Now in the morning, Jonathan went out into the fields at the time he had said to David, and he had a little boy with him.

But the boy had no idea what was going on; only Jonathan and David had knowledge of it.

And when the boy had gone, David came from his secret place by the hill, and falling to the earth went down on his face three times: and they gave one another a kiss, weeping together, till David's grief was the greater.

So the priest gave him the holy bread: there was no other, only the holy bread which had been taken from before the Lord, so that new bread might be put in its place on the day when it was taken away.

And David said to Ahimelech, Have you no sword or spear with you here? for I have come without my sword and other arms, because the king's business had to be done quickly.

And news was given to Saul that David had been seen, and the men who were with him: now Saul was in Gibeah, seated under the tree in the high place, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were in their places before him.

And gave him the news of how Saul had put to death the Lord's priests.

So David and his men went to Keilah, and had a fight with the Philistines, and took away their cattle, and put them to the sword with great destruction. So David was the saviour of the people of Keilah.

And news was given to Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, Now God has given him into my hands; for by going into a walled town with locked doors, he has let himself be shut in.

And it was clear to David that Saul had evil designs against him, and he said to Abiathar the priest, Come here with the ephod.

Then David and his men, about six hundred of them, went out of Keilah, and got away wherever they were able to go. And Saul, hearing that David had got away from Keilah, did not go there.

And David was full of fear, in the knowledge that Saul had come out to take his life; and David was in the waste land of Ziph, in Horesh.

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

And Saul and his men went in search of him. And David had word of it, so he came down to the rock in the waste land of Maon. And Saul, hearing of this, went after David into the waste land of Maon.

Look! you have seen today how the Lord gave you up into my hands even now in the hollow of the rocks: and some would have had me put you to death, but I had pity on you: for I said, Never will my hand be lifted up against my lord, who has been marked with the holy oil.

Now when David had said these words to Saul, Saul said, Is this your voice, David, my son? And Saul was overcome with weeping.

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.

And David had word in the waste land that Nabal was cutting the wool of his sheep.

I have had word that you have wool-cutters: now the keepers of your sheep have been with us, and we have done them no evil, and taken nothing of theirs while they were in Carmel.

So David's young men, turning away, went back and gave him an account of everything he had said.

Now David had said, What was the use of my taking care of this man's goods in the waste land, so that there was no loss of anything which was his? he has only given me back evil for good.

For truly, by the living Lord, the God of Israel, who has kept me from doing you evil, if you had not been so quick in coming to me and meeting me, by dawn there would not have been in Nabal's house so much as one male living.

And Abigail went back to Nabal; and he was feasting in his house like a king; and Nabal's heart was full of joy, for he had taken much wine; so she said nothing to him till dawn came.

Then Abigail got up quickly and went on her ass, with five of her young women, after the men whom David had sent; and she became David's wife.

And David had taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, to be his wife; these two were his wives.

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

And David got up and came to the place where Saul's tents were: and David had a view of the place where Saul was sleeping with Abner, the son of Ner, the captain of his army: and Saul was sleeping inside the ring of carts, and the tents of the people were all round him.

So David took the spear and the vessel of water from Saul's head; and they got away without any man seeing them, or being conscious of their coming, or awaking; for they were all sleeping because a deep sleep from the Lord had come on them.

And David and his men were living with Achish at Gath; every man had his family with him, and David had his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, who had been the wife of Nabal.

And Saul, hearing that David had gone to Gath, went after him no longer.

Not one living man or woman did David ever take back with him to Gath, fearing that they might give an account of what had taken place, and say, This is what David did, and so has he been doing all the time while he has been living in the land of the Philistines.

And Achish had belief in what David said, saying, He has made himself hated by all his people Israel, and so he will be my servant for ever.

Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel, after weeping for him, had put his body in its last resting-place in Ramah, his town. And Saul had put away from the land all those who had control of spirits and who made use of secret arts.

Then Saul went down flat on the earth, and was full of fear because of Samuel's words: and there was no strength in him, for he had taken no food all that day or all that night.

And the woman had in the house a young cow, made fat for food; and she put it to death straight away; and she took meal and got it mixed and made unleavened bread;

And she put it before Saul and his servants, and they had a meal. Then they got up and went away the same night.

Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made an attack on the South and on Ziklag, and had overcome Ziklag and put it on fire;

And had made the women and all who were there, small and great, prisoners: they had not put any of them to death, but had taken them all away.

And when David and his men came to the town, they saw that it had been burned down, and their wives and their sons and daughters had been made prisoners.

And David's two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the wife of Nabal of Carmel, had been made prisoners.

And in the fields they saw an Egyptian whom they took to David, and they gave him bread, and he had a meal, and they gave him water for drink;

And they gave him part of a cake of figs and some dry grapes; and after the food, his spirit came back to him, for he had had no food or drink for three days and nights.

And when he had taken him down, they saw them all, seated about on all sides, feasting and drinking among all the mass of goods which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah.

And David got back everything the Amalekites had taken; and he got back his two wives.

There was no loss of anything, small or great, sons or daughters or goods or anything which they had taken away: David got it all back.

And David came to the two hundred men, who because of weariness had not gone with him, but were waiting at the stream Besor: and they went out, meeting David and the people who were with him; and when they came near them, they said, How are you?

And in Hebron, and to all the places where David and his men had been living.

Then Saul said to the servant who had the care of his arms, Take out your sword and put it through me, before these men without circumcision come and make sport of me. But his servant, full of fear, would not do so. Then Saul took out his sword, and falling on it, put an end to himself.

And when the people of Jabesh-gilead had news of what the Philistines had done to Saul,

All the fighting men got up and, travelling all night, took Saul's body and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan; and they came to Jabesh and had them burned there.

