Beginning
21 Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the Priest. And Ahimelech was afraid upon meeting David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no man with you?”
2 And David said to Ahimelech the Priest, “The king has commanded me a certain thing, and has said to me, ‘Let no man know where I send you, and what I have commanded you, and that I have appointed my servants to such and such places.’
3 “Now, therefore, if you have anything on hand, give me five cakes of bread or whatever there is present.”
4 And the Priest answered David, and said, “There is no common bread on hand, but here is hallowed bread, if the young men have kept themselves, at least from women.”
5 David then answered the Priest, and said to him, “Certainly women have been separated from us for these two or three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young men were holy, though the road was profane. And how much more, then, shall the vessel be sanctified this day?”
6 So the Priest gave him hallowed bread. For there was no bread there, except the showbread that was taken from before the LORD, to put hot bread there on the day that it was taken away.
7 And there was on the same day, one of the servants of Saul, abiding before the LORD, named Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s herdsmen.
8 And David said to Ahimelech, “Is there not here under your hand a spear or a sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my harness with me, because the king’s business required haste.”
9 And the Priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that for yourself, take it. For there is nothing else except that here.” And David said, “There is nothing like it. Give it to me.”
10 And David arose and fled the same day from the presence of Saul and went to Achish, the king of Gath.
11 And the servants of Achish said to him, “Is not this David, the king of the land? Did they not sing to him in dances, saying, ‘Saul has killed his thousand, and David his ten thousand?’”
12 And David considered these words and was very afraid of Achish, the king of Gath.
13 And he changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.
14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Lo, you see the man is beside himself. Why have you brought him to me?
15 “Have I need of mad men, that you have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? Shall he come into my house?”
22 Therefore, David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brethren and all his father’s House heard it, they went down there to him.
2 And there, all men who were troubled gathered to him, and all men who were in debt, and all those whose souls were embittered. And he was their prince. And there were about four hundred men with him.
3 And David went there to Mizpah in Moab, and said to the king of Moab, “Please, let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”
4 And he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.
5 And the Prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold. Depart and go into the land of Judah.” Then David departed and came into the forest of Hereth.
6 And Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered. And Saul remained in Gibeah, under a tree in Ramah, having his spear in his hand. And all his servants stood around him.
7 And Saul said to his servants who stood around him, “Hear now, sons of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all captains over thousands and captains over hundreds,
8 “so that all of you have conspired against me? And there is not one who tells me that my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse? And there is not one of you who is sorry for me or tells me that my son has stirred up my servant to lie in wait against me, as it is this day?”
9 Then Doeg the Edomite (who was appointed over the servants of Saul) answered and said, “I saw the son of Jesse when he came to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub,
10 “who asked counsel of the LORD for him and gave him provisions. And he also gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
11 Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the Priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s House (the priests who were in Nob). And they all came to the king.
12 And Saul said, “Hear now, you son of Ahitub.” And he answered, “I am here, my lord.”
13 Then Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him provision, and a sword, and have asked counsel of God for him, so that he could rise against me and lie in wait, as it is this day?”
14 And Ahimelech answered the king, and said, “Who is so faithful among all your servants as David (being also the king’s son-in-law) and goes at your commandment and is honorable in your House?
15 “Have I this day first begun to ask counsel of God for him? Far be it from me. Do not let the king impute anything to his servant or to all the House of my father. For your servant knew nothing of all this, neither less nor more.”
16 Then the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s House!”
17 And the king said to the sergeants who stood around him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because their hand is also with David and because they knew when he fled and did not tell me!” But the servants of the king would not move their hands to fall upon the priests of the LORD.
18 Then the king said to Doeg, “Turn yourselves and fall upon the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and ran upon the priests and that same day killed eighty-five people who wore a linen ephod.
19 He also struck Nob, the city of the priests, with the edge of the sword, both man and woman, child and suckling, ox and donkey and sheep with the edge of the sword.
20 But one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub (whose name was Abiathar) escaped and fled after David.
21 And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the LORD’s priests.
22 And David said to Abiathar, “I knew it the same day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would tell Saul. I am the cause of the death of all the people of your father’s House.
23 “Stay with me. Do not fear. For he who seeks my life shall also seek your life. For you shall be safe with me.”
23 Then they told David, saying, “Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and plunder the barns.”
2 Therefore, David asked counsel of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and strike these Philistines?” And the LORD answered David, “Go and strike the Philistines and save Keilah.”
3 And David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more if we come to Keilah against the army of the Philistines?”
