Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I can't tell.
017:056 The king said, "Inquire whose son the young man is!"
017:057 As David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner
took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of
the Philistine in his hand.
017:058 Saul said to him, Whose son are you, you young man?
David answered, I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.
018:001 It happened, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul,
that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David,
and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
018:002 Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home
to his father's house.
018:003 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him
as his own soul.
018:004 Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him,
and gave it to David, and his clothing, even to his sword,
and to his bow, and to his sash.
018:005 David went out wherever Saul sent him, [and] behaved himself wisely:
and Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the sight
of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.
018:006 It happened as they came, when David returned from the slaughter
of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities
of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul,
with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music.
018:007 The women sang one to another as they played, and said,
Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands.
018:008 Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him;
and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands,
and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can
he have more but the kingdom?
018:009 Saul eyed David from that day and forward.
018:010 It happened on the next day, that an evil spirit from God came
mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house:
and David played with his hand, as he did day by day.
Saul had his spear in his hand;
018:011 and Saul cast the spear; for he said, I will strike David
even to the wall. David avoided out of his presence twice.
018:012 Saul was afraid of David, because Yahweh was with him,
and was departed from Saul.
018:013 Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain
over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.
018:014 David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and Yahweh
was with him.
018:015 When Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood
in awe of him.
018:016 But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came
in before them.
018:017 Saul said to David, Behold, my elder daughter Merab, her will I give
you as wife: only be valiant for me, and fight Yahweh's battles.
For Saul said, Don't let my hand be on him, but let the hand
of the Philistines be on him.
018:018 David said to Saul, Who am I, and what is my life, [or] my
father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law
to the king?
018:019 But it happened at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter,
should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel
the Meholathite as wife.
018:020 Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David: and they told Saul,
and the thing pleased him.
018:021 Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him,
and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.
Therefore Saul said to David, You shall this day be my son-in-law
a second time.
018:022 Saul commanded his servants, [saying], Commune with David secretly,
and say, Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his
servants love you: now therefore be the king's son-in-law.
018:023 Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David.
David said, Seems it to you a light thing to be the king's
son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?
018:024 The servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner spoke David.
018:025 Saul said, Thus shall you tell David, The king desires
no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines,
to be avenged of the king's enemies. Now Saul thought to make
David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
018:026 When his servants told David these words, it pleased David
well to be the king's son-in-law. The days were not expired;
018:027 and David arose and went, he and his men, and killed
of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought
their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king,
that he might be the king's son-in-law. Saul gave him Michal
his daughter as wife.
018:028 Saul saw and knew that Yahweh was with David;
and Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him.
018:029 Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul was
David's enemy continually.
018:030 Then the princes of the Philistines went forth:
and it happened, as often as they went forth, that David
behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul;
so that his name was much set by.
019:001 Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants,
that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son,
delighted much in David.
019:002 Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeks to kill you:
now therefore, please take care of yourself in the morning,
and live in a secret place, and hide yourself:
019:003 and I will go out and stand beside my father in the field
where you are, and I will commune with my father of you;
and if I see anything, I will tell you.
019:004 Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him,
Don't let the king sin against his servant, against David;
because he has not sinned against you, and because his works
have been very good toward you:
019:005 for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine,
and Yahweh worked a great victory for all Israel: you saw it,
and did rejoice; why then will you sin against innocent blood,
to kill David without a cause?
019:006 Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore,
As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.
019:007 Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things.
Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence,
as before.
019:008 There was war again: and David went out, and fought with
the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter;
and they fled before him.
019:009 An evil spirit from Yahweh was on Saul, as he sat in his house
with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand.
019:010 Saul sought to strike David even to the wall with the spear;
but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he struck
the spear into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.
019:011 Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him,
and to kill him in the morning: and Michal, David's wife,
told him, saying, If you don't save your life tonight,
tomorrow you will be slain.
019:012 So Michal let David down through the window: and he went,
and fled, and escaped.
019:013 Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put
a pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it, and covered it
with the clothes.
019:014 When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.
019:015 Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up
to me in the bed, that I may kill him.
019:016 When the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed,
with the pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it.
019:017 Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me thus, and let my
enemy go, so that he is escaped? Michal answered Saul, He said
to me, Let me go; why should I kill you?
019:018 Now David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah,
and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel
went and lived in Naioth.
019:019 It was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.
019:020 Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company
of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head
over them, the Spirit of God came on the messengers of Saul,
and they also prophesied.
019:021 When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they
also prophesied. Saul sent messengers again the third time,
and they also prophesied.
019:022 Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well
that is in Secu: and he asked and said, Where are Samuel
and David? One said, Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.
019:023 He went there to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God came
on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came
to Naioth in Ramah.
019:024 He also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied
before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night.
Therefore they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"
020:001 David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said
before Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my iniquity?"
and "What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?"
020:002 He said to him, "Far from it; you shall not die: behold, my father
does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it
to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me?
