King Saul and the Rise of David

Chapter 15

¹Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over His people Israel. Therefore, listen to the Lord’s command!

²“Thus said the Lord of Hosts: I am exacting the penalty for what Amalek did to Israel, for the assault he made upon them on the road, on their way up from Egypt. ³Now go, attack Amalek, and proscribe all that belongs to him. Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, camels and asses!”

⁴Saul mustered the troops and enrolled them at Telaim: 200,000 men on foot, and 10,000 men of Judah. ⁵Then Saul advanced as far as the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the wadi. ⁶Saul said to the Kenites, “Come, withdraw at once from among the Amalekites, that I may not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they left Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from among the Amalekites.

⁷Saul destroyed Amalek from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is close to Egypt, ⁸and he captured King Agag of Amalek alive. He proscribed all the people, putting them to the sword; ⁹but Saul and the troops spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the second-born, the lambs, and all else that was of value. They would not proscribe them; they proscribed only what was cheap and worthless.

¹⁰The word of the Lord then came to Samuel: ¹¹“I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned away from Me and has not carried out My commands.” Samuel was distressed and he entreated the Lord all night long. ¹²Early in the morning Samuel went to meet Saul. Samuel was told, “Saul went to Carmel, where he erected a monument for himself; then he left and went on down to Gilgal.”

¹³When Samuel came to Saul, Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have fulfilled the Lord’s command.” ¹⁴“Then what,” demanded Samuel, “is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of oxen that I hear?” ¹⁵Saul answered, “They were brought from the Amalekites, for the troops spared the choicest of the sheep and oxen for sacrificing to the Lord your God. And we proscribed the rest.” ¹⁶Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night!” “Speak,” he replied. ¹⁷And Samuel said, “You may look small to yourself, but you are the head of the tribes of Israel. The Lord anointed you king over Israel, ¹⁸and the Lord sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and proscribe the sinful Amalekites; make war on them until you have exterminated them.’ ¹⁹Why did you disobey the Lord and swoop down on the spoil in defiance of the Lord’s will?” ²⁰Saul said to Samuel, “But I did obey the Lord! I performed the mission on which the Lord sent me: I captured King Agag of Amalek, and I proscribed Amalek, ²¹and the troops took from the spoil some sheep and oxen—the best of what had been proscribed—to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gil-gal.” ²²But Samuel said:

²⁴Saul said to Samuel, “I did wrong to transgress the Lord’s command and your instructions; but I was afraid of the troops and I yielded to them. ²⁵Please, forgive my offense and come back with me, and I will bow low to the Lord.” ²⁶But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not go back with you; for you have rejected the Lord’s command, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel.”

²⁷As Samuel turned to leave, Saul seized the corner of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has this day torn the kingship over Israel away from you and has given it to another who is worthier than you. ²⁹Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not deceive or change His mind, for He is not human that He should change His mind.” ³⁰But [Saul] pleaded, “I did wrong. Please, honor me in the presence of the elders of my people and in the presence of Israel, and come back with me until I have bowed low to the Lord your God.” ³¹So Samuel followed Saul back, and Saul bowed low to the Lord.

³²Samuel said, “Bring forward to me King Agag of Amalek.” Agag approached him with faltering steps; and Agag said, “Ah, bitter death is at hand!”

³³Samuel said:

And Samuel cut Agag down before the Lord at Gilgal.

³⁴Samuel then departed for Ramah, and Saul went up to his home at Gibeah of Saul.

³⁵Samuel never saw Saul again to the day of his death. But Samuel grieved over Saul, because the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.

Chapter 16

¹And the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and set out; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have decided on one of his sons to be king.” ²Samuel replied, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” The Lord answered, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³Invite Jesse to the sacrificial feast, and then I will make known to you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I point out to you.” ⁴Samuel did what the Lord commanded. When he came to Bethlehem, the elders of the city went out in alarm to meet him and said, “Do you come on a peaceful errand?” ⁵“Yes,” he replied, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Purify yourselves and join me in the sacrificial feast.” He also instructed Jesse and his sons to purify themselves and invited them to the sacrificial feast.

