1 Samuel 19:1-31:13

Devotionals, Articles, and Bible Study Resources on 1 Samuel 19:1-31:13

1Then Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Jonathan delighted greatly in David,
2so he warned David, saying, “My father Saul intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning; find a secret place and hide there.
3I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, so I can ask about you. And if I find out anything, I will tell you.”
4Then Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David; he has not sinned against you. In fact, his actions have been highly beneficial to you.
5He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”
6Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan and swore an oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be put to death.”
7So Jonathan summoned David and told him all these things. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul to serve him as he had before.
8When war broke out again, David went out and fought the Philistines and struck them with such a mighty blow that they fled before him.
9But as Saul was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, a spirit of distress from the LORD came upon him. While David was playing the harp,
10Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear. But the spear struck the wall and David eluded him, ran away, and escaped that night.
11Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him, “If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”
12So Michal lowered David from the window, and he ran away and escaped.
13Then Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.
14When Saul sent the messengers to seize David, Michal said, “He is ill.”
15But Saul sent the messengers back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so I can kill him.”
16And when the messengers entered, there was the idol in the bed with the quilt of goats’ hair on its head.
17And Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away and he has escaped!” Michal replied, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away, or I will kill you!’”
18So David ran away and escaped. And he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there.
19When Saul was told that David was at Naioth in Ramah,
20he sent messengers to capture him. But when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel leading them, the Spirit of God came upon them, and Saul’s messengers also began to prophesy.
21When this was reported to Saul, he sent more messengers, but they began to prophesy as well. So Saul tried again and sent messengers a third time, and even they began to prophesy.
22Finally, Saul himself left for Ramah and came to the large cistern at Secu, where he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” “At Naioth in Ramah,” he was told.
23So Saul went to Naioth in Ramah. But the Spirit of God came upon even Saul, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah.
24Then Saul stripped off his robes and also prophesied before Samuel. And he collapsed and lay naked all that day and night. That is why it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
1Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?”
2“Far from it!” Jonathan replied. “You will not die. Indeed, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This cannot be true!”
3But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”
4Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you desire, I will do for you.”
5So David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I am supposed to dine with the king. Instead, let me go and hide in the field until the third evening from now.
6If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David urgently requested my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because there is an annual sacrifice for his whole clan.’
7If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant is safe, but if he is enraged, you will know he has evil intentions.
8Therefore deal faithfully with your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”
9“Never!” Jonathan replied. “If I ever found out that my father had evil intentions against you, would I not tell you?”
10Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
11“Come,” he replied, “let us go out to the field.” So the two of them went out into the field,
12and Jonathan said, “By the LORD, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. If he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you?
13But if my father intends to bring evil on you, then may the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if I do not tell you and send you on your way in safety. May the LORD be with you, just as He has been with my father.
14And as long as I live, treat me with the LORD’s loving devotion, that I may not die,
15and do not ever cut off your loving devotion from my household — not even when the LORD cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD hold David’s enemies accountable.”
17And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.
18Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed if your seat is empty.
19When you have stayed three days, hurry down to the place you hid on the day this trouble began, and remain beside the stone Ezel.
20I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as if I were aiming at a target.
21Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ Now, if I expressly say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them,’ then come, because as surely as the LORD lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger.
22But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, for the LORD has sent you away.
23And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”
24So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat.
25He sat in his usual place by the wall, opposite Jonathan and beside Abner, but David’s place was empty.
26Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean — surely he is unclean.”
27But on the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’ t the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?”
28Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem,
29saying, ‘Please let me go, because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go and see my brothers.’ That is why he did not come to the king’s table.”
30Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the disgrace of the mother who bore you?
31For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingship shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!”
32“Why must he be put to death?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?”
33Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to kill him; so Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David.
34Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger and did not eat any food that second day of the month, for he was grieved by his father’s shameful treatment of David.
35In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a small boy was with him.
36He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” And as the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.
37When the boy reached the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called to him, “Isn’ t the arrow beyond you?”
38Then Jonathan cried out, “Hurry! Make haste! Do not delay!” So the boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master.
39But the boy did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement.
40Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the boy and said, “Go, take it back to the city.”
41When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone, fell facedown, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept together—though David wept more.
42And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city.
1Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And when Ahimelech met David, he trembled and asked him, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”
2“The king has given me a mission,” David replied. “He told me no one is to know about the mission or charge. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a certain place.
3Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.”
4“There is no common bread on hand,” the priest replied, “but there is some consecrated bread — provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.”