It is not so."
020:003 David swore moreover, and said, "Your father knows
well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says,
'Don't let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved:'
but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is
but a step between me and death."
020:004 Then said Jonathan to David, "Whatever your soul desires,
I will even do it for you."
020:005 David said to Jonathan, "Behold, tomorrow is the new moon,
and I should not fail to dine with the king; but let me go,
that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening.
020:006 If your father miss me at all, then say, 'David earnestly
asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city;
for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family.'
020:007 If he says, 'It is well;' your servant shall have peace:
but if he be angry, then know that evil is determined by him.
020:008 Therefore deal kindly with your servant; for you have
brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you:
but if there be in me iniquity, kill me yourself; for why
should you bring me to your father?"
020:009 Jonathan said, "Far be it from you; for if I should at all
know that evil were determined by my father to come on you,
then wouldn't I tell you that?"
020:010 Then said David to Jonathan, "Who shall tell me if perchance
your father answer you roughly?"
020:011 Jonathan said to David, "Come, and let us go out into the field."
They both went out into the field.
020:012 Jonathan said to David, "Yahweh, the God of Israel, [be witness]:
when I have sounded my father about this time tomorrow,
[or] the third day, behold, if there be good toward David,
shall I not then send to you, and disclose it to you?
020:013 Yahweh do so to Jonathan, and more also, should it please my
father to do you evil, if I don't disclose it to you, and send
you away, that you may go in peace: and Yahweh be with you,
as he has been with my father.
020:014 You shall not only while yet I live show me the loving kindness
of Yahweh, that I not die;
020:015 but also you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever;
no, not when Yahweh has cut off the enemies of David everyone
from the surface of the earth."
020:016 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, [saying],
Yahweh will require it at the hand of David's enemies.
020:017 Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had
to him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
020:018 Then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon:
and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.
020:019 When you have stayed three days, you shall go down quickly,
and come to the place where you did hide yourself when the
business was in hand, and shall remain by the stone Ezel.
020:020 I will shoot three arrows on the side of it, as though I shot
at a mark.
020:021 Behold, I will send the boy, [saying], Go, find the arrows.
If I tell the boy, Behold, the arrows are on this side of you;
take them, and come; for there is peace to you and no hurt,
as Yahweh lives.
020:022 But if I say thus to the boy, Behold, the arrows are beyond you;
go your way; for Yahweh has sent you away.
020:023 As touching the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold,
Yahweh is between you and me forever.
020:024 So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come,
the king sat him down to eat food.
020:025 The king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat
by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul's side:
but David's place was empty.
020:026 Nevertheless Saul didn't say anything that day:
for he thought, Something has happened to him. He is not clean.
Surely he is not clean.
020:027 It happened on the next day after the new moon, [which was]
the second [day], that David's place was empty: and Saul said
to Jonathan his son, Why doesn't the son of Jesse come to meat,
neither yesterday, nor today?
020:028 Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me
to go to Bethlehem:
020:029 and he said, Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice
in the city; and my brother, he has commanded me [to
be there]: and now, if I have found favor in your eyes,
let me get away, I pray you, and see my brothers.
Therefore he is not come to the king's table.
020:030 Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said
to him, You son of a perverse rebellious woman, don't I know
that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame,
and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?
020:031 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall
not be established, nor your kingdom. Therefore now send
and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.
020:032 Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, "Why should
he be put to death? What has he done?"
020:033 Saul cast his spear at him to strike him. By this Jonathan
knew that his father was determined to put David to death.
020:034 So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food
the second day of the month; for he was grieved for David,
because his father had done him shame.
020:035 It happened in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field
at the time appointed with David, and a little boy with him.
020:036 He said to his boy, Run, find now the arrows which I shoot.
As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
020:037 When the boy was come to the place of the arrow which
Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the boy, and said,
Isn't the arrow beyond you?
020:038 Jonathan cried after the boy, Go fast! Hurry! Don't delay!
Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.
020:039 But the boy didn't know anything: only Jonathan and David
knew the matter.
020:040 Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy, and said to him, Go,
carry them to the city.
020:041 As soon as the boy was gone, David arose out of [a place]
toward the South, and fell on his face to the ground,
and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another,
and wept one with another, until David exceeded.
020:042 Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, because we have sworn
both of us in the name of Yahweh, saying, Yahweh shall be
between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever.
He arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.
021:001 Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest:
and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him,
Why are you alone, and no man with you?
021:002 David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has commanded me
a business, and has said to me, Let no man know anything of the
business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you:
and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.
021:003 Now therefore what is under your hand? give me five loaves
of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present.
021:004 The priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread
under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young
men have kept themselves from women.
021:005 David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth
women have been kept from us about these three days;
when I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy,
though it was but a common journey; how much more then today
shall their vessels be holy?