⁶When they arrived and he saw Eliab, he thought: “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands before Him.” ⁷But the Lord said to Samuel, “Pay no attention to his appearance or his stature, for I have rejected him. For not as man sees [does the Lord see];^b man sees only what is visible, but the Lord sees into the heart.” ⁸Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass before Samuel; but he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” ⁹Next Jesse presented Shammah; and again he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one either.” ¹⁰Thus Jesse presented seven of his sons before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.”

¹¹Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the boys you have?” He replied, “There is still the youngest; he is tending the flock.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send someone to bring him, for we will not sit down to eat until he gets here.” ¹²So they sent and brought him. He was ruddy-cheeked, bright-eyed, and handsome. And the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.” ¹³Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord gripped David from that day on. Samuel then set out for Ramah.

¹⁴Now the spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord began to terrify him. ¹⁵Saul’s courtiers said to him, “An evil spirit of God is terrifying you. ¹⁶Let our lord give the order [and] the courtiers in attendance on you will look for someone who is skilled at playing the lyre; whenever the evil spirit of God comes over you, he will play it and you will feel better.” ¹⁷So Saul said to his courtiers, “Find me someone who can play well and bring him to me.” ¹⁸One of the attendants spoke up, “I have observed a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skilled in music; he is a stalwart fellow and a warrior, sensible in speech, and handsome in appearance, and the Lord is with him.” ¹⁹Whereupon Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, “Send me your son David, who is with the flock.” ²⁰Jesse took an ass [laden with] bread, a skin of wine, and a kid, and sent them to Saul by his son David. ²¹So David came to Saul and entered his service; [Saul] took a strong liking to him and made him one of his arms-bearers. ²²Saul sent word to Jesse, “Let David remain in my service, for I am pleased with him.” ²³Whenever the [evil] spirit of God came upon Saul, David would take the lyre and play it; Saul would find relief and feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.

Chapter 17

¹The Philistines assembled their forces for battle; they massed at Socoh of Judah, and encamped at Ephes-dammim, between Socoh and Azekah. ²Saul and the men of Israel massed and encamped in the valley of Elah. They drew up their line of battle against the Philistines, ³with the Philistines stationed on one hill and Israel stationed on the opposite hill; the ravine was between them. ⁴A champion of the Philistine forces stepped forward; his name was Goliath of Gath, and he was six cubits and a span tall. ⁵He had a bronze helmet on his head, and wore a breastplate of scale armor, a bronze breastplate weighing five thousand shekels. ⁶He had bronze greaves on his legs, and a bronze javelin [slung] from his shoulders. ⁷The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s bar, and the iron head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels; and the shield-bearer marched in front of him.

⁸He stopped and called out to the ranks of Israel and he said to them, “Why should you come out to engage in battle? I am the Philistine [champion], and you are Saul’s servants. Choose one of your men and let him come down against me. ⁹If he bests me in combat and kills me, we will become your slaves; but if I best him and kill him, you shall be our slaves and serve us.” ¹⁰And the Philistine ended, “I herewith defy the ranks of Israel. Get me a man and let’s fight it out!” ¹¹When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and terror-stricken.

¹²David was the son of a certain Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah whose name was Jesse. He had eight sons, and in the days of Saul the man was already old, advanced in years. ¹³The three oldest sons of Jesse had left and gone with Saul to the war. The names of his three sons who had gone to the war were Eliab the first-born, the next Abinadab, and the third Sham-mah; ¹⁴and David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul, ¹⁵and David would go back and forth from attending on Saul to shepherd his father’s flock at Bethlehem.

¹⁶The Philistine stepped forward morning and evening and took his stand for forty days.

¹⁷Jesse said to his son David, “Take an ephah of this parched corn and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers, and carry them quickly to your brothers in camp. ¹⁸Take these ten cheeses^b to the captain of their thousand. Find out how your brothers are and bring some token^b from them.” ¹⁹Saul and the brothers and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, in the war against the Philistines.

²⁰Early next morning, David left someone in charge of the flock, took [the provisions], and set out, as his father Jesse had instructed him. He reached the barricade as the army was going out to the battle lines shouting the war cry. ²¹Israel and the Philistines drew up their battle lines opposite each other. ²²David left his baggage with the man in charge of the baggage and ran toward the battle line and went to greet his brothers. ²³While he was talking to them, the champion, whose name was Goliath, the Philistine of Gath, stepped forward from the Philistine ranks and spoke the same words as before; and David heard him.

²⁴When the men of Israel saw the man, they fled in terror. ²⁵And the men of Israel were saying [among themselves], “Do you see that man coming out? He comes out to defy Israel! The man who kills him will be rewarded by the king with great riches; he will also give him his daughter in marriage and grant exemption to his father’s house in Israel.” ²⁶David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes the disgrace from Israel? Who is that uncircumcised Philistine that he dares defy the ranks of the living God?” ²⁷The troops told him in the same words what would be done for the man who killed him.

²⁸When Eliab, his oldest brother, heard him speaking to the men, Eliab became angry with David and said, “Why did you come down here, and with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your impudence and your impertinence: you came down to watch the fighting!” ²⁹But David replied, “What have I done now? I was only asking!” ³⁰And he turned away from him toward someone else; he asked the same question, and the troops gave him the same answer as before.

³¹The things David said were overheard and were reported to Saul, who had him brought over. ³²David said to Saul, “Let no man’s courage fail him. Your servant will go and fight that Philistine!” ³³But Saul said to David, “You cannot go to that Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth!” ³⁴David replied to Saul, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and if a lion or a bear came and carried off an animal from the flock, ³⁵I would go after it and fight it and rescue it from its mouth. And if it attacked me, I would seize it by the beard and strike it down and kill it. ³⁶Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and that uncircumcised Philistine shall end up like one of them, for he has defied the ranks of the living God. ³⁷The Lord,” David went on, “who saved me from lion and bear will also save me from that Philistine.” “Then go,” Saul said to David, “and may the Lord be with you!”

³⁸Saul clothed David in his own garment; he placed a bronze helmet on his head and fastened a breastplate on him. ³⁹David girded his sword over his garment. Then he tried to walk; but he was not used to it. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk in these, for I am not used to them.” So David took them off. ⁴⁰He took his stick, picked a few smooth stones from the wadi, put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag and, sling in hand, he went toward the Philistine.

⁴¹The Philistine, meanwhile, was coming closer to David, preceded by his shield-bearer. ⁴²When the Philistine caught sight of David, he scorned him, for he was but a boy, ruddy and handsome. ⁴³And the Philistine called out to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods; ⁴⁴and the Philistine said to David, “Come here, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.”

⁴⁵David replied to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come against you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hands. I will kill you and cut off your head; and I will give the carcasses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. All the earth shall know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷And this whole assembly shall know that the Lord can give victory without sword or spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and He will deliver you into our hands.”

⁴⁸When the Philistine began to advance toward him again, David quickly ran up to the battle line to face the Philistine. ⁴⁹David put his hand into the bag; he took out a stone and slung it. It struck the Philistine in the forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. ⁵⁰Thus David bested the Philistine with sling and stone; he struck him down and killed him. David had no sword; ⁵¹so David ran up and stood over the Philistine, grasped his sword and pulled it from its sheath; and with it he dispatched him and cut off his head.

When the Philistines saw that their warrior was dead, they ran. ⁵²The men of Israel and Judah rose up with a war cry and they pursued the Philistines all the way to Gai and up to the gates of Ekron; the Philistines fell mortally wounded along the road to Shaarim up to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³Then the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines and looted their camp.

⁵⁴David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem;^c and he put his weapons in his own tent.

⁵⁵When Saul saw David going out to assault the Philistine, he asked his army commander Abner, “Whose son is that boy, Abner?” And Abner replied, “By your life, Your Majesty, I do not know.” ⁵⁶“Then find out whose son that young fellow is,” the king ordered. ⁵⁷So when David returned after killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him to Saul, with the head of the Philistine still in his hand. ⁵⁸Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, my boy?” And David answered, “The son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

Chapter 18

¹When [David] finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan’s soul became bound up with the soul of David; Jonathan loved David as himself. ²Saul took him [into his service] that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.—³Jonathan and David made a pact, because [Jonathan] loved him as himself. ⁴Jonathan took off the cloak and tunic he was wearing and gave them to David, together with his sword, bow, and belt. ⁵David went out [with the troops], and he was successful in every mission on which Saul sent him, and Saul put him in command of all the soldiers; this pleased all the troops and Saul’s courtiers as well. ⁶When the [troops] came home [and] David returned from killing the Philistine, the women of all the towns of Israel came out singing and dancing to greet King Saul with timbrels, shouting, and sistrums. ⁷The women sang as they danced, and they chanted:

⁸Saul was much distressed and greatly vexed about the matter. For he said, “To David they have given tens of thousands, and to me they have given thousands. All that he lacks is the kingship!” ⁹From that day on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. ¹⁰The next day an evil spirit of God gripped Saul and he began to rave in the house, while David was playing [the lyre], as he did daily. Saul had a spear in his hand, ¹¹and Saul threw the spear, thinking to pin David to the wall. But David eluded him twice. ¹²Saul was afraid of David, for the Lord was with him and had turned away from Saul. ¹³So Saul removed him from his presence and appointed him chief of a thousand, to march at the head of the troops. ¹⁴David was successful in all his undertakings, for the Lord was with him; ¹⁵and when Saul saw that he was successful, he dreaded him. ¹⁶All Israel and Judah loved David, for he marched at their head.

¹⁷Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter, Merab; I will give her to you in marriage; in return, you be my warrior and fight the battles of the Lord.” Saul thought: “Let not my hand strike him; let the hand of the Philistines strike him.” ¹⁸David replied to Saul, “Who am I and what is my life—my father’s family in Israel—that I should become Your Majesty’s son-in-law?” ¹⁹But at the time that Merab, daughter of Saul, should have been given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel the Meholathite. ²⁰Now Michal daughter of Saul had fallen in love with David; and when this was reported to Saul, he was pleased. ²¹Saul thought: “I will give her to him, and she can serve as a snare for him, so that the Philistines may kill him.” So Saul said to David, “You can become my son-in-law even now through the second one.” ²²And Saul instructed his courtiers to say to David privately, “The king is fond of you and all his courtiers like you. So why not become the king’s son-in-law?” ²³When the king’s courtiers repeated these words to David, David replied, “Do you think that becoming the son-in-law of a king is a small matter, when I am but a poor man of no consequence?” ²⁴Saul’s courtiers reported to him, “This is what David answered.” ²⁵And Saul said, “Say this to David: ‘The king desires no other bride-price than the foreskins of a hundred Philistines, as vengeance on the king’s enemies.’”—Saul intended to bring about David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.—²⁶When his courtiers told this to David, David was pleased with the idea of becoming the king’s son-in-law. Before the time had expired, ²⁷David went out with his men and killed two hundred Philistines; David brought their foreskins and they were counted out for the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Saul then gave him his daughter Michal in marriage. ²⁸When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that Michal daughter of Saul loved him, ²⁹Saul grew still more afraid of David; and Saul was David’s enemy ever after.

³⁰The Philistine chiefs marched out [to battle]; and every time they marched out, David was more successful than all the other officers of Saul. His reputation soared.

Chapter 19

¹Saul urged his son Jonathan and all his courtiers to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan was very fond of David, ²and Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is bent on killing you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; get to a secret place and remain in hiding. ³I will go out and stand next to my father in the field where you will be, and I will speak to my father about you. If I learn anything, I will tell you.” ⁴So Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul. He said to him, “Let not Your Majesty wrong his servant David, for he has not wronged you; indeed, all his actions have been very much to your advantage. ⁵He took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and the Lord wrought a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then should you incur the guilt of shedding the blood of an innocent man, killing David without cause?” ⁶Saul heeded Jonathan’s plea, and Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death!” ⁷Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all this. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served him as before.

⁸Fighting broke out again. David went out and fought the Philistines. He inflicted a great defeat upon them and they fled before him. ⁹Then an evil spirit of the Lord came upon Saul while he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing [the lyre]. ¹⁰Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he drove the spear into the wall. David fled and got away.

That night ¹¹Saul sent messengers to David’s home to keep watch on him and to kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal told him, “Unless you run for your life tonight, you will be killed tomorrow.” ¹²Michal let David down from the window and he escaped and fled. ¹³Michal then took the household idol, laid it on the bed, and covered it with a cloth; and at its head she put a net of goat’s hair. ¹⁴Saul sent messengers to seize David; but she said, “He is sick.” ¹⁵Saul, however, sent back the messengers to see David for themselves. “Bring him up to me in the bed,” he ordered, “that he may be put to death.” ¹⁶When the messengers came, they found the household idol in the bed, with the net of goat’s hair at its head. ¹⁷Saul said to Michal, “Why did you play that trick on me and let my enemy get away safely?” “Because,” Michal answered Saul, “he said to me: ‘Help me get away or I’ll kill you.’”

