Chronological

28 ¶ And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight against Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know for certain, that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men.

² And David said to Achish, Surely thou shalt know what thy slave can do. And Achish said to David, Therefore, I will make thee keeper of my head all the days.

³ Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah in his own city. And Saul had removed the spiritists and the diviners out of the land.

⁴ And the Philistines gathered themselves together and came and pitched camp in Shunem, and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched camp in Gilboa.

⁵ And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.

⁶ And Saul enquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams nor by Urim nor by prophets.

⁷ ¶ Then Saul said unto his slaves, Seek me a woman that is a spiritist that I may go to her and enquire of her. And his slaves said to him, Behold, there is a woman that is a spiritist at Endor.

⁸ And Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing, and he went with two men, and they came to the woman by night; and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by spiritism and bring me him up whom I shall name unto thee.

⁹ And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul has done, how he has cut off the spiritists and the diviners out of the land; why then dost thou lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?

¹⁰ And Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD lives, no iniquity shall come upon thee for this thing.

¹¹ Then the woman said, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.

¹² And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul.

¹³ And the king said unto her, Do not be afraid. What didst thou see? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods rising out of the land.

¹⁴ And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man comes, and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and worshipped.

¹⁵ ¶ And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am sore distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me and no longer answers me neither by prophets nor by dreams; therefore, I have called thee that thou may make known unto me what I shall do.

¹⁶ Then Samuel said, Why then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thy enemy?

¹⁷ The LORD, therefore, has done as he spoke by me! For the LORD has rent the kingdom out of thy hand and given it to thy neighbour, even to David.

¹⁸ Because thou didst not hearken unto the voice of the LORD nor execute his fierce wrath upon Amalek; therefore, the LORD has done this thing unto thee today.

¹⁹ And the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me; the LORD shall also deliver the camp of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

²⁰ ¶ Then Saul, as great as he was, fell suddenly to the earth and was sore afraid because of the words of Samuel; and there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all that day nor all that night.

²¹ And the woman came unto Saul and saw that he was sore troubled and said unto him, Behold, thy handmaid has heard thy voice, and I have put my soul in my hand and have hearkened unto thy words which thou didst speak unto me.

²² Now, therefore, I pray thee, hearken thou also unto the voice of thy handmaid and let me set a morsel of bread before thee; and eat, that thou may have strength, and go on thy way.

²³ But he refused and said, I will not eat. But his slaves, together with the woman, compelled him, and he hearkened unto their voice. So he arose from the ground and sat upon a bed.

²⁴ And the woman had a fat calf in the house, and she hastened and killed it and took flour and kneaded it and baked unleavened bread with it.

²⁵ And she brought it before Saul and before his slaves, and after they ate, they rose up and went away that night.

29 ¶ Now the Philistines gathered together all their camps to Aphek, and the Israelites pitched camp by a fountain which is in Jezreel. {Heb. God scatters}

² And as the cardinals of the Philistines reviewed their companies of hundreds and of thousands, David and his men were in the rear with Achish.

³ Then the princes of the Philistines said, What are these Hebrews doing here? And Achish replied unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the slave of Saul, the king of Israel, who has been with me these days or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day?

⁴ Then the princes of the Philistines were angry with him, and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him and not come with us to the battle lest in the battle he be an adversary to us, for with what should he return to the good graces of his master than with the heads of these men?

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

⁶ ¶ Then Achish called David and said unto him, Surely, as the LORD lives, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the camp is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day; nevertheless, thou art not good in the eyes of the cardinals.

⁷ Therefore, now return and go in peace that thou not do evil in the eyes of the cardinals of the Philistines.

⁸ And David replied unto Achish, But what have I done? And what hast thou found in thy slave so long as I have been with thee unto this day that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

⁹ And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight as an angel of God; notwithstanding, the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.

¹⁰ Therefore, now rise up early in the morning with thy master’s slaves that are come with thee, and as soon as ye are up early in the morning and it is light, depart.

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

30 ¶ And it came to pass when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the Negev and Ziklag and had smitten Ziklag and burned it with fire.

² And they had taken the women captives that were therein, from the youngest to the oldest; they did not kill any but carried them away and went on their way.

³ So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives.

⁴ Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep.

⁵ And David’s two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail, who had been the wife of Nabal of Carmel.

⁶ And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of all the people was bitter, each one for his sons and for his daughters; but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

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

⁸ And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue; for thou shalt surely overtake them and without fail recover all.

⁹ So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where some stayed behind.

¹⁰ But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.

¹¹ And they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave him bread to eat and water to drink,

¹² and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two bunches of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him, for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.

¹³ And David said unto him, To whom dost thou belong and where art thou from? And the young Egyptian said, I am the slave to an Amalekite, and my master left me three days ago because I was sick.

¹⁴ We made an invasion upon towards the Negev from the Chereth and upon Judah and towards the Negev from Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.

¹⁵ And David said to him, Wilt thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.

¹⁶ And so he brought him down, and behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and holding a feast because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines and out of the land of Judah.

¹⁷ And David smote them from the morning twilight even unto the evening of the next day, and none of them escaped except four hundred young men who rode upon camels and fled.

¹⁸ And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David delivered his two wives.

¹⁹ And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great neither sons nor daughters, of the robbery and of all the things that had been taken from them; David recovered it all.