021:006 So the priest gave him holy [bread]; for there was no bread
there but the show bread, that was taken from before Yahweh,
to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
021:007 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day,
detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite,
the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
021:008 David said to Ahimelech, Isn't there here under your hand spear
or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons
with me, because the king's business required haste.
021:009 The priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine,
whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here
wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod: if you will take that,
take it; for there is no other except that here.
David said, There is none like that; give it me.
021:010 David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went
to Achish the king of Gath.
021:011 The servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David
the king of the land? Didn't they sing one to another
about him in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands,
David his ten thousands?'"
021:012 David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid
of Achish the king of Gath.
021:013 He changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad
in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate,
and let his spittle fall down on his beard.
021:014 Then said Achish to his servants, Look, you see the man is mad;
why then have you brought him to me?
021:015 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play
the madman in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?
022:001 David therefore departed there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam:
and when his brothers and all his father's house heard it,
they went down there to him.
022:002 Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt,
and everyone who was discontented, gathered themselves to him;
and he became captain over them: and there were with him
about four hundred men.
022:003 David went there to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said to the king
of Moab, Please let my father and my mother come forth,
[and be] with you, until I know what God will do for me.
022:004 He brought them before the king of Moab: and they lived
with him all the while that David was in the stronghold.
022:005 The prophet Gad said to David, Don't stay in the stronghold;
depart, and get you into the land of Judah. Then David departed,
and came into the forest of Hereth.
022:006 Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him:
now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree
in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants
were standing about him.
022:007 Saul said to his servants who stood about him, Hear now,
you Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give everyone of you
fields and vineyards, will he make you all captains of thousands
and captains of hundreds,
022:008 that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none
who discloses to me when my son makes a league with the son
of Jesse, and there is none of you who is sorry for me,
or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant
against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
022:009 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants
of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob,
to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.
022:010 He inquired of Yahweh for him, and gave him food, and gave
him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.
022:011 Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub,
and all his father's house, the priests who were in Nob:
and they came all of them to the king.
022:012 Saul said, Hear now, you son of Ahitub. He answered,
Here I am, my lord.
022:013 Saul said to him, Why have you conspired against me,
you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread,
and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should
rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
022:014 Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, Who among all your
servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law,
and is taken into your council, and is honorable in your house?
022:015 Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? be it far from me:
don't let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to
all the house of my father; for your servant knows nothing
of all this, less or more.
022:016 The king said, You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you, and all
your father's house.
022:017 The king said to the guard who stood about him, Turn, and kill
the priests of Yahweh; because their hand also is with David,
and because they knew that he fled, and didn't disclose it to me.
But the servants of the king wouldn't put forth their hand
to fall on the priests of Yahweh.
022:018 The king said to Doeg, Turn you, and fall on the priests.
Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell on the priests,
and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore
a linen ephod.
022:019 Nob, the city of the priests, struck he with the edge of
the sword, both men and women, children and nursing babies,
and oxen and donkeys and sheep, with the edge of the sword.
022:020 One of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar,
escaped, and fled after David.
022:021 Abiathar told David that Saul had slain Yahweh's priests.
022:022 David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite
was there, that he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned
[the death] of all the persons of your father's house.
022:023 Abide you with me, don't be afraid; for he who seeks my life
seeks your life: for with me you shall be in safeguard.
023:001 They told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting
against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors.
023:002 Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, Shall I go and strike
these Philistines? Yahweh said to David, Go, and strike
the Philistines, and save Keilah.
023:003 David's men said to him, Behold, we are afraid here in Judah:
how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies
of the Philistines?
023:004 Then David inquired of Yahweh yet again. Yahweh answered him,
and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver
the Philistines into your hand.
023:005 David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines,
and brought away their livestock, and killed them with a
great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
023:006 It happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David
to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.
023:007 It was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. Saul said,
God has delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in,
by entering into a town that has gates and bars.
023:008 Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah,
to besiege David and his men.
023:009 David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him;
and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring here the ephod.
023:010 Then said David, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, your servant has
surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy
the city for my sake.
023:011 Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand?
will Saul come down, as your servant has heard?
Yahweh, the God of Israel, I beg you, tell your servant.
Yahweh said, He will come down.
023:012 Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver up to me
and my men into the hand of Saul? Yahweh said, They will
deliver you up.
023:013 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and
departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go.
It was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah;
and he gave up going there.
023:014 David abode in the wilderness in the strongholds,
and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph.
Saul sought him every day, but God didn't deliver him
into his hand.
023:015 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life:
and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the wood.
023:016 Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and went to David into the wood,
and strengthened his hand in God.
023:017 He said to him, Don't be afraid; for the hand of Saul my father
shall not find you; and you shall be king over Israel, and I
shall be next to you; and that also Saul my father knows.
023:018 They two made a covenant before Yahweh: and David abode
in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.
023:019 Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doesn't David
hide himself with us in the strongholds in the wood,
in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert?
023:020 Now therefore, O king, come down, according to all the desire