¹⁸David made good his escape, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth. [ . . . ]

Chapter 20

¹David fled from Naioth in Ramah; he came to Jonathan and said, “What have I done, what is my crime and my guilt against your father, that he seeks my life?” ²He replied, “Heaven forbid! You shall not die. My father does not do anything, great or small, without disclosing it to me; why should my father conceal this matter from me? It cannot be!” ³David swore further, “Your father knows well that you are fond of me and has decided: Jonathan must not learn of this or he will be grieved. But, as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.” ⁴Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want, I will do it for you.”

⁵David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am to sit with the king at the meal. Instead, let me go and I will hide in the countryside until the third evening. ⁶If your father notes my absence, you say, ‘David asked my permission to run down to his home town, Bethlehem, for the whole family has its annual sacrifice there.’ ⁷If he says ‘Good,’ your servant is safe; but if his anger flares up, know that he is resolved to do [me] harm. ⁸Deal faithfully with your servant, since you have taken your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. And if I am guilty, kill me yourself, but don’t make me go back to your father.” ⁹Jonathan replied, “Don’t talk like that! If I learn that my father has resolved to kill you, I will surely tell you about it.” ¹⁰David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?” ¹¹Jonathan said to David, “Let us go into the open”; and they both went out into the open.

¹²Then Jonathan said to David, “By the Lord, the God of Israel! I will sound out my father at this time tomorrow, [or] on the third day; and if [his response] is favorable for David, I will send a message to you at once and disclose it to you. ¹³But if my father intends to do you harm, may the Lord do thus to Jonathan and more if I do [not] disclose it to you and send you off to escape unharmed. May the Lord be with you, as He used to be with my father. ¹⁴Nor shall you fail to show me the Lord’s faithfulness, while I am alive; nor, when I am dead, ¹⁵shall you ever discontinue your faithfulness to my house—not even after the Lord has wiped out every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth. ¹⁶Thus has Jonathan covenanted with the house of David; and may the Lord requite the enemies of David!”

¹⁷Jonathan, out of his love for David, adjured him again, for he loved him as himself. ¹⁸Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow will be the new moon; and you will be missed when your seat remains vacant. ¹⁹So the day after tomorrow, go down all the way to the place where you hid the other time, and stay close to the Ezel stone. ²⁰Now I will shoot three arrows to one side of it, as though I were shooting at a mark, ²¹and I will order the boy to go and find the arrows. If I call to the boy, ‘Hey! the arrows are on this side of you,’ be reassured and come, for you are safe and there is no danger—as the Lord lives! ²²But if, instead, I call to the lad, ‘Hey! the arrows are beyond you,’ then leave, for the Lord has sent you away. ²³As for the promise we made to each other, may the Lord be [witness] between you and me forever.”

²⁴David hid in the field. The new moon came, and the king sat down to partake of the meal. ²⁵When the king took his usual place on the seat by the wall, Jonathan rose and Abner sat down at Saul’s side; but David’s place remained vacant. ²⁶That day, however, Saul said nothing. “It’s accidental,” he thought. “He must be unclean and not yet cleansed.” ²⁷But on the day after the new moon, the second day, David’s place was vacant again. So Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why didn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal yesterday or today?” ²⁸Jonathan answered Saul, “David begged leave of me to go to Bethlehem. ²⁹He said, ‘Please let me go, for we are going to have a family feast in our town and my brother has summoned me to it. Do me a favor, let me slip away to see my kinsmen.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”

³⁰Saul flew into a rage against Jonathan. “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman!” he shouted. “I know that you side with the son of Jesse—to your shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness! ³¹For as long as the son of Jesse lives on earth, neither you nor your kingship will be secure. Now then, have him brought to me, for he is marked for death.” ³²But Jonathan spoke up and said to his father, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” ³³At that, Saul threw his spear at him to strike him down; and Jonathan realized that his father was determined to do away with David. ³⁴Jonathan rose from the table in a rage. He ate no food on the second day of the new moon, because he was grieved about David, and because his father had humiliated him.

