1 Samuel 26-31

New American Standard Bible

David Again Spares Saul

26 Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “^(A)Is David not keeping himself hidden on the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite ^[a]Jeshimon?” ² So Saul set out and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, ^[b]taking with him ^(B)three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph. ³ And Saul camped on the hill of Hachilah, which is opposite ^[c]Jeshimon, ^(C)beside the road, and David was staying in the wilderness. When ^(D)he saw that Saul had come after him into the wilderness, ⁴ David sent out spies, and he learned that Saul was definitely coming. ⁵ David then set out and came to the place where Saul had camped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, and ^(E)Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army; and Saul was lying in the circle of the camp, and the people were camped around him.

⁶ Then David said to Ahimelech ^(F)the Hittite and to ^(G)Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, saying, “Who ^(H)will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” ⁷ So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul lay sleeping inside the circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people were lying around him. ⁸ Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has handed your enemy over to you; now then, please let me ^[d]pin him with the spear to the ground with one thrust, and I will not ^[e]do it to him a second time.” ⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Do not ^[f]kill him, for ^(I)who can reach out with his hand against the Lord’s anointed and remain innocent?” ¹⁰ David also said, “As the Lord lives, ^(J)the Lord certainly will strike him, or ^(K)his day will come that he dies, or ^(L)he will go down in battle and ^[g]perish. ^11 (M)The Lord forbid that I would reach out with my hand against the Lord’s anointed! But now please take the spear that is at his head and the jug of water, and let’s go.” ¹² So David took the spear and the jug of water that were at Saul’s head, and they left; and no one saw or knew about it, nor did anyone awaken, for they were all asleep, because ^(N)a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen on them.

¹³ Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the mountain at a distance with a large area between them. ¹⁴ And David called to the people and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Will you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner replied, “Who are you who calls to the king?” ¹⁵ So David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came to ^[h]kill the king your lord! ¹⁶ This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, all of you undoubtedly ^[i](O)must die, because you did not guard your lord, the Lord’s anointed. And now, see where the king’s spear is and the jug of water that was at his head!”

¹⁷ Then Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “^(P)Is this your voice, my son David?” And David said, “It is my voice, my lord the king.” ¹⁸ He also said, “^(Q)Why then is my lord pursuing his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in my hand? ¹⁹ Now then, please let my lord the king listen to the words of his servant. If ^(R)the Lord has incited you against me, ^(S)may He ^[j]accept an offering; but ^(T)if it is ^[k]people, cursed ^[l]are they before the Lord, because ^(U)they have driven me out today so that I would have no share in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ ²⁰ Now then, do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the Lord; for the king of Israel has come out to search for ^(V)a single flea, just as one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

²¹ Then Saul said, “^(W)I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will not harm you again since my life was precious in your sight this day. Behold, I have played the fool and have made a very great mistake.” ²² David replied, “Behold, the spear of the king! Now have one of the young men come over and take it. ²³ And ^(X)the Lord will repay each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the Lord handed you over to me today, but ^(Y)I refused to reach out with my hand against the Lord’s anointed. ²⁴ Therefore behold, just as your life was ^(Z)highly valued in my sight this day, so may my life be highly valued in the sight of the Lord, and may He ^(AA)rescue me from all distress.” ²⁵ Then Saul said to David, “^(AB)Blessed are you, my son David; you will both accomplish much and assuredly prevail.” So ^(AC)David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

David Flees to the Philistines

27 Then David said to ^[m]himself, “Now I will ^[n]perish one day by the hand of Saul. ^(AD)There is nothing better for me than to safely escape into the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand.” ² So David set out and went over, he and ^(AE)the six hundred men who were with him, to ^(AF)Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. ³ And David lived with Achish in Gath, he and his men, ^(AG)each with his own household—David with ^(AH)his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s ^[o]widow. ⁴ Now it was reported to Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he no longer searched for him.