²⁰ And David took all the sheep and the cows, and bringing them with all the other livestock, they said, This is David’s spoil.

²¹ ¶ And David came to the two hundred men who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to remain at the brook Besor, and they went forth to meet David and to meet the people that were with him, and when David came near to the people, he saluted them with peace.

²² Then all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, answered and said, Because they did not go with us, we will not give them of the spoil that we have recovered, except to each man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart.

²³ Then David said, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the LORD has given us, who has kept us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand.

²⁴ For who will hearken unto you in this matter? For as his part is that goes down to the battle, so shall his part be that remains by the stuff; they shall part alike.

²⁵ And it was so from that day forward that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.

²⁶ And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, his friends, saying, Behold a blessing for you of the spoil of the enemies of the LORD:

²⁷ to those who were in Bethel and to those who were in Ramoth towards the Negev and to those who were in Jattir

²⁸ and to those who were in Aroer and to those who were in Siphmoth and to those who were in Eshtemoa

²⁹ and to those who were in Rachal and to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites and to those who were in the cities of the Kenites

³⁰ and to those who were in Hormah and to those who were in Chorashan and to those who were in Athach

³¹ and to those who were in Hebron and in all the places where David had been with his men.

31 ¶ Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell down slain in Mount Gilboa.

² And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons, and the Philistines slew Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, Saul’s sons.

³ And the battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers found him, and he was sore afraid of the archers.

⁴ Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword and thrust me through with it lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not, for he was sore afraid. Therefore, Saul took his sword and fell upon it.

⁵ And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword and died with him.

⁶ So Saul died and his three sons and his armourbearer and all his men that same day together.

⁷ And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley and those that were on the other side of the Jordan saw that the men of Israel 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 ¶ And it came to pass on the next day when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in Mount Gilboa.

⁹ And they cut off his head and stripped off his weapons and sent them into the land of the Philistines round about to publish it in the house of their idols and among the people.

¹⁰ And they put his weapons in the house of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Bethshan.

¹¹ And when the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul,

¹² all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan and came to Jabesh and burnt them there.

¹³ And they took their bones and buried them under a tree at Jabesh and fasted seven days.1

To the Overcomer, A Psalm of David, the slave of the LORD, who spoke unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,

¹ ¶ I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.

² The LORD is my rock and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

³ I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies.

⁴ The pain of death compassed me, and the rivers of Belial made me afraid.

⁵ The pain of Sheol compassed me about: the snares of death came before me.

⁶ In my distress I called upon the LORD and cried unto my God; he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.

⁷ Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of the mountains collapsed and were removed because he was wroth.

⁸ Smoke went up out of his nostrils, and fire devoured out of his mouth; coals were kindled by it.

⁹ He lowered the heavens and came down; and darkness was under his feet.

¹⁰ And he rode upon a cherub and flew: yea, he flew upon the wings of the wind.

¹¹ He made darkness his hiding place; in his tabernacle round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the heavens.

¹² At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.

¹³ The LORD thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

¹⁴ He sent out his arrows and scattered them; he shot out lightnings and destroyed them.

¹⁵ Then the depths of the waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

¹⁶ He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.

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

¹⁸ They were ready for me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my staff.

¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a wide place; he delivered me because he delighted in me.

²⁰ ¶ The LORD will reward me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he shall recompense me.

²¹ Because I have kept the ways of the LORD and did not become wicked departing in apostasy from my God.

²² For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.

²³ I was perfect before him, and I kept myself from my iniquity.

²⁴ Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes.

²⁵ With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful; with a perfect man thou wilt show thyself perfect;

²⁶ with the pure thou wilt show thyself pure; and with the perverse thou wilt show thyself adversary.

²⁷ Therefore thou wilt save the humble people; but wilt bring down high looks.

²⁸ For thou wilt light my fire: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.

²⁹ ¶ For with thee I have scattered armies; and in my God I have overcome walled defenses.

³⁰ As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is precise: a shield to all those that wait in him.

³¹ For who is God except the LORD? or who is a refuge except our God?

³² It is God that girds me with strength and makes my way perfect.

³³ He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and sets me upon my high places.

³⁴ He trains my hands for the battle, so that a bow of bronze shall be broken by my arms.

³⁵ In the same manner thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand will hold me up, and thy meekness shall multiply me.

³⁶ Thou shall enlarge my steps under me, and my knees shall not tremble.

³⁷ I shall pursue my enemies and overtake them: neither shall I turn again until they are consumed.

³⁸ I shall smite them, and they will not be able to rise: they shall fall under my feet.

³⁹ For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued my enemies under me.

⁴⁰ Thou hast also given me the necks of my enemies that I might destroy those that hate me.

⁴¹ They cried out, but there was no one to save them: even unto the LORD, but he did not answer them.

⁴² Then I beat them as small as the dust before the wind: I scattered them as the dirt in the streets.

⁴³ Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people; and thou hast made me the head of the Gentiles: a people whom I did not know served me.

⁴⁴ As soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me: the sons of strangers submitted themselves unto me even against their will.

⁴⁵ The strangers fell away and were afraid in their close places.

⁴⁶ The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.

⁴⁷ It is God that avenges me and subdues the peoples under me.

⁴⁸ He delivers me from my enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the one who would betray me.

⁴⁹ Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the Gentiles and sing praises unto thy name.

⁵⁰ He gives great deliverance to his king and shows mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.