³⁵In the morning, Jonathan went out into the open for the meeting with David, accompanied by a young boy. ³⁶He said to the boy, “Run ahead and find the arrows that I shoot.” And as the boy ran, he shot the arrows past him. ³⁷When the boy came to the place where the arrows shot by Jonathan had fallen, Jonathan called out to the boy, “Hey, the arrows are beyond you!” ³⁸And Jonathan called after the boy, “Quick, hurry up. Don’t stop!” So Jonathan’s boy gathered the arrows and came back to his master.—³⁹The boy suspected nothing; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement.—⁴⁰Jona-than handed the gear to his boy and told him, “Take these back to the town.” ⁴¹When the boy got there, David emerged from his concealment at the Negeb. He flung himself face down on the ground and bowed low three times. They kissed each other and wept together; David wept the longer.

⁴²Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace! For we two have sworn to each other in the name of the Lord: ‘May the Lord be [witness] between you and me, and between your offspring and mine, forever!’” [ . . . ]

Chapter 24

¹David went from there and stayed in the wildernesses of En-gedi.

²When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told that David was in the wilderness of En-gedi. ³So Saul took three thousand picked men from all Israel and went in search of David and his men in the direction of the rocks of the wild goats; ⁴and he came to the sheepfolds along the way. There was a cave there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the back of the cave.

⁵David’s men said to him, “This is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘I will deliver your enemy into your hands; you can do with him as you please.’” David went and stealthily cut off the corner of Saul’s cloak. ⁶But afterward David reproached himself for cutting off the corner of Saul’s cloak. ⁷He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my lord— the Lord’s anointed—that I should raise my hand against him; for he is the Lord’s anointed.” ⁸David rebuked his men and did not permit them to attack Saul.

Saul left the cave and started on his way. ⁹Then David also went out of the cave and called after Saul, “My lord king!” Saul looked around and David bowed low in homage, with his face to the ground. ¹⁰And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the people who say, ‘David is out to do you harm?’ ¹¹You can see for yourself now that the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave today. And though I was urged to kill you, I showed you pity; for I said, ‘I will not raise a hand against my lord, since he is the Lord’s anointed.’ ¹²Please, sir, take a close look at the corner of your cloak in my hand; for when I cut off the corner of your cloak, I did not kill you. You must see plainly that I have done nothing evil or rebellious, and I have never wronged you. Yet you are bent on taking my life. ¹³May the Lord judge between you and me! And may He take vengeance upon you for me, but my hand will never touch you. ¹⁴As the ancient proverb has it: ‘Wicked deeds come from wicked men!’ My hand will never touch you. ¹⁵Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A single flea? ¹⁶May the Lord be arbiter and may He judge between you and me! May He take note and uphold my cause, and vindicate me against you.”

¹⁷When David finished saying these things to Saul, Saul said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” And Saul broke down and wept. ¹⁸He said to David, “You are right, not I; for you have treated me generously, but I have treated you badly. ¹⁹Yes, you have just revealed how generously you treated me, for the Lord delivered me into your hands and you did not kill me. ²⁰If a man meets his enemy, does he let him go his way unharmed? Surely, the Lord will reward you generously for what you have done for me this day. ²¹I know now that you will become king, and that the kingship over Israel will remain in your hands. ²²So swear to me by the Lord that you will not destroy my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s house.” ²³David swore to Saul, Saul went home, and David and his men went up to the strongholds.

Chapter 25

¹Samuel died, and all Israel gathered and made lament for him; and they buried him in Ramah, his home.

David went down to the wilderness of Paran.

²There was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel. The man was very wealthy; he owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At the time, he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, but the man, a Calebite, was a hard man and an evildoer. ⁴David was in the wilderness when he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵David dispatched ten young men, and David instructed the young men, “Go up to Carmel. When you come to Nabal, greet him in my name. ⁶Say as follows: ‘To life! Greetings to you and to your household and to all that is yours! ⁷I hear that you are now doing your shearing. As you know, your shepherds have been with us; we did not harm them, and nothing of theirs was missing all the time they were in Carmel. ⁸Ask your young men and they will tell you. So receive these young men graciously, for we have come on a festive occasion. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can.’”

