³ And he came to the sheepfolds on the way, where there was a cave; and Saul ^(A)went in to ^[a]relieve himself. Now ^(B)David and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave. ⁴ Then David’s men said to him, “Behold, ^(C)this is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold; ^(D)I am about to hand your enemy over to you, and you shall do to him as it seems good ^[b]to you.’” Then David got up and cut off the edge of Saul’s robe secretly. ⁵ But it came about afterward that ^(E)David’s ^[c]conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. ⁶ So he said to his men, “^(F)Far be it from me because of the Lord that I would do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to reach out with my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.” ⁷ And David rebuked his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul got up, ^[d]left the cave, and went on his way.

⁵ David then set out and came to the place where Saul had camped. And David saw the place where Saul lay, and ^(A)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 ^(B)the Hittite and to ^(C)Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, saying, “Who ^(D)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 ^[a]pin him with the spear to the ground with one thrust, and I will not ^[b]do it to him a second time.” ⁹ But David said to Abishai, “Do not ^[c]kill him, for ^(E)who can reach out with his hand against the Lord’s anointed and remain innocent?” ¹⁰ David also said, “As the Lord lives, ^(F)the Lord certainly will strike him, or ^(G)his day will come that he dies, or ^(H)he will go down in battle and ^[d]perish.