Beginning
Chapter 28
1 In those days the Philistines mustered their military forces to fight against Israel. So Achish said to David, “You realize, of course, that you and your warriors[a] must march out for battle with me.” 2 David answered Achish, “Good! Now you shall learn what your servant can do.” Then Achish said to David, “I shall appoint you as my permanent bodyguard.”
3 Now, Samuel was dead. All Israel had mourned him and buried him in his city, Ramah. Meanwhile Saul had driven mediums and diviners out of the land.(A)
Saul in Despair. 4 The Philistines rallied and, coming to Shunem, they encamped. Saul, too, mustered all Israel; they camped on Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the Philistine camp, he grew afraid and lost heart completely. 6 He consulted the Lord; but the Lord gave no answer, neither in dreams nor by Urim nor through prophets.(B) 7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Find me a medium[b] through whom I can seek counsel.” His servants answered him, “There is a woman in Endor who is a medium.”(C)
The Medium at Endor. 8 So he disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and set out with two companions. They came to the woman at night, and Saul said to her, “Divine for me; conjure up the spirit I tell you.”(D) 9 But the woman answered him, “You know what Saul has done, how he expelled the mediums and diviners from the land. Then why are you trying to entrap me and get me killed?” 10 But Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As the Lord lives, you shall incur no blame for this.” 11 “Whom do you want me to conjure up?” the woman asked him. “Conjure up Samuel for me,” he replied.
Samuel Appears. 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she shrieked at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” 13 But the king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” “I see a god rising from the earth,” she replied. 14 “What does he look like?” asked Saul. “An old man is coming up wrapped in a robe,” she replied. Saul knew that it was Samuel, and so he bowed his face to the ground in homage.
Saul’s Doom. 15 [c]Samuel then said to Saul, “Why do you disturb me by conjuring me up?” Saul replied: “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are waging war against me and God has turned away from me. Since God no longer answers me through prophets or in dreams, I have called upon you to tell me what I should do.”(E) 16 To this Samuel said: “But why do you ask me, if the Lord has abandoned you for your neighbor?(F) 17 The Lord has done to you what he declared through me: he has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor David.
18 “Because you disobeyed the Lord’s directive and would not carry out his fierce anger against Amalek, the Lord has done this to you today.(G) 19 Moreover, the Lord will deliver Israel, and you as well, into the hands of the Philistines. By tomorrow you and your sons will be with me, and the Lord will have delivered the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.”(H)
20 Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, in great fear because of Samuel’s message. He had no strength left, since he had eaten nothing all that day and night. 21 Then the woman came to Saul and, seeing that he was quite terror-stricken, said to him: “Remember, your maidservant obeyed you: I took my life in my hands and carried out the request you made of me. 22 Now you, in turn, please listen to your maidservant. Let me set out a bit of food for you to eat, so that you are strong enough to go on your way.” 23 But he refused, saying, “I will not eat.” However, when his servants joined the woman in urging him, he listened to their entreaties, got up from the ground, and sat on a couch. 24 The woman had a stall-fed calf in the house, which she now quickly slaughtered. Then taking flour, she kneaded it and baked unleavened bread. 25 She set the meal before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they got up and left the same night.
Chapter 29
David’s Aid Rejected. 1 Now the Philistines had mustered all their forces in Aphek, and the Israelites were encamped at the spring in Jezreel.(I) 2 As the Philistine lords were marching their units of a hundred and a thousand, David and his warriors were marching in the rear guard with Achish. 3 The Philistine commanders asked, “What are those Hebrews doing here?” Achish answered them: “Why, that is David, the officer of Saul, king of Israel. He has been with me for a year or two, and from the day he came over to me until now I have never found fault in him.”(J) 4 But the Philistine commanders were angered at this and said to him: “Send that man back! Let him return to the place you picked out for him. He must not go down into battle with us; during the battle he might become our enemy. For how else can he win back his master’s favor, if not at the expense of our soldiers?(K) 5 Is this not the David for whom they sing during their dances,
‘Saul has slain his thousands,
David his tens of thousands’?”(L)
6 So Achish summoned David and said to him: “As the Lord lives, you are honest, and I would want you with me in all my battles. To this day I have found nothing wrong with you since you came to me. But in the view of the chiefs you are not welcome. 7 Leave peacefully, now, and do nothing that might displease the Philistine chiefs.” 8 But David said to Achish: “What have I done? What fault have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until today, that I cannot go to fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” 9 “I recognize,” Achish answered David, “that you are trustworthy, like an angel of God. But the Philistine commanders are saying, ‘He must not go with us into battle.’ 10 So the first thing tomorrow, you and your lord’s servants who came with you, go to the place I picked out for you. Do not take to heart their worthless remarks; for you have been valuable in my service. But make an early morning start, as soon as it grows light, and be on your way.” 11 So David and his warriors left early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines went on up to Jezreel.