5David answered, “Women have indeed been kept from us, as is usual when I set out. And the equipment of the young men is holy, as it is even on common missions, and all the more at this time.”
6So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away.
7Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the LORD. And his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief shepherd for Saul.
8Then David asked Ahimelech, “Is there not a spear or sword on hand here? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business was urgent.”
9The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want, you may take it. For there is no other but this one.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
10That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.
11But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing about him in their dances, saying:
‘Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands’?”
12Now David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
13So he changed his behavior before them and feigned madness in their hands; he scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard.
14Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you can see that the man is insane! Why have you brought him to me?
15Am I in need of madmen, that you have brought this man to rave in my presence? Must this man come into my house?”
1So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there.
2And all who were distressed or indebted or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.
3From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I learn what God will do for me.”
4So he left them in the care of the king of Moab, and they stayed with him the whole time David was in the stronghold.
5Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold. Depart and go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.
6Soon Saul learned that David and his men had been discovered. At that time Saul was in Gibeah, sitting under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with his spear in hand and all his servants standing around him.
7Then Saul said to his servants, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Is the son of Jesse giving all of you fields and vineyards and making you commanders of thousands or hundreds?
8Is that why all of you have conspired against me? Not one of you told me that my own son had made a covenant with the son of Jesse. Not one of you has shown concern for me or revealed to me that my son has stirred up my own servant to lie in wait against me, as is the case today.”
9But Doeg the Edomite, who had stationed himself with Saul’s servants, answered: “I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob.
10Ahimelech inquired of the LORD for him and gave him provisions. He also gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
11Then the king sent messengers to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and his father’s whole family, who were priests at Nob. And all of them came to the king.
12“Listen now, son of Ahitub,” said Saul. “Here I am, my lord,” he replied.
13And Saul asked him, “Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me? You gave him bread and a sword and inquired of God for him so that he could rise up against me to lie in wait, as he is doing today.”
14Ahimelech answered the king, “Who among all your servants is as faithful as David, the king’s son-in-law, the captain of your bodyguard who is honored in your house?
15Was that day the first time I inquired of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of my father’s household, for your servant knew nothing of this whole affair — not in part or in whole.”
16But the king replied, “You will surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house!”
17Then the king ordered the guards at his side, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they did not tell me.” But the king’s servants would not lift a hand to strike the priests of the LORD.
18So the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.
19He also put to the sword Nob, the city of the priests, with its men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep.
20But one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub escaped. His name was Abiathar, and he fled to David.
21And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.
22Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that Doeg the Edomite was there that day, and that he was sure to tell Saul. I myself am responsible for the lives of everyone in your father’s house.
23Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks your life is seeking mine as well. You will be safe with me.”
1Now it was reported to David, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and looting the threshing floors.”
2So David inquired of the LORD, “Should I go and attack these Philistines?” And the LORD said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”
3But David’s men said to him, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”
4Once again, David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him: “Go at once to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
5Then David and his men went to Keilah, fought against the Philistines, and carried off their livestock, striking them with a mighty blow. So David saved the people of Keilah.
6(Now Abiathar son of Ahimelech had brought the ephod with him when he fled to David at Keilah.)
7When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.”
8Then Saul summoned all his troops to go to war at Keilah and besiege David and his men.
9When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”
10And David said, “O LORD, God of Israel, Your servant has heard that Saul intends to come to Keilah and destroy the city on my account.
11Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? O LORD, God of Israel, please tell Your servant.” “He will,” said the LORD.
12So David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” “They will,” said the LORD.
13Then David and his men, about six hundred strong, set out and departed from Keilah, moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he declined to go forth.
14And David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God would not deliver David into his hand.
15While David was in Horesh in the Wilderness of Ziph, he saw that Saul had come out to take his life.
16And Saul’s son Jonathan came to David in Horesh and strengthened his hand in God,
17saying, “Do not be afraid, for my father Saul will never lay a hand on you. And you will be king over Israel, and I will be your second-in-command. Even my father Saul knows this is true.”
18So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home.
19Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon?
20Now, O king, come down whenever your soul desires, and we will be responsible for delivering him into your hand.”
21“May you be blessed by the LORD,” replied Saul, “for you have had compassion on me.
22Please go and prepare further. Investigate and watch carefully where he goes and who has seen him there, for I am told that he is extremely cunning.
23Observe and find out all the places where he hides. Then come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the clans of Judah.”
24So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Wilderness of Maon in the Arabah south of Jeshimon,
25and Saul and his men went to seek him. When David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard of this, he pursued David there.
