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

And David said to Saul, Why do thou hearken to men's words, saying, Behold, David seeks thy hurt?

Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that LORD had delivered thee today into my hand in the cave. And some bade me kill thee, but [I] spared thee. And I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord, for he is LORD's anoi

Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand, for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not. Know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned

LORD judge between me and thee, and LORD avenge me of thee, but my hand shall not be upon thee.

LORD therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thy hand.

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

And he said to David, Thou are more righteous than I, for thou have rendered to me good, whereas I have rendered to thee evil.

And thou have declared this day how that thou have dealt well with me, inasmuch as when LORD had delivered me up into thy hand, thou killed me not.

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

Swear now therefore to me by LORD, that thou will not cut off my seed after me, and that thou will not destroy my name out of my father's house.

And David swore to Saul. And Saul went home, but David and his men got up to the stronghold.

And Samuel died. And all Israel gathered themselves 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 [in goods], and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

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

And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

And David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.

And thus ye shall say to him who lives [in prosperity], Peace be to thee, and peace be to thy house, and peace be to all that thou have.

And now I have heard that thou have shearers. Thy shepherds have now been with us, and we did them no hurt, neither was there anything missing to them all the while they were in Carmel.

Ask thy young men, and they will tell thee. Therefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes, for we come in a good day. Give, I pray thee, whatever comes to thy hand to thy servants, and to thy son David.

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-a-days who 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 to men of whom I know not from where they are?

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

And David said to his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And there went up after David about four hundred men, and two hundred abode by the baggage.

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

But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither did we miss anything as long as we went with them when we were in the fields.

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

Now therefore know and consider what thou will do, for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house. For he is such a worthless fellow that [a man] cannot speak to him.

Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on don

And she said to her young men, Go on before me, behold, I come after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

And it was so, as she rode on her donkey, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that, 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 to him, and he has returned me evil for good.

God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertains to him by the morning light so much as one man-child.

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

And she fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me be the iniquity, and let thy handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thy handmaid.

Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I thy handmaid saw not the young men of my lord whom thou sent.

Now therefore, my lord, as LORD lives, and as thy soul lives, since LORD has withheld thee from blood guiltiness, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now therefore let thine enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, b

And now this present which thy servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.

Forgive, I pray thee, the trespass of thy handmaid. For LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of LORD, and evil shall not be found in thee all thy days.

And though men be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with LORD thy God. And the souls of thine enemies, them he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling.

And it shall come to pass, when LORD shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee prince over Israel,

that this shall be no grief to thee, nor offence of heart to my lord, either that thou have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. And when LORD shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thy handmaid

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

and blessed be thy discretion, and blessed be thou, who have kept me this day from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand.

For in very deed, as LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from hurting thee, unless thou had hastened and come to meet me, surely there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child.

So David received from her hand that which she had brought him. And he said to her, Go up in peace to thy house. See, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy 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, less or more, until the morning light.

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

And it came to pass about ten days after, that LORD smote Nabal, so that he died.

And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil, and the evil-doing of Nabal LORD has returned upon his ow

And when the servants of David came to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to thee, to take thee to him to wife.

And she arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, thy handmaid is 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 damsels who followed her. And she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they became his wives, both of them.

And the Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert?

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 before the desert by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness.

David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul definitely came.

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 place of the wagons, and the people were encamped

Then David answered 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 thee.

So David and Abishai came to the people by night. And, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the place of the wagons with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the people lay round about him.

Then said Abishai to David, God has delivered up thine enemy into thy hand this day. Now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not smite him the second time.

And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not, for who can put forth his hand against LORD's anointed, and be guiltless?

And David said, As LORD lives, LORD will smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go down into battle and perish.

LORD forbid that I should put forth my hand against LORD's anointed. But now take, I pray thee, the spear that is at his head, and the cruse of water, and let us go.

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

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

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

And David said to Abner, Are not thou a [valiant] man? And who is like to thee in Israel? Why then have thou not kept watch over thy lord the king? For there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord.

This thing is not good that thou have done. As LORD lives, ye are worthy to die because ye have not kept watch over your lord, LORD's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his head.

And Saul knew David's voice, and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king.

And he said, Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in my hand?

Then Saul said, I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do thee harm because my life was precious in thine eyes this day. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.

And David answered and said, Behold the spear, O king! Let then one of the young men come over and fetch it.

And LORD will render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness, inasmuch as LORD delivered thee into my hand today, and I would not put forth my hand against LORD's anointed.

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

Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David. Thou shall both do mightily, and shall surely prevail. So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

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 escape into the land of the Philistines, and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the bor

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

And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.

And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath, and he sought no more again for him.

And David said to Achish, If now I have found favor in thine eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country that I may dwell there, for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?

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

And David and his men went up, and made a raid upon the Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for those [nations] were the inhabitants of the land, who were of old as thou go to Shur, even to the land of Egypt.

And David smote the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the apparel, and he returned, and came to Achish.

And Achish said, Against whom have ye 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 them to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell of us, saying, So did David, and so has been his manner all the while he has dwelt in the country of the Philistines.

And Achish believed David, saying, He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he shall be my servant forever.

And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shall go out with me in the army, thou and thy men.

And David said to Achish, Therefore thou shall know what thy servant will do. And Achish said to David, Therefore I will make thee my chief bodyguard forever.

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 those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.

And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa.

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

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

Then Saul said to his servants, Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at En-dor.

And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night, and he said, Divine to me, I pray thee, by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I shall name to

And the woman said to him, Behold, thou know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. Why then do thou lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?

And Saul swore to her by LORD, saying, As LORD lives, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.

Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up to thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.