Chronological

28 In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war against Israel. Achish said to David, Understand that you and your men shall go with me to battle.

² David said to Achish, All right, you shall know what your servant can do. Achish said to David, Therefore I will make you my bodyguard always.

³ Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the wizards out of the land.

⁴ And the Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel and they encamped at Gilboa.

⁵ When Saul saw the Philistine host, he was afraid; his heart trembled greatly.

⁶ When Saul inquired of the Lord, He refused to answer him, either by dreams or by Urim [a symbol worn by the priest when seeking the will of God for Israel] or by the prophets.^(A)

⁷ Then Saul said to his servants, Find me a woman who is a medium [between the living and the dead], that I may go and inquire of her. His servants said, Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at Endor.

⁸ So Saul disguised himself, put on other raiment, and he and two men with him went and came to the woman at night. He said to her, Perceive for me by the familiar spirit and bring up for me the dead person whom I shall name to you.

⁹ The woman said, See here, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who are mediums and wizards out of the land. Why then do you lay a trap for my life to cause my death?

¹⁰ And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord lives, there shall no punishment come to you for this.

¹¹ The woman said, Whom shall I bring up for you? He said, Bring up Samuel for me.

¹² And when the woman saw Samuel, she screamed and she said to Saul, Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!

¹³ The king said to her, Be not afraid; what do you see? The woman said to Saul, I see a god [terrifying superhuman being] coming up out of the earth!

¹⁴ He said to her, In what form is he? And she said, An old man comes up, covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and made obeisance.

¹⁵ And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me to bring me up? Saul answered, I am bitterly distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I should do.

¹⁶ Samuel said, Why then do you ask me, seeing that the Lord has turned from you and has become your enemy?

¹⁷ The Lord has done to you as He said through me He would do; for [He] has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to your neighbor David.^(B)

¹⁸ Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord or execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day.

¹⁹ Moreover, the Lord will also give Israel with you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me [among the dead]. The Lord also will give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.

²⁰ Then immediately Saul fell full length upon the earth floor [of the medium’s house], and was exceedingly afraid because of Samuel’s words. There was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.

²¹ The woman came to Saul, and seeing that he was greatly troubled, she said to him, Behold, your handmaid has obeyed you, and I have put my life in my hands and have listened to what you said to me.

²² So now, I pray you, listen also to the voice of your handmaid and let me set a morsel of food before you, and eat, so you may have strength when you go on your way.

²³ But he said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, urged him, and he heeded their words. So he arose from the ground and sat upon the bed.

²⁴ The woman had a fat calf in the house; she hurried and killed it, and took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread.

²⁵ Then she brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose up and went away that night.

29 Now the Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, and the Israelites encamped by the fountain in Jezreel.

² As the Philistine lords were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were in the rear with Achish,

³ The Philistine princes said, What are these Hebrews doing here? Achish said to the Philistine princes, Is not this David, the servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me these days and years, and I have found no fault in him since he deserted to me to this day?

⁴ And the Philistine princes were angry with Achish and they said to him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place where you have assigned him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could David reconcile himself to his master? Would it not be with the heads of the men here?

⁵ Is not this David, of whom they sang to one another in dances, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands?

⁶ Then Achish called David and said to him, As surely as the Lord lives, you have been honest and upright, and for you to go out and come in with me in the army is good in my sight; for I have found no evil in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Yet the lords do not approve of you.

⁷ So return now and go peaceably, so as not to displease the Philistine lords.

⁸ David said to Achish, But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant as long as I have been with you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

⁹ And Achish said to David, I know that you are as blameless in my sight as an angel of God; nevertheless the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.

¹⁰ So now rise up early in the morning, with your master’s servants who have come with you, and as soon as you are up and have light, depart.

¹¹ So David and his men rose up early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel [to fight against Israel].

30 Now when David and his men came home to Ziklag on the third day, they found that the Amalekites had made a raid on the South (the Negeb) and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire,

² And had taken the women and all who were there, both great and small, captive. They killed no one, but carried them off and went on their way.

³ So David and his men came to the town, and behold, it was burned, and their wives and sons and daughters were taken captive.

⁴ Then David and the men with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.

⁵ David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail, the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.

⁶ David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

⁷ David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, I pray you, bring me the ephod. And Abiathar brought him the ephod.

⁸ And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them? The Lord answered him, Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.

⁹ So David went, he and the 600 men with him, and came to the brook Besor; there those remained who were left behind.

¹⁰ But David pursued, he and 400 men, for 200 stayed behind who were too exhausted and faint to cross the brook Besor.

¹¹ They found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David, and gave him bread and he ate, and water to drink,

¹² And a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins; and when he had eaten, his spirit returned to him, for he had eaten no food or drunk any water for three days and three nights.

¹³ And David said to him, To whom do you belong? And from where have you come? 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 had made a raid on the South (Negeb) of the Cherethites and upon that which belongs to Judah and upon the South (Negeb) of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag with fire.

¹⁵ And David said to him, Can you take me down to this band? And he said, Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this band.

¹⁶ And when he had brought David down, behold, the raiders were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.

¹⁷ And David smote them from twilight even to the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except 400 youths who rode camels and fled.

¹⁸ David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken and rescued his two wives.

¹⁹ Nothing was missing, small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken; David recovered all.

²⁰ Also David captured all the flocks and herds [which the enemy had], and the people drove those animals before him and said, This is David’s spoil.

²¹ And David came to the 200 men who were so exhausted and faint that they could not follow [him] and had been left at the brook Besor [with the baggage]. They came to meet David and those with him, and when he came near to the men, he saluted them.

²² Then all the wicked and base men who went with David said, Because they did not go with us, we will give them nothing of the spoil we have recovered, except that every man may lead away his wife and children and depart.

