³ Here I am. Witness against me before the Lord and before ^(A)His anointed: ^(B)Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken, or whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed, or from whose hand have I received any ^(C)bribe with which to ^(D)blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.”

⁵ Then he said to them, “The Lord is witness against you, and His anointed is witness this day, ^(A)that you have not found anything ^(B)in my hand.”

And they answered, “He is witness.”

⁶ So it was, when they came, that he looked at ^(A)Eliab and ^(B)said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him!”

⁶ And he said to his men, ^(A)“The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.”

¹⁰ Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you, and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’

⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him; ^(A)for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless?”

^11 (A)The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. But please, take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head, and let us go.”

¹⁶ This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you have not guarded your master, the Lord’s anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is, and the jug of water that was by his head.”