⁴ The men of David said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.’ ” Then David went and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s cloak.^(A)

²³ The Lord rewards everyone for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, but I would not raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed.

⁸ Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand today; now, therefore, let me pin him to the ground with one stroke of the spear; I will not strike him twice.” ⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?”^{(A) 10} David said, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him down, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish.^{(B) 11} The Lord forbid that I should raise my hand against the Lord’s anointed, but now take the spear that is at his head and the water jar, and let us go.”^(C)

¹⁰ This very day your eyes have seen how the Lord gave you into my hand in the cave, and some urged me to kill you, but I spared^[a] you. I said, ‘I will not raise my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.’

²⁸ Please forgive the trespass of your servant, for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the Lord, and evil shall not be found in you so long as you live.^{(A) 29} If anyone should rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living under the care of the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. ³⁰ When the Lord has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you prince over Israel,

¹⁸ Today you have explained how you have dealt well with me, in that you did not kill me when the Lord put me into your hands.^(A)

¹⁷ He said to him, “Do not be afraid, for the hand of my father Saul shall not find you; you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be second to you; my father Saul also knows that this is so.”^(A)

⁷ Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “God has given^[a] him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.”

⁸ They brought the head of Ishbaal^[a] to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ishbaal^[b] son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life; the Lord has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring.”^(A)