Then [the] Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "[Is] not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which [is] south of Jeshimon

So then, O king, {whenever you want} to come down, come down, and [it will be] for us to deliver him into the hand of the king."

And Saul said to them, "May you be blessed by Yahweh, for you have shown me compassion

Go, please, make certain again! Find out and see {exactly where he is} and who has seen him there! For they have said to me, 'He [is] very cunning.'

Look, find out all of the hiding places where he hides. Then return to me {with dependable information}, and I will go with you. And then if he [is] there in the land, then I will seek him among all the thousands of Judah."

Then they got up and went to Ziph before Saul. Now David and his men [were] in the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah, to the south of Jeshimon.

And Saul and his men went to seek [him], and they told David, so he went down [to] the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard [this], he pursued David [into] the wilderness 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.

But a messenger came to Saul, saying, "Hurry and come, because [the] Philistines have made a raid on the land!"

So Saul returned from pursuing David, and he went to confront [the] Philistines. Therefore, they called that place the Rock of Division.

David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of En Gedi.

So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and he and his men went to search [for] David {in the direction of} the Rocks of the Mountain Goats.

He came to the sheep pens beside the road, and a cave [was] there. Then Saul went in {to relieve himself}. Now David and his men [were] sitting in the innermost part of the cave.

And David's men said to him, "Look, today [is] the day about which Yahweh said to you, 'See, I am giving your enemy into your hand, and you can do to him {whatever seems good to you}.'" So David got up and secretly cut the hem of Saul's robe.

{And then} afterward David {felt guilty}, because he had cut {the hem of Saul's robe}.

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.

Then David got up afterward and went out of the cave and called after Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked after him, David knelt down [with his] face to the ground and bowed down.

Look, this day your eyes have seen that Yahweh gave you today into my hand in the cave, and some said to kill you. But {I took pity} on you and said, 'I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, because he [is] Yahweh's anointed one.'

Now, my father, see, yes, see, the hem of your robe in my hand! For {when I cut} the hem of your robe I did not kill you. Know and {realize} that there is no evil or rebellion in my hand. I did not sin against you, but you [are] hunting down my life to take it.

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

May Yahweh be [the] judge, and let him judge between me and you, and may he see and plead my case. {May he vindicate me against you}!"

When David finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, "[Is] this your voice, my son David?" And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.

You have explained to me today that you have dealt well with me, how Yahweh delivered me into your hand but you did not kill me.

So now then, look, I know that you will certainly be king and the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand.

So then, swear to me by Yahweh that you will not cut off my {descendants} after me and that you will not wipe out my name from my father's house."

So David swore [this on oath] to Saul, and Saul went to his house, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him. They buried him at his house at Ramah. Then David got up and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

Now there was a man in Maon, whose business [was] in Carmel. The man was very rich and {owned} three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. {Now} the shearing of his sheep [was taking place] in Carmel.

The name of the man [was] Nabal, and the name of his wife [was] Abigail. Now the woman [was] wise and beautiful, but the man [was] stubborn and {mean}, and he [was] as his heart.

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}.

Then you must say to him, '[Long] life [to you], and {may it go well with you, with your house, and with all that is yours}.

Now I have heard that {you have shearers}. Now while your shepherds [were] with us, we did not mistreat them, and nothing of theirs [was] missing, all the days they were in Carmel.

Ask your servants and they will tell you! Let the young men find favor in your eyes because we have come on a feast day. Please give {whatever you have on hand} for your servants and for your son David."

So David's young men came and they spoke all these words to Nabal in the name of David. Then they waited.

But Nabal answered David's servants and said, "Who [is] David? And who [is] the son of Jesse? Today, [there] are many servants breaking away from the presence of their masters.

Should I take my bread and my water and my meat which I have slaughtered for my shearers and give [it] to men whom I do not know where they [are] from?

So David's young men turned on their way and returned and came and told him according to all these words.

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.

even though the men [were] very good to us; we were not mistreated and did not miss anything all the days we went about with them {while we were} in the field.

They were a wall to us both night and day, all {the days we were} with them keeping the sheep.

And so then, know and {consider} what you should do, for evil has been decided against our master and against all his household, and he [is such] {a wicked man}, {nobody can reason with him}!"

Then Abigail {quickly took} two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she put [them] on the donkeys.

{And then}, [as] she [was] riding on the donkey and [was] going down the ravine of the mountain, David and his men [were] coming down to meet her, and she met them.

Now David had said, "Surely {in vain} I guarded all that this fellow had in the desert. And nothing was missed of all that [was] his, but he returned evil against me in place of good!

{May God severely punish the enemies of David} and again do thus if I leave behind {anything that is his} until the morning, [not even] {one male}!"

When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from the donkey and fell on her face before {David's anger}, and she bowed down to the ground.