26Saul was proceeding along one side of the mountain, and David and his men along the other side. Even though David was hurrying to get away, Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them.
27Then a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly, for the Philistines have raided the land!”
28So Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why that place is called Sela-hammahlekoth.
29And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En-gedi.
1After Saul had returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.”
2So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to look for David and his men in the region of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.
3Soon Saul came to the sheepfolds along the road, where there was a cave, and he went in to relieve himself. And David and his men were hiding in the recesses of the cave.
4So David’s men said to him, “This is the day about which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do with him as you wish.’” Then David crept up secretly and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
5Afterward, David’s conscience was stricken because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.
6So he said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed. May I never lift my hand against him, since he is the LORD’s anointed.”
7With these words David restrained his men, and he did not let them rise up against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and went on his way.
8After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed facedown in reverence
9and said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’?
10Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the LORD delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my lord, since he is the LORD’s anointed.’
11See, my father, look at the corner of your robe in my hand. For I cut it off, but I did not kill you. See and know that there is no evil or rebellion in my hands. I have not sinned against you, even though you are hunting me down to take my life.
12May the LORD judge between you and me, and may the LORD take vengeance on you, but my hand will never be against you.
13As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.’ But my hand will never be against you.
14Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea?
15May the LORD be our judge and decide between you and me. May He take notice and plead my case and deliver me from your hand.”
16When David had finished saying these things, Saul called back, “Is that your voice, David my son?” Then Saul wept aloud
17and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, though I have rewarded you with evil.
18And you have shown this day how well you have dealt with me; for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.
19When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go away unharmed? May the LORD reward you with good for what you have done for me this day.
20Now I know for sure that you will be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands.
21So now, swear to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s house.”
22So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
1When Samuel died, all Israel gathered to mourn for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.
2Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.
3His name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.
4While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.
5So David sent ten young men and instructed them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel. Greet him in my name
6and say to him, ‘Long life to you, and peace to you and your house and to all that belongs to you.
7Now I hear that it is time for shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel.
8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on the day of a feast. Please give whatever you can afford to your servants and to your son David.’”
9When David’s young men arrived, they relayed all these words to Nabal on behalf of David. Then they waited.
10But Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants these days are breaking away from their masters.
11Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give them to these men whose origin I do not know?”
12So David’s men turned around and went back, and they relayed to him all these words.
13And David said to his men, “Strap on your swords!” So David and all his men put on their swords, and about four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
14Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s young men informed Nabal’s wife Abigail, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he scolded them.
15Yet these men were very good to us. When we were in the field, we were not harassed, and nothing of ours went missing the whole time we lived among them.
16They were a wall around us, both day and night, the whole time we were herding our sheep near them.
17Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”
18Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys
19and said to her young men, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
20As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them.
21Now David had just finished saying, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good.
22May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one of Nabal’s men survive until morning.”
23When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him.
24She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant.
25My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.
26Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, the LORD has held you back from coming to bloodshed and avenging yourself with your own hand. May your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.
27Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you.
28Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the LORD’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.
29And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.
30When the LORD has done for my lord all the good He promised, and when He has appointed you ruler over Israel,
31then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your maidservant.”
32Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day!
33Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.
34Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”
35Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request.”
36When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.
37In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him and he became like a stone.
38About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.
39On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has upheld my cause against the reproach of Nabal and has restrained His servant from evil. For the LORD has brought the wickedness of Nabal down upon his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, asking for her in marriage.
40When his servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said, “David has sent us to take you as his wife.”
41She arose, then bowed facedown and said, “Here is your maidservant, ready to serve and to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”
42So Abigail hurried and got on a donkey, and attended by five of her maidens, she followed David’s messengers and became his wife.
43David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So she and Abigail were both his wives.
44But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
1Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding on the hill of Hachilah, opposite Jeshimon?”
2So Saul, accompanied by three thousand chosen men of Israel, went down to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there.
3Saul camped beside the road at the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon, but David was living in the wilderness. When he realized that Saul had followed him there,
4David sent out spies to verify that Saul had arrived.
5Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the general of his army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the inner circle of the camp, with the troops camped around him.
6And David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” “I will go with you,” answered Abishai.
7That night David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the troops were lying around him.
8Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!”
9But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can lift a hand against the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?”
10David added, “As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.
11But the LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. Instead, take the spear and water jug by his head, and let us go.”
12So David took the spear and water jug by Saul’s head, and they departed. No one saw them or knew about it, nor did anyone wake up; they all remained asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen on them.
13Then David crossed to the other side and stood atop the mountain at a distance; there was a wide gulf between them.
14And David shouted to the troops and to Abner son of Ner, “Will you not answer me, Abner?” “Who calls to the king?” Abner replied.
15So David said to Abner, “You are a man, aren’ t you? And who in Israel is your equal? Why then did you not protect your lord the king when one of the people came to destroy him?
16This thing you have done is not good. As surely as the LORD lives, all of you deserve to die, since you did not protect your lord, the LORD’s anointed. Now look around. Where are the king’s spear and water jug that were by his head?”
17Then Saul recognized David’s voice and asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” “It is my voice, my lord and king,” David said.
18And he continued, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done? What evil is in my hand?
19Now please, may my lord the king hear the words of his servant: If the LORD has stirred you up against me, then may He accept an offering. But if men have done it, may they be cursed in the presence of the LORD! For today they have driven me away from sharing in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’
20So do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the LORD. For the king of Israel has come out to look for a flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
21Then Saul replied, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. I will never harm you again, because today you considered my life precious. I have played the fool and have committed a grave error!”
22“Here is the king’s spear,” David answered. “Let one of the young men come over and get it.
23May the LORD repay every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. For the LORD delivered you into my hand today, but I would not stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed.
24As surely as I valued your life today, so may the LORD value my life and rescue me from all trouble.”
25Saul said to him, “May you be blessed, David my son. You will accomplish great things and will surely prevail.” So David went on his way, and Saul returned home.
1David, however, said to himself, “One of these days now I will be swept away by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will stop searching for me all over Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”
2So David set out with his six hundred men and went to Achish son of Maoch, the king of Gath.
3David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal.
4And when Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.
5Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let me be assigned a place in one of the outlying towns, so I can live there. For why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”
6That day Achish gave him Ziklag, and to this day it still belongs to the kings of Judah.
7And the time that David lived in Philistine territory amounted to a year and four months.
8Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these people had inhabited the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)
9Whenever David attacked a territory, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but he took the flocks and herds, the donkeys, camels, and clothing. Then he would return to Achish,
10who would ask him, “What have you raided today?” And David would reply, “The Negev of Judah,” or “The Negev of Jerahmeel,” or “The Negev of the Kenites.”
11David did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he said, “Otherwise they will report us, saying, ‘This is what David did.’” And this was David’s custom the whole time he lived in Philistine territory.
12So Achish trusted David, thinking, “Since he has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel, he will be my servant forever.”
1Now in those days the Philistines gathered their forces for warfare against Israel. So Achish said to David, “You must understand that you and your men are to go out to battle with me.”
2David replied, “Then you will come to know what your servant can do.” “Very well,” said Achish. “I will make you my bodyguard for life.”
3Now by this time Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.
4The Philistines came together and camped at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and camped at Gilboa.
5When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid and trembled violently.
6He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.
7Then Saul said to his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I can go and consult her.” “There is a medium at Endor,” his servants replied.
8So Saul disguised himself by putting on different clothes, and he set out with two of his men. They came to the woman at night, and Saul said, “Consult a spirit for me. Bring up for me the one I name.”
9But the woman replied, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has killed the mediums and spiritists in the land. Why have you set a trap to get me killed?”
10Then Saul swore to her by the LORD: “As surely as the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this.”
11“Whom shall I bring up for you?” the woman asked. “Bring up Samuel,” he replied.
12But when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out in a loud voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”
13“Do not be afraid,” the king replied. “What do you see?” “I see a god coming up out of the earth,” the woman answered.
14“What does he look like?” asked Saul. “An old man is coming up,” she replied. “And he is wearing a robe.” So Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed facedown in reverence.
15Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am deeply distressed,” replied Saul. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”
16“Why do you consult me,” asked Samuel, “since the LORD has turned away from you and become your enemy?
17He has done exactly what He spoke through me: The LORD has torn the kingship out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David.
18Because you did not obey the LORD or carry out His burning anger against Amalek, the LORD has done this to you today.
19Moreover, the LORD will deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. And the LORD will deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”
20Immediately Saul fell flat on the ground, terrified by the words of Samuel. And his strength was gone, because he had not eaten anything all that day and night.
21When the woman came to Saul and saw how distraught he was, she said to him, “Look, your maidservant has obeyed your voice. I took my life in my hands and did as you told me.
22Now please listen to your servant and let me set a morsel of bread before you so you may eat and have the strength to go on your way.”
23Saul refused, saying, “I will not eat.” But his servants joined the woman in urging him, and he heeded their voice. He got up from the ground and sat on the bed.