⁹David’s young men went and delivered this message to Nabal in the name of David. When they stopped speaking, ¹⁰Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many slaves nowadays who run away from their masters. ¹¹Should I then take my bread and my water, and the meat that I slaughtered for my own shearers, and give them to men who come from I don’t know where?” ¹²Thereupon David’s young men retraced their steps; and when they got back, they told him all this. ¹³And David said to his men, “Gird on your swords.” Each girded on his sword; David too girded on his sword. About four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.

¹⁴One of [Nabal’s] young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, that David had sent messengers from the wilderness to greet their master, and that he had spurned them. ¹⁵“But the men had been very friendly to us; we were not harmed, nor did we miss anything all the time that we went about with them while we were in the open. ¹⁶They were a wall about us both by night and by day all the time that we were with them tending the flocks. ¹⁷So consider carefully what you should do, for harm threatens our master and all his household; he is such a nasty fellow that no one can speak to him.”

¹⁸Abigail quickly got together two hundred loaves of bread, two jars of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of parched corn, one hundred cakes of raisin, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs. She loaded them on asses, ¹⁹and she told her young men, “Go on ahead of me, and I’ll follow you”; but she did not tell her husband Nabal. ²⁰She was riding on the ass and going down a trail on the hill, when David and his men appeared, coming down toward her; and she met them.—²¹Now David had been saying, “It was all for nothing that I protected that fellow’s possessions in the wilderness, and that nothing he owned is missing. He has paid me back evil for good. ²²May God do thus and more to the enemies of David if, by the light of morning, I leave a single male of his.”—²³When Abigail saw David, she quickly dismounted from the ass and threw herself face down before David, bowing to the ground. ²⁴Prostrate at his feet, she pleaded, “Let the blame be mine, my lord, but let your handmaid speak to you; hear your maid’s plea. ²⁵Please, my lord, pay no attention to that wretched fellow Nabal. For he is just what his name says: His name means ‘boor’ and he is a boor.

“Your handmaid did not see the young men whom my lord sent. ²⁶I swear, my lord, as the Lord lives and as you live—the Lord who has kept you from seeking redress by blood with your own hands—let your enemies and all who would harm my lord fare like Nabal! ²⁷Here is the present which your maidservant has brought to my lord; let it be given to the young men who are the followers of my lord. ²⁸Please pardon your maid’s boldness. For the Lord will grant my lord an enduring house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and no wrong is ever to be found in you. ²⁹And if anyone sets out to pursue you and seek your life, the life of my lord will be bound up in the bundle of life in the care of the Lord; but He will fling away the lives of your enemies as from the hollow of a sling. ³⁰And when the Lord has accomplished for my lord all the good He has promised you, and has appointed you ruler of Israel, ³¹do not let this be a cause of stumbling and of faltering courage to my lord that you have shed blood needlessly and that my lord sought redress with his own hands. And when the Lord has prospered my lord, remember your maid.”

³²David said to Abigail, “Praised be the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! ³³And blessed be your prudence, and blessed be you yourself for restraining me from seeking redress in blood by my own hands. ³⁴For as sure as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—who has kept me from harming you—had you not come quickly to meet me, not a single male of Nabal’s line would have been left by daybreak.” ³⁵David then accepted from her what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go up to your home safely. See, I have heeded your plea and respected your wish.”

³⁶When Abigail came home to Nabal, he was having a feast in his house, a feast fit for a king; Nabal was in a merry mood and very drunk, so she did not tell him anything at all until daybreak. ³⁷The next morning, when Nabal had slept off the wine, his wife told him everything that had happened; and his courage died within him, and he became like a stone. ³⁸About ten days later the Lord struck Nabal and he died. ³⁹When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praised be the Lord who championed my cause against the insults of Nabal and held back His servant from wrongdoing; the Lord has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.”

David sent messengers to propose marriage to Abigail, to take her as his wife. ⁴⁰When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel and told her that David had sent them to her to make her his wife, ⁴¹she immediately bowed low with her face to the ground and said, “Your handmaid is ready to be your maidservant, to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.” ⁴²Then Abigail rose quickly and mounted an ass, and with five of her maids in attendance she followed David’s messengers; and she became his wife.

⁴³Now David had taken Ahinoam of Jezreel; so both of them became his wives. ⁴⁴Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish from Gallim. [ . . . ]

Chapter 28

¹At that time the Philistines mustered their forces for war, to take the field against Israel. Achish said to David, “You know, of course, that you and your men must march out with my forces.” ²David answered Achish, “You surely know what your servant will do.” “In that case,” Achish replied to David, “I will appoint you my bodyguard for life.”