She fell at his feet and said, "On me, my lord, [be] the guilt! Please let your female servant speak {to you personally}! Hear the words of your female servant!

Please do not let my lord set his heart against {this worthless man}, Nabal; for as his name, so [is] he. Nabal [is] his name, and stupidity [is] with him! But I, your female servant, did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

So then, my lord, {as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives}, since Yahweh restrained you from bloodguilt {by taking matters into your own hand}, so then, may your enemies be like Nabal, even {those who seek to do my lord harm}.

Please forgive the transgression of your female servant, because Yahweh will certainly make a lasting house for my lord, because my lord [is] fighting the battles of Yahweh, and evil will not be found in you {as long as you live}.

Should a man arise to pursue you and to seek your life, may the life of my lord be wrapped in the pouch of the living with Yahweh your God. But as for the life of your enemy, he will sling it from within the pocket of the sling!

{And then} when Yahweh has done for my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you as leader over Israel,

then this will not be an obstacle for you or a stumbling block of conscience for my lord [either] by the shedding of blood without cause or by {my lord taking matters into his own hands}. And when Yahweh does good to my lord, then remember your female servant."

And blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you who have prevented me this day from bloodguilt and [from] delivering myself by my own hand.

But {as Yahweh lives}, the God of Israel who has prevented me from harming you, if you had not hurried and come to meet me, surely there would not have been {one male} left alive for Nabal by the light of morning!"

Then David took from her hand what she had brought for him, and he said to her, "Go up to your house in peace. See, I have listened to your voice, and I have {granted your request}."

Then Abigail went to Nabal, and look, {he was holding a feast} in his house like the feast of the king. {Nabal was enjoying himself}, and he [was] very drunk, so she did not tell him a thing, {nothing at all}, until the light of morning.

{And then} in the morning when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these words. Then his heart died {within him}, and he became like a stone.

{And then}, about ten days later, Yahweh struck Nabal and he died.

When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, "Blessed be Yahweh who has vindicated the case of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and he has kept back his servant from evil; but Yahweh has returned the evil of Nabal on his [own] head." Then David sent and spoke with Abigail to take her for his wife.

So the servants of David came to Abigail at Carmel, and they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you to take you for his wife."

She got up and bowed down [with] her face to the ground and said, "Here is your female servant, as a slave to wash the feet of my lord's servants."

Then Abigail {quickly got up} and rode on the donkey, [along with] five of her maidservants who {attended her}, and she went after the messengers of David and became his wife.

David had also taken Ahinoam from Jezreel, and both of them became his wives.

Then Saul got up and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, and three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

David sent spies, and he learned that Saul had come {for certain}.

Then David got up and came to the place where Saul had encamped, and David saw the place where Saul [was] lying down, {as well as} Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. (Now Saul [was] lying in the encampment, and the army [was] encamping around him.)

David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah the brother of Joab, saying, "Who will go down with me to Saul, in the camp?" And Abishai said, "I will go down with you."

So David and Abishai came to the army [by] night, and {there was} Saul lying asleep in the encampment with his spear thrust into the ground near his head, and Abner and the army [were] lying all around him.

Then Abishai said to David, "God has handed over your enemy into your hand today! So then, {please let me pin him to the ground with the spear} {one time}, and {I will not strike him twice}."

But David said to Abishai, "Do not destroy him! For who has stretched out his hand against Yahweh's anointed one and remained blameless?"

And David said, "{As Yahweh lives}, {certainly} Yahweh will strike him, or his day will come and he will die, or he will go down in the battle and {perish}.

{Yahweh forbid me} from stretching out my hand against Yahweh's anointed one! So then, please take the spear that [is] near his head and the jar of water, and let us go."

So David took the spear and the jar of water from [near] Saul's head, and they went [away]. {No one saw, no one knew, and no one awakened}, for all of them [were] sleeping because a deep sleep of Yahweh had fallen upon them.

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!"

Then Saul recognized David's voice and said, "[Is] this your voice, my son David?" And David said, "[It is] my voice, my lord the king."

Then he said, "Why [is] my lord pursuing after his servant? For what have I done? And what evil [is] in my hand?

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}."

David answered and said, "Here is the king's spear; let one of the young men come over and take it.

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}.

The number of days that David lived in the countryside of the Philistines [was] one year and four months.

Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites, for they had been living [in] the land for a long time {in the direction of} Shur and {as far as} the land of Egypt.

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 Achish said, "Against whom have you raided today?" David said, "Against the Negev of Judah and against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites and against the Negev of the Kenites."

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.

And Achish trusted David, saying, "{He has made himself utterly hated} among his people in Israel, and he will be my servant forever."

{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."

(Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him, and they had buried him in Ramah, his [own] city. And Saul had expelled the mediums and the soothsayers from the land.)

Then [the] Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem, so Saul assembled all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa.