Bible in 90 Days
16 Finally the Lord said to Samuel, “You have mourned long enough for Saul, for I have rejected him as king of Israel. Now take a vial of olive oil and go to Bethlehem and find a man named Jesse, for I have selected one of his sons to be the new king.”
2 But Samuel asked, “How can I do that? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”
“Take a heifer with you,” the Lord replied, “and say that you have come to make a sacrifice to the Lord. 3 Then call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you which of his sons to anoint.”
4 So Samuel did as the Lord had told him to. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the city came trembling to meet him.
“What is wrong?” they asked. “Why have you come?”
5 But he replied, “All is well. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.”
And he performed the purification rite on Jesse and his sons, and invited them too. 6 When they arrived, Samuel took one look at Eliab and thought, “Surely this is the man the Lord has chosen!”
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by a man’s face or height, for this is not the one. I don’t make decisions the way you do! Men judge by outward appearance, but I look at a man’s thoughts and intentions.”
8 Then Jesse told his son Abinadab to step forward and walk in front of Samuel. But the Lord said, “This is not the right man either.”
9 Next Jesse summoned Shammah, but the Lord said, “No, this is not the one.” In the same way all seven of his sons presented themselves to Samuel and were rejected.
10-11 “The Lord has not chosen any of them,” Samuel told Jesse. “Are these all there are?”
“Well, there is the youngest,” Jesse replied. “But he’s out in the fields watching the sheep.”
“Send for him at once,” Samuel said, “for we will not sit down to eat until he arrives.”
12 So Jesse sent for him. He was a fine looking boy, ruddy-faced, and with pleasant eyes. And the Lord said, “This is the one; anoint him.”
13 So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the olive oil he had brought and poured it upon David’s head; and the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him and gave him great power from that day onward. Then Samuel returned to Ramah.
14 But the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and instead, the Lord had sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear. 15-16 Some of Saul’s aides suggested a cure.
“We’ll find a good harpist to play for you whenever the tormenting spirit is bothering you,” they said. “The harp music will quiet you and you’ll soon be well again.”
17 “All right,” Saul said. “Find me a harpist.”
18 One of them said he knew a young fellow in Bethlehem, the son of a man named Jesse, who was not only a talented harp player, but was handsome, brave, and strong, and had good, solid judgment. “What’s more,” he added, “the Lord is with him.”
19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse, asking that he send his son David the shepherd. 20 Jesse responded by sending not only David but a young goat and a donkey carrying a load of food and wine. 21 From the instant he saw David, Saul admired and loved him; and David became his bodyguard.
22 Then Saul wrote to Jesse, “Please let David join my staff, for I am very fond of him.”
23 And whenever the tormenting spirit from God troubled Saul, David would play the harp and Saul would feel better, and the evil spirit would go away.
17 The Philistines now mustered their army for battle and camped between Socoh in Judah and Azekah in Ephes-dammim. 2 Saul countered with a buildup of forces at Elah Valley. 3 So the Philistines and Israelis faced each other on opposite hills, with the valley between them.
4-7 Then Goliath, a Philistine champion from Gath, came out of the Philistine ranks to face the forces of Israel. He was a giant of a man, measuring over nine feet tall! He wore a bronze helmet, a two-hundred-pound coat of mail, bronze leggings, and carried a bronze javelin several inches thick, tipped with a twenty-five-pound iron spearhead, and his armor bearer walked ahead of him with a huge shield.
8 He stood and shouted across to the Israelis, “Do you need a whole army to settle this? I will represent the Philistines, and you choose someone to represent you, and we will settle this in single combat! 9 If your man is able to kill me, then we will be your slaves. But if I kill him, then you must be our slaves! 10 I defy the armies of Israel! Send me a man who will fight with me!”
11 When Saul[a] and the Israeli army heard this, they were dismayed and frightened. 12 David (the son of aging Jesse, a member of the tribe of Judah who lived in Bethlehem) had seven older brothers. 13 The three oldest—Eliab, Abinadab, and Shammah—had already volunteered for Saul’s army to fight the Philistines. 14-15 David was the youngest son and was on Saul’s staff on a part-time basis. He went back and forth to Bethlehem to help his father with the sheep. 16 For forty days, twice a day, morning and evening the Philistine giant strutted before the armies of Israel.
17 One day Jesse said to David, “Take this bushel of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread to your brothers. 18 Give this cheese to their captain and see how the boys are getting along; and bring us back a letter[b] from them!”
19 (Saul and the Israeli army were camped at the valley of Elah.)
20 So David left the sheep with another shepherd and took off early the next morning with the gifts. He arrived at the outskirts of the camp just as the Israeli army was leaving for the battlefield with shouts and battle cries. 21 Soon the Israeli and Philistine forces stood facing each other, army against army. 22 David left his luggage with a baggage officer and hurried out to the ranks to find his brothers. 23 As he was talking with them, he saw Goliath the giant step out from the Philistine troops and shout his challenge to the army of Israel. 24 As soon as they saw him the Israeli army began to run away in fright.
25 “Have you seen the giant?” the soldiers were asking. “He has insulted the entire army of Israel. And have you heard about the huge reward the king has offered to anyone who kills him? And the king will give him one of his daughters for a wife, and his whole family will be exempted from paying taxes!”
26 David talked to some others standing there to verify the report. “What will a man get for killing this Philistine and ending his insults to Israel?” he asked them. “Who is this heathen Philistine, anyway, that he is allowed to defy the armies of the living God?” 27 And he received the same reply as before.
28 But when David’s oldest brother, Eliab, heard David talking like that, he was angry. “What are you doing around here, anyway?” he demanded. “What about the sheep you’re supposed to be taking care of? I know what a cocky brat you are; you just want to see the battle!”
29 “What have I done now?” David replied. “I was only asking a question!”
30 And he walked over to some others and asked them the same thing and received the same answer. 31 When it was finally realized what David meant, someone told King Saul, and the king sent for him.
32 “Don’t worry about a thing,” David told him. “I’ll take care of this Philistine!”
33 “Don’t be ridiculous!” Saul replied. “How can a kid like you fight with a man like him? You are only a boy, and he has been in the army since he was a boy!”
34 But David persisted. “When I am taking care of my father’s sheep,” he said, “and a lion or a bear comes and grabs a lamb from the flock, 35 I go after it with a club and take the lamb from its mouth. If it turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death. 36 I have done this to both lions and bears, and I’ll do it to this heathen Philistine too, for he has defied the armies of the living God! 37 The Lord who saved me from the claws and teeth of the lion and the bear will save me from this Philistine!”
Saul finally consented, “All right, go ahead,” he said, “and may the Lord be with you!”
38-39 Then Saul gave David his own armor—a bronze helmet and a coat of mail. David put it on, strapped the sword over it, and took a step or two to see what it was like, for he had never worn such things before. “I can hardly move!” he exclaimed, and took them off again. 40 Then he picked up five smooth stones from a stream and put them in his shepherd’s bag and, armed only with his shepherd’s staff and sling, started across to Goliath. 41-42 Goliath walked out toward David with his shield-bearer ahead of him, sneering in contempt at this nice little red-cheeked boy!
43 “Am I a dog,” he roared at David, “that you come at me with a stick?” And he cursed David by the names of his gods. 44 “Come over here and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and wild animals,” Goliath yelled.
45 David shouted in reply, “You come to me with a sword and a spear, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of the armies of heaven and of Israel—the very God whom you have defied. 46 Today the Lord will conquer you, and I will kill you and cut off your head; and then I will give the dead bodies of your men to the birds and wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel! 47 And Israel will learn that the Lord does not depend on weapons to fulfill his plans—he works without regard to human means! He will give you to us!”
48-49 As Goliath approached, David ran out to meet him and, reaching into his shepherd’s bag, took out a stone, hurled it from his sling, and hit the Philistine in the forehead. The stone sank in, and the man fell on his face to the ground. 50-51 So David conquered the Philistine giant with a sling and a stone. Since he had no sword, he ran over and pulled Goliath’s from its sheath and killed him with it, and then cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they turned and ran.
52 Then the Israelis gave a great shout of triumph and rushed after the Philistines, chasing them as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron. The bodies of the dead and wounded Philistines were strewn all along the road to Shaaraim. 53 Then the Israeli army returned and plundered the deserted Philistine camp.
54 (Later David took Goliath’s head to Jerusalem, but stored his armor in his tent.)
55 As Saul was watching David go out to fight Goliath, he asked Abner, the general of his army, “Abner, what sort of family does this young fellow come from?”[c]
“I really don’t know,” Abner said.
56 “Well, find out!” the king told him.
57 After David had killed Goliath, Abner brought him to Saul with the Philistine’s head still in his hand.
58 “Tell me about your father, my boy,” Saul said.
And David replied, “His name is Jesse and we live in Bethlehem.”
18 1-3 After King Saul had finished his conversation with David, David met Jonathan, the king’s son, and there was an immediate bond of love between them. Jonathan swore to be his blood brother, 4 and sealed the pact by giving him his robe, sword, bow, and belt.
King Saul now kept David with him and wouldn’t let him return home anymore. 5 He was Saul’s special assistant, and he always carried out his assignments successfully. So Saul made him commander of his troops, an appointment that was applauded by the army and general public alike. 6 But something had happened when the victorious Israeli army was returning home after David had killed Goliath. Women came out from all the towns along the way to celebrate and to cheer for King Saul, and were singing and dancing for joy with tambourines and cymbals.
7 However, this was their song: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands!”
8 Of course Saul was very angry. “What’s this?” he said to himself. “They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands. Next they’ll be making him their king!”
9 So from that time on King Saul kept a jealous watch on David. 10 The very next day, in fact, a tormenting spirit from God overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave like a madman. David began to soothe him by playing the harp, as he did whenever this happened. But Saul, who was fiddling with his spear, 11-12 suddenly hurled it at David, intending to pin him to the wall. But David jumped aside and escaped. This happened another time, too, for Saul was afraid of him and jealous because the Lord had left him and was now with David. 13 Finally Saul banned him from his presence and demoted him to the rank of captain. But the controversy put David more than ever in the public eye.
14 David continued to succeed in everything he undertook, for the Lord was with him. 15-16 When King Saul saw this, he became even more afraid of him; but all Israel and Judah loved him, for he was as one of them.
17 One day Saul said to David, “I am ready to give you my oldest daughter Merab as your wife. But first you must prove yourself to be a real soldier by fighting the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought to himself, “I’ll send him out against the Philistines and let them kill him rather than doing it myself.”
18 “Who am I that I should be the king’s son-in-law?” David exclaimed. “My father’s family is nothing!”
19 But when the time arrived for the wedding, Saul married her to Adriel, a man from Meholath, instead. 20 In the meantime Saul’s daughter Michal had fallen in love with David, and Saul was delighted when he heard about it.
21 “Here’s another opportunity to see him killed by the Philistines!” Saul said to himself. But to David he said, “You can be my son-in-law after all, for I will give you my youngest daughter.”
22 Then Saul instructed his men to say confidentially to David that the king really liked him a lot, and that they all loved him and thought he should accept the king’s proposition and become his son-in-law.
23 But David replied, “How can a poor man like me from an unknown family find enough dowry to marry the daughter of a king?”
24 When Saul’s men reported this back to him, 25 he told them, “Tell David that the only dowry I need is one hundred dead Philistines![d] Vengeance on my enemies is all I want.” But what Saul had in mind was that David would be killed in the fight.
26 David was delighted to accept the offer. So, before the time limit expired, 27 he and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines and presented their foreskins to King Saul. So Saul gave Michal to him.
28 When the king realized how much the Lord was with David and how immensely popular he was with all the people, 29 he became even more afraid of him and grew to hate him more with every passing day. 30 Whenever the Philistine army attacked, David was more successful against them than all the rest of Saul’s officers. So David’s name became very famous throughout the land.
19 Saul now urged his aides and his son Jonathan to assassinate David. But Jonathan, because of his close friendship with David, 2 told him what his father was planning. “Tomorrow morning,” he warned him, “you must find a hiding place out in the fields. 3 I’ll ask my father to go out there with me, and I’ll talk to him about you; then I’ll tell you everything I can find out.”
4 The next morning[e] as Jonathan and his father were talking together, he spoke well of David and begged him not to be against David.
“He’s never done anything to harm you,” Jonathan pleaded. “He has always helped you in any way he could. 5 Have you forgotten about the time he risked his life to kill Goliath, and how the Lord brought a great victory to Israel as a result? You were certainly happy about it then. Why should you now murder an innocent man? There is no reason for it at all!”
6 Finally Saul agreed and vowed, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed.”
7 Afterwards Jonathan called David and told him what had happened. Then he took David to Saul and everything was as it had been before. 8 War broke out shortly after that, and David led his troops against the Philistines and slaughtered many of them, and put to flight their entire army.
9-10 But one day as Saul was sitting at home, listening to David playing the harp, suddenly the tormenting spirit from the Lord attacked him. He had his spear in his hand and hurled it at David in an attempt to kill him. But David dodged out of the way and fled into the night, leaving the spear imbedded in the timber of the wall. 11 Saul sent troops to watch David’s house and kill him when he came out in the morning.
“If you don’t get away tonight,” Michal warned him, “you’ll be dead by morning.”
12 So she helped him get down to the ground through a window. 13 Then she took an idol[f] and put it in his bed, and covered it with blankets, with its head on a pillow of goat’s hair. 14 When the soldiers came to arrest David and take him to Saul,[g] she told them he was sick and couldn’t get out of bed. 15 Saul said to bring him in his bed, then, so that he could kill him. 16 But when they came to carry him out, they discovered that it was only an idol!
17 “Why have you deceived me and let my enemy escape?” Saul demanded of Michal.
“I had to,” Michal replied. “He threatened to kill me if I didn’t help him.”
18 In that way David got away and went to Ramah to see Samuel, and told him all that Saul had done to him. So Samuel took David with him to live at Naioth. 19 When the report reached Saul that David was at Naioth in Ramah, 20 he sent soldiers to capture him; but when they arrived and saw Samuel and the other prophets prophesying, the Spirit of God came upon them and they also began to prophesy. 21 When Saul heard what had happened, he sent other soldiers, but they too prophesied! The same thing happened a third time! 22 Then Saul himself went to Ramah and arrived at the great well in Secu.
“Where are Samuel and David?” he demanded.
Someone told him they were at Naioth. 23 But on the way to Naioth the Spirit of God came upon Saul, and he too began to prophesy! 24 He tore off his clothes and lay naked all day and all night, prophesying with Samuel’s prophets. Saul’s men were incredulous!
“What!” they exclaimed. “Is Saul a prophet too?”[h]
20 David now fled from Naioth in Ramah and found Jonathan.
“What have I done?” he exclaimed. “Why is your father so determined to kill me?”
2 “That’s not true!” Jonathan protested. “I’m sure he’s not planning any such thing, for he always tells me everything he’s going to do, even little things, and I know he wouldn’t hide something like this from me. It just isn’t so.”
3 “Of course you don’t know about it!” David fumed. “Your father knows perfectly well about our friendship, so he has said to himself, ‘I’ll not tell Jonathan—why should I hurt him?’ But the truth is that I am only a step away from death! I swear it by the Lord and by your own soul!”
4 “Tell me what I can do,” Jonathan begged.
5 And David replied, “Tomorrow is the beginning of the celebration of the new moon. Always before, I’ve been with your father for this occasion, but tomorrow I’ll hide in the field and stay there until the evening of the third day. 6 If your father asks where I am, tell him that I asked permission to go home to Bethlehem for an annual family reunion. 7 If he says, ‘Fine!’ then I’ll know that all is well. But if he is angry, then I’ll know that he is planning to kill me. 8 Do this for me as my sworn brother. Or else kill me yourself if I have sinned against your father, but don’t betray me to him!”
9 “Of course not!” Jonathan exclaimed. “Look, wouldn’t I say so if I knew that my father was planning to kill you?”
10 Then David asked, “How will I know whether or not your father is angry?”
11 “Come out to the field with me,” Jonathan replied. And they went out there together.
12 Then Jonathan told David, “I promise by the Lord God of Israel that about this time tomorrow, or the next day at the latest, I will talk to my father about you and let you know at once how he feels about you. 13 If he is angry and wants you killed, then may the Lord kill me if I don’t tell you, so you can escape and live. May the Lord be with you as he used to be with my father. 14 And remember, you must demonstrate the love and kindness of the Lord not only to me during my own lifetime, 15 but also to my children after the Lord has destroyed all of your enemies.”
16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the family of David, and David swore to it with a terrible curse against himself and his descendants, should he be unfaithful to his promise. 17 But Jonathan made David swear to it again, this time by his love for him, for he loved him as much as he loved himself.
18 Then Jonathan said, “Yes, they will miss you tomorrow when your place at the table is empty. 19 By the day after tomorrow, everyone will be asking about you, so be at the hideout where you were before, over by the stone pile. 20 I will come out and shoot three arrows in front of the pile as though I were shooting at a target. 21 Then I’ll send a lad to bring the arrows back. If you hear me tell him, ‘They’re on this side,’ then you will know that all is well and that there is no trouble. 22 But if I tell him, ‘Go farther—the arrows are still ahead of you,’ then it will mean that you must leave immediately. 23 And may the Lord make us keep our promises to each other, for he has witnessed them.”[i]
24-25 So David hid himself in the field.
When the new moon celebration began, the king sat down to eat at his usual place against the wall. Jonathan sat opposite him and Abner was sitting beside Saul, but David’s place was empty. 26 Saul didn’t say anything about it that day, for he supposed that something had happened so that David was ceremonially impure. Yes, surely that must be it! 27 But when his place was still empty the next day, Saul asked Jonathan, “Why hasn’t David been here for dinner either yesterday or today?”
28-29 “He asked me if he could go to Bethlehem to take part in a family celebration,” Jonathan replied. “His brother demanded that he be there, so I told him to go ahead.”
30 Saul boiled with rage. “You fool!”[j] he yelled at him. “Do you think I don’t know that you want this son of a nobody to be king in your place, shaming yourself and your mother? 31 As long as that fellow is alive, you’ll never be king. Now go and get him so I can kill him!”
32 “But what has he done?” Jonathan demanded. “Why should he be put to death?”
33 Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan, intending to kill him; so at last Jonathan realized that his father really meant it when he said David must die. 34 Jonathan left the table in fierce anger and refused to eat all that day, for he was crushed by his father’s shameful behavior toward David.
35 The next morning, as agreed, Jonathan went out into the field and took a young boy with him to gather his arrows.
36 “Start running,” he told the boy, “so that you can find the arrows as I shoot them.” So the boy ran and Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. 37 When the boy had almost reached the arrow, Jonathan shouted, “The arrow is still ahead of you. 38 Hurry, hurry, don’t wait.” So the boy quickly gathered up the arrows and ran back to his master. 39 He, of course, didn’t understand what Jonathan meant; only Jonathan and David knew. 40 Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to the boy and told him to take them back to the city.
41 As soon as he was gone, David came out from where he had been hiding near the south edge of the field. Both of them were crying as they said good-bye, especially David.[k] 42 At last Jonathan said to David, “Cheer up, for we have entrusted each other and each other’s children into God’s hands forever.” So they parted, David going away and Jonathan returning to the city.
21 David went to the city of Nob to see Ahimelech, the priest. Ahimelech trembled when he saw him.
“Why are you alone?” he asked. “Why is no one with you?”
2 “The king has sent me on a private matter,” David lied. “He told me not to tell anybody why I am here. I have told my men where to meet me later. 3 Now, what is there to eat? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you can.”
4 “We don’t have any regular bread,” the priest replied, “but there is the holy bread, which I guess you can have if only your young men have not slept with any women for a while.”
5 “Rest assured,” David replied. “I never let my men run wild when they are on an expedition, and since they stay clean even on ordinary trips, how much more so on this one!”
6 So, since there was no other food available, the priest gave him the holy bread—the Bread of the Presence that was placed before the Lord in the Tabernacle. It had just been replaced that day with fresh bread.
