And David swore moreover, and said, Thy father knows well that I have found favor in thine eyes, and he says, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly as LORD lives, and as thy soul lives, there is but a step betwe

And David said to Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening.

Therefore deal kindly with thy servant, for thou have brought thy servant into a covenant of LORD with thee. But if there be in me iniquity, kill me thyself, for why should thou bring me to thy father?

And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee, for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would I not tell it to thee?

And Jonathan said to David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field.

And Jonathan said to David, LORD, the God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about this time tomorrow, [or] the third day, behold, if there be good toward David, shall I not then send to thee, and disclose it to thee?

LORD do so to Jonathan, and more also, should it please my father to do thee evil, if I not disclose it to thee, and send thee away that thou may go in peace. And LORD be with thee as he has been with my father.

And thou shall not only show me the loving kindness of LORD, while I yet live, that I not die,

So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, [saying], And LORD will require it at the hand of David's enemies.

And Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had to him. For he loved him as he loved his own soul.

Then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon, and thou will be missed because thy seat will be empty.

And when thou have stayed three days, thou shall go down quickly, and come to the place where thou hid thyself when the business was in hand, and shall remain by the stone Ezel.

And I will shoot three arrows on the side of it, as though I shot at a mark.

And, behold, I will send the lad, [saying], Go, find the arrows. If I say to the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them, and come, for there is peace to thee and no hurt, as LORD lives.

And concerning the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, LORD is between thee and me forever.

So David hid himself in the field. And when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food.

And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon the seat by the wall, and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul's side, but David's place was empty.

And it came to pass on the morrow after the new moon, [which was] the second [day], that David's place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why has the son of Jesse not come in to the food, neither yesterday, nor today?

And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem.

And he said, Let me go, I pray thee, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother, he has commanded me. And now, if I have found favor in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brothers. Therefore he has

Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, Thou son of a perverse rebellious woman, do I not know that thou have chosen the son of Jesse to thine own shame, and to the shame of thy mother's nakedness?

For as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the ground, thou shall not be established, nor thy kingdom. Therefore now send and fetch him to me, for he shall surely die.

And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, Why should he be put to death? What has he done?

And Saul cast his spear at him to smite him. By this Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to put David to death.

So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David because his father had done him shame.

And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him.

And he said to his lad, Run, now find 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 cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.

But the lad knew nothing. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter.

And Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad, and said to him, Go, carry them to the city.

And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of [a place] toward the South, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. And they kissed each other, and wept one with another until David surpassed [him].

And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, inasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of LORD, saying, LORD shall be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed, forever. And he arose and departed, and Jonathan went i

Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, Why are thou alone, and no man with thee?

And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, Let no man know anything of the business about which I send thee, and what I have commanded thee, and I have assigned the young men t

And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread. If only the young men have kept themselves from women.

And David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today sh

Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before LORD. And his name was Doeg the Edomite, the foremost of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.

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

And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou killed in the vale of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If thou will take that, take it, for there is no other except that here. And Da

And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

And the servants of Achish said to him, Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?

And David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

And he changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.

Do I lack madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?

David therefore departed from there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him.

And every man who was in distress, and every man who was in debt, and every man who was discontented, gathered themselves to him, and he became captain over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.

And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to 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 stronghold.

And the prophet Gad said to David, Abide not in the stronghold. Depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.

And Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree in Ramah with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.

And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites. Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards. Will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds,

that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none who discloses to me when my son makes a league with the son of Jesse. And there is none of you who is sorry for me, or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my serva

Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.

And he inquired of LORD for him, and gave him food, 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 who were in Nob. And they came to the king, all of them.

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

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

Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who among all thy servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and is taken into thy council, and is honorable in thy house?

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

And the king said to the guard who stood about him, Turn, and kill the priests of LORD, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me. But the servants of the king would no

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 he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore a linen ephod.

And Nob, the city of the priests, he smote with the edge of the sword, both men and women, sons and sucklings, 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 Abiathar told David that Saul had slain LORD's priests.

And David said to Abiathar, I knew on 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.

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

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

And David's men said to 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 LORD yet again. And LORD answered him, and said, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into thy hand.

And David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and killed 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.

And it was told Saul that David came to Keilah. And Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand, for he is shut in by entering into a town that has gates and bars.

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

And David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him, and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring here the ephod.

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

Then David said, Will the men of Keilah deliver up me and my men into the hand of Saul? And LORD said, They will deliver thee 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 ceased to go forth.

And David abode in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill-country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.

And David saw that Saul came out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the forest.

And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and went to David into the forest, and strengthened his hand in God.

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

And those two made a covenant before LORD. And David abode in the forest, and Jonathan went to his house.

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 up into the king's hand.

And Saul said, Blessed be ye of LORD, for ye have had compassion on me.

Go, I pray you, make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his haunt is, [and] who has seen him there, for it is told me that he deals very shrewdly.

See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking-places where he hides himself, and come ye again to me of a certainty. And I will go with you, and it shall come to pass, if he is in the land, that I will search him out among a

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

And Saul and his men went to seek him. And they told David. Therefore he came down to the 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 encompassed David and his men round about to take them.

But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, Hasten thee, and come, for the Philistines have made a raid upon the land.

So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines. Therefore they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth.

And David went up from there, and dwelt in the strongholds of En-gedi.

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 En-gedi.

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 was a cave, and Saul went in to cover his feet. Now David and his men were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave.

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

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

And he said to his men, LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, LORD's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, since he is LORD's anointed.

So David restrained his men with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.