Chapter 30
Ziklag in Ruins. 1 Before David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had raided the Negeb and Ziklag. They stormed Ziklag, and set it on fire.(M) 2 They took captive the women and all who were in the city, young and old, killing no one, and they herded them off when they left. 3 David and his men arrived at the city to find it burned to the ground and their wives, sons, and daughters taken captive. 4 Then David and those who were with him wept aloud until they could weep no more. 5 David’s two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel, had also been carried off.(N) 6 Now David found himself in great danger, for the soldiers spoke of stoning him, so bitter were they over the fate of their sons and daughters. David took courage in the Lord his God 7 (O)and said to Abiathar, the priest, son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod!” When Abiathar brought him the ephod, 8 David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue these raiders? Can I overtake them?” The Lord answered him: Go in pursuit, for you will certainly overtake them and bring about a rescue.
Raid on the Amalekites. 9 So David went off with his six hundred as far as the Wadi Besor, where those who were to remain behind halted. 10 David continued the pursuit with four hundred, but two hundred were too exhausted to cross the Wadi Besor and remained behind. 11 An Egyptian was found in the open country and brought to David. They gave him food to eat and water to drink; 12 they also offered a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of pressed raisins. When he had eaten, he revived, for he had not taken food nor drunk water for three days and three nights. 13 Then David asked him, “To whom do you belong? Where did you come from?” “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite,” he replied. “My master abandoned me three days ago because I fell sick. 14 We raided the Negeb of the Cherethites, the territory of Judah, and the Negeb of Caleb; and we set Ziklag on fire.”(P) 15 David then asked him, “Will you lead me down to these raiders?” He answered, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will lead you down to the raiders.” 16 So he led them down, and there were the Amalekites lounging all over the ground, eating, drinking, and celebrating because of all the rich plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
The Plunder Recovered. 17 From dawn to sundown the next day David attacked them, allowing no one to escape except four hundred young men, who mounted their camels and fled.(Q) 18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, and he rescued his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing, small or great, plunder or sons or daughters, of all that the Amalekites had taken. David brought back everything. 20 Moreover, David took all the sheep and oxen, and as they drove these before him, they shouted, “This is David’s plunder!”
Division of the Plunder. 21 When David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him, whom he had left behind at the Wadi Besor, they came out to meet David and the men with him. As David approached, he greeted them. 22 But all the greedy and worthless among those who had accompanied David said, “Since they did not accompany us, we will not give them anything from the plunder, except for each man’s wife and children.” 23 But David said: “You must not do this, my brothers, after what the Lord has given us. The Lord has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiders that came against us.(R) 24 Who could agree with this proposal of yours? Rather, the share of the one who goes down to battle shall be the same as that of the one who remains with the baggage—they share alike.”(S) 25 And from that day forward he made this a law and a custom in Israel, as it still is today.(T)
David’s Gifts to Judah. 26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the plunder to his friends, the elders of Judah,[d] saying, “This is a gift to you from the plunder of the enemies of the Lord,” namely, 27 to those in Bethel, Ramoth-negeb, Jattir, 28 Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, 29 Racal, Jerahmeelite cities and Kenite cities,(U) 30 Hormah, Borashan, Athach, 31 Hebron, and to all the places that David and his men had frequented.(V)
Chapter 31
Death of Saul and His Sons. 1 (W)Now the Philistines went to war against Israel, and the Israelites fled before them, and fell, slain on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons. When the Philistines had struck down Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, sons of Saul,(X) 3 the fury of the battle converged on Saul. Then the archers hit him, and he was severely wounded. 4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through; otherwise these uncircumcised will come and abuse me.” But the armor-bearer, badly frightened, refused, so Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.(Y) 5 (Z)When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell upon his sword and died with him. 6 Thus Saul, his three sons, and his armor-bearer died together on that same day. 7 When the Israelites on the slope of the valley and those along the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. Then the Philistines came and lived in those cities.
8 On the following 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 him of his armor; these they sent throughout the land of the Philistines to bring the good news to the temple of their idols and to the people.(AA) 10 They put his armor in the temple of Astarte but impaled his body on the wall of Beth-shan.
Burial of Saul. 11 (AB)When the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all their warriors set out and traveled through the night; they removed the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and, returning to Jabesh, burned them.[e] 13 Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.