4 Then David asked counsel of the LORD again. And the LORD answered him, and said: “Arise, go down to Keilah. For I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
5 So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their cattle and struck them with a great slaughter. Thus David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
6 And when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David, to Keilah, he brought an ephod with him.
7 And it was told to Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand; for he is closed in, seeing he has come into a city that has gates and bars.”
8 Then Saul called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah and to besiege David and his men.
9 And David, having knowledge that Saul devised mischief against him, said to Abiathar the Priest, “Bring the ephod.”
10 Then David said, “O LORD God of Israel! Your servant has heard that Saul is about to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.
11 “Will the lords of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? And will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant!” And the LORD said: “He will come down.”
12 Then David said, “Will the lords of Keilah deliver me up, and the men who are with me, into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said: “They will deliver you up.”
13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah and went wherever they could. And it was told to Saul that David had fled from Keilah. And he ceased his journey.
14 And David stayed in the wilderness, in the strongholds, and remained on a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day; but God did not deliver him into his hand.
15 And David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the wilderness of Ziph, in the forest.
16 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David, into the forest, and comforted him in God,
17 and said to him, “Do not fear. For the hand of Saul, my father, shall not find you. And you shall be king over Israel. And I shall be next to you. And also, Saul, my father, knows it.”
18 So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David remained in the forest; but Jonathan went to his house.
19 Then, the Ziphites came up to Saul, to Gibeah, saying, “Does not David hide himself with us in strongholds in the forest, on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the right side of Jeshimon?
20 “Now, therefore, O king, come down according to all that your heart can desire. And our part shall be to deliver him into the king’s hands.”
21 Then Saul said, “Be blessed of the LORD! For you have had compassion on me.
22 “Please go and find out more. Know and see this place that he haunts and who has seen him there. For it is said to me, ‘He is subtle and crafty.’
23 “See, therefore, and know all the secret places where he hides himself. And come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah.”
24 Then they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. But David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain, to the right of Jeshimon.
25 When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David. Therefore, he came down to a rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he followed after David in the wilderness of Maon.
26 And Saul and his men went to one side of the mountain, and David and his men to the other side of the mountain. And David hurried to get away from the presence of Saul (for Saul and his men surrounded David and his men, to take them).
27 But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come! For the Philistines have invaded the land!”
28 Therefore, Saul returned from pursuing David and went against the Philistines. So they called that place: Sela Hammahlekoth.
24 And David went from there and dwelt in strongholds at En Gedi.
2 When Saul had turned from the Philistines, they told him, saying, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.”
3 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks among the wild goats.
4 And he came to the sheepfolds along the way, where there was a cave. And Saul went in to relieve himself. And David and his men sat in the inner parts of the cave.
5 And the men of David said to him, “Behold, the day has come of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and stealthily cut off the lap of Saul’s garment.
6 And afterward, David was touched in his heart, because he had cut off the lap which was on Saul’s garment.
7 And he said to his men, “The LORD keep me from doing that thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed, to lay my hand upon him. For he is the anointed of the LORD.”
8 So David overcame his servants with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. For Saul got up from the cave and went away.
9 Afterward, David also arose and went out of the cave and cried after Saul, saying, “O my lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David turned his face to the ground and bowed himself.
10 And David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to men’s words who say, ‘Behold, David seeks evil against you’?
11 “Behold, your eyes have just seen that the LORD had delivered you this day into my hand in the cave. And some asked me to kill you. But I had compassion on you, and said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my master. For he is the LORD’s anointed.’
12 “Moreover, my father, behold. Behold, I say, the lap of your garment in my hand! For when I cut off the lap of your garment, I did not kill you. Understand and see that there is neither evil nor wickedness in me. Nor have I sinned against you. Yet you hunt after my soul to take it.
13 “The LORD be judge between you and me. And the LORD avenge me of you. But let not my hand be upon you.
14 “Just as the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked, but my hand be not upon you.’
15 “After whom has the king of Israel come out? After whom do you pursue, after a dead dog, after a flea?
16 “The LORD, therefore, be judge, and judge between you and me, and see and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.”
17 When David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” And Saul lifted up his voice and wept,
18 and said to David, “You are more righteous than I. For you have rendered me good and I have rendered you evil.
19 “And you have shown this day that you have dealt well with me. For when the LORD had closed me in your hands, you did not kill me.
20 “For who shall find his enemy and let him depart free? Therefore, may the LORD render you good for what you have done to me this day.
21 “For now, behold, I know that you shall be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.
22 “Swear now, therefore, to me by the LORD that you will not destroy my seed after me, and that you will not abolish my name out of my father’s House.”
23 So David swore to Saul. And Saul went home. But David and his men went up to the stronghold.
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