7 (Incidentally, Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, was there at that time for ceremonial purification.[l])
8 David asked Ahimelech if he had a spear or sword he could use. “The king’s business required such haste, and I left in such a rush that I came away without a weapon!” David explained.
9 “Well,” the priest replied, “I have the sword of Goliath, the Philistine—the fellow you killed in the valley of Elah. It is wrapped in a cloth in the clothes closet.[m] Take that if you want it, for there is nothing else here.”
“Just the thing!” David replied. “Give it to me!”
10 Then David hurried on, for he was fearful of Saul, and went to King Achish of Gath. 11 But Achish’s officers weren’t happy about his being there. “Isn’t he the top leader of Israel?” they asked.
“Isn’t he the one the people honor at their dances, singing, ‘Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands’?”
12 David heard these comments and was afraid of what King Achish might do to him, 13 so he pretended to be insane! He scratched on doors and let his spittle flow down his beard, 14-15 until finally King Achish said to his men, “Must you bring me a madman? We already have enough of them around here! Should such a fellow as this be my guest?”
22 So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam, where his brothers and other relatives soon joined him. 2 Then others began coming—those who were in any kind of trouble, such as being in debt, or merely discontented—until David was the leader of about four hundred men.
3 (Later David went to Mizpeh in Moab to ask permission of the king for his father and mother to live there under royal protection until David knew what God was going to do for him. 4 They stayed in Moab during the entire period when David was living in the cave.)
5 One day the prophet Gad told David to leave the cave and return to the land of Judah. So David went to the forest of Hereth. 6 The news of his arrival in Judah soon reached Saul. He was in Gibeah at the time, sitting beneath an oak tree playing with his spear, surrounded by his officers.
7 “Listen here, you men of Benjamin!” Saul exclaimed when he heard the news. “Has David promised you fields and vineyards and commissions in his army? 8 Is that why you are against me? For not one of you has ever told me that my own son is on David’s side. You’re not even sorry for me. Think of it! My own son—encouraging David to come and kill me!”
9-10 Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing there with Saul’s men, spoke up. “When I was at Nob,” he said, “I saw David talking to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech consulted the Lord to find out what David should do, and then gave him food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
11-12 King Saul immediately summoned Ahimelech and all his family and all the other priests at Nob. When they arrived Saul shouted at him, “Listen to me, you son of Ahitub!”
“What is it?” quavered Ahimelech.
13 “Why have you and David conspired against me?” Saul demanded. “Why did you give him food and a sword and talk to God for him? Why did you encourage him to revolt against me and to come here and attack me?”
14 “But sir,” Ahimelech replied, “is there anyone among all your servants who is as faithful as David your son-in-law? Why, he is the captain of your bodyguard and a highly honored member of your own household! 15 This was certainly not the first time I had consulted God for him! It’s unfair for you to accuse me and my family in this matter, for we knew nothing of any plot against you.”
16 “You shall die, Ahimelech, along with your entire family!” the king shouted. 17 He ordered his bodyguards, “Kill these priests, for they are allies and conspirators with David; they knew he was running away from me, but they didn’t tell me!”
But the soldiers refused to harm the clergy.
18 Then the king said to Doeg, “You do it.”
So Doeg turned on them and killed them, eighty-five priests in all, all wearing their priestly robes. 19 Then he went to Nob, the city of the priests, and killed the priests’ families—men, women, children, and babies, and also all the oxen, donkeys, and sheep. 20 Only Abiathar, one of the sons of Ahimelech, escaped and fled to David.
21 When he told him what Saul had done, 22 David exclaimed, “I knew it! When I saw Doeg there, I knew he would tell Saul. Now I have caused the death of all of your father’s family. 23 Stay here with me, and I’ll protect you with my own life. Any harm to you will be over my dead body.”
23 One day news came to David that the Philistines were at Keilah robbing the threshing floors.
2 David asked the Lord, “Shall I go and attack them?”
“Yes, go and save Keilah,” the Lord told him.
3 But David’s men said, “We’re afraid even here in Judah; we certainly don’t want to go to Keilah to fight the whole Philistine army!”
4 David asked the Lord again, and the Lord again replied, “Go down to Keilah, for I will help you conquer the Philistines.”
5 They went to Keilah and slaughtered the Philistines and confiscated their cattle, and so the people of Keilah were saved. 6 (Abiathar the priest went to Keilah with David, taking his ephod with him to get answers for David from the Lord.) 7 Saul soon learned that David was at Keilah.
“Good!” he exclaimed. “We’ve got him now! God has delivered him to me, for he has trapped himself in a walled city!”
8 So Saul mobilized his entire army to march to Keilah and besiege David and his men. 9 But David learned of Saul’s plan and told Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod and to ask the Lord what he should do.
10 “O Lord God of Israel,” David said, “I have heard that Saul is planning to come and destroy Keilah because I am here. 11 Will the men of Keilah surrender me to him? And will Saul actually come, as I have heard? O Lord God of Israel, please tell me.”
And the Lord said, “He will come.”
12 “And will these men of Keilah betray me to Saul?” David persisted.
And the Lord replied, “Yes, they will betray you.”
13 So David and his men—about six hundred of them now—left Keilah and began roaming the countryside. Word soon reached Saul that David had escaped, so he didn’t go there after all. 14-15 David now lived in the wilderness caves in the hill country of Ziph. One day near Horesh he received the news that Saul was on the way to Ziph to search for him and kill him. Saul hunted him day after day, but the Lord didn’t let him find him.
16 (Prince Jonathan now went to find David; he met him at Horesh and encouraged him in his faith in God.
17 “Don’t be afraid,” Jonathan reassured him. “My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel and I will be next to you, as my father is well aware.” 18 So the two of them renewed their pact of friendship; and David stayed at Horesh while Jonathan returned home.)
19 But now the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him.
“We know where he is hiding,” they said. “He is in the caves of Horesh on Hachilah Hill, down in the southern part of the wilderness. 20 Come on down, sir, and we will catch him for you and your fondest wish will be fulfilled!”
21 “Well, praise the Lord!” Saul said. “At last someone has had pity on me! 22 Go and check again to be sure of where he is staying and who has seen him there, for I know that he is very crafty. 23 Discover his hiding places and then come back and give me a more definite report. Then I’ll go with you. And if he is in the area at all, I’ll find him if I have to search every inch of the entire land!”
24-25 So the men of Ziph returned home. But when David heard that Saul was on his way to Ziph, he and his men went even further into the wilderness of Maon in the south of the desert. But Saul followed them there. 26 He and David were now on opposite sides of a mountain. As Saul and his men began to close in, David tried his best to escape, but it was no use. 27 But just then a message reached Saul that the Philistines were raiding Israel again, 28 so Saul quit the chase and returned to fight the Philistines. Ever since that time the place where David was camped has been called, “The Rock of Escape.” 29 David then went to live in the caves of Engedi.
24 After Saul’s return from his battle with the Philistines, he was told that David had gone into the wilderness of Engedi; 2 so he took three thousand special troops and went to search for him among the rocks and wild goats of the desert. 3 At the place where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to go to the bathroom, but as it happened, David and his men were hiding in the cave!
4 “Now’s your time!” David’s men whispered to him. “Today is the day the Lord was talking about when he said, ‘I will certainly put Saul into your power, to do with as you wish’!” Then David crept forward and quietly slit off the bottom of Saul’s robe! 5 But then his conscience began bothering him.
6 “I shouldn’t have done it,” he said to his men. “It is a serious sin to attack God’s chosen king in any way.”
7-8 These words of David persuaded his men not to kill Saul.
After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way, David came out and shouted after him, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him.
9-10 Then he shouted to Saul, “Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you? This very day you have seen it isn’t true. For the Lord placed you at my mercy back there in the cave, and some of my men told me to kill you, but I spared you. For I said, ‘I will never harm him—he is the Lord’s chosen king.’ 11 See what I have in my hand? It is the hem of your robe! I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you! Doesn’t this convince you that I am not trying to harm you and that I have not sinned against you, even though you have been hunting for my life?
12 “The Lord will decide between us. Perhaps he will kill you for what you are trying to do to me, but I will never harm you. 13 As that old proverb says, ‘Wicked is as wicked does,’ but despite your wickedness, I’ll not touch you. 14 And who is the king of Israel trying to catch, anyway? Should he spend his time chasing one who is as worthless as a dead dog or a flea? 15 May the Lord judge as to which of us is right and punish whichever one of us is guilty. He is my lawyer and defender, and he will rescue me from your power!”
16 Saul called back, “Is it really you, my son David?” Then he began to cry. 17 And he said to David, “You are a better man than I am, for you have repaid me good for evil. 18 Yes, you have been wonderfully kind to me today, for when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you didn’t kill me. 19 Who else in all the world would let his enemy get away when he had him in his power? May the Lord reward you well for the kindness you have shown me today. 20 And now I realize that you are surely going to be king, and Israel shall be yours to rule. 21 Oh, swear to me by the Lord that when that happens you will not kill my family and destroy my line of descendants!”
22 So David promised, and Saul went home, but David and his men went back to their cave.
25 Shortly afterwards Samuel died, and all Israel gathered for his funeral and buried him in his family plot at Ramah.
Meanwhile David went down to the wilderness of Paran. 2 A wealthy man from Maon owned a sheep ranch there, near the village of Carmel. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats, and was at his ranch at this time for the sheepshearing. 3 His name was Nabal and his wife, a beautiful and very intelligent woman, was named Abigail. But the man, who was a descendant of Caleb, was uncouth, churlish, stubborn, and ill-mannered.
4 When David heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep, 5 he sent ten of his young men to Carmel to give him this message: 6 “May God prosper you and your family and multiply everything you own. 7 I am told that you are shearing your sheep and goats. While your shepherds have lived among us, we have never harmed them, nor stolen anything from them the whole time they have been in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men and they will tell you whether or not this is true. Now I have sent my men to ask for a little contribution from you, for we have come at a happy time of holiday. Please give us a present of whatever is at hand.”
9 The young men gave David’s message to Nabal and waited for his reply.
10 “Who is this fellow David?” he sneered. “Who does this son of Jesse think he is? There are lots of servants these days who run away from their masters. 11 Should I take my bread and my water and my meat that I’ve slaughtered for my shearers and give it to a gang who comes from God knows where?”
12 So David’s messengers returned and told him what Nabal had said.
13 “Get your swords!” was David’s reply as he strapped on his own. Four hundred of them started off with David and two hundred remained behind to guard their gear.
14 Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s men went and told Abigail, “David sent men from the wilderness to talk to our master, but he insulted them and railed at them. 15-16 But David’s men were very good to us and we never suffered any harm from them; in fact, day and night they were like a wall of protection to us and the sheep, and nothing was stolen from us the whole time they were with us. 17 You’d better think fast, for there is going to be trouble for our master and his whole family—he’s such a stubborn lout that no one can even talk to him!”
18 Then Abigail hurriedly took two hundred loaves of bread, two barrels of wine, five dressed sheep, two bushels of roasted grain, one hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and packed them onto donkeys.
19 “Go on ahead,” she said to her young men, “and I will follow.” But she didn’t tell her husband what she was doing. 20 As she was riding down the trail on her donkey, she met David coming toward her.
21 David had been saying to himself, “A lot of good it did us to help this fellow. We protected his flocks in the wilderness so that not one thing was lost or stolen, but he has repaid me bad for good. All that I get for my trouble is insults. 22 May God curse me if even one of his men remains alive by tomorrow morning!”
23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly dismounted and bowed low before him.
24 “I accept all blame in this matter, my lord,” she said. “Please listen to what I want to say. 25 Nabal is a bad-tempered boor, but please don’t pay any attention to what he said. He is a fool—just like his name means. But I didn’t see the messengers you sent. 26 Sir, since the Lord has kept you from murdering and taking vengeance into your own hands, I pray by the life of God, and by your own life too, that all your enemies shall be as cursed as Nabal is. 27 And now, here is a present I have brought to you and your young men. 28 Forgive me for my boldness in coming out here. The Lord will surely reward you with eternal royalty for your descendants, for you are fighting his battles; and you will never do wrong throughout your entire life. 29 Even when you are chased by those who seek your life, you are safe in the care of the Lord your God, just as though you were safe inside his purse! But the lives of your enemies shall disappear like stones from a sling! 30-31 When the Lord has done all the good things he promised you and has made you king of Israel, you won’t want the conscience of a murderer who took the law into his own hands! And when the Lord has done these great things for you, please remember me!”
32 David replied to Abigail, “Bless the Lord God of Israel who has sent you to meet me today! 33 Thank God for your good sense! Bless you for keeping me from murdering the man and carrying out vengeance with my own hands. 34 For I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel who has kept me from hurting you, that if you had not come out to meet me, not one of Nabal’s men would be alive tomorrow morning.”
35 Then David accepted her gifts and told her to return home without fear, for he would not kill her husband. 36 When she arrived home she found that Nabal had thrown a big party. He was roaring drunk, so she didn’t tell him anything about her meeting with David until the next morning. 37-38 By that time he was sober, and when his wife told him what had happened, he had a stroke and lay paralyzed[n] for about ten days, then died, for the Lord killed him.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise the Lord! God has paid back Nabal and kept me from doing it myself; he has received his punishment for his sin.”
Then David wasted no time in sending messengers to Abigail to ask her to become his wife. 40 When the messengers arrived at Carmel and told her why they had come, 41 she readily agreed to his request. 42 Quickly getting ready, she took along five of her serving girls as attendants, mounted her donkey, and followed the men back to David. So she became his wife.
43 David also married Ahinoam from Jezreel. 44 King Saul, meanwhile, had forced David’s wife Michal, Saul’s daughter, to marry a man from Gallim named Palti (the son of Laish).
26 Now the men from Ziph came back to Saul at Gibeah to tell him that David had returned to the wilderness and was hiding on Hachilah Hill. 2 So Saul took his elite corps of three thousand troops and went to hunt him down. 3-4 Saul camped along the road at the edge of the wilderness where David was hiding, but David knew of Saul’s arrival and sent out spies to watch his movements.
5-7 David slipped over to Saul’s camp one night to look around. King Saul and General Abner were sleeping inside a ring formed by the slumbering soldiers.
“Any volunteers to go down there with me?” David asked Ahimelech (the Hittite) and Abishai (Joab’s brother and the son of Zeruiah).
“I’ll go with you,” Abishai replied. So David and Abishai went to Saul’s camp and found him asleep, with his spear in the ground beside his head.
8 “God has put your enemy within your power this time for sure,” Abishai whispered to David. “Let me go and put that spear through him. I’ll pin him to the earth with it—I’ll not need to strike a second time!”
9 “No,” David said. “Don’t kill him, for who can remain innocent after attacking the Lord’s chosen king? 10 Surely God will strike him down some day, or he will die in battle or of old age. 11 But God forbid that I should kill the man he has chosen to be king! But I’ll tell you what—we’ll take his spear and his jug of water and then get out of here!”
