1 Samuel 28-31

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

28 In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war against Israel. Achish said to David, Understand that you and your men shall go with me to battle.

² David said to Achish, All right, you shall know what your servant can do. Achish said to David, Therefore I will make you my bodyguard always.

³ Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the wizards out of the land.

⁴ And the Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel and they encamped at Gilboa.

⁵ When Saul saw the Philistine host, he was afraid; his heart trembled greatly.

⁶ When Saul inquired of the Lord, He refused to answer him, either by dreams or by Urim [a symbol worn by the priest when seeking the will of God for Israel] or by the prophets.^(A)

⁷ Then Saul said to his servants, Find me a woman who is a medium [between the living and the dead], that I may go and inquire of her. His servants said, Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at Endor.

⁸ So Saul disguised himself, put on other raiment, and he and two men with him went and came to the woman at night. He said to her, Perceive for me by the familiar spirit and bring up for me the dead person whom I shall name to you.

⁹ The woman said, See here, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who are mediums and wizards out of the land. Why then do you lay a trap for my life to cause my death?

¹⁰ And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord lives, there shall no punishment come to you for this.

¹¹ The woman said, Whom shall I bring up for you? He said, Bring up Samuel for me.

¹² And when the woman saw Samuel, she screamed and she said to Saul, Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!

¹³ The king said to her, Be not afraid; what do you see? The woman said to Saul, I see a god [terrifying superhuman being] coming up out of the earth!

¹⁴ He said to her, In what form is he? And she said, An old man comes up, covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and made obeisance.

¹⁵ And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me to bring me up? Saul answered, I am bitterly distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I should do.

¹⁶ Samuel said, Why then do you ask me, seeing that the Lord has turned from you and has become your enemy?

¹⁷ The Lord has done to you as He said through me He would do; for [He] has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to your neighbor David.^(B)

¹⁸ Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord or execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day.

¹⁹ Moreover, the Lord will also give Israel with you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me [among the dead]. The Lord also will give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.

²⁰ Then immediately Saul fell full length upon the earth floor [of the medium’s house], and was exceedingly afraid because of Samuel’s words. There was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.

²¹ The woman came to Saul, and seeing that he was greatly troubled, she said to him, Behold, your handmaid has obeyed you, and I have put my life in my hands and have listened to what you said to me.

²² So now, I pray you, listen also to the voice of your handmaid and let me set a morsel of food before you, and eat, so you may have strength when you go on your way.

²³ But he said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he heeded their words. So he arose from the ground and sat upon the bed.

²⁴ The woman had a fat calf in the house; she hurried and killed it, and took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread.

²⁵ Then she brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose up and went away that night.

29 Now the Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, and the Israelites encamped by the fountain in Jezreel.

² As the Philistine lords were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were in the rear with Achish,

³ The Philistine princes said, What are these Hebrews doing here? Achish said to the Philistine princes, Is not this David, the servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me these days and years, and I have found no fault in him since he deserted to me to this day?

⁴ And the Philistine princes were angry with Achish and they said to him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place where you have assigned him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could David reconcile himself to his master? Would it not be with the heads of the men here?

⁵ Is not this David, of whom they sang to one another in dances, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands?

⁶ Then Achish called David and said to him, As surely as the Lord lives, you have been honest and upright, and for you to go out and come in with me in the army is good in my sight; for I have found no evil in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Yet the lords do not approve of you.

⁷ So return now and go peaceably, so as not to displease the Philistine lords.

⁸ David said to Achish, But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant as long as I have been with you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

⁹ And Achish said to David, I know that you are as blameless in my sight as an angel of God; nevertheless the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.

¹⁰ So now rise up early in the morning, with your master’s servants who have come with you, and as soon as you are up and have light, depart.

¹¹ So David and his men rose up early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel [to fight against Israel].

30 Now when David and his men came home to Ziklag on the third day, they found that the Amalekites had made a raid on the South (the Negeb) and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire,

² And had taken the women and all who were there, both great and small, captive. They killed no one, but carried them off and went on their way.

³ So David and his men came to the town, and behold, it was burned, and their wives and sons and daughters were taken captive.

⁴ Then David and the men with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.

⁵ David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.

⁶ David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

⁷ David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, I pray you, bring me the ephod. And Abiathar brought him the ephod.

⁸ And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them? The Lord answered him, Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.

⁹ So David went, he and the 600 men with him, and came to the brook Besor; there those remained who were left behind.

¹⁰ But David pursued, he and 400 men, for 200 stayed behind who were too exhausted and faint to cross the brook Besor.

¹¹ They found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David, and gave him bread and he ate, and water to drink,

¹² And a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins; and when he had eaten, his spirit returned to him, for he had eaten no food or drunk any water for three days and three nights.

¹³ And David said to him, To whom do you belong? And from where have you come? He said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me because three days ago I fell sick.

¹⁴ We had made a raid on the South (Negeb) of the Cherethites and upon that which belongs to Judah and upon the South (Negeb) of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag with fire.

¹⁵ And David said to him, Can you take me down to this band? And he said, Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this band.

¹⁶ And when he had brought David down, behold, the raiders were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.

¹⁷ And David smote them from twilight even to the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except 400 youths who rode camels and fled.

¹⁸ David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken and rescued his two wives.

¹⁹ Nothing was missing, small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken; David recovered all.

²⁰ Also David captured all the flocks and herds [which the enemy had], and the people drove those animals before him and said, This is David’s spoil.

²¹ And David came to the 200 men who were so exhausted and faint that they could not follow [him] and had been left at the brook Besor [with the baggage]. They came to meet David and those with him, and when he came near to the men, he saluted them.

²² Then all the wicked and base men who went with David said, Because they did not go with us, we will give them nothing of the spoil we have recovered, except that every man may lead away his wife and children and depart.

²³ David said, You shall not do so, my brethren, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and has delivered into our hands the troop that came against us.

²⁴ Who would listen to you in this matter? For as is the share of him who goes into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike.

²⁵ And from that day to this he made it a statute and ordinance for Israel.

²⁶ When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to the elders of Judah, his friends, saying, Here is a gift for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord:

²⁷ For those in Bethel, Ramoth of the Negeb, Jattir,

²⁸ Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa,

²⁹ Racal, the cities of the Jerahmeelites, the cities of the Kenites,

³⁰ Hormah, Bor-ashan, Athach,

³¹ Hebron, and for those in all the places David and his men had habitually haunted.

31 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled before [them] and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

² And the Philistines pursued Saul and his sons, and slew Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons.

³ The battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers severely wounded him.

⁴ Saul said to his armor-bearer, Draw your sword and thrust me through, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse and mock me. But his armor-bearer would not, for he was terrified. So ^[a]Saul took a sword and fell upon it.

⁵ When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell upon his sword and died with him.

⁶ So Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his men died that day together.

⁷ And when the men of Israel on the other side of the valley and beyond the Jordan saw that the Israelites had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

⁸ The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

⁹ They cut off Saul’s head and stripped off his armor and sent them round about the land of the Philistines to publish it in the house of their idols and among the people.

¹⁰ And they put Saul’s armor in the house of the Ashtaroth [the idols representing the female deities Ashtoreth and Asherah], and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.

¹¹ When the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,

¹² All the valiant men arose and went all night, and they took the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan and came to Jabesh and cremated them there.

¹³ And they took their bones and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.