⁵ Then David said to Achish, “If now I have found favor in your sight, have them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, so that I may live there; for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?” ⁶ So Achish gave him Ziklag that day; therefore ^(AI)Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. ⁷ The number of days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was ^(AJ)a year and four months.

⁸ Now David and his men went up and attacked ^(AK)the Geshurites, the Girzites, and ^(AL)the Amalekites; for they were the inhabitants of the land from ancient times, as you come to ^(AM)Shur even as far as the land of Egypt. ⁹ David ^[p]attacked the land and did not leave a man or a woman alive, and he ^(AN)took the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned and came to Achish. ¹⁰ Now Achish said, “^[q]Where did you ^(AO)carry out an attack today?” And David said, “Against the ^[r]Negev of Judah, against the ^[s]Negev of ^(AP)the Jerahmeelites, and against the ^[t]Negev of ^(AQ)the Kenites.” ¹¹ And David did not leave a man or a woman alive to bring to Gath, saying, “Otherwise they will tell about us, saying, ‘This is what David has done, and this has been his practice all the time that he has lived in the country of the Philistines.’” ¹² So Achish believed David, saying, “He has undoubtedly made himself repulsive among his people Israel; therefore he will become my servant forever.”

Saul and the Spirit Medium

28 Now it came about in those days that ^(AR)the Philistines gathered their armed camps for war, to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, “Know for certain that you will go out with me in the camp, you and your men.” ² David said to Achish, “Very well, you will learn what your servant can do.” So Achish said to David, “Then I will assuredly make you ^[u]my bodyguard ^(AS)for ^[v]life!”

³ Now ^(AT)Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned him and buried him ^(AU)in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the ^(AV)mediums and spiritists from the land. ⁴ So the Philistines assembled and came and camped ^(AW)in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they camped in ^(AX)Gilboa. ⁵ When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. ^6 (AY)So Saul inquired of the Lord, but ^(AZ)the Lord did not answer him, either in ^(BA)dreams, or by the ^(BB)Urim, or by the prophets. ⁷ Then Saul said to his servants, “Find for me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, ^(BC)there is a woman who is a medium at ^(BD)En-dor.”

⁸ Then Saul ^(BE)disguised himself by putting on different clothes, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night; and he said, “^(BF)Consult the spirit for me, please, and ^(BG)bring up for me the one whom I shall ^[w]name for you.” ⁹ But the woman said to him, “Behold, you know ^(BH)what Saul has done, that he has eliminated the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why are you then setting a trap for my life, to bring about my death?” ¹⁰ So Saul swore an oath to her by the Lord, saying, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” ¹¹ Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” ¹² When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!” ¹³ But the king said to her, “Do not be afraid; but what do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a ^[x]divine being coming up from the earth.” ¹⁴ He said to her, “^[y]How does he appear?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and ^(BI)he is wrapped in a robe.” Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and ^(BJ)he bowed with his face to the ground and paid ^[z]homage.

¹⁵ And Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul replied, “I am very distressed, for the Philistines are waging war against me, and ^(BK)God has abandoned me and ^(BL)no longer answers me, either through prophets or in dreams; therefore I have called you, so that you may let me know what I should do.” ¹⁶ Samuel said, “But why ask me, since the Lord has abandoned you and has become your enemy? ¹⁷ And the Lord has done ^[aa]just ^(BM)as He spoke through me; for the Lord has torn the kingdom from your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David. ¹⁸ Just as ^(BN)you did not ^[ab]obey the Lord and did not execute His fierce wrath on Amalek, so the Lord has done this thing to you this day. ¹⁹ Furthermore, the Lord will also hand Israel along with you over to the Philistines; so tomorrow ^(BO)you and your sons will be with me. Indeed, the Lord will hand the army of Israel over to the Philistines!”

