⁴ The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke^(A) of when he said^[a] to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’”^(B) Then David crept up unnoticed and cut^(C) off a corner of Saul’s robe.

⁵ Afterward, David was conscience-stricken^(D) for having cut off a corner of his robe. ⁶ He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed,^(E) or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” ⁷ With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.

⁸ Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.^{(F) 9} He said to Saul, “Why do you listen^(G) when men say, ‘David is bent on harming^(H) you’?

⁴ The king’s word, however, overruled Joab; so Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem.

⁵ Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel^(A) there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah.

²³ David did not take the number of the men twenty years old or less,^(A) because the Lord had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars^(B) in the sky.

²⁴ Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. God’s wrath came on Israel on account of this numbering,^(A) and the number was not entered in the book^[a] of the annals of King David.