12 So David took the spear and jug of water, and they got away without anyone seeing them or even waking up, because the Lord had put them sound asleep. 13 They climbed the mountain slope opposite the camp until they were at a safe distance.
14 Then David shouted down to Abner and Saul, “Wake up, Abner!”
“Who is it?” Abner demanded.
15 “Well, Abner, you’re a great fellow, aren’t you?” David taunted. “Where in all Israel is there anyone as wonderful? So why haven’t you guarded your master the king when someone came to kill him? 16 This isn’t good at all! I swear by the Lord that you ought to die for your carelessness. Where is the king’s spear and the jug of water that was beside his head? Look and see!”
17-18 Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is that you, my son David?”
And David replied, “Yes, sir, it is. Why are you chasing me? What have I done? What is my crime? 19 If the Lord has stirred you up against me, then let him accept my peace offering. But if this is simply the scheme of a man, then may he be cursed by God. For you have driven me out of my home so that I can’t be with the Lord’s people, and you have sent me away to worship heathen gods. 20 Must I die on foreign soil, far from the presence of Jehovah? Why should the king of Israel come out to hunt my life like a partridge on the mountains?”
21 Then Saul confessed, “I have done wrong. Come back home, my son, and I’ll no longer try to harm you; for you saved my life today. I have been a fool, and very, very wrong.”
22 “Here is your spear, sir,” David replied. “Let one of your young men come over and get it. 23 The Lord gives his own reward for doing good and for being loyal, and I refused to kill you even when the Lord placed you in my power. 24 Now may the Lord save my life, even as I have saved yours today. May he rescue me from all my troubles.”
25 And Saul said to David, “Blessings on you, my son David. You shall do heroic deeds and be a great conqueror.”
Then David went away and Saul returned home.
27 But David kept thinking to himself, “Someday Saul is going to get me. I’ll try my luck among the Philistines until Saul gives up and quits hunting for me; then I will finally be safe again.”
2-3 So David took his six hundred men and their families to live at Gath under the protection of King Achish. He had his two wives with him—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow. 4 Word soon reached Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he quit hunting for him.
5 One day David said to Achish, “My lord, if it is all right with you, we would rather live in one of the country towns instead of here in the royal city.”
6 So Achish gave him Ziklag (which still belongs to the kings of Judah to this day), 7 and they lived there among the Philistines for a year and four months. 8 He and his men spent their time raiding the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites—people who had lived near Shur along the road to Egypt ever since ancient times. 9 They didn’t leave one person alive in the villages they hit and took for themselves the sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels, and clothing before returning to their homes.
10 “Where did you make your raid today?” Achish would ask.
And David would reply, “Against the south of Judah and the people of Jerahmeel and the Kenites.”
11 No one was left alive to come to Gath and tell where he had really been. This happened again and again while he was living among the Philistines. 12 Achish believed David and thought that the people of Israel must hate him bitterly by now. “Now he will have to stay here and serve me forever!” the king thought.
28 About that time the Philistines mustered their armies for another war with Israel.
“Come and help us fight,” King Achish said to David and his men.
2 “Good,” David agreed. “You will soon see what a help we can be to you.”
“If you are, you shall be my personal bodyguard for life,” Achish told him.
3 (Meanwhile, Samuel had died and all Israel had mourned for him. He was buried in Ramah, his hometown. King Saul had banned all mediums and wizards from the land of Israel.)
4 The Philistines set up their camp at Shunem, and Saul and the armies of Israel were at Gilboa. 5-6 When Saul saw the vast army of the Philistines, he was frantic with fear and asked the Lord what he should do. But the Lord refused to answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim,[o] or by the prophets. 7-8 Saul then instructed his aides to try to find a medium so that he could ask her what to do, and they found one at Endor. Saul disguised himself by wearing ordinary clothing instead of his royal robes. He went to the woman’s home at night, accompanied by two of his men.
“I’ve got to talk to a dead man,” he pleaded. “Will you bring his spirit up?”
9 “Are you trying to get me killed?” the woman demanded. “You know that Saul has had all of the mediums and fortune-tellers executed. You are spying on me.”
10 But Saul took a solemn oath that he wouldn’t betray her.
11 Finally the woman said, “Well, whom do you want me to bring up?”
“Bring me Samuel,” Saul replied.
12 When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed, “You’ve deceived me! You are Saul!”
13 “Don’t be frightened!” the king told her. “What do you see?”
“I see a specter coming up out of the earth,” she said.
14 “What does he look like?”
“He is an old man wrapped in a robe.”
Saul realized that it was Samuel and bowed low before him.
15 “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me back?” Samuel asked Saul.
“Because I am in deep trouble,” he replied. “The Philistines are at war with us, and God has left me and won’t reply by prophets or dreams; so I have called for you to ask you what to do.”
16 But Samuel replied, “Why ask me if the Lord has left you and has become your enemy? 17 He has done just as he said he would and has taken the kingdom from you and given it to your rival, David. 18 All this has come upon you because you did not obey the Lord’s instructions when he was so angry with Amalek. 19 What’s more, the entire Israeli army will be routed and destroyed by the Philistines tomorrow, and you and your sons will be here with me.”
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.