24The woman had a fattened calf at her house, and she quickly slaughtered it. She also took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread.
25She served it to Saul and his servants, and they ate. And that night they got up and left.
1Now the Philistines brought all their forces together at Aphek, while Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel.
2As the Philistine leaders marched out their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men marched behind them with Achish.
3Then the commanders of the Philistines asked, “What about these Hebrews?” Achish replied, “Is this not David, the servant of King Saul of Israel? He has been with me all these days, even years, and from the day he defected until today I have found no fault in him.”
4But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with Achish and told him, “Send that man back and let him return to the place you assigned him. He must not go down with us into battle only to become our adversary during the war. What better way for him to regain the favor of his master than with the heads of our men?
5Is this not the David about whom they sing in their dances:
‘Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands’?”
6So Achish summoned David and told him, “As surely as the LORD lives, you have been upright in my sight, and it seems right that you should march in and out with me in the army, because I have found no fault in you from the day you came to me until this day. But you have no favor in the sight of the leaders.
7Therefore turn back now and go in peace, so that you will not do anything to displease the leaders of the Philistines.”
8“But what have I done?” David replied. “What have you found against your servant, from the day I came to you until today, to keep me from going along to fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”
9Achish replied, “I know that you are as pleasing in my sight as an angel of God. But the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go into battle with us.’
10Now then, get up early in the morning, along with your master’s servants who came with you, and go as soon as it is light.”
11So David and his men got up early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
1On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.
2They had taken captive the women and all who were there, both young and old. They had not killed anyone, but had carried them off as they went on their way.
3When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
4So David and the troops with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no strength left to weep.
5David’s two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel, had been taken captive.
6And David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of every man grieved for his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.
7Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought it to him,
8and David inquired of the LORD: “Should I pursue these raiders? Will I overtake them?” “Pursue them,” the LORD replied, “for you will surely overtake them and rescue the captives.”
9So David and his six hundred men went to the Brook of Besor, where some stayed behind
10because two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the brook. But David and four hundred men continued in pursuit.
11Now his men found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. They gave the man water to drink and food to eat —
12a piece of a fig cake and two clusters of raisins. So he ate and was revived, for he had not had any food or water for three days and three nights.
13Then David asked him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” “I am an Egyptian,” he replied, “the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me three days ago when I fell ill.
14We raided the Negev of the Cherethites, the territory of Judah, and the Negev of Caleb, and we burned down Ziklag.”
15“Will you lead me to these raiders?” David asked. And the man replied, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hand of my master, and I will lead you to them.”
16So he led David down, and there were the Amalekites spread out over all the land, eating, drinking, and celebrating the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah.
17And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man escaped, except four hundred young men who fled, riding off on camels.
18So David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives.
19Nothing was missing, young or old, son or daughter, or any of the plunder the Amalekites had taken. David brought everything back.
20And he recovered all the flocks and herds, which his men drove ahead of the other livestock, calling out, “This is David’s plunder!”
21When David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him from the Brook of Besor, they came out to meet him and the troops with him. As David approached the men, he greeted them,
22but all the wicked and worthless men among those who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered, except for each man’s wife and children. They may take them and go.”
23But David said, “My brothers, you must not do this with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiders who came against us.
24Who will listen to your proposal? The share of the one who went to battle will match the share of the one who stayed with the supplies. They will share alike.”
25And so it has been from that day forward. David established this statute as an ordinance for Israel to this very day.
26When David arrived in Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the LORD’s enemies.”
27He sent gifts to those in Bethel, Ramoth Negev, and Jattir;
28to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, and Eshtemoa;
29to those in Racal and in the cities of the Jerahmeelites and Kenites;
30to those in Hormah, Bor-ashan, and Athach;
31and to those in Hebron and in all the places where David and his men had roamed.
1Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
2The Philistines followed hard after Saul and his sons, and they killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua.
3When the battle intensified against Saul, the archers overtook him and wounded him critically.
4Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run it through me, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me!” But his armor-bearer was terrified and refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
5When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his own sword and died with him.
6So Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his men died together that same day.
7When the Israelites along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and ran away. So the Philistines came and occupied their cities.
8The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
9They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temples of their idols and among their people.
10They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan.
11When the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,
12all their men of valor set out, journeyed all night, and retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. When they arrived at Jabesh, they burned the bodies there.
13Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.
— 1 Samuel 19:1-31:13

Cross References for 1 Samuel 19:1-31:13

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