And he inquired of the LORD for him, and gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.

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.

And Saul said, Hear now, you son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my lord.

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

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 your servant knew nothing of all this, less or more.

And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not show it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.

And Nob, the city of the priests, struck he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, and oxen, and donkeys, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.

And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David.

And David said unto Abiathar, I knew it that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have caused the death of all the persons of your father's house.

Therefore David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go and strike these Philistines? And the LORD said unto David, Go, and strike the Philistines, and save Keilah.

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

Then David inquired of the LORD yet again. And the LORD answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah: for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.

So David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and struck them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

Then said David, O LORD God of Israel, your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.

Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I beseech you, tell your servant. And the LORD said, He will come down.

Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver you up.

Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he decided not to go there.

And David abode in the wilderness in strongholds, and remained in the mountains in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.

And David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a forest.

And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; and you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto you; and that also Saul my father knows.

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

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

And Saul said, Blessed be you of the LORD; for you have compassion on me.

See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself, and come you again to me with 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.

Saul also and his men went to seek him. And they told David: therefore he came down to a rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men surrounded David and his men to take them.

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

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats.

And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself: and David and his men remained in the recesses of the cave.

And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of which the LORD said unto you, Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it shall seem good unto you. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe stealthily.

And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart troubled him, because he had cut off Saul's robe.

And he said unto his men, The LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD'S anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.

So David restrained his servants with these words, and allowed them not to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.

David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and called after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed himself.

Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of your robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and killed you not, know you and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned against you; yet you hunt my soul to take it.

The LORD judge between me and you, and the LORD avenge me of you: but my hand shall not be upon you.

As says the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceeds from the wicked: but my hand shall not be upon you.

After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom do you pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.

The LORD therefore be judge, and judge between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.

And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, Is this your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.

For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safe? therefore the LORD reward you with good for what you have done unto me this day.

And now, behold, I know well that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.

Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD, that you will not cut off my descendants after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father's house.

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

Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was surly and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb.

And when David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.

And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there are many servants now days that break away each man from his master.

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

Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.

Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two skins of wine, and five sheep already dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.

And it was so, as she rode on the donkey, that she came down under cover of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them.

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 unto him: and he has repaid me evil for good.

God do so and more also unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that belong to him by the morning light even one male.

And when Abigail saw David, she hastened, and got off the donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground,

And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let your handmaid, I pray you, speak in your audience, and hear the words of your handmaid.

Let not my lord, I pray you, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I your handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom you did send.

I pray you, forgive the trespass of your handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord an enduring house; because my lord fights the battles of the LORD, and evil has not been found in you all your days.

Yet a man has risen to pursue you, and to seek your soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God; and the souls of your enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.

That this shall be no grief unto you, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid.

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

For in very deed, as the LORD God of Israel lives, who has kept me back from hurting you, unless you had hastened and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any remaining males.

So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to your house; see, I have hearkened to your voice, and have accepted your 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, little or much, until the morning light.

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

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

And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke unto her, saying, David sent us unto you, to take you to be his wife.

And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let your handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.

And Abigail hastened, and arose, and rode upon a donkey, with five of her young women that attended her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives.

But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does not David hide himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon?

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 Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite Jeshimon, by the road. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.

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 camp, and the people encamped round about him.

Then answered David 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 you.

The LORD forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the LORD'S anointed: but, I pray you, take you now the spear that is at his head, and the jar of water, and let us go.

So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head; and they got away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awoke: for they were all asleep; because a deep sleep from the LORD was fallen upon them.

Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of a hill afar off; a great space being between them:

And David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Answer you not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who are you that cry to the king?

And David said to Abner, are not you a valiant man? and who is like to you in Israel? why then have you not kept your lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king your lord.

This thing is not good that you have done. As the LORD lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept your master, the LORD'S anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the jar of water that was at his head.

Now therefore, I pray you, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the LORD has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be 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.

Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one does hunt a partridge in the mountains.

And David answered and said, Behold the king's spear! and let one of the young men come over and get it.

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

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 shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any border of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.

And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in your eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?

Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: therefore Ziklag has belonged unto the kings of Judah unto this day.

And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.

And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gizites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as you go to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.

And Achish said, where have you made a raid today? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.

And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring tidings to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David, and so will be his custom all the while he dwells in the country of the Philistines.

Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away the mediums, and the wizards, out of the land.

And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.

And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.

Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that is a medium at Endor.

And the woman said unto him, Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those that are mediums, and the wizards, out of the land: why then lay you a snare for my life, to cause me to die?