And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats' hair for his bolster.

And Saul said to Michal, why have you been false to me, letting my hater go and get safely away? And in answer Michal said to Saul, He said to me, Let me go, or I will put you to death.

So David went in flight and got away and came to Ramah, to Samuel, and gave him an account of all Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and were living in Naioth.

So Saul sent messengers to take David, but, when they saw the assembly of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, then came the Spirit of God upon the messengers of Saul, and, they also, were, moved to prophesy.

And, when they told Saul, and he sent other messengers, then were, they also, moved to prophesy. And, when Saul again sent messengers a third time, then were, they also, moved to prophesy.

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

David fled from Naioth in Ramah and he came and said to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my guilt? What is my sin before (against) your father, that he is seeking my life?”

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

But David vowed again, saying “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your sight, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be worried.’ But truly as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is hardly a step between me and death.”

Then Jonathan said to David, "Whatever your soul desires, I will even do it for you."

If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked permission from me to go to Bethlehem, his city, because it is the yearly sacrifice there for the entire family.’

If he says, ‘All right,’ your servant will be safe; but if he is very angry, then be certain that he has decided on evil.

Therefore show kindness to your servant, because you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if there is iniquity (guilt) in me, kill me yourself; for why should you bring me to your father [to be killed]?”

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

Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what if thy father answer thee roughly?

And Jonathan said unto David, O LORD God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about to morrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and shew it thee;

thus doth Jehovah do to Jonathan, and thus doth He add; when the evil concerning thee is good to my father, then I have uncovered thine ear, and sent thee away, and thou hast gone in peace, and Jehovah is with thee, as he was with my father;

While I am still alive, extend to me the loyalty of the Lord, or else I will die!

You shall never cut off your lovingkindness and faithfulness from my house, not even when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.”

Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon [festival], and you will be missed because your seat will be empty.

And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shalt remain by the stone Ezel.

I will shoot three arrows [to the] side as [if] I were shooting at a target.

And, behold, I will send a lad, saying, Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them; then come thou: for there is peace to thee, and no hurt; as the LORD liveth.

But if I say thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way: for the LORD hath sent thee away.

As for what you and I were talking of, the Lord is between you and me for ever.

And it cometh to pass on the second morrow of the new moon, that David's place is looked after, and Saul saith unto Jonathan his son, 'Wherefore hath the son of Jesse not come in, either yesterday or to-day, unto the food?'

And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king's table.

Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a wayward, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse [over me] to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?

For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you [as heir to the throne] nor your kingdom will be established. So now, send [someone] and bring him to me, for he must die.”

And he said unto his lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

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

And Jonathan called out after the boy, “Hurry, be quick, do not stay!” So Jonathan’s boy picked up the arrow and came back to his master.

Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, because we have sworn, the two of us, [an oath] in the name of Yahweh, saying, "Yahweh will be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring forever." Then he got up and left, and Jonathan went into the city.

Then David went to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came trembling [in fear] to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?”

David answered Ahimelech the priest, “The king gave me a mission, but he told me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or what I have ordered you to do.’ I have stationed my young men at a certain place.

Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present.

The priest replied to David, "I don't have any ordinary bread at my disposal. Only holy bread is available, and then only if your soldiers have abstained from sexual relations with women."

And David answered the priest, and said unto 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, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel.

And the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the shew-loaves that were taken from before Jehovah, to put on hot bread in the day when they were taken away.

And a man there from the servants of Saul in that day, withheld before Jehovah; and his name Doeg, the Edomite, a powerful one of the shepherds which were to Saul.

And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.

Are there not enough unbalanced men about me, that you have let this person come and do such tricks before me? is such a man to come into my house?

And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”

When Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men that were with him, (now Saul abode in Gibeah under a tree in Ramah, having his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him;)

And Saul saith to his servants who are standing by him, 'Hear, I pray you, ye Benjamites; also to all of you doth the son of Jesse give fields and vineyards! all of you he doth appoint heads of thousands and heads of hundreds!

That all of you have conspired against me, and there is none that sheweth me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?

Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king.

Then Saul said, “Listen, son of Ahitub!”