²⁰ Then Saul immediately fell full length to the ground and was very afraid because of Samuel’s words; there was no strength in him either, because he had eaten no ^[ac]food all day and all night. ²¹ The woman came to Saul and saw that he was utterly horrified, and she said to him, “Behold, your servant has ^[ad]obeyed you, and ^(BP)I have ^[ae]taken my life in my hand and have listened to your words which you spoke to me. ²² So now you too, please listen to the voice of your servant, and let me serve you a piece of bread, and eat it, so that you will have strength when you go on your way.” ²³ But he refused and said, “^(BQ)I will not eat.” ^(BR)However, his servants together with the woman urged him, and he listened to ^[af]them. So he got up from the ground and sat on ^(BS)the bed. ²⁴ Now the woman had a ^(BT)fattened calf in the house, and she quickly slaughtered it; then she ^(BU)took flour, kneaded it and baked unleavened bread from it. ²⁵ She then served it to Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they got up and left that night.

The Philistines Mistrust David

29 Now ^(BV)the Philistines gathered together all their armies to ^(BW)Aphek, while the Israelites were camping by the spring which is in ^(BX)Jezreel. ² And the governors of the Philistines were proceeding on, leading hundreds and thousands, and ^(BY)David and his men were proceeding in the back with Achish. ³ Then the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, ^(BZ)who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and ^(CA)I have found nothing at all suspicious in him since the day he ^[ag]deserted to me to this day?” ⁴ But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him, and the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Make the man go back, so that he will return ^(CB)to his place where you have assigned him, and do not let him go down to battle with us, ^(CC)or in the battle he may become an adversary to us. For how could this man find favor with his lord? Would it not be with the heads of ^[ah]these men? ⁵ Is this not David, ^(CD)of whom they sing in the dances, saying,

⁶ Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the Lord lives, you have indeed been honest, and ^(CE)your ^[ai]going out and your coming in with me in the army are pleasing in my sight; ^(CF)for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, you are not pleasing in the sight of the governors. ⁷ Now then, return and go in peace, so that you will not do anything wrong in the sight of the governors of the Philistines.” ⁸ However, David said to Achish, “^(CG)But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant since the day that I came before you, to this day, that I cannot go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” ⁹ But Achish replied to David, “I know that you are pleasing in my sight, ^(CH)like an angel of God; nevertheless ^(CI)the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go up with us into the battle.’ ¹⁰ Now then, rise early in the morning ^(CJ)with the servants of your lord who have come with you, and as soon as you have risen early in the morning and have light, leave.” ¹¹ So David got up early, he and his men, to leave in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

David’s Victory over the Amalekites

30 Then it happened, when David and his men came to ^(CK)Ziklag on the third day, that ^(CL)the Amalekites had carried out an attack on the ^[aj]Negev and on ^(CM)Ziklag, and had ^[ak]overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire; ² and they took captive the women and all who were in it, from the small to the great, ^[al](CN)without killing anyone, and drove them off and went their way. ³ When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. ⁴ Then David and the people who were with him ^(CO)raised their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. ⁵ Now ^(CP)David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the ^[am]widow of Nabal the Carmelite. ⁶ Also, David was in great distress because ^(CQ)the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were ^[an]embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But ^(CR)David felt strengthened in the Lord his God.

⁷ Then ^(CS)David said to ^(CT)Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ⁸ And ^(CU)David inquired of the Lord, saying, “^(CV)Shall I pursue this band of raiders? Will I overtake them?” And He said to him, “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them, ^(CW)and you will certainly rescue everyone.” ⁹ So David left, ^(CX)he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where some who were left behind stayed. ¹⁰ But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for ^(CY)two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor stayed behind.

¹¹ Now they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David, and gave him bread and he ate, and they provided him water to drink. ¹² They also gave him a slice of fig cake and two cakes of raisins, and he ate; ^(CZ)then his spirit ^[ao]revived. For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. ¹³ Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” And he said, “I am a young man of Egypt, a servant of an Amalekite; and my master abandoned me when I became sick three days ago. ¹⁴ We carried out an attack on ^(DA)the ^[ap]Negev of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on ^(DB)the ^[aq]Negev of Caleb, and ^(DC)we burned Ziklag with fire.” ¹⁵ Then David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this band of raiders?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will bring you down to this band.”

