives, Ahinoam {from Jezreel} and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-Gilead and said to them, "May you be blessed by Yahweh because you did this loyal love with your lord, with Saul, and you buried him.

But Abner the son of Ner, the commander of Saul's army, had taken Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over [to] Mahanaim.

Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul [was] forty years old when he became king over Israel and he reigned two years; however, the house of Judah {followed} David.

Abner the son of Ner and the servants of Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

Abner said to Joab, "Let the young men come up and fight in our presence." And Joab said, "Let them come up."

Then the battle {became increasingly fierce} on that day, and Abner and the men of Israel [were] defeated before the servants of David.

So Asahel pursued Abner, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left from going after Abner.