42 Bible Verses about saul

Then Saul built an altar to Yahweh; {it was the first altar he built} to Yahweh.

Because you {did not obey} Yahweh and did not carry out the fierce anger of his {wrath} against Amalek, therefore Yahweh has done this thing to you today.

However, Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the cattle and the second [best] of the young fatlings and {all that was valuable}; they were not willing to utterly destroy them. But all the possessions that were despised or worthless, they utterly destroyed. Then the word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying, "I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not kept my word." {Samuel became angry}, and he cried out to Yahweh all night. read more.
Then Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul. Samuel was told, "Saul has gone to Carmel, and look, he [is] setting up a monument for himself." Then he turned around and crossed over and went down to Gilgal. When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, "May you be blessed by Yahweh! I have kept the word of Yahweh." But Samuel said, "Then what [is] this bleating of the sheep [that I hear] in my ears and the lowing of the cattle that I am hearing?" Saul said, "They have brought them from [the] Amalekites; the troops spared the best of the sheep and the cattle in order to sacrifice them to Yahweh your God. But the rest we have utterly destroyed." Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop and let me tell you what Yahweh said to me last night." So he said to him, "Speak." Samuel said, "Even though you [are] small in your [own] eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh has anointed you as king over Israel. When Yahweh sent you on your way, he said to you: 'Go! You must utterly destroy the sinners, [the] Amalekites, and you must fight against them until you have destroyed them.' Why did you not listen to the voice of Yahweh and fall with shouting on the plunder? You have done evil in the sight of Yahweh!" Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have listened to the voice of Yahweh, and I have gone on the way that Yahweh sent me! I brought Agag the king of Amalek, and the Amalekites I have utterly destroyed. The troops took from the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal." Then Samuel said, "Is there [as much] delight for Yahweh in burnt offerings and sacrifices as [there is] in {obeying} Yahweh? Look! {To obey} [is] better than sacrifice; to give heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion [is like] the sin of divination; arrogance [is like] iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has rejected you from [being] king!" Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned because I have transgressed {the commandment of Yahweh} and your words, for I feared the troops and I listened to their voice. So then, please pardon my sin and return with me {so that I can worship} Yahweh." But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and he has rejected you from being king over Israel!"

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Yahweh sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel. So then, {listen to the words} of Yahweh! Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'I have observed what Amalek did to Israel, {how he opposed him} when he went up from Egypt. So then, go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that is his! You must not spare him, but kill both man and woman, both child and nursing infant, both ox and sheep, both camel and donkey.'"

Saul summoned the army and mustered them at Telaim; two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. Then Saul came up to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the wadi. Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, leave! Withdraw from among the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you with them. You have shown loyal love to all the {Israelites} when they came up from Egypt." So the Kenites left from among [the] Amalekites. read more.
Then Saul defeated [the] Amalekites from Havilah as one goes to Shur which [is] {east of} Egypt. He captured Agag the king of Amalek alive, but all the people he utterly destroyed with the {edge} of the sword.

He acted bravely and defeated [the] Amalekites and rescued Israel from the hand of those who plundered it.

Then {Saul became angry} at Jonathan and said to him, "[You] son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?

So Saul died, and his three sons, {his armor bearer}, [and] all his men together that [same] day.

Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it over his head and kissed him and said, "{Has not} Yahweh anointed you as leader over his inheritance?

"This time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you must anoint him as leader over my people Israel. He will deliver my people from the hand of [the] Philistines. For I have seen [the suffering of] my people, because their cry [of distress] has come to me."

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Yahweh sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel. So then, {listen to the words} of Yahweh!

Because you {did not obey} Yahweh and did not carry out the fierce anger of his {wrath} against Amalek, therefore Yahweh has done this thing to you today.

But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and he has rejected you from being king over Israel!" As Samuel turned around to go, he caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Then Samuel said to him, "Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor {who is better than you}. read more.
Moreover, the Glory of Israel will not break faith and will not regret, for he [is] not a human that he should regret."

{Now Saul was threatened by the presence of David} because Yahweh was with him, but had departed from Saul.

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul said, "{I am in distress}! For [the] Philistines [are about] to make war against me, but God has turned away from me, and he does not answer me any more, not {by the prophets} or by the dreams. So I called to you to let me know what I should do."

So Saul died, and his three sons, {his armor bearer}, [and] all his men together that [same] day.

So David came to Saul and {entered his service}. He loved him greatly and {he became Saul's armor bearer}.

"I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not kept my word." {Samuel became angry}, and he cried out to Yahweh all night.

But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and he has rejected you from being king over Israel!" As Samuel turned around to go, he caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Then Samuel said to him, "Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor {who is better than you}.

"I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not kept my word." {Samuel became angry}, and he cried out to Yahweh all night.

When they entered the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who [was] with him, "Come, let us return, lest my father cease [caring about] the female donkeys and worry about us!"

Saul had had a concubine, and her name [was] Rizpah the daughter of Aiah. Then [Ish-Bosheth] said to Abner, "Why {did you have sex with} my father's concubine?"

Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned because I have transgressed {the commandment of Yahweh} and your words, for I feared the troops and I listened to their voice.

Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned because I have transgressed {the commandment of Yahweh} and your words, for I feared the troops and I listened to their voice.

He waited seven days according to the appointed time Samuel determined, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and {the army started to slip away from him}. So Saul said, "Bring here to me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." Then he offered up the burnt offering. {Just as} he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Samuel was coming. So Saul went out to meet him [and] to bless him. read more.
But Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul said, "Because I saw that the army {was scattering} from me and you did not come {at the appointed time} and [that the] Philistines had gathered at Micmash, therefore I said, 'Now [the] Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not yet implored the face of Yahweh.' So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering." Then Samuel said to Saul, "You have behaved foolishly! You have not kept the command of Yahweh your God which he commanded you. For then, Yahweh would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now, your kingdom will not endure. Yahweh has sought for himself a man according to his [own] heart, and Yahweh has appointed him as leader over his people, because you have not kept what Yahweh commanded you."

However, Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the cattle and the second [best] of the young fatlings and {all that was valuable}; they were not willing to utterly destroy them. But all the possessions that were despised or worthless, they utterly destroyed.

Why did you not listen to the voice of Yahweh and fall with shouting on the plunder? You have done evil in the sight of Yahweh!"

So Saul died on account of his sin which he had sinned against Yahweh concerning the command of Yahweh that he did not keep. He also consulted a medium to seek [guidance]. But he did not seek Yahweh. So Yahweh put him to death and turned over the kingship to David, the son of Jesse.

{On} [the] next day, the evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. Now David was playing [the lyre] with his hand on [that] day {as usual}, and the spear was in Saul's hand. Then Saul hurled the spear and thought, "{I will pin David to the wall}." But David eluded him twice.

Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul and an evil spirit from Yahweh tormented him. So the servants of Saul said to him, "Look please, an evil spirit from God [is] tormenting you. Please, let our lord command your servants [who are] before you! Let them seek a man skilled in playing on the lyre. {When} the evil spirit from God [is] upon you, he can play {on it} and {you will feel better}." read more.
So Saul said to his servants, "Please select a man {who plays a stringed instrument well} and bring [him] to me." One of the servants answered and said, "Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite [who is] skillful in playing a stringed instrument, a {brave man, a warrior, prudent in speech, and handsome}. And Yahweh [is] with him." So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me David your son who [is] with the sheep." And Jesse took a donkey [loaded with] bread and a skin of wine and one {young goat} and sent [them] to Saul by the hand of David his son. So David came to Saul and {entered his service}. He loved him greatly and {he became Saul's armor bearer}. Then Saul sent [word] to Jesse, saying, "Please let David stand before me, because he has found favor {in my sight}." So whenever the [evil] spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the stringed instrument and play it with his hand. Then {it would bring relief} for Saul; {he would feel better} and the evil spirit would depart from him.

Then the evil spirit from Yahweh came upon Saul while he was sitting in his house [with] his spear in his hand. And David [was] playing a stringed instrument in [his] hand. So Saul tried {to pin David to the wall with the spear}, but {he eluded Saul}, so that he struck the spear into the wall, and David fled and escaped that [same] night.

Because you {did not obey} Yahweh and did not carry out the fierce anger of his {wrath} against Amalek, therefore Yahweh has done this thing to you today.

{Saul became very angry}, and {this saying displeased him}, and he thought, "They have attributed to David ten thousands, but to me they have attributed thousands! {What more can he have but the kingdom}?"

So Saul died on account of his sin which he had sinned against Yahweh concerning the command of Yahweh that he did not keep. He also consulted a medium to seek [guidance].

(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. When Saul saw the army of [the] Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. read more.
And Saul inquired of Yahweh, but Yahweh did not answer him, not by dreams or by the Urim or by the prophets. So Saul said to his servants, "Search for me {a woman who is a medium} so that I may go to her and inquire of her." His servants said to him, "Look [there is] a woman who [is] a medium in Endor." So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went {with two of his men}. And they came to the woman [by] night and he said, "Please consult a spirit for me through {the ritual pit}, and bring up for me [the one] whom I tell you." But the woman said to him, "Look, you know what Saul did, how he exterminated the mediums and the soothsayers from the land! Why [are] you setting a trap for my life to kill me?" Then Saul swore to her by Yahweh, "{As Yahweh lives}, {you will not be punished} for this thing." So the woman asked, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" He said, "Bring up Samuel for me." When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice, and the woman said to Saul, "Why did you deceive me? You [are] Saul!" The king said to her, "Do not be afraid! What do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up from the ground!" Then he said to her, "What [is] his appearance?" She said, "An old man [is] coming up, and {he is wrapped in a robe}." Then Saul realized that it was Samuel, and he knelt [with] his face to the ground and bowed down. Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul said, "{I am in distress}! For [the] Philistines [are about] to make war against me, but God has turned away from me, and he does not answer me any more, not {by the prophets} or by the dreams. So I called to you to let me know what I should do." Then Samuel said, "Why do you ask me, since Yahweh has turned away from you and has become your enemy? Yahweh has done to you just as he spoke by my hand! Yahweh has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor, to David. Because you {did not obey} Yahweh and did not carry out the fierce anger of his {wrath} against Amalek, therefore Yahweh has done this thing to you today. And Yahweh will also give Israel with you into the hands of [the] Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons [will be] with me, and Yahweh will also give the army of Israel into [the] hand of [the] Philistines." {Then Saul immediately fell prostrate} to the ground, and he was very afraid because of the words of Samuel; there was no more strength in him, for he had not eaten food all day and all night. Then the woman came to Saul and realized that he was absolutely terrified, so she said to him, "Look, your female servant {has obeyed you}, and I have {risked my life}. I have listened to your words that you have spoken to me. So then, you also please listen to the voice of your female servant, and let me set before you a morsel of bread, and [you] eat so that {you will have strength} in you when you go on your way." But he refused and said, "I will not eat!" However, his servants urged him, and the woman also. So he listened {to what they said}, and he got up from the ground and sat on the bed. Now the woman had a fattened bull calf in the house, {so she quickly slaughtered it} and took flour, kneaded [dough], and baked him [some] unleavened bread. She brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they got up and went away that [very] night.