Now after the death of Saul, when David, having come back from the destruction of the Amalekites, had been in Ziklag for two days;

And till evening they gave themselves to sorrow and weeping, and took no food, weeping for Saul and for Jonathan, his son, and for the people of the Lord and for the men of Israel; because they had come to their end by the sword.

And David said to the young man who had given him the news, Where do you come from? And he said, I am the son of a man from a strange land; I am an Amalekite.

And David said to him, Had you no fear of stretching out your hand to put to death the one marked with the holy oil?

O mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain on you, you fields of death: for there the arms of the strong have been shamed, the arms of Saul, as if he had not been marked with the holy oil.

Now Abner, the son of Ner, captain of Saul's army, had taken Saul's son Ish-bosheth over to Mahanaim,

And Joab said, By the living God, if you had not given the word, the people would have gone on attacking their countrymen till the morning.

So Joab had a horn sounded, and all the people came to a stop, and gave up going after Israel and fighting them.

And Joab came back from fighting Abner: and when he had got all his men together, it was seen that nineteen of David's men, in addition to Asahel, were not with them.

But David's men had put to death three hundred and sixty of the men of Benjamin and of Abner's men

Now Saul had among his wives a woman named Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah: and Ish-bosheth said to Abner, Why have you taken my father's wife?

Then Abner had a talk with the chief men of Israel, saying, In the past it was your desire to make David your king: so now, do it:

Now the servants of David and Joab had been out attacking a band of armed men, and they came back with a great store of goods taken in the fight: but Abner was no longer in Hebron with David, for he had sent him away and he had gone in peace.

When Joab and his men came, news was given them that Abner, the son of Ner, had come to the king, who had let him go away again in peace.

And when Joab had come out from David, he sent men after Abner, and they overtook him at the water-spring of Sirah, and made him come back with them: but David had no knowledge of it.

And when David had word of it he said, May I and my kingdom be clear for ever in the eyes of the Lord from the blood of Abner, the son of Ner:

So Joab and Abishai his brother put Abner to death, because he had put to death their brother Asahel in the fight at Gibeon.

And when Saul's son Ish-bosheth had news that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled.

And Saul's son had two men, captains of bands, one named Baanah and the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the tribe of Benjamin; (for Beeroth was at one time taken to be part of Benjamin:

But the people of Beeroth had gone in flight to Gittaim, where they have been living to this day.)

Now Jonathan, Saul's son, had a son whose feet were damaged. He was five years old when news of the death of Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and the woman who took care of him took him up and went in flight: and while she was getting him away as quickly as she was able, he had a fall and his feet were damaged. His name was Mephibosheth.

And David saw that the Lord had made his position safe as king over Israel, and that he had made his kingdom great because of his people Israel.

And David took more women and wives in Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron: and he had more sons and daughters.

And when the Philistines had news that David had been made king over Israel, they all went up in search of David; and David, hearing of it, went down to the strong place.

And David did as the Lord had said; and he overcame the Philistines, attacking them from Gibeon to near Gezer.

And the wrath of the Lord, burning against Uzzah, sent destruction on him because he had put his hand on the ark, and death came to him there by the ark of God.

So David did not let the ark of the Lord come back to him to the town of David: but had it turned away and put into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

And when those who were lifting the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he made an offering of an ox and a fat young beast.

And they took in the ark of the Lord, and put it in its place inside the tent which David had put up for it: and David made burned offerings and peace-offerings to the Lord.

And after David had made the burned offerings and the peace-offerings, he gave the people a blessing in the name of the Lord of armies.

And Michal, Saul's daughter, had no child till the day of her death.

Now when the king was living in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from war on every side;

For from the day when I took the children of Israel up out of Egypt till this day, I have had no house, but have gone from place to place in a tent.

And he overcame the Moabites, and he had them measured with a line when they were stretched out on the earth; marking out two lines for death and one full line for life. So the Moabites became servants to David and gave him offerings.

And David took from him one thousand, seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand footmen: and David had the leg-muscles of the horses cut, only keeping enough of them for a hundred war-carriages.

And when Tou, king of Hamath, had news that David had overcome all the army of Hadadezer,

He sent his son Hadoram to David, with words of peace and blessing, because he had overcome Hadadezer in the fight, for Hadadezer had wars with Tou; and Hadoram took with him vessels of silver and gold and brass:

These King David made holy to the Lord, together with the silver and gold which he had taken from the nations he had overcome--

The nations of Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon and the Philistines and the Amalekites and the goods he had taken from Hadadezer, the son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

And he put armed forces in Edom; all through Edom he had armed forces stationed, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And the Lord made David overcome wherever he went.

Then King David sent, and had him taken from Lo-debar, from the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel.

And you and your sons and your servants are to take care of the land for him, and get in the fruit of it, so that your master's son may have food: but Mephibosheth, your master's son, will have a place at my table at all times. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.

Then Ziba said to the king, Every order which you have given to your servant will be done. As for Mephibosheth, he had a place at David's table, like one of the king's sons.

And Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. And all the people living in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth.

So Mephibosheth went on living in Jerusalem; for he took all his meals at the king's table; and he had not the use of his feet.

When David had news of it, he sent men out with the purpose of meeting them on their way, for the men were greatly shamed: and the king said, Go to Jericho till your hair is long again, and then come back.

And when the children of Ammon saw that they had made themselves hated by David, they sent to the Aramaeans of Beth-rehob and Zobah, and got for payment twenty thousand footmen, and they got from the king of Maacah a thousand men, and from Tob twelve thousand.

And when the Aramaeans saw that Israel had overcome them, they got themselves together.

And David sent and took her; and she came to him, and he took her to his bed: (for she had been made clean;) then she went back to her house.

And when word was given to David that Uriah had not gone down to his house, David said to Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? why did you not go down to your house?