And the servants of Achish will say to him, Is not this David king of the land? will they not answer to this in dances, saying, Saul struck against his thousands and David against his ten thousands?

And David will set these words in his heart, and he will be afraid greatly of the face of Achish, king of Gath.

And he will change his understanding in their eyes, and he will be foolish in their hand, and he will mark upon the doors of the gate, and his spittle will come down upon his beard.

And Achish will say to his servants, Behold, ye will see the man raving: wherefore will ye bring him to me?

David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.

All those who were in trouble or owed someone money or were discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. He had about four hundred men with him.

And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.

And he brought them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold.

And the prophet Gad will say to David, Thou shalt not dwell in the fortress; go, and come in for thyself to the land of Judah. And David will go and come to the thicket of Hareth.

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;)

Then Saul said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands, and captains 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?

And Doeg the Edomite will answer, and he being set over the servants of Saul, and he will say, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob to Ahimelech, son of Ahitub.

And he will ask for him in Jehovah, and he gave to him provision, and the sword of Goliah the rover he gave to him.

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 will say, Hear now, son of Ahitub. And he will say, Behold me, my lord.

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 said, And who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, which is the king's son in law, and goeth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thine 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.

And the king said, Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father's house.

And the king will say to the runners standing by him, Turn about and kill the priests of Jehovah, for their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not uncover his ear. And the king's servants would not stretch forth their hand to fall upon the priests of Jehovah.

And the king will say to Doeg, Turn thou about, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite will turn about, and he will fall upon the priests and kill in that day eighty and five men lifting up a linen ephod.

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 one son to Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, and his name Abiathar, will escape and flee after David.

And Abiathar will announce to David that Saul slew the priests of Jehovah.

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

Stay with me. Don’t be afraid, for the one who wants to take my life wants to take your life. You will be safe with me.”

And they will announce to David, saying, Behold, the rovers fighting against Keilah, and they are plundering the threshing-floors.

And David will ask in Jehovah, saying, Shall I go and strike against these rovers? And Jehovah will say to David, Go and strike against the rovers, and save Keilah.

But David's men said to him, "We are afraid while we are still here in Judah! What will it be like if we go 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 thine hand.

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 it will be in the fleeing of Abiathar son of Ahimelech, to David to Keilah, he brought down an ephod in his hand.

And it will be announced to Saul that David came to Keilah. And Saul will say, God sold him into my hand; for he was shut up, to come to a city of doors and bars.

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

And David knew that Saul was working evil against him; and he will say to Abiathar the priest, Bring near the ephod.

And David will say, Jehovah God of Israel, hearing, thy servant heard that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on account of me.

Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O LORD God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy 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 thee up.

And David will rise, and his men, about six hundred men, and they will go forth from Keilah, and they will go wherever they will go. And it was announced to Saul that David escaped from Keilah; and he will cease to go forth.

And David abideth in the wilderness, in fortresses, and abideth in the hill-country, in the wilderness of Ziph; and Saul seeketh him all the days, and God hath not given him into his hand.

David was afraid because Saul had come out to seek his life while David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.

And Jonathan, son of Saul, will rise and go to David to the thicket, and he will strengthen his hand in God.

And he said to him, Fear not; for the hand of Saul my father will not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next to thee; and that also Saul my father knows.

Then the two of them made a covenant in the Lord’s presence. Afterward, David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home.

And the Ziphites will go up to Saul to the hill, saying, Is not David hiding with us in the fastnesses in the thicket, in the hill of Hachilah, which is from the right of the desert?

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 said, The Lord's blessing will be yours, for you have had pity on me

Go now, prepare yet, and know, and see his place where his foot shall be, who saw him there: for it was said to me being crafty, he will be crafty.

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.

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.

And Saul will go, and his men, to seek: and they will announce to David, and he will go down to the rock and dwell in the desert of the refuge. And Saul will hear and he will pursue after David in the desert 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.

And Saul will turn back from pursuing after David, and he will go to meet the rovers: for this they called that place the Rock of Escapes.

And David will go up from thence and dwell in the fastnesses of the Fountain of Goats.

And it will be when Saul turned back from after the rovers, and they will announce to him, saying, Behold, David in the desert 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 will come to the sheepfolds upon the way, and there a cave; and Saul will come in to cover his feet: and David and his men dwelling in the sides of the cave.

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

And it will be after this, the heart of David will strike him because that he cut off the wing which is to Saul.

He said to his men, “I swear before the Lord: I would never do such a thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed. I will never lift my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.”

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 will rise up after him and will come forth from the cave, and he will call after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And Saul will look behind him, and David will bow down his face to the earth, and worship him.

And David will say to Saul, Why wilt thou hear the words of man, saying, Behold, David is seeking thy hurt?

Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave: and some bade me kill thee: but mine eye spared thee; and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord; for he is the LORD'S anointed.

May Yahweh judge between me and you, and may Yahweh avenge me on you, but my hand will not be against you!

Just as the ancient proverb says, 'From the wicked, wickedness goes out,' but my hand will not be against you!

And Jehovah being for defender, and judge between me and between thee; and he will see and plead my cause, and he will judge me out of thine hand.

When David had made an end of speaking all these words to Saul, Saul said, "Is this thy voice, my son David?" And he lifted up his voice and wept,

to David, "You are more righteous than I am, because you have treated me well even though I've treated you poorly.

And thou hast shewed this day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as when the LORD had delivered me into thine hand, thou killedst me not.

For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the LORD reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day.

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

So now swear to me by the Lord that you will not cut off my descendants after me and that you will not destroy my name from my father’s household (extended family).”

David made this vow to Saul, and then Saul went home, while David and his men went up to the stronghold.

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.

Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel; he was a great man and had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats: and he was cutting the wool of his sheep in Carmel.

The man's name was Nabal and his wife's name was Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, while the man was harsh and wicked in his dealings. He was a descendant of Caleb.

While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep,

So David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel and go to Nabal; {you will greet him in my name}.

And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.

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 thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.

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

And Nabal will answer David's servants, and say, Who is David? and who the son of Jesse? this day there were many servants breaking away a man from the face of his lord.

Am I to take my bread and my wine and the meat I have got ready for my wool-cutters and give it to men coming from I have no idea where?

So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings.

Then David said to his men, "Each man strap on his sword!" So each one strapped on his sword, and David also strapped on his sword. About four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

And one boy of the boys announced to Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers from the desert to bless my lord; and he will fly upon them.

and the men are very good to us, and have not put us to shame, and we have not looked after anything all the days we have gone up and down with them, in our being in the field;

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

Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt 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.

And Abigail will hasten and take two hundred of bread, and two flasks of wine, and five sheep done, and five measures of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of dried grapes, and two hundred cakes of figs, and put upon asses.

Then she said to her male servants, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

Now while she was going down under cover of the mountain on her ass, David and his men came down against her, and suddenly she came face to face with them.

Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.

So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.

And Abigail will see David, and will hasten, and will come down from the ass, and fall before David upon her face, and will worship him to the earth.

Falling at his feet, she said, "My lord, I accept all the guilt! But please let your female servant speak with my lord! Please listen to the words of your servant!

My lord should pay no attention to this worthless man Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name is Nabal, and stupidity is all he knows. I, your servant, didn’t see my lord’s young men whom you sent.