{Then Saul immediately fell prostrate} to the ground, and he was very afraid because of the words of Samuel; there was no more strength in him, for he had not eaten food all day and all night.

When Saul saw the army of [the] Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly.

"I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not kept my word." {Samuel became angry}, and he cried out to Yahweh all night.

Then Gad the prophet said to David, "You should not stay in the stronghold; leave and go into the land of Judah." So David left and came [to] the forest of Hereth.

{Saul became very angry}, and {this saying displeased him}, and he thought, "They have attributed to David ten thousands, but to me they have attributed thousands! {What more can he have but the kingdom}?" So Saul was watching David [with suspicion] from that day onward.

{Just as he turned} his shoulder to depart from Samuel, God {changed his} heart. And all these signs were fulfilled on that day.

Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul and an evil spirit from Yahweh tormented him.

{On} [the] next day, the evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. Now David was playing [the lyre] with his hand on [that] day {as usual}, and the spear was in Saul's hand. Then Saul hurled the spear and thought, "{I will pin David to the wall}." But David eluded him twice. {Now Saul was threatened by the presence of David} because Yahweh was with him, but had departed from Saul.

Then the evil spirit from Yahweh came upon Saul while he was sitting in his house [with] his spear in his hand. And David [was] playing a stringed instrument in [his] hand. So Saul tried {to pin David to the wall with the spear}, but {he eluded Saul}, so that he struck the spear into the wall, and David fled and escaped that [same] night. Then Saul sent messengers to David's house to guard him and to kill him in the morning, but Michal his wife told David, saying, "If {you do not save your life} tonight, [then] tomorrow you [will be] killed!"

Then {Saul became angry} at Jonathan and said to him, "[You] son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? For {as long as} the son of Jesse [is] alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established! So then, send and bring him to me, for {he will surely die}!" But Jonathan answered his father Saul and said to him, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" read more.
Then Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. So Jonathan knew {that his father had decided} to kill David.

Then Saul said to the servants who [were] standing around him, "Please listen, {Benjaminites}! Will the son of Jesse give you all fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? For all of you have conspired against me, and {no one discloses to me} the {making} [of an agreement] between my son and the son of Jesse! None of you have had sympathy for me or {disclosed to me} [that] {my son commissioned my servant against me to ambush me} as [has been done] this day!" But Doeg the Edomite, who [was] stationed among the servants of Saul, answered and said, "I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. read more.
And he inquired of Yahweh for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine." So the king sent to summon Ahimelech the son of Ahitub the priest, and all his father's household, the priests who [were] at Nob. So all of them came to the king. Saul said, "Listen please, son of Ahitub." He said, "Here I [am], my lord." Then Saul said to him, "Why did you conspire against me, you and the son of Jesse, when you gave to him bread and a sword, and by inquiring of God for him so that he might arise against me to ambush [me] as [has been done] this day?" But Ahimelech answered the king and said, "And who among all your servants [is] as faithful as David? He [is] the son-in-law of the king who moves [quickly] to safeguard you and is honored in your house. [Only] today I began to inquire of God for him. Far be it from me that {the king should impute anything against his servant} or against my father's household, for your servant has not known any of this matter, little or much." Then the king said, "You must certainly die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's household!" So the king said to the runners [who were] stationed around him, "Turn and kill the priests of Yahweh, because {they also support David} and because they knew that he was fleeing and {did not disclose it to me}." But the servants of the king [were] not willing to raise their hand to attack the priests of Yahweh. Then the king said to Doeg, "You turn and attack the priests!" So Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests himself, and on that day he killed eighty-five men who wore [the] 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}.

When they went from there to Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.

Then the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and {he became very angry}.

When they went from there to Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.

Then the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and {he became very angry}.

Then he said to David, "You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me the good, but I have repaid you the evil.

Samuel said, "Even though you [are] small in your [own] eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh has anointed you as king over Israel. When Yahweh sent you on your way, he said to you: 'Go! You must utterly destroy the sinners, [the] Amalekites, and you must fight against them until you have destroyed them.' Why did you not listen to the voice of Yahweh and fall with shouting on the plunder? You have done evil in the sight of Yahweh!"

{On} [the] next day, the evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. Now David was playing [the lyre] with his hand on [that] day {as usual}, and the spear was in Saul's hand.

Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul and an evil spirit from Yahweh tormented him.

Then the people said to Samuel, "Who [is] the one who asked, 'Will Saul reign over us?' Give the men to us that we may kill them." But Saul said, "No one will be put to death on this day, because {today} Yahweh has provided deliverance in Israel." Then Samuel said to the people, "Come, let us go to Gilgal, and let us renew the kingship there." read more.
So all the people went to Gilgal and they made Saul king there before Yahweh in Gilgal. They sacrificed fellowship offerings there before Yahweh. Then Saul rejoiced there greatly [along with] all the men of Israel.

So then look! [Here is] the king you have chosen, for whom you have asked! Look, Yahweh has placed a king over you!

For rebellion [is like] the sin of divination; arrogance [is like] iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has rejected you from [being] king!"

But the army said to Saul, "Must Jonathan die, who accomplished this great victory in Israel? Far from it! As Yahweh lives, not a hair from his head will fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day." So the army ransomed Jonathan and he did not die.

Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned because I have transgressed {the commandment of Yahweh} and your words, for I feared the troops and I listened to their voice.

So all the people went to Gilgal and they made Saul king there before Yahweh in Gilgal. They sacrificed fellowship offerings there before Yahweh. Then Saul rejoiced there greatly [along with] all the men of Israel. Then Samuel said to all Israel, "Look, I have listened to your voice regarding all that you have said to me, so I have set a king over you. And so then here [is] the king walking about before you. Now I am old and gray, but my sons (look at them!) [are] with you; and I have walked about before you from my youth until this day. read more.
Here I am! Testify against me before Yahweh and before his anointed one! Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I exploited? Whom have I oppressed? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe, that I may shut my eyes {regarding} him?-then I will restore it to you." Then they said, "You have not exploited us or oppressed us, and you have not taken anything from the hand of anyone." So he said to them, "Yahweh [is] witness against you, and his anointed one [is] witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand." Then they said, "[He is] witness." Then Samuel said to the people, "Yahweh [is witness], who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your ancestors up from the land of Egypt. So then take your stand, so that I may judge you before Yahweh with [regard to] all the [deeds of] justice of Yahweh that he performed with both you and your ancestors. "When Jacob came to Egypt, your ancestors cried out to Yahweh, so he sent Moses and Aaron, and they brought your ancestors out from Egypt and settled them in this place. But they forgot Yahweh their God, so he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the hosts of Hazor, and into the hand of [the] Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. So they cried out to Yahweh and said, 'We have sinned, because we have forsaken Yahweh and have served the Baals and the Ashtoreths. But now deliver us from the hand of our enemies and we will serve you!' So Yahweh sent Jerub-Baal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel. Then he delivered you from the hand of your enemies all around, and you lived [in] security. "And when you saw that Nahash, the king of [the] {Ammonites}, was coming against you, you said to me, 'No! A king shall reign over us,' although Yahweh your God [is] your king. So then look! [Here is] the king you have chosen, for whom you have asked! Look, Yahweh has placed a king over you! If you will fear Yahweh, and serve him, and listen to his voice, and not be rebellious against {what Yahweh says}, and both you and the king who rules over you will [follow] after Yahweh your God, [all will be well]. But, if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh, and you rebel against {what Yahweh says}, then the hand of Yahweh will be against you [as it was] against your ancestors. So then take your stand again and see this great thing that Yahweh [is going to] do before your eyes. [Is] the wheat harvest not today? I will call out to Yahweh so that he still sends thunder and rain, so that you will know and will see that your wickedness [is] great that you have done in the eyes of Yahweh by asking for a king for yourselves." So Samuel called out to Yahweh, and Yahweh brought thunder and rain that [same] day, so all the people feared Yahweh and Samuel greatly. Then all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to Yahweh your God so that we will not die, because we have added to all our sins by requesting a king for ourselves." And Samuel said to the people, "Do not fear! You have done all this evil; only do not turn aside from {following} Yahweh. But you must serve Yahweh with all your heart. And do not turn aside after the triviality, which have no value and cannot deliver, for they are triviality. For Yahweh will not forsake his people for the sake of his great name, because Yahweh has decided to make you his [own] people. Also, as for me, far be it from me {that I should sin} against Yahweh by ceasing to pray for you! I will instruct you in the good and righteous way. Only fear Yahweh and serve him faithfully with all of your heart. For consider {what great things he has done for you}. But if you continue to do wickedness, both you and your king will be swept away." Saul [was thirty] {years old} at the beginning of his reign, and he reigned [forty-]two years over Israel. He chose for himself three thousand from Israel. Two thousand [of these] were with Saul at Micmash in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah in Benjamin. He sent away the rest of the people, each to his tent. Jonathan defeated the garrison of [the] Philistines that [was] at Geba, and [the] Philistines heard [about it]. Then Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, "Let the Hebrews hear!" And all Israel did hear, saying, "Saul has defeated the garrison of [the] Philistines; and also, Israel has become a stench among [the] Philistines!" So the people were called out after Saul at Gilgal. And the Philistines assembled to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen and an army as numerous as sand which [is] on the seashore. And they came up and encamped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven. When the men of Israel saw that [it was] {too difficult} for them, because the army was hard pressed, the people hid themselves in the caves, in the thorn bushes, in the cliffs, in the vaults and in the wells. [Some] of the Hebrews crossed over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. But Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the army {followed him trembling}. He waited seven days according to the appointed time Samuel determined, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and {the army started to slip away from him}. So Saul said, "Bring here to me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." Then he offered up the burnt offering. {Just as} he finished offering the burnt sacrifice, Samuel was coming. So Saul went out to meet him [and] to bless him. But Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul said, "Because I saw that the army {was scattering} from me and you did not come {at the appointed time} and [that the] Philistines had gathered at Micmash, therefore I said, 'Now [the] Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not yet implored the face of Yahweh.' So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering." Then Samuel said to Saul, "You have behaved foolishly! You have not kept the command of Yahweh your God which he commanded you. For then, Yahweh would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now, your kingdom will not endure. Yahweh has sought for himself a man according to his [own] heart, and Yahweh has appointed him as leader over his people, because you have not kept what Yahweh commanded you." Then Samuel got up and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul mustered the people who were found with him, about six hundred men. Saul and Jonathan his son and the army that remained with them [were] staying in Geba [of] Benjamin, and [the] Philistines encamped at Micmash. The {raiders} went out from the camp of [the] Philistines [in] three divisions. One division turned on the road to Ophrah toward the land of Shual. One division turned on the road to Beth Horon, and one turned on the road toward the border overlooking the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness. Now no skilled craftsman could be found in all the land of Israel, for [the] Philistines had said, "So that the Hebrews cannot make swords or spears for themselves." So all Israel [went] down to [the] Philistines, each to have his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his iron plowshare sharpened. The charge was {two-thirds of a shekel} for the plowshare and for the mattock, and {a third of a shekel for the pick} and for the axe, and to set the goading sticks. {So} on [the] day of battle, there was not a sword or a spear found in the hands of all the army that was with Saul and Jonathan, but {Saul and his son Jonathan had them}. Now the garrison of [the] Philistines went out to the pass of Micmash. {One day} Jonathan the son of Saul said to {his armor bearer}, "Come and let us go over to the garrison of [the] Philistines which [is] over there." But he did not tell his father. Now Saul [was] staying at the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree that [was] in Migron, and the troops that [were] with him [were] about six hundred men. Now Ahijah, the son of Ahitub (the brother of Ichabod), the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli the priest of Yahweh at Shiloh, was carrying an ephod. The troops did not know that Jonathan had gone. Now between the passes where Jonathan sought to go over to the garrison of [the] Philistines [there was] a crag of rock {on one side} and a crag of rock {on the other}. The name of the one [was] Bozez and the name of the other [was] Seneh. The one crag on the north [was] opposite Micmash and the other on the south [was] opposite Geba. So Jonathan said to {his armor bearer}, "Come, let us go over to the garrisons of these uncircumcised; perhaps Yahweh will act for us, for there is no hindrance for Yahweh to save by many or by few." And {his armor bearer} said, "Do all that [is] in your heart {that you are inclined to do}. {I am with you all of the way}! Then Jonathan said, "Look, we [are about to] go over to the men; and we will show ourselves to them. If they say to us: 'Wait until we reach you,' {then we will stand as we are} and not go up to them. But if they say, 'Come up to us,' then we will go up, for Yahweh has given them into our hand, and this [will be] the sign for us." So the two of them showed themselves to the garrison of [the] Philistines, and [the] Philistines said, "The Hebrews [are] coming out from the holes in which they have hidden themselves." Then the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and {his armor bearer}, "Come up to us and we will show you something!" Then Jonathan said to {his armor bearer}, "Come up after me, for Yahweh has given them into the hand of Israel!" So Jonathan went up on his hands and his feet, with {his armor bearer} after him. They fell before Jonathan and then {his armor bearer} would kill them after him. So was the first attack [in] which Jonathan and {his armor bearer} killed about twenty men within about half of a furrow in an acre of [an] open field. Then there was terror in the camp, in the open field, and among all the army of the garrison. Even the {raiders} trembled. The earth shook, and it became {a very great panic}. And the lookouts of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin saw {that} the multitude {surged back and forth}. Saul said to the troops that [were] with him, "Please call the roll and see who has gone from us." So they called the roll {and found that} Jonathan and {his armor bearer} were not [present]. Then Saul said to Ahijah, "Bring near the ark of God" (for the ark of God was {at that time} with the {Israelites}). While Saul was still speaking to the priest, the tumult in the camp of [the] Philistines {increased more and more}, so Saul said to the priest, "Withdraw your hand!" Then Saul and all the troops who were with him were assembled on command and came up to the battle, and look! Each [Philistine's] sword [was] against his friend; [and there was] a very great confusion. The Hebrews who had been for [the] Philistines {previously}, who had gone up with them into the camp all around, even they {joined the Israelites} who were with Saul and Jonathan. All the men of Israel who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim heard that [the] Philistines had fled, so even they pursued them closely in the battle. So on that day Yahweh delivered Israel, and the battle shifted to Beth Aven. Now the men of Israel were hard pressed on that day, because Saul had made the army take an oath, saying, "Cursed be the man who eats [any] food until evening, when I will have avenged myself on my enemies!" So none of the army tasted [any] food. (Now all [the people of] the land used to go into the forest, for there was honey on the surface of the ground.) When the army came to the forest, look! [There was] honey flowing, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the army was afraid of the solemn oath. However, Jonathan had not heard about the oath of his father with the army, so he extended the end of the staff which was in his hand, and he dipped it into the honeycomb. Then he put his hand to his mouth and his eyes gleamed. Then a man from the army informed [him] and said, "Your father made the army swear a solemn [oath], saying, 'Cursed be the man who eats food today,'" so the army [is] exhausted. Then Jonathan said, "My father has brought trouble on the land! See now that my eyes have brightened because I have tasted a little of this honey. {How much more could have been done} if the troops had eaten freely today from the plunder of their enemies that they had found! For now the loss among [the] Philistines [is] not great." They defeated [the] Philistines that day from Micmash to Aijalon, and the troops were very weary. Then the troops took the plunder: they took sheep and cattle and {calves} and slaughtered [them] on the ground and the troops ate [them all] with the blood. So they reported [it] to Saul, saying, "Look! The troops [are] sinning against Yahweh by eating [the animals] with the blood!" And he said, "You have dealt treacherously! Roll to me a large stone {today}!" Then Saul said, "Disperse [yourselves] among the troops and say to them, 'Bring to me each [one] his ox and each his sheep and slaughter them in this [place] and eat, but do not sin against Yahweh by eating [the animals] with the blood.'" So all the troops brought [them], each [leading] his ox in his hand that night, and slaughtered [it] there. Then Saul built an altar to Yahweh; {it was the first altar he built} to Yahweh. Saul said, "Let us go down after [the] Philistines [by] night, and let us plunder them until the morning light, and let us not leave [alive] a man among them." So they said, "Do all that [is] good in your eyes." But the priest said, "Let us draw near to God here." So Saul inquired of God, "Should I go down after [the] Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?" But he did not answer him on that day. Then Saul said, "Come here, all [you] leaders of the people, {so that we find out} what the sin was this day. For as Yahweh lives, who delivers Israel, [I swear] that even if it [is] in Jonathan my son, {he will certainly die}!" But nobody from all the army answered him. Then he said to all Israel, "You will be {on one side}, and I and my son Jonathan will be {on the other}." And the army said to Saul, "Do [what is] good in your eyes." Then Saul said to Yahweh the God of Israel, "{Render a decision perfectly}." Jonathan and Saul were chosen [by lot] and the people went out. Then Saul said, "Let them cast [the lot] between me and my son Jonathan," and Jonathan was chosen. So Saul said, "Tell me what you have done." So Jonathan told him and said, "I {merely tasted} a little honey with the end of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am, I must die." Then Saul said, "So may God do [to me] and {more}, you will certainly die today, Jonathan!" But the army said to Saul, "Must Jonathan die, who accomplished this great victory in Israel? Far from it! As Yahweh lives, not a hair from his head will fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day." So the army ransomed Jonathan and he did not die. Saul went up from [pursuing the] Philistines, and [the] Philistines went to their place. So Saul took the kingship over Israel, and he fought all around against his enemies, against Moab, against the {Ammonites}, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. He inflicted punishment against all who rebelled. He acted bravely and defeated [the] Amalekites and rescued Israel from the hand of those who plundered it. Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malki-Shua; the names of his two daughters [were as follows]: the name of the firstborn [was] Merab and the younger [was] Michal. The name of Saul's wife [was] Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz, and the name of the commander of his army [was] Abner, the son of Ner, Saul's uncle. Now Kish [was] the father of Saul, but Ner, the father of Abner, [was] the son of Abiel. Warfare was severe against [the] Philistines all the days of Saul. Whenever Saul saw {anyone who was a mighty warrior} or {any brave man}, he {conscripted him into his service}. Then Samuel said to Saul, "Yahweh sent me to anoint you as king over his people Israel. So then, {listen to the words} of Yahweh! Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'I have observed what Amalek did to Israel, {how he opposed him} when he went up from Egypt. So then, go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that is his! You must not spare him, but kill both man and woman, both child and nursing infant, both ox and sheep, both camel and donkey.'" Saul summoned the army and mustered them at Telaim; two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. Then Saul came up to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the wadi. Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, leave! Withdraw from among the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you with them. You have shown loyal love to all the {Israelites} when they came up from Egypt." So the Kenites left from among [the] Amalekites. Then Saul defeated [the] Amalekites from Havilah as one goes to Shur which [is] {east of} Egypt. He captured Agag the king of Amalek alive, but all the people he utterly destroyed with the {edge} of the sword. However, Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the cattle and the second [best] of the young fatlings and {all that was valuable}; they were not willing to utterly destroy them. But all the possessions that were despised or worthless, they utterly destroyed. Then the word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying, "I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not kept my word." {Samuel became angry}, and he cried out to Yahweh all night. Then Samuel got up early in the morning to meet Saul. Samuel was told, "Saul has gone to Carmel, and look, he [is] setting up a monument for himself." Then he turned around and crossed over and went down to Gilgal. When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, "May you be blessed by Yahweh! I have kept the word of Yahweh." But Samuel said, "Then what [is] this bleating of the sheep [that I hear] in my ears and the lowing of the cattle that I am hearing?" Saul said, "They have brought them from [the] Amalekites; the troops spared the best of the sheep and the cattle in order to sacrifice them to Yahweh your God. But the rest we have utterly destroyed." Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop and let me tell you what Yahweh said to me last night." So he said to him, "Speak." Samuel said, "Even though you [are] small in your [own] eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh has anointed you as king over Israel. When Yahweh sent you on your way, he said to you: 'Go! You must utterly destroy the sinners, [the] Amalekites, and you must fight against them until you have destroyed them.' Why did you not listen to the voice of Yahweh and fall with shouting on the plunder? You have done evil in the sight of Yahweh!" Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have listened to the voice of Yahweh, and I have gone on the way that Yahweh sent me! I brought Agag the king of Amalek, and the Amalekites I have utterly destroyed. The troops took from the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal." Then Samuel said, "Is there [as much] delight for Yahweh in burnt offerings and sacrifices as [there is] in {obeying} Yahweh? Look! {To obey} [is] better than sacrifice; to give heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion [is like] the sin of divination; arrogance [is like] iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has rejected you from [being] king!" Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned because I have transgressed {the commandment of Yahweh} and your words, for I feared the troops and I listened to their voice. So then, please pardon my sin and return with me {so that I can worship} Yahweh." But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and he has rejected you from being king over Israel!" As Samuel turned around to go, he caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Then Samuel said to him, "Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor {who is better than you}. Moreover, the Glory of Israel will not break faith and will not regret, for he [is] not a human that he should regret." Then he said, "I have sinned! Now please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me {so that I can worship} Yahweh your God." So Samuel returned after Saul, and Saul {worshiped} Yahweh. Then Samuel said, "Bring Agag the king of Amalek out to me!" Agag came to him confidently, for Agag thought, "Surely the bitterness of death {is over}." Samuel said, "Just as your sword bereaved women, so will your mother be bereaved among women!" Then Samuel hacked Agag to pieces in the presence of Yahweh at Gilgal. Then Samuel went to Ramah and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. Samuel {did not see Saul again} until the day of his death, but Samuel mourned over Saul, and Yahweh regretted that he made Saul king over Israel. Then Yahweh said to Samuel, "{How long} will you mourn about Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel! Fill up your horn [with] oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have chosen a king for myself among his sons." But Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears, he will kill me." Yahweh said, "You must take a heifer from the herd {with you}, and you must say, 'I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.' You will invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will make known to you what you must do. You will anoint for me [the one] whom I tell you." So Samuel did what Yahweh said. He came to Bethlehem, and the elders of the city came trembling to meet him. They said, "{Have you come in peace}?" He said, "[I come in] peace. I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." So he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. {When they came}, he saw Eliab and said, "Surely his anointed one [is] before Yahweh!" But Yahweh said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For [God does] not [see] what man sees, for a man {looks on the outward appearance}, but Yahweh {looks on the heart}." Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel, and he said, "This one also Yahweh has not chosen." So Jesse made Shammah pass [before Samuel], but he said, "Yahweh also has not chosen this one." And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, "Yahweh has not chosen any of these." Then Samuel said to Jesse, "{Are all the young men here}?" And he said, "The youngest still remains, but look, he [is] shepherding the flock." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him, for we cannot {sit down} until he comes here." So he sent and brought him. Now he [was] ruddy with beautiful eyes and of {handsome} appearance. And Yahweh said, "Arise, anoint him, for this [is] he." So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. Then the Spirit of Yahweh rushed upon David from that day {on}. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah. Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul and an evil spirit from Yahweh tormented him. So the servants of Saul said to him, "Look please, an evil spirit from God [is] tormenting you. Please, let our lord command your servants [who are] before you! Let them seek a man skilled in playing on the lyre. {When} the evil spirit from God [is] upon you, he can play {on it} and {you will feel better}." So Saul said to his servants, "Please select a man {who plays a stringed instrument well} and bring [him] to me." One of the servants answered and said, "Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite [who is] skillful in playing a stringed instrument, a {brave man, a warrior, prudent in speech, and handsome}. And Yahweh [is] with him." So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me David your son who [is] with the sheep." And Jesse took a donkey [loaded with] bread and a skin of wine and one {young goat} and sent [them] to Saul by the hand of David his son. So David came to Saul and {entered his service}. He loved him greatly and {he became Saul's armor bearer}. Then Saul sent [word] to Jesse, saying, "Please let David stand before me, because he has found favor {in my sight}." So whenever the [evil] spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the stringed instrument and play it with his hand. Then {it would bring relief} for Saul; {he would feel better} and the evil spirit would depart from him. [The] Philistines gathered their camps for battle and they were gathered [at] Socoh which [belongs] to Judah. They camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes Dammim. Then Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the valley of Elah, and they formed ranks [for the] battle to meet [the] Philistines. [The] Philistines were standing on the hill on one side and [the army of] Israel was standing on the hill on the other side with the valley between them. Then {a champion} went out from the camps of [the] Philistines, whose name was Goliath from Gath. His height was six cubits and a span. A bronze helmet was on his head, and he was clothed with scale body armor; the weight of the body armor was five thousand bronze shekels. Bronze greaves were on his legs, and a bronze javelin [was slung] between his shoulders. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam and the point of his spear [weighed] six hundred iron shekels. {His shield bearer} was walking in front of him. He stood and called to the battle lines of Israel and said to them, "Why have you come out to form ranks [for] battle? [Am] I not the Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Commission for yourselves a man and let him come down to me. If he [is] able to fight with me and he defeats me, then we will be your servants; but if I prevail over him and defeat him, then you will be our servants and you will serve us." Then the Philistine said, "I hereby defy the battle lines of Israel today! Give me a man so that we may fight each other!" When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and very afraid. Now David was the son of an Ephrathite. This [man was] from Bethlehem of Judah, and his name was Jesse. {He had} eight sons; in the days of Saul this man was old, [yet] he [still] walked among the men. The three oldest sons of Jesse had gone and {followed} Saul to the battle. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, his second [oldest] was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah. Now David was the youngest. The three oldest {followed} Saul, but David went {back and forth} from Saul to feed the sheep of his father in Bethlehem. Now the Philistine came forward early and late, and he took his stand [for] forty days. Then Jesse said to his son David, "Please take for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and bring [them] quickly to the camp for your brothers. And these ten portions of cheese you will bring to the commander of the thousand; {find out how your brothers are doing}, and take their pledge." Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel [were] in the valley of Elah fighting [the] Philistines. David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and he took [the provisions] and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the encampment while the troops [were] going to the battle line, and they raised the war cry. Israel and [the] Philistines drew up [in] battle lines, {one battle line against the other}. David left the baggage [he had] with him in the {care} of the baggage keeper, ran to the battle line, and came and {asked how his brothers were doing}. While he [was] speaking to them, {the champion}, whose name was Goliath the Philistine from Gath, [was] coming up from the caves of [the] Philistines. He spoke {just as he had previously}, and David heard [his words]. When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from his presence and were very afraid. And the men of Israel said, "Did you see this man who has come up? For he [is] going up to defy Israel! It will be [that] the man who defeats him, the king will make him very rich with great wealth and will give him his daughter [in marriage] and will make his father's house free in Israel." Now David had spoken to the men [who were] standing with him, saying, "What will be done for the man who defeats this Philistine and removes [the] disgrace from Israel? For who [is] this uncircumcised Philistine that he defies the battle lines of the living God?" And the troops had spoken to him according to this word, saying, "So it will be done for the man who defeats him." His oldest brother Eliab heard while he was speaking to the men, {and Eliab became very angry against David} and said, "Why have you come down today, and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumptuousness and the evil of your heart! For you have come down in order to see the battle!" David replied, "What have I done now? {I merely asked a question}! He turned around from him to another opposite [him] and {he spoke to him in the same way}, and the people {answered him as before}. Now the words which David had spoken were heard and they reported [them] {to} Saul, and he summoned him. David said to Saul, "Do not let anyone's heart fail concerning him! Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." But Saul said to David, "You will not be able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, because you are [only] a boy, whereas [he has] been a man of war since his childhood!" And David said to Saul, "Your servant has been a shepherd of the flock for his father. If the lion or the bear would come and carry off a sheep from the group, I would go out after it and strike it down and rescue [the sheep] from its mouth. If it rose against me, I would grab [it] by its beard and strike it down and kill it. Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he defied the battle lines of the living God." And David said, "Yahweh, who rescued me from the hand of the lion and from the hand of the bear, will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine!" Then Saul said to David, "Go and may Yahweh be with you!" Then Saul clothed David with his [own] fighting attire and put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him [with] body armor. Then David strapped on his sword over his fighting attire, but he tried in vain to walk [around], for he was not trained to use [them]. So David said to Saul, "I am not able to walk with these, because I am not trained to use [them]." So David removed them. Then he took his staff in his hand, picked out for himself five smooth stones from the wadi, and he put them in his shepherd's bag, in the pouch. And with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine. Then the Philistine {came on, getting nearer and nearer} to David, with {his shield bearer} in front of him. When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him, for he was [only] a boy and ruddy with a handsome appearance. So the Philistine said to David, "[Am] I a dog, that you [are] coming to me with sticks?" Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, "Come to me so that I can give your flesh to the birds of heaven and to the wild animals of the field!" Then David said to the Philistine, "You [are] coming to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I am coming to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have defied! This day Yahweh will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down {and cut off your head}! Then I will give [the] corpses of the army of [the] Philistines this day to the birds of heaven and to the animals of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God [who is] for Israel. And all of this assembly will know that Yahweh does not rescue with sword or with spear, for the battle [belongs] to Yahweh, and he will give you into our hands!" {When} the Philistine got up and came and drew near to meet David, David {ran quickly} to the battle line to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand into the bag and took a stone from it and slung [it]. He struck the Philistine on his forehead, and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground. So David prevailed over the Philistine with the sling and with the stone, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him, but there was no sword in David's hand. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it from its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. The men of Israel and Judah got up, raised the war cry, and pursued [the] Philistines {as far as} the valley and up to the gates of Ekron. So the slain of [the] Philistines fell on the way to Shaaraim up to Gath and as far as Ekron. Then the {Israelites} returned from pursuing [the] Philistines and plundered their camp. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem and placed his weapons in his tent. Now when Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, "Whose son [is] this young man, Abner?" And Abner said, "As your soul lives, O king, I do not know." Then the king said, "You inquire whose son this young man [is]." So when David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. The head of the Philistine [was] in his hand. Then Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, young man?" And David said, "[I am] the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite." {When} he finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan became attached to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his [own] soul. Saul took him on that [very] day and did not allow him to return to his father's house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his [own] soul. Jonathan stripped off the robe {that he was wearing} and gave it to David, along with his fighting attire, and even his sword, his bow, and his belt. David went out {whenever} Saul sent him, [and] he succeeded. So Saul appointed him over the men of the war, and it {pleased} all the people and even {pleased} the servants of Saul. {When they were coming back} after David had returned from striking down the Philistine, the women went out from all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy, and with three-stringed instruments. And the women sang as they danced, and they said, "Saul has struck down his thousands, but David his ten thousands!" {Saul became very angry}, and {this saying displeased him}, and he thought, "They have attributed to David ten thousands, but to me they have attributed thousands! {What more can he have but the kingdom}?" So Saul was watching David [with suspicion] from that day onward. {On} [the] next day, the evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. Now David was playing [the lyre] with his hand on [that] day {as usual}, and the spear was in Saul's hand. Then Saul hurled the spear and thought, "{I will pin David to the wall}." But David eluded him twice. {Now Saul was threatened by the presence of David} because Yahweh was with him, but had departed from Saul. So Saul removed him {from his presence}, and made him commander of a thousand, {so he marched in and out at the front of the army}. And David was achieving success in all his ways and Yahweh [was] with him, but when Saul saw that he [was] very successful, {he was severely threatened by him}. However, all of Israel and Judah [were] loving David, for he was going forth and marching ahead of them. Then Saul said to David, "Here [is] my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you as [your] wife. Only be {a brave warrior} for me and fight the battles of Yahweh." For Saul thought, "My hand will not be against him, but let the hand of [the] Philistines be against him." But David said to Saul, "Who [am] I, and [who are] my relatives, the clan of my father in Israel, that I should be a son-in-law to the king?" {But} at the time Saul's daughter Merab [was] to be given to David, she was given [instead] to Adriel the Meholathite as wife. Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David, so they told Saul, and the matter {pleased him}. And Saul thought, "I will give her to him, so that she may be a snare for him and the hand of [the] Philistines may be against him." So Saul said to David, "For a second [time] you can become my son-in-law today." Then Saul commanded his servants, "Speak to David in secret, saying, 'Look, the king [is] pleased with you, and all his servants love you. So then, become a son-in-law of the king.'" And Saul's servants spoke these words {to David privately}. But David said, "[Is] it insignificant {in your sight} to become the son-in-law of the king, [as] I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?" So the servants of Saul informed him, saying, "{This is what David said}." Then Saul said, "This [is] what you must say to David: '{The king desires no bride price} except for a hundred foreskins of [the] Philistines, to avenge himself on the enemies of the king.'" (Now Saul had planned to allow David to fall by the hand of [the] Philistines.) So his servants told David these words, and the matter {pleased David} to become the son-in-law of the king [as] {the specified time had not expired}. And David got up, and he and his men went and struck down two hundred men [of the] Philistines. Then David brought their foreskins, and {they presented the full number} to become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as [his] wife. When Saul {realized} that Yahweh [was] with David and {his own daughter Michal} loved him, Saul {was threatened by David still more}, so Saul {became a perpetual enemy of David}. Then the commanders of [the] Philistines went out [for battle], and as often as they went out, David succeeded more than all the servants of Saul, and his name became very esteemed. Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants about killing David, but Saul's son Jonathan {liked David very much}. So Jonathan informed David, saying, "My father Saul [is] trying to kill you; now please take care! In the morning you should stay in the hiding place and conceal yourself. I will go out and stand {at my father's side} in the field where you are, and I will speak about you to my father; {if I find out anything} I will tell [it] to you." So Jonathan spoke well about David to his father Saul and said to him, "The king should not sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his service for you [has been] very good. He put his life in his hand and attacked the Philistine, and Yahweh brought about a great victory for all of Israel, and you saw [it] and rejoiced! Now why should you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?" And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan and swore, "{As Yahweh lives}, he will not be put to death!" Jonathan called to David and told him all of these words. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul and he was before him as {formerly}. War came again, so David went out and fought against [the] Philistines and {defeated them thoroughly} so that they fled before him. Then the evil spirit from Yahweh came upon Saul while he was sitting in his house [with] his spear in his hand. And David [was] playing a stringed instrument in [his] hand. So Saul tried {to pin David to the wall with the spear}, but {he eluded Saul}, so that he struck the spear into the wall, and David fled and escaped that [same] night. Then Saul sent messengers to David's house to guard him and to kill him in the morning, but Michal his wife told David, saying, "If {you do not save your life} tonight, [then] tomorrow you [will be] killed!" So Michal lowered David through the window, and he went and fled and escaped. Then Michal took the household god and put it on the bed and put a quilt of goat's hair at its head and covered [it] with the clothes. And Saul sent messengers to arrest David, but she said, "He [is] ill." So Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, "Bring him up to me in the bed, so that I can kill him." When the messengers came, {to their surprise} the idol [was] on the bed [with] the quilt of goat's hair at the head. Then Saul said to Michal, "Why have you deceived me like this and sent away my enemy, so that he escaped?" Michal said to Saul, "He said to me, 'Let me go, why should I kill you?'" So David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. And it was told to Saul, "David [is] in Naioth in Ramah." So Saul sent messengers to capture David. When they saw the company of the prophets prophesying and Samuel standing [as] chief over them, then the Spirit of God came upon Saul's messengers, and they also prophesied. So they told Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Again Saul sent messengers a third [time], and they also prophesied. Then he also went to Ramah. When he came to the great cistern which [was] in Secu, he asked and said, "Where [are] Samuel and David?" Someone said, "Look [they are] in Naioth in Ramah." So he went there to Naioth in Ramah and the Spirit of God came upon him also, and {he walked along prophesying} until he came to Naioth in Ramah. He also stripped [off] his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He lay naked all that day and all night. Therefore they say, "[Is] Saul also among the prophets?" Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? What [is] my guilt and what [is] my sin before your father that [he is] {trying to kill me}? And he said to him, "Far from it! You will not die! Look, my father does not do {anything large or small unless he reveals it to me}. Why should my father hide this thing or anything from me?" Then David {took an oath} again and said, "Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thought, 'Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he worry.' But {as Yahweh lives} and {as your soul lives}, surely [there is] merely a step between me and death!" Then Jonathan said to David, "{Whatever you wish}, I will do for you." David said to Jonathan, "Look, tomorrow [is] the new moon, and I should certainly sit with the king to eat. You must send me away so that I can hide myself in the field until the third evening. If your father misses me at all, then you must say, 'David earnestly asked from me to run to Bethlehem his city, for {the yearly sacrifice} [is] there for all the clan.' If he says 'Good,' [it will mean] peace for your servant; but if he [is] very angry, know that {he has decided to do me harm}. So you must show loyal love to your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you. But if there [is] guilt in me, [then] kill me yourself! But why should you bring me to your father?" Then Jonathan said, "Far be it from you! For if I know for certain that {my father decided evil should come upon you}, would I not have told it to you?" Then David said to Jonathan, "Who will tell me if what your father answers you [is] harsh?" And Jonathan said to David, "Come, let us go out to the field." So the two of them went out to the field. Then Jonathan said to David, "Yahweh the God of Israel [is my witness] that I will question my father {by this time the day after tomorrow}. And look, {if he is well disposed toward you}, will I not send [word] to you and {disclose it to you}? {So may Yahweh punish Jonathan and more} if {my father decides to do you harm} and if {I fail to disclose it to you} and send word to you that you can go safely. And may Yahweh be with you, as he has been with my father. And not while I am still alive, will you not show the loyal love of Yahweh with me, that I may not die? And do not cut off your loyal love from {my family} forever, not [even] when Yahweh {exterminates} each of the enemies of David from the face of the earth." So Jonathan {made a covenant} with the house of David, [saying,] "May Yahweh {call the enemies of David to account}." And Jonathan again made David swear an oath, because he loved him; for with the love of his soul he loved him. Then Jonathan said to him, "Tomorrow [is] the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will stay empty. On the third day you must go down quickly and go to the place where you hid yourself {on the day all this started} and remain beside the stone Ezel. I will shoot three arrows [to the] side as [if] I were shooting at a target. {Then} I will send [word to] my servant, 'Go, find the arrows!' If I clearly say to the boy, 'Look, the arrows [are] {on this side of you}; {bring} it,' then come, for [it means] peace for you. And there is no problem, {as Yahweh lives}. But if I say this to the young man, 'Look, the arrows [are] {beyond you},' go, for Yahweh has sent you away. And [as for] the matter about which you and I spoke, look, Yahweh [is] between you and me forever." So David hid himself in the field. {When the new moon came}, {the king was seated at the feast}. The king sat at his seat {as before}, the seat by the wall, and Jonathan got up, and Abner sat beside Saul, but David's place was empty. But Saul said nothing on that day, for he thought, "{Something happened to him}. He [is] not [ceremonially] clean; surely he [is] not clean." {And then} on the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David's place was empty. So Saul asked Jonathan his son, "Why did the son of Jesse not come either yesterday or today to the feast?" Jonathan answered Saul, "David earnestly asked permission from me [to go] up to Bethlehem. He said, 'Send me away, please, for our clan sacrifice [is] in the city, and my brother commanded me [to be present]. So then, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me slip away and see my brothers.' Therefore he has not come to the table of the king." Then {Saul became angry} at Jonathan and said to him, "[You] son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? For {as long as} the son of Jesse [is] alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established! So then, send and bring him to me, for {he will surely die}!" But Jonathan answered his father Saul and said to him, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" Then Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. So Jonathan knew {that his father had decided} to kill David. Jonathan got up from the table {enraged}, and did not eat on the second day of the new moon because he was upset about David, because his father had disgraced him. {And then} in the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a young boy [was] with him. He said to his servant, "Run, please find the arrows that I am shooting!" The boy ran, and he shot the arrow to pass [over] him. When the boy came up to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called out after the boy and said, "[Is] not the arrow {beyond you}?" Then Jonathan called out after the boy, "Quick, hurry, do not linger!" And Jonathan's servant collected the arrows and came to his master. But the boy did not know anything [about this]; only Jonathan and David knew the matter. Jonathan gave his weapons to his servant and said to him, "Go, bring [them] to the city." The boy left, and then David got up from the south side, and he fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed {each other} and wept {together}, but David [wept] the most. Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, because we have sworn, the two of us, [an oath] in the name of Yahweh, saying, "Yahweh will be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring forever." Then he got up and left, and Jonathan went into the city. Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came trembling to meet David, and he said to him, "Why are you alone and there are no men with you?" So David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king charged me [with] a matter and said to me, 'No one must know anything about this matter [on] which I am sending you, [with] which I have charged you and the servants.'" So {I have arranged to meet with my servants at a certain place}. Now then, {what do you have at hand}? Give me five [loaves] of bread or {whatever is here}." The priest answered David and said, "There is no ordinary bread {here at hand}; there is only holy bread, [but] only if the young men have kept themselves from women." David answered the priest and said to him, "Indeed, women [were] held back from us {as it has been when I've gone out before}. And the things of the young men are holy when it [is] an ordinary journey. {How much more} {today} will the things be holy?" So the priest gave him [the] holy [bread], for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which was removed from before Yahweh, in order to set hot bread [there] on the day when it was taken away. Now there was a man from the servants of Saul on that day, detained before Yahweh, whose name [was] Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's shepherds. David asked Ahimelech, "Is there not {at your disposal} a spear or a sword? For I took neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's matter was urgent." So the priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you killed in the valley of Elah [is] here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, [then] take it, for there is no other except it here." And David said, "There is none like it; give it to me." So David got up and fled on that day from the presence of Saul, and he came to Achish the king of Gath. The servants of Achish said to him, "[Is] not this David the king of the land? [Is] it not for this [one] that they sang in the dances, saying, 'Saul killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands?'" {David took these words seriously} and {felt severely threatened by} Achish the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior {before them} and pretended to be mad {in their presence}. He made scratches on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down into his beard. Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see a madman! Why did you bring him to me? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this one to act like a madman before me? Should this one enter my household?" David went from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father's household heard, they came down to him there. Every man in distress and every man who had a creditor and every embittered man gathered to him, and he became {their commander}. Now there [were] about four hundred men with him. And David went up from there to Mizpah of Moab. He said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother {stay} with you until I know what God will do for me." So {he brought them before the king of Moab}, and they stayed with him all the days David was in the stronghold. Then Gad the prophet said to David, "You should not stay in the stronghold; leave and go into the land of Judah." So David left and came [to] the forest of Hereth. Now Saul heard that David and the men who [were] with him had been located. Saul [was] sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk [tree] at Ramah. Now his spear [was] in his hand and all his servants [were] stationed around him. Then Saul said to the servants who [were] standing around him, "Please listen, {Benjaminites}! Will the son of Jesse give you all fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? For all of you have conspired against me, and {no one discloses to me} the {making} [of an agreement] between my son and the son of Jesse! None of you have had sympathy for me or {disclosed to me} [that] {my son commissioned my servant against me to ambush me} as [has been done] this day!" But Doeg the Edomite, who [was] stationed among the servants of Saul, answered and said, "I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. And he inquired of Yahweh for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine." So the king sent to summon Ahimelech the son of Ahitub the priest, and all his father's household, the priests who [were] at Nob. So all of them came to the king. Saul said, "Listen please, son of Ahitub." He said, "Here I [am], my lord." Then Saul said to him, "Why did you conspire against me, you and the son of Jesse, when you gave to him bread and a sword, and by inquiring of God for him so that he might arise against me to ambush [me] as [has been done] this day?" But Ahimelech answered the king and said, "And who among all your servants [is] as faithful as David? He [is] the son-in-law of the king who moves [quickly] to safeguard you and is honored in your house. [Only] today I began to inquire of God for him. Far be it from me that {the king should impute anything against his servant} or against my father's household, for your servant has not known any of this matter, little or much." Then the king said, "You must certainly die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's household!" So the king said to the runners [who were] stationed around him, "Turn and kill the priests of Yahweh, because {they also support David} and because they knew that he was fleeing and {did not disclose it to me}." But the servants of the king [were] not willing to raise their hand to attack the priests of Yahweh. Then the king said to Doeg, "You turn and attack the priests!" So Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests himself, and on that day he killed eighty-five men who wore [the] 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}. But, one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, whose name was Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of Yahweh. Then David said to Abiathar, "I knew on that day that Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would certainly tell Saul. {I am responsible for the deaths of all your father's household}! Stay with me! Do not fear, because he who seeks my life seeks your life. You are in good care with me." Now they told David, "Look, [the] Philistines [are] fighting in Keilah and they [are] raiding the threshing floors." So David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And Yahweh said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah." But David's men said to him, "Look, we [are] afraid here in Judah. {How much more} [if] we go [to] Keilah to the battle lines of [the] Philistines?" So David again inquired of Yahweh, and Yahweh answered him and said, "Get up, go down [to] Keilah, for I [am] giving [the] Philistines into your hand. So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with [the] Philistines. They drove off their livestock and {dealt them a heavy blow}. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. {Now when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled} to David [at] Keilah, he went down [with] an ephod in his hand. When it was told to Saul that David had gone to Keilah, Saul said, "God {has given him} into my hand, because he has shut himself in by going into a city [with] {two barred gates}. Saul then summoned all of the army for the battle, to go down [to] Keilah to lay a siege against David and his men. When David learned that Saul [was] plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here." And David said, "O Yahweh, God of Israel, your servant has clearly heard that Saul [is] seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city because of me. Will the rulers of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O Yahweh, God of Israel, please tell your servant!" And Yahweh said, "He will come down." Then David said, "Will the rulers of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And Yahweh said, "They will deliver [you]." So David and his men got up, about six hundred men, and went out from Keilah and wandered wherever they could go. When it was told to Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, {he stopped his pursuit}. David remained in the wilderness, in the strongholds, and in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him {continually}, but God did not give him into his hand When David realized that Saul had gone out to seek his life, David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. So Jonathan the son of Saul got up and went to David [at] Horesh, and {encouraged him} through God. He said to him, "Do not be afraid, for the hand of my father Saul will not find you. You will be king over Israel, and {I will be second to you}. My father Saul knows [this] also." Then the two of them {made} a covenant before Yahweh. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went to his house. 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. When Saul returned from [pursuing the] Philistines, they told him, "Look, David [is] in the wilderness 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}. He said to his men, "Far be it from me in Yahweh, that I do this thing to my lord, to Yahweh's anointed one, by stretching out my hand against him! For he [is] the anointed one of Yahweh." 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. Then David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to the words of people who say: 'Look, David [is] {seeking to do you harm}'? 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! Just as the ancient proverb says, 'From the wicked, wickedness goes out,' but my hand will not be against you! After whom did the king of Israel go out? After whom are you pursuing? After a dead dog? After one flea? 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. Then he said to David, "You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me the good, but I have repaid you the evil. 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. For a man has found his enemy but sent him on [his] way safely. Now may Yahweh reward you with good in return for this day, for what you have done for 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. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal [was] shearing his 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}. 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. But a young man of the servants told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Look, David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but he addressed them angrily, 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. Then she said to her servants, "Go ahead before me; look, I am coming after you," but she did not tell her husband Nabal. {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}. So then, this gift which your female servant has brought to my lord, may it be given to the young men {who follow my lord}. 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." Then David said to Abigail, "Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel who has sent you this day to meet me! 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. (Now Saul had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who [was] from Gallim.) The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "[Is] not David hiding on the hill of Hakilah opposite Jeshimon?" 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. Now Saul was on the hill of Hakilah, which [is] opposite Jeshimon by the road, but David was staying in the wilderness. When he realized that Saul had come to the wilderness after him, 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}. Then David said to Achish, "Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, then let them give me a place in one of the {country towns} that I can live there. Why should your servant live in {the royal city} with you?" So Achish gave him Ziklag on that day. (Therefore, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah until this day.) 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." David said to Achish, "Very well, you will know what your servant can do." Achish said to David, "Very well, I will make you {my bodyguard} for life." (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. When Saul saw the army of [the] Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. And Saul inquired of Yahweh, but Yahweh did not answer him, not by dreams or by the Urim or by the prophets. So Saul said to his servants, "Search for me {a woman who is a medium} so that I may go to her and inquire of her." His servants said to him, "Look [there is] a woman who [is] a medium in Endor." So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went {with two of his men}. And they came to the woman [by] night and he said, "Please consult a spirit for me through {the ritual pit}, and bring up for me [the one] whom I tell you." But the woman said to him, "Look, you know what Saul did, how he exterminated the mediums and the soothsayers from the land! Why [are] you setting a trap for my life to kill me?" Then Saul swore to her by Yahweh, "{As Yahweh lives}, {you will not be punished} for this thing." So the woman asked, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" He said, "Bring up Samuel for me." When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice, and the woman said to Saul, "Why did you deceive me? You [are] Saul!" The king said to her, "Do not be afraid! What do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up from the ground!" Then he said to her, "What [is] his appearance?" She said, "An old man [is] coming up, and {he is wrapped in a robe}." Then Saul realized that it was Samuel, and he knelt [with] his face to the ground and bowed down. Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul said, "{I am in distress}! For [the] Philistines [are about] to make war against me, but God has turned away from me, and he does not answer me any more, not {by the prophets} or by the dreams. So I called to you to let me know what I should do." Then Samuel said, "Why do you ask me, since Yahweh has turned away from you and has become your enemy? Yahweh has done to you just as he spoke by my hand! Yahweh has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor, to David. Because you {did not obey} Yahweh and did not carry out the fierce anger of his {wrath} against Amalek, therefore Yahweh has done this thing to you today. And Yahweh will also give Israel with you into the hands of [the] Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons [will be] with me, and Yahweh will also give the army of Israel into [the] hand of [the] Philistines." {Then Saul immediately fell prostrate} to the ground, and he was very afraid because of the words of Samuel; there was no more strength in him, for he had not eaten food all day and all night. Then the woman came to Saul and realized that he was absolutely terrified, so she said to him, "Look, your female servant {has obeyed you}, and I have {risked my life}. I have listened to your words that you have spoken to me. So then, you also please listen to the voice of your female servant, and let me set before you a morsel of bread, and [you] eat so that {you will have strength} in you when you go on your way." But he refused and said, "I will not eat!" However, his servants urged him, and the woman also. So he listened {to what they said}, and he got up from the ground and sat on the bed. Now the woman had a fattened bull calf in the house, {so she quickly slaughtered it} and took flour, kneaded [dough], and baked him [some] unleavened bread. She brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they got up and went away that [very] night. Now [the] Philistines assembled all their forces at Aphek, and Israel [was] encamped at the spring that [is] in Jezreel. The rulers of [the] Philistines [were] passing on according to hundreds and thousands, David and his men passing on at the rear with Achish. Then the commanders of [the] Philistines said, "What [are] these Hebrews [doing here]?" And Achish said to the commanders of [the] Philistines, "Is this not David, the servant of Saul, the king of Israel, who has been with me {for days and years}? I have not found anything [threatening] in him from the day of his desertion until this day!" But the commanders of [the] Philistines were angry with him and they said to him, "Send the man back so that he might return to his place where you have assigned him! But he will not go down with us into the battle, so that he does not become an adversary to us in the battle. By what could this fellow make himself favorable to his lord? Is it not with the heads of these men? [Is] this not David about whom they sing in the dances, saying, 'Saul has killed his thousands, but David his ten thousands'?" So Achish called David and said to him, "{As Yahweh lives}, certainly you were honest, and {I am pleased to have you marching with me} in the campaign. For I have not found any wrong in you from the day you came to me until this day, but in the eyes of the rulers, you [are] not good. So then, return and go in peace, so that you do not do {something that displeases} the rulers of [the] Philistines." Then David said to Achish, "But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant from the day that I {entered your service} until this day, that I should not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?" And Achish answered and said to David, "I know that you [are] good in my eyes, like an angel of God! However, the commanders of [the] Philistines have said, 'He must not go up with us into the battle.' So then, rise early in the morning, [you] and the servants of your lord who came with you. When you rise early in the morning and it is light [enough] for you, leave. So David set out early, he and his men, to leave in the morning to return to the land of [the] Philistines, but [the] Philistines went up [to] Jezreel. {Now} when David and his men came [to] Ziklag on the third day, [the] Amalekites had raided [the] Negev and Ziklag. When they attacked Ziklag, they burned it with fire. They took captive the women who were in it, {from the youngest to the oldest}. They did not kill anyone, but carried [them] off and went on their way. When David and his men came to the city, {they saw}, and [it] was burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who [were] with him raised their voices and wept until there was not [enough] strength in them to weep. Two of David's wives had been taken captive. Ahinoam {from Jezreel} and Abigail, the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. And {David was in a very precarious situation}, for the people spoke of stoning him, for the souls of all the people were bitter, each [one] over his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God. Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring the ephod here for me." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. And David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Should I pursue after this band [of raiders]? Will I overtake them?" He said to him, "Pursue [them], for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly rescue them." So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the Wadi Besor, but the rest remained. David pursued, he and four hundred men; but two hundred men stayed because they were too exhausted to pass over the Wadi Besor. Then they found an Egyptian man in the open country and brought him to David, and they gave him food and he ate; they also gave him water. They gave him a slice of fig cake and two raisin cakes; he ate and {this revived him}, because he had not eaten food or drunk water [for] three days and three nights. Then David said to him, "{To whom do you belong}, and from where [are] you? The young man said, "I am an Egyptian young man, a servant of an Amalekite man, but my master abandoned me because I became ill three days ago. We raided the Negev of the Kerethites and that [which belongs] to Judah and then the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire." So David asked him, "Will you take me down to this band [of raiders]?" He said, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and that you will not deliver me into my master's hand! Then I will take you down to this band." So he took him down, and {there they were}, spread out over the surface of all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all of the abundant plunder which they had taken from the land of [the] Philistines and from the land of Judah. Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped {except} four hundred young men who rode [off] on camels and fled. So David recovered all that [the] Amalekites had taken; David also rescued his two wives. None of theirs [was] missing {from the smallest to the greatest}, even sons and daughters, from [the] plunder up to everything they had taken for themselves; David brought back everything. And David took all of the sheep, and the cattle they drove along in front of that livestock, and they said, "This [is] David's plunder." Then David came to [the] two hundred men {who had been too exhausted to follow} David; they had left them behind at the Wadi Besor. They went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. David came near with the people and {asked them how they were doing}. Then all the corrupt and useless men among the men who went with David reacted and said, "Because they did not go with us, we will not give them [anything] from the plunder which we recovered, {except} each [man may take] his own wife and children. They must take them along and go!" But David said to them, "You should not do so, my brothers, with what Yahweh has given to us! He has preserved us and has given the [raiding] band that came against us into our hand. And who would listen to you regarding this matter? For as the share of the one who went down into the battle, so the share of the one who remained with the baggage will be. They will share alike." So from that day and beyond, he made it a rule and a regulation for Israel until this day. Then David came to Ziklag, and he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, "{Here is} a gift for you from the plunder of the enemies of Yahweh!" [It was] for those in Bethel, for those in Ramoth of the Negev, for those in Jattir, for those in Aroer, for those in Siphmoth, for those in Eshtemoa, for those in Racal, for those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites, for those in the towns of the Kenites, for those in Hormah, for those in Bor Ashan, for those in Athach, for those in Hebron, and for all the places {where David and his men had roamed}. Now [the] Philistines [were] fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before [the] Philistines, and they fell slain on Mount Gilboa. And [the] Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and [the] Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malki-Shua, the sons of Saul. {Saul was in the thick of the battle}, and {the archers} spotted him, and he [was] badly wounded by the archers. Then Saul said to {his armor bearer}, "Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, so that these uncircumcised do not come and thrust me through and make a fool of me!" But {his armor bearer} [was] not willing [to do so] because he [was] very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it. And when {his armor bearer} saw that Saul [was] dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him. So Saul died, and his three sons, {his armor bearer}, [and] all his men together that [same] day. And when the men of Israel who [were] on the other side of the valley and [those] who were beyond the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the towns and fled. Thus [the] Philistines came and lived in them. {And then} the next day, [the] Philistines came to strip the dead and they found Saul and his three sons lying [dead] on Mount Gilboa. So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor. Then they sent [messengers] around in the land of [the] Philistines to proclaim [victory in] the temples of their idols and [to] the people. And they put his armor [in] the temple of the Ashtoreth, and they fastened his corpse to the wall of Beth Shan. When the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard about it, what [the] Philistines had done to Saul, all of {the valiant men} set out and went all night and took the corpse of Saul and the corpses of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. Then they took their bones and buried [them] under the tamarisk in Jabesh, and they fasted [for] seven days.

