Beginning

28 And it came about in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for war to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, “Know assuredly that you will go out with me to battle, you and your men.”

² David said to Achish, “Surely you will know what your servant can do.”

And Achish said to David, “Therefore I will appoint you my bodyguard for life.”

The Medium of Endor

³ Now Samuel died and all Israel mourned him, and they buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and the necromancers from the land.

⁴ Then the Philistines gathered themselves together. And they came and camped in Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together, and they camped in Gilboa. ⁵ When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. ⁶ Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams, or by lots, or by prophets. ⁷ Then said Saul to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.”

And his servants said to him, “There is woman medium in Endor.”

⁸ So Saul disguised himself, put on other clothes, and he went with two of his men. And they came to the woman by night and he said, “Please divine for me by a spirit, and bring up for me whom I will name to you.”

⁹ The woman said to him, “Listen, you know what Saul has done, how he has eliminated the mediums and necromancers from the land. Now why are you laying a trap for my life to cause my death?”

¹⁰ Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, “As the Lord lives, no punishment will happen to you for this thing.”

¹¹ Then said the woman, “Whom shall I bring up for you?”

And he said, “Bring up Samuel for me.”

¹² When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul.”

¹³ The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What did you see?”

And the woman said to Saul, “I saw a divine being ascending out of the earth.”

¹⁴ He said to her, “What is his appearance?”

And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a robe.”

And Saul perceived that it was Samuel. And he kneeled with his face to the ground and bowed himself.

¹⁵ Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you roused me to bring me up?”

And Saul answered, “I am greatly distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me any longer by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have called you that you might make known to me what I should do.”

¹⁶ Then said Samuel, “Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy? ¹⁷ The Lord has done for Himself as He spoke by me. The Lord has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor, David. ¹⁸ As you did not obey the voice of the Lord and did not carry out His fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. ¹⁹ And moreover, the Lord will deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”

²⁰ Saul immediately fell full length upon the ground because he greatly feared the words of Samuel. Also there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all day and all night.

²¹ The woman came to Saul and saw that he was terrified. And she said to him, “Listen, your handmaid has obeyed your voice. I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to your words which you spoke to me. ²² Now therefore you also, please obey the voice of your maidservant and let me set before you a piece of bread, and eat so that you may have strength when you go on your way.”

²³ But he refused and said, “I will not eat.”

But his servants, and also the woman, urged him and he listened to them. So he arose from the ground and sat on the bed.

²⁴ Now the woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she hurried and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread from it. ²⁵ She brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they arose and went away that night.

Philistines Reject David

29 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek, and the children of Israel were camping by the spring which is in Jezreel. ² The lords of the Philistines were advancing by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were advancing in the rear with Achish. ³ Then the princes of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?”

And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years? And I have found no fault in him since the day of his desertion to this day.”

⁴ But the princes of the Philistines became angry with him. And the princes of the Philistines said to him, “Make this man return and let him go again to his place which you have appointed him. He will not go down with us in battle, lest he might be an adversary to us in the battle. For with what could he make himself acceptable to his master, if not with the heads of these men? ⁵ Is this not David, whom they sing for in dances saying,

⁶ Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the Lord lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the camp has been pleasing in my sight. For I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day. However, you are not acceptable in the eyes of the lords. ⁷ Therefore now, return and go in peace, that you do not displease the lords of the Philistines.”

⁸ David said to Achish, “But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant, from the day which I came before you to this day, that I may not come and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

⁹ And Achish answered and said to David, “I know that you are pleasing in my sight like an angel of God. However the lords of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us in battle.’ ¹⁰ Therefore rise up early in the morning with your master’s servants who have come with you. And when you have risen early in the morning and it is light, then depart.”

¹¹ So David and his men rose early to depart in the morning and return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

David Defeats the Amalekites

30 Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had raided the south as far as Ziklag. They had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire. ² They had taken as captives all the women who were there. They did not kill anyone, but carried them off and went on their way.

³ David and his men came to the city, and they found it burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters taken captive. ⁴ So David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no strength in them to weep. ⁵ Now David’s two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. ⁶ David was greatly distressed, for the people talked of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in spirit, each over his sons and daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.

⁷ And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Please bring the ephod to me.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ⁸ David inquired at the Lord, saying, “Should I pursue after this raiding party? Will I overtake them?”

And He answered him, “Pursue them, for you will surely overtake them and will surely recover all.”

⁹ So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him. And they came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind remained. ¹⁰ But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred who were too exhausted to cross over the brook Besor remained behind.

¹¹ They found an Egyptian in the field and took him to David. He gave him bread and he ate, and they made him drink water. ¹² And they gave him a part of a cake of figs and two cakes of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit came back to him, for he had not eaten bread or drunk any water for three days and nights.

¹³ Then David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?”

And he said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. And my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick. ¹⁴ We raided the south of the Kerethites, the south of Judah, and the south of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag with fire.”

¹⁵ David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this raiding party?”

And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hand of my master, and I will bring you down to this raiding party.”

¹⁶ When he brought him down, they were spread out over all the land, eating, drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. ¹⁷ David struck them from twilight until the evening of the next day, and no man escaped except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled. ¹⁸ So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. ¹⁹ Now there was nothing missing, from the smallest thing to the greatest, neither sons, nor daughters, or plunder, or anything which they had taken. David brought back all of it. ²⁰ And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before the other livestock. And they said, “This is David’s spoil.”

²¹ Then David came to the two hundred men, who were too exhausted to follow David, whom they left at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David and the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people, he greeted them. ²² Then all the wicked and worthless ones from the men who went with David answered and said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them anything from the spoil that we have rescued, except to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away and depart.”

²³ Then David said, “You will not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us, for He has preserved us, and has delivered into our hand the raiding party that came against us. ²⁴ And who will listen to you in this matter? Indeed as the share is of the one going down to battle, so will be the share of the one staying with the equipment. They will share equally.” ²⁵ So it was so from that day forward, that he set it as a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

²⁶ When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a gift to you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord”: ²⁷ to those who were in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negev, and in Jattir; ²⁸ to those who were in Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, ²⁹ and in Rakal; to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites; ³⁰ to those who were in Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athak ³¹ and in Hebron; and to those who were in all the other places where David and his men had roamed.

The House of Saul, Dead and Buried^(A)

31 Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel, and Israel’s fighting men fled before the Philistines and they fell slain on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons. And the Philistines killed his sons, Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malki-Shua, Saul’s sons. ³ The battle was heavy against Saul. The archers found him, and he was severely wounded by the archers.

⁴ Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me.”

But his armor bearer would not, for he was very afraid. Therefore Saul took his sword and fell upon it. ⁵ When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him. ⁶ So Saul died with his three sons and his armor bearer, together with all his men on that same day.

⁷ When Israel’s fighting men who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were on the other side of the Jordan, saw that Israel’s fighting men fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled. So the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸ The following day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ They cut off his head, stripped off his armor, and sent them into the land of the Philistines round about, to make it known in the house of their idols and among their people. ¹⁰ They put his armor in the house of Ashtoreth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.

¹¹ When the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² all the valiant men arose and went all night, and they took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. ¹³ Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they mourned, fasting seven days.