²³ David said, You shall not do so, my brethren, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and has delivered into our hands the troop that came against us.

²⁴ Who would listen to you in this matter? For as is the share of him who goes into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike.

²⁵ And from that day to this he made it a statute and ordinance for Israel.

²⁶ When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to the elders of Judah, his friends, saying, Here is a gift for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord:

²⁷ For those in Bethel, Ramoth of the Negeb, Jattir,

²⁸ Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa,

²⁹ Racal, the cities of the Jerahmeelites, the cities of the Kenites,

³⁰ Hormah, Bor-ashan, Athach,

³¹ Hebron, and for those in all the places David and his men had habitually haunted.

31 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled before [them] and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

² And the Philistines pursued Saul and his sons, and slew Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons.

³ The battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers severely wounded him.

⁴ Saul said to his armor-bearer, Draw your sword and thrust me through, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse and mock me. But his armor-bearer would not, for he was terrified. So ^[a]Saul took a sword and fell upon it.

⁵ When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell upon his sword and died with him.

⁶ So Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his men died that day together.

⁷ And when the men of Israel on the other side of the valley and beyond the Jordan saw that the Israelites had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

⁸ The next 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 off his armor and sent them round about the land of the Philistines to publish it in the house of their idols and among the people.

¹⁰ And they put Saul’s armor in the house of the Ashtaroth [the idols representing the female deities Ashtoreth and Asherah], and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.

¹¹ When the people 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 bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan and came to Jabesh and cremated them there.

¹³ And they took their bones and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

Psalm 18

To the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David the servant of the Lord, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said:

¹ I love You fervently and devotedly, O Lord, my Strength.

² The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my keen and firm Strength in Whom I will trust and take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, my High Tower.^(A)

³ I will call upon the Lord, Who is to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.^(B)

⁴ The cords or bands of death surrounded me, and the streams of ungodliness and the torrents of ruin terrified me.

⁵ The cords of Sheol (the place of the dead) surrounded me; the snares of death confronted and came upon me.

⁶ In my distress [when seemingly closed in] I called upon the Lord and cried to my God; He heard my voice out of His temple (heavenly dwelling place), and my cry came before Him, into His [very] ears.

⁷ Then the earth quaked and rocked, the foundations also of the mountains trembled; they moved and were shaken because He was indignant and angry.

⁸ There went up smoke from His nostrils; and lightning out of His mouth devoured; coals were kindled by it.

⁹ He bowed the heavens also and came down; and thick darkness was under His feet.

¹⁰ And He rode upon a cherub [a storm] and flew [swiftly]; yes, He sped on with the wings of the wind.

¹¹ He made darkness His secret hiding place; as His pavilion (His canopy) round about Him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.

¹² Out of the brightness before Him there broke forth through His thick clouds hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³ The Lord also thundered from the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice, amid hailstones and coals of fire.

¹⁴ And He sent out His arrows and scattered them; and He flashed forth lightnings and put them to rout.

¹⁵ Then the beds of the sea appeared and the foundations of the world were laid bare at Your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.

¹⁶ He reached from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.

¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy and from those who hated and abhorred me, for they were too strong for me.

¹⁸ They confronted and came upon me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay and support.

¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a large place; He was delivering me because He was pleased with me and delighted in me.

²⁰ The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness (my conscious integrity and sincerity with Him); according to the cleanness of my hands has He recompensed me.

²¹ For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God.

²² For all His ordinances were before me, and I put not away His statutes from me.

²³ I was upright before Him and blameless with Him, ever [on guard] to keep myself free from my sin and guilt.

²⁴ Therefore has the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness (my uprightness and right standing with Him), according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.

²⁵ With the kind and merciful You will show Yourself kind and merciful, with an upright man You will show Yourself upright,

²⁶ With the pure You will show Yourself pure, and with the perverse You will show Yourself contrary.

²⁷ For You deliver an afflicted and humble people but will bring down those with haughty looks.

²⁸ For You cause my lamp to be lighted and to shine; the Lord my God illumines my darkness.

²⁹ For by You I can run through a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.

³⁰ As for God, His way is perfect! The word of the Lord is tested and tried; He is a shield to all those who take refuge and put their trust in Him.

³¹ For who is God except the Lord? Or who is the Rock save our God,

³² The God who girds me with strength and makes my way perfect?

³³ He makes my feet like hinds’ feet [able to stand firmly or make progress on the dangerous heights of testing and trouble]; He sets me securely upon my high places.

³⁴ He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵ You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand has held me up; Your gentleness and condescension have made me great.

³⁶ You have given plenty of room for my steps under me, that my feet would not slip.

³⁷ I pursued my enemies and overtook them; neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

³⁸ I smote them so that they were not able to rise; they fell wounded under my feet.

³⁹ For You have girded me with strength for the battle; You have subdued under me and caused to bow down those who rose up against me.

⁴⁰ You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.

⁴¹ They cried [for help], but there was none to deliver—even unto the Lord, but He answered them not.

⁴² Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind; I emptied them out as the dirt and mire of the streets.

⁴³ You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; You made me the head of the nations; a people I had not known served me.

⁴⁴ As soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me; foreigners submitted themselves cringingly and yielded feigned obedience to me.

⁴⁵ Foreigners lost heart and came trembling out of their caves or strongholds.

⁴⁶ The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted,

⁴⁷ The God Who avenges me and subdues peoples under me,

⁴⁸ Who delivers me from my enemies; yes, You lift me up above those who rise up against me; You deliver me from the man of violence.

⁴⁹ Therefore will I give thanks and extol You, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to Your name.^(C)

⁵⁰ Great deliverances and triumphs gives He to His king; and He shows mercy and steadfast love to His anointed, to David and his offspring forever.^(D)