When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, "May you be blessed by Yahweh! I have kept the word of Yahweh."

So Saul was watching David [with suspicion] from that day onward. {On} [the] next day, the evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. Now David was playing [the lyre] with his hand on [that] day {as usual}, and the spear was in Saul's hand. Then Saul hurled the spear and thought, "{I will pin David to the wall}." But David eluded him twice.

However, some {worthless men} said, "How can this [man] deliver us?" So they despised him and brought no gift to him, but he kept silent.

Then Samuel summoned the people to Yahweh at Mizpah, and he said to the {Israelites}, "Thus says Yahweh the God of Israel: 'I brought Israel up from Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that [were] oppressing you.' But you today have rejected your God who always delivers you from all of your calamities and your distresses. You have said to him, 'No, but you must appoint a king over us!' So then present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes and by your clans." read more.
So Samuel brought near all the tribes of Israel, and the tribe of Benjamin was selected by lot. Then he brought near the tribe of Benjamin according to its families, and the family of Matri was selected by lot. Then Saul the son of Kish was chosen, and they sought him, but he could not be found. So they inquired again of Yahweh, "{Did the man come here}?" And Yahweh said, "Look, he [is] hiding himself among the baggage." So they ran and took him from there, and when he took his stand among the people, he was taller than all the people from his shoulders and up. Then Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see him whom Yahweh has chosen? For there is no one like him among all the people!" And all the people shouted and said, "Long live the king!" Then Samuel told the people the custom of the kingship, and he wrote [the rules] down on a scroll and laid [it] before Yahweh. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own house.

Saul answered and said, "[Am] I not a Benjaminite, from the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the humblest of all the families of the tribes of Benjamin? Why do you speak to me {in this way}?"

However, Jonathan had not heard about the oath of his father with the army, so he extended the end of the staff which was in his hand, and he dipped it into the honeycomb. Then he put his hand to his mouth and his eyes gleamed.

Then Saul said, "So may God do [to me] and {more}, you will certainly die today, Jonathan!"

Then Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. So Jonathan knew {that his father had decided} to kill David.

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

When they went from there to Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.

Then the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and {he became very angry}.

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul said, "{I am in distress}! For [the] Philistines [are about] to make war against me, but God has turned away from me, and he does not answer me any more, not {by the prophets} or by the dreams. So I called to you to let me know what I should do."

However, Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the cattle and the second [best] of the young fatlings and {all that was valuable}; they were not willing to utterly destroy them. But all the possessions that were despised or worthless, they utterly destroyed.

For rebellion [is like] the sin of divination; arrogance [is like] iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has rejected you from [being] king!"

Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned because I have transgressed {the commandment of Yahweh} and your words, for I feared the troops and I listened to their voice. So then, please pardon my sin and return with me {so that I can worship} Yahweh." But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and he has rejected you from being king over Israel!" read more.
As Samuel turned around to go, he caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Then Samuel said to him, "Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor {who is better than you}. Moreover, the Glory of Israel will not break faith and will not regret, for he [is] not a human that he should regret." Then he said, "I have sinned! Now please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me {so that I can worship} Yahweh your God."

{Now Saul was threatened by the presence of David} because Yahweh was with him, but had departed from Saul.

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul said, "{I am in distress}! For [the] Philistines [are about] to make war against me, but God has turned away from me, and he does not answer me any more, not {by the prophets} or by the dreams. So I called to you to let me know what I should do."

Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul and an evil spirit from Yahweh tormented him.

For rebellion [is like] the sin of divination; arrogance [is like] iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has rejected you from [being] king!"

Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have listened to the voice of Yahweh, and I have gone on the way that Yahweh sent me! I brought Agag the king of Amalek, and the Amalekites I have utterly destroyed. The troops took from the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal."

Then the people said to Samuel, "Who [is] the one who asked, 'Will Saul reign over us?' Give the men to us that we may kill them." But Saul said, "No one will be put to death on this day, because {today} Yahweh has provided deliverance in Israel."

Then the people said to Samuel, "Who [is] the one who asked, 'Will Saul reign over us?' Give the men to us that we may kill them." But Saul said, "No one will be put to death on this day, because {today} Yahweh has provided deliverance in Israel." Then Samuel said to the people, "Come, let us go to Gilgal, and let us renew the kingship there." read more.
So all the people went to Gilgal and they made Saul king there before Yahweh in Gilgal. They sacrificed fellowship offerings there before Yahweh. Then Saul rejoiced there greatly [along with] all the men of Israel.

I gave you a king in my anger, and I took [him] in my wrath.

Now Saul [was] staying at the outskirts of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree that [was] in Migron, and the troops that [were] with him [were] about six hundred men.

They crossed over [the] pass; Geba [is] a place of overnight lodging for us. Ramah trembles; Gibeah of Saul has fled.

Then Samuel went to Ramah and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.

And Samlah died, and Shaul from Rehoboth [on] the Euphrates reigned in his place. And Shaul died, and Baal-Hanan, the son of Acbor, reigned in his place.

When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth-by-the-River reigned in his place. When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place.

And all that Samuel the seer, and Saul the son of Kish, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah had dedicated--all the dedicated gifts [were] under the hand of Shelomith and his brothers.

The troops took from the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal." Then Samuel said, "Is there [as much] delight for Yahweh in burnt offerings and sacrifices as [there is] in {obeying} Yahweh? Look! {To obey} [is] better than sacrifice; to give heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion [is like] the sin of divination; arrogance [is like] iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has rejected you from [being] king!" read more.
Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned because I have transgressed {the commandment of Yahweh} and your words, for I feared the troops and I listened to their voice. So then, please pardon my sin and return with me {so that I can worship} Yahweh."