“I’m at your service, my lord,” he said.

And Saul will say to him, Why were ye bound together against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in thy giving to him bread and a sword, and asking for him in God to rise up against me, to lie in wait as this day?

Then Ahimelech answered the king, “And who among all your servants is as faithful and trustworthy as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and who is captain over your guard [and your confidant], and is honored in your house?

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

But Saul said, “Be assured that you shall die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s household (extended family).”

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 the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.

He attacked the priestly town of Nob with the sword. Men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys and sheep were put to the sword.

Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would certainly tell Saul. I have brought about the death of everyone in your father’s household (extended family).

Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life, but you are safe with me.”

And they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing-floors.

And David's men said unto him, Behold, we are afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?

Then David inquired of the Lord again. And the Lord answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will hand over the Philistines to you.”

And David will go, and his men, to Keilah, and he will war against the rovers, and drive away their cattle, and strike against them a great blow. And David will save the inhabitants of Keilah.

And Saul called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.

Then David said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul intends to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account.

Will the men of Keilah hand me over to him? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O Lord, God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.”

Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he forbare to go forth.

David stayed in the strongholds that were in the desert and in the hill country of the desert of Ziph. Saul looked for him all the time, but God did not deliver David into his hand.

saying, “Don’t be afraid, for my father Saul will never lay a hand on you. You yourself will be king over Israel, and I’ll be your second-in-command. Even my father Saul knows it is true.”

Then came the Ziphites to Saul, to Gibeah, saying, "David hideth himself fast by us in strongholds that are in a thicket in the hill of Hachilah on the rightside of the wilderness.

Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king's hand.

And Saul saith, 'Blessed are ye of Jehovah, for ye have pity on me;

Go, I pray you, prepare yet, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who hath seen him there: for it is told me that he dealeth very subtilly.

See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hideth himself, and come ye again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah.

And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon.

And Saul goeth on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain, and David is hastened to go from the face of Saul, and Saul and his men are compassing David and his men, to catch them.

But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, "Haste thee and come, for the Philistines are come in and rove the land."

Then Saul took three thousand men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men in the rocks, where nothing haunted but wild goats.

And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and David and his men remained in the sides of the cave.

David’s men said to him, “Behold, this is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will hand over your enemy to you, and you shall do to him as seems good to you.’” Then David arose [in the darkness] and stealthily cut off the hem (edge) of Saul’s robe.

He told his men, "God forbid that I should do this thing to your majesty, the LORD's anointed, by stretching out my hand against him, since he's the LORD's anointed."

Then David got up, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul: "Your majesty!" Saul looked behind him, and David bowed down with his face to the ground and prostrated himself.

David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to men's words, saying, 'Behold, David seeks your hurt?'

Behold, your eyes have seen today how the Lord had given you into my hand in the cave. Some told me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not reach out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’

Look, my father! Indeed, see the hem of your robe in my hand! Since I cut off the hem of your robe and did not kill you, know and understand [without question] that there is no evil or treason in my hands. I have not sinned against you, though you are lying in wait to take my life.

After whom did the king of Israel go out? After whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog? After one flea?

May the Lord be the judge and render judgment between me and you; and may He see and plead my cause and vindicate me by saving me from your hand.”

When David had finished saying these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” Then Saul raised his voice and wept.

He said to David, “You are more righteous and upright [in God’s eyes] than I; for you have done good to me, but I have done evil to you.

You have declared today the good that you have done to me, for when the Lord put me into your hand, you did not kill me.

Now, behold, I know that you will certainly be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand.

Therefore swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s family.”

And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

The man's name was Nabal, and his wife's name was Abigail. She was both wise and beautiful, but the man was harsh and his deeds were evil. He was a Calebite.

and this is what you shall say, ‘Have a long life! Peace be to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all that you have.

And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.

Ask your young men and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find favor in your sight [and be well-treated], for we have come on a good (festive) day. Please, give whatever you find at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

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.

Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men of whom I know not whence they are?

He said to his men, “All of you, put on your swords!” So David and all his men put on their swords. About 400 men followed David while 200 stayed with the supplies.