¹⁶ Now when he had brought him down, behold, they were dispersed over all the land, ^(DD)eating and drinking and celebrating because of ^(DE)all the great plunder that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. ¹⁷ And David ^[ar]slaughtered them ^(DF)from the twilight ^[as]until the evening of ^[at]the next day; and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on ^(DG)camels and fled. ¹⁸ So David ^(DH)recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and ^[au]rescued his two wives. ¹⁹ And nothing of theirs was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, plunder, or anything that they had taken for themselves; ^(DI)David brought it all back. ²⁰ So David had ^[av]captured all the sheep and the cattle which the people drove ahead of ^[aw]the other livestock, and they said, “^(DJ)This is David’s plunder.”

The Plunder Is Divided

²¹ When ^(DK)David came to the two hundred men who were too exhausted to follow David and ^[ax]had been left behind at the brook Besor, and they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him, then David approached the people and greeted them. ²² Then all the wicked and ^[ay]worthless men among those who went with David said, “Since they did not go with ^[az]us, we will not give them any of the spoils that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, so that they may lead them away and leave.” ²³ But David said, “You must not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us, for He has protected us and handed over to us the band of raiders that came against us. ²⁴ And who will listen to you in this matter? For ^(DL)as is the share of the one who goes down into the battle, so shall be the share of the one who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike.” ²⁵ So it has been from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

²⁶ Now when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoils to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, “Behold, ^(DM)a ^[ba]gift for you from the spoils of ^(DN)the enemies of the Lord: ²⁷ to those who were in ^(DO)Bethel, to those who were in ^(DP)Ramoth of the ^[bb]Negev, to those who were in ^(DQ)Jattir, ²⁸ to those who were in ^(DR)Aroer, to those who were in Siphmoth, to those who were in ^(DS)Eshtemoa, ²⁹ to those who were in Racal, to those who were in the cities of ^(DT)the Jerahmeelites, to those who were in the cities of ^(DU)the Kenites, ³⁰ to those who were in ^(DV)Hormah, to those who were in ^(DW)Bor-ashan, to those who were in Athach, ³¹ to those who were in ^(DX)Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men ^(DY)walked.”

Saul and His Sons Killed in Battle

31 ^(DZ)Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from the Philistines but fell fatally wounded ^(EA)on Mount Gilboa. ² And the Philistines also overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines ^[bc]killed ^(EB)Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. ^3 (EC)The battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers found him; and he was gravely wounded by the archers. ^4 (ED)Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and pierce me through with it, otherwise ^(EE)these uncircumcised Philistines will come and pierce me through, and abuse me.” But his armor bearer was unwilling, because he was very fearful. ^(EF)So Saul took ^[bd]his sword and fell on it. ⁵ When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him. ⁶ So Saul died with his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men on that day together.

⁷ Now when the people of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, with those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; then the Philistines came and settled in them.

⁸ It came about on the next day, when the Philistines came to strip those killed, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They cut off his head and stripped off his weapons, and sent them ^[be]throughout the land of the Philistines, ^(EG)to bring the good news ^(EH)to the house of their idols and to the people. ¹⁰ They put his weapons in the ^[bf]temple of ^(EI)Ashtaroth, and ^(EJ)they nailed his body to the wall of ^(EK)Beth-shan. ¹¹ Now when ^(EL)the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard ^[bg]what the Philistines had done to Saul, ^12 (EM)all the valiant men got up and walked all night, and they took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and ^(EN)burned them there. ¹³ And they took their bones and ^(EO)buried them under ^(EP)the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and ^(EQ)fasted for seven days.