Now [the] Philistines assembled all their forces at Aphek, and Israel [was] encamped at the spring that [is] in Jezreel.

(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. When Saul saw the army of [the] Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. read more.
And Saul inquired of Yahweh, but Yahweh did not answer him, not by dreams or by the Urim or by the prophets. So Saul said to his servants, "Search for me {a woman who is a medium} so that I may go to her and inquire of her." His servants said to him, "Look [there is] a woman who [is] a medium in Endor." So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went {with two of his men}. And they came to the woman [by] night and he said, "Please consult a spirit for me through {the ritual pit}, and bring up for me [the one] whom I tell you." But the woman said to him, "Look, you know what Saul did, how he exterminated the mediums and the soothsayers from the land! Why [are] you setting a trap for my life to kill me?" Then Saul swore to her by Yahweh, "{As Yahweh lives}, {you will not be punished} for this thing." So the woman asked, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" He said, "Bring up Samuel for me." When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice, and the woman said to Saul, "Why did you deceive me? You [are] Saul!" The king said to her, "Do not be afraid! What do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up from the ground!" Then he said to her, "What [is] his appearance?" She said, "An old man [is] coming up, and {he is wrapped in a robe}." Then Saul realized that it was Samuel, and he knelt [with] his face to the ground and bowed down. Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul said, "{I am in distress}! For [the] Philistines [are about] to make war against me, but God has turned away from me, and he does not answer me any more, not {by the prophets} or by the dreams. So I called to you to let me know what I should do." Then Samuel said, "Why do you ask me, since Yahweh has turned away from you and has become your enemy? Yahweh has done to you just as he spoke by my hand! Yahweh has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor, to David. Because you {did not obey} Yahweh and did not carry out the fierce anger of his {wrath} against Amalek, therefore Yahweh has done this thing to you today. And Yahweh will also give Israel with you into the hands of [the] Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons [will be] with me, and Yahweh will also give the army of Israel into [the] hand of [the] Philistines." {Then Saul immediately fell prostrate} to the ground, and he was very afraid because of the words of Samuel; there was no more strength in him, for he had not eaten food all day and all night. Then the woman came to Saul and realized that he was absolutely terrified, so she said to him, "Look, your female servant {has obeyed you}, and I have {risked my life}. I have listened to your words that you have spoken to me. So then, you also please listen to the voice of your female servant, and let me set before you a morsel of bread, and [you] eat so that {you will have strength} in you when you go on your way." But he refused and said, "I will not eat!" However, his servants urged him, and the woman also. So he listened {to what they said}, and he got up from the ground and sat on the bed. Now the woman had a fattened bull calf in the house, {so she quickly slaughtered it} and took flour, kneaded [dough], and baked him [some] unleavened bread. She brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they got up and went away that [very] night.

Warfare was severe against [the] Philistines all the days of Saul. Whenever Saul saw {anyone who was a mighty warrior} or {any brave man}, he {conscripted him into his service}.

Saul went up from [pursuing the] Philistines, and [the] Philistines went to their place.

He had a son whose name was Saul, a young and handsome man. There was not a man from the {Israelites} more handsome than he [was]; from his shoulders up, he was taller than all the people.

So they ran and took him from there, and when he took his stand among the people, he was taller than all the people from his shoulders and up.

So Saul said to his servants, "Please select a man {who plays a stringed instrument well} and bring [him] to me." One of the servants answered and said, "Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite [who is] skillful in playing a stringed instrument, a {brave man, a warrior, prudent in speech, and handsome}. And Yahweh [is] with him." So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me David your son who [is] with the sheep." read more.
And Jesse took a donkey [loaded with] bread and a skin of wine and one {young goat} and sent [them] to Saul by the hand of David his son. So David came to Saul and {entered his service}. He loved him greatly and {he became Saul's armor bearer}. Then Saul sent [word] to Jesse, saying, "Please let David stand before me, because he has found favor {in my sight}." So whenever the [evil] spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the stringed instrument and play it with his hand. Then {it would bring relief} for Saul; {he would feel better} and the evil spirit would depart from him.

But Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul said, "Because I saw that the army {was scattering} from me and you did not come {at the appointed time} and [that the] Philistines had gathered at Micmash, therefore I said, 'Now [the] Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not yet implored the face of Yahweh.' So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering." Then Samuel said to Saul, "You have behaved foolishly! You have not kept the command of Yahweh your God which he commanded you. For then, Yahweh would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. read more.
But now, your kingdom will not endure. Yahweh has sought for himself a man according to his [own] heart, and Yahweh has appointed him as leader over his people, because you have not kept what Yahweh commanded 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. Then he said to David, "You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me the good, but I have repaid you the evil. 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. read more.
For a man has found his enemy but sent him on [his] way safely. Now may Yahweh reward you with good in return for this day, for what you have done for 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.

There [was] a famine in the days of David [for] three years, year after year. And David {inquired of Yahweh}, and Yahweh said, "The bloodguilt [is] on Saul and on his household, because he killed the Gibeonites." So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites [were] not from the {Israelites}; they [were] from the remainder of the Amorites. Now the {Israelites} had sworn to them, but Saul tried to wipe them out in his zeal for the {Israelites} and Judah. So David asked the Gibeonites, "What can I do for you, and with what can I make amends that you may bless the inheritance of Yahweh?" read more.
Then the Gibeonites said to him, "{It is not a matter for us of} silver or gold with Saul or with his household. It is not for us to put to death anyone in Israel." He asked, "What [are] you saying [that] I should do for you all?" Then they said to the king, "The man who consumed us and who plotted against us [so that] we were destroyed from existing in all of the territory of Israel, let seven men from his sons be given over to us, and we will execute them before Yahweh in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen one of Yahweh." Then the king said, "I will give them over." But the king spared Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the sworn oath of Yahweh which [was] between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. So the king took two of the sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, namely Armoni and Mephibosheth, and five of the sons of Michal the daughter of Saul whom she had borne to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. He gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they executed them on the mountain in the presence of Yahweh, and the seven fell together. Now they were put to death in the days of the harvest, at the beginning of the harvest of barley.

When Saul returned from [pursuing the] Philistines, they told him, "Look, David [is] in the wilderness 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. read more.
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}. He said to his men, "Far be it from me in Yahweh, that I do this thing to my lord, to Yahweh's anointed one, by stretching out my hand against him! For he [is] the anointed one of Yahweh."

{And then} afterward David {felt guilty}, because he had cut {the hem of Saul's robe}. He said to his men, "Far be it from me in Yahweh, that I do this thing to my lord, to Yahweh's anointed one, by stretching out my hand against him! For he [is] the anointed one of Yahweh." 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. read more.
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.

So Saul died on account of his sin which he had sinned against Yahweh concerning the command of Yahweh that he did not keep. He also consulted a medium to seek [guidance].

Now there was a man from Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjaminite, {a very wealthy man}. He had a son whose name was Saul, a young and handsome man. There was not a man from the {Israelites} more handsome than he [was]; from his shoulders up, he was taller than all the people.

And Ner fathered Kish, and Kish fathered Saul, and Saul fathered Jonathan, Malchi-Shua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal.

When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, "May you be blessed by Yahweh! I have kept the word of Yahweh."

When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, "May you be blessed by Yahweh! I have kept the word of Yahweh." But Samuel said, "Then what [is] this bleating of the sheep [that I hear] in my ears and the lowing of the cattle that I am hearing?" Saul said, "They have brought them from [the] Amalekites; the troops spared the best of the sheep and the cattle in order to sacrifice them to Yahweh your God. But the rest we have utterly destroyed." read more.
Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop and let me tell you what Yahweh said to me last night." So he said to him, "Speak." Samuel said, "Even though you [are] small in your [own] eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh has anointed you as king over Israel. When Yahweh sent you on your way, he said to you: 'Go! You must utterly destroy the sinners, [the] Amalekites, and you must fight against them until you have destroyed them.' Why did you not listen to the voice of Yahweh and fall with shouting on the plunder? You have done evil in the sight of Yahweh!" Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have listened to the voice of Yahweh, and I have gone on the way that Yahweh sent me! I brought Agag the king of Amalek, and the Amalekites I have utterly destroyed. The troops took from the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal." Then Samuel said, "Is there [as much] delight for Yahweh in burnt offerings and sacrifices as [there is] in {obeying} Yahweh? Look! {To obey} [is] better than sacrifice; to give heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion [is like] the sin of divination; arrogance [is like] iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has rejected you from [being] king!" Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned because I have transgressed {the commandment of Yahweh} and your words, for I feared the troops and I listened to their voice. So then, please pardon my sin and return with me {so that I can worship} Yahweh." But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of Yahweh, and he has rejected you from being king over Israel!" As Samuel turned around to go, he caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Then Samuel said to him, "Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor {who is better than you}. Moreover, the Glory of Israel will not break faith and will not regret, for he [is] not a human that he should regret." Then he said, "I have sinned! Now please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me {so that I can worship} Yahweh your God." So Samuel returned after Saul, and Saul {worshiped} Yahweh.

Why did you not listen to the voice of Yahweh and fall with shouting on the plunder? You have done evil in the sight of Yahweh!" Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have listened to the voice of Yahweh, and I have gone on the way that Yahweh sent me! I brought Agag the king of Amalek, and the Amalekites I have utterly destroyed. The troops took from the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God at Gilgal." read more.
Then Samuel said, "Is there [as much] delight for Yahweh in burnt offerings and sacrifices as [there is] in {obeying} Yahweh? Look! {To obey} [is] better than sacrifice; to give heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion [is like] the sin of divination; arrogance [is like] iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of Yahweh, he has rejected you from [being] king!"

Then Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned because I have transgressed {the commandment of Yahweh} and your words, for I feared the troops and I listened to their voice.

When they went from there to Gibeah, a procession of prophets met him, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.

Then the Spirit of God rushed upon Saul when he heard these words, and {he became very angry}.

So Saul tried {to pin David to the wall with the spear}, but {he eluded Saul}, so that he struck the spear into the wall, and David fled and escaped that [same] night.

And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan and swore, "{As Yahweh lives}, he will not be put to death!"

[although I] was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, but I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief,

[although I] was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, but I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief,

Then the people said to Samuel, "Who [is] the one who asked, 'Will Saul reign over us?' Give the men to us that we may kill them." But Saul said, "No one will be put to death on this day, because {today} Yahweh has provided deliverance in Israel."