³Now Samuel had died and all Israel made lament for him; and he was buried in his own town of Ramah. And Saul had forbidden [recourse to] ghosts and familiar spirits in the land.

⁴The Philistines mustered and they marched to Shunem and encamped; and Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. ⁵When Saul saw the Philistine force, his heart trembled with fear. ⁶And Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets. ⁷Then Saul said to his courtiers, “Find me a woman who consults ghosts, so that I can go to her and inquire through her.” And his courtiers told him that there was a woman in En-dor who consulted ghosts.

⁸Saul disguised himself; he put on different clothes and set out with two men. They came to the woman by night, and he said, “Please divine for me by a ghost. Bring up for me the one I shall name to you.” ⁹But the woman answered him, “You know what Saul has done, how he has banned [the use of] ghosts and familiar spirits in the land. So why are you laying a trap for me, to get me killed?” ¹⁰Saul swore to her by the Lord: “As the Lord lives, you won’t get into trouble over this.” ¹¹At that, the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He answered, “Bring up Samuel for me.” ¹²Then the woman recognized Samuel, and she shrieked loudly, and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” ¹³The king answered her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a divine being coming up from the earth.” ¹⁴“What does he look like?” he asked her. “It is an old man coming up,” she said, “and he is wrapped in a robe.” Then Saul knew that it was Samuel; and he bowed low in homage with his face to the ground.

¹⁵Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me and brought me up?” And Saul answered, “I am in great trouble. The Philistines are attacking me and God has turned away from me; He no longer answers me, either by prophets or in dreams. So I have called you to tell me what I am to do.” ¹⁶Samuel said, “Why do you ask me, seeing that the Lord has turned away from you and has become your adversary? ¹⁷The Lord has done for Himself as He foretold through me: The Lord has torn the kingship out of your hands and has given it to your fellow, to David, ¹⁸because you did not obey the Lord and did not execute His wrath upon the Amalekites. That is why the Lord has done this to you today. ¹⁹Further, the Lord will deliver the Israelites who are with you into the hands of the Philistines. Tomorrow your sons and you will be with me; and the Lord will also deliver the Israelite forces into the hands of the Philistines.”

²⁰At once Saul flung himself prone on the ground, terrified by Samuel’s words. Besides, there was no strength in him, for he had not eaten anything all day and all night. ²¹The woman went up to Saul and, seeing how greatly disturbed he was, she said to him, “Your handmaid listened to you; I took my life in my hands and heeded the request you made of me. ²²So now you listen to me: Let me set before you a bit of food. Eat, and then you will have the strength to go on your way.” ²³He refused, saying, “I will not eat.” But when his courtiers as well as the woman urged him, he listened to them; he got up from the ground and sat on the bed. ²⁴The woman had a stall-fed calf in the house; she hastily slaughtered it, and took flour and kneaded it, and baked some unleavened cakes. ²⁵She set this before Saul and his courtiers, and they ate. Then they rose and left the same night. [ . . . ]

Chapter 31

¹The Philistines attacked Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and [many] fell on Mount Gilboa. ²The Philistines pursued Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, sons of Saul. ³The battle raged around Saul, and some of the archers hit him, and he was severely wounded by the archers. ⁴Saul said to his arms-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through, so that the uncircumcised may not run me through and make sport of me.” But his arms-bearer, in his great awe, refused; whereupon Saul grasped the sword and fell upon it. ⁵When his arms-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. ⁶Thus Saul and his three sons and his arms-bearer, as well as all his men, died together on that day. ⁷And when the men of Israel on the other side of the valley and on the other side of the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the towns and fled; the Philistines then came and occupied them.

⁸The next day the Philistines came to strip the slain, and they found Saul and his three sons lying on Mount Gilboa. ⁹They cut off his head and stripped him of his armor, and they sent them throughout the land of the Philistines, to spread the news in the temples of their idols and among the people. ¹⁰They placed his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they impaled his body on the wall of Beth-shan. ¹¹When the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard about it—what the Philistines had done to Saul—¹²all their stalwart men set out and marched all night; they removed the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan and came to Jabesh and burned them there. ¹³Then they took the bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and they fasted for seven days.