1 Samuel 23–25

1David was told, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors.”

2Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go and strike these Philistines?” Yahweh said to David, “Go strike the Philistines, and save Keilah.”

3David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”

4Then David inquired of Yahweh yet again. Yahweh answered him, and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.”

5David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their livestock, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

6When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand.

7Saul was told that David had come to Keilah. Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he is shut in by entering into a town that has gates and bars.”

8Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

9David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him. He said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.”

10Then David said, “O Yahweh, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake.

11Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Yahweh, the God of Israel, I beg you, tell your servant.” Yahweh said, “He will come down.”

12Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?” Yahweh said, “They will deliver you up.”

13Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah and went wherever they could go. Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah; and he gave up going there.

14David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God didn’t deliver him into his hand.

15David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the woods.

16Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David into the woods, and strengthened his hand in God.

17He said to him, “Don’t be afraid, for the hand of Saul my father won’t find you; and you will be king over Israel, and I will be next to you; and Saul my father knows that also.”

18They both made a covenant before Yahweh. Then David stayed in the woods and Jonathan went to his house.

19Then the Ziphites came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert?

20Now therefore, O king, come down. According to all the desire of your soul to come down; and our part will be to deliver him up into the king’s hand.”

21Saul said, “You are blessed by Yahweh, for you have had compassion on me.

22Please go make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who has seen him there; for I have been told that he is very cunning.

23See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself; and come again to me with certainty, and I will go with you. It shall happen, if he is in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”

24They arose, and went to Ziph before Saul; but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert.

25Saul and his men went to seek him. When David was told, he went down to the rock, and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard that, he pursued David in the wilderness of Maon.

26Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain; and David hurried to get away for fear of Saul, for Saul and his men surrounded David and his men to take them.

27But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid on the land!”

28So Saul returned from pursuing David, and went against the Philistines. Therefore they called that place Sela Hammahlekoth.

29David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.

1When Saul had returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.”

2Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats.

3He came to the sheep pens by the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were staying in the innermost parts of the cave.

4David’s men said to him, “Behold, the day of which Yahweh 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 cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe secretly.

5Afterward, David’s heart struck him because he had cut off Saul’s skirt.

6He said to his men, “Yahweh forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, Yahweh’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is Yahweh’s anointed.”

7So David checked his men with these words, and didn’t allow them to rise against Saul. Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.

8David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave and cried after Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and showed respect.

9David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to men’s words, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to harm you’?

10Behold, today your eyes have seen how Yahweh had delivered you today into my hand in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is Yahweh’s anointed.’

11Moreover, my father, behold, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe and didn’t kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor disobedience in my hand. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt for my life to take it.

12May Yahweh judge between me and you, and may Yahweh avenge me of you; but my hand will not be on you.

13As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness;’ but my hand will not be on you.

14Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea?

15May Yahweh therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.”

16It came to pass, when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” Saul lifted up his voice and wept.

17He said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for you have done good to me, whereas I have done evil to you.

18You have declared today how you have dealt well with me, because when Yahweh had delivered me up into your hand, you didn’t kill me.

19For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away unharmed? Therefore may Yahweh reward you good for that which you have done to me today.

20Now, behold, I know that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand.

21Swear now therefore to me by Yahweh that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s house.”

22David swore to Saul. Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

1Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together and mourned for him, and buried him at his house at Ramah. Then David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran.

2There was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

3Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail. This woman was intelligent and had a beautiful face; but the man was surly and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb.

4David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.

5David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.

6Tell him, ‘Long life to you! Peace be to you! Peace be to your house! Peace be to all that you have!

7Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have now been with us, and we didn’t harm them. Nothing was missing from them all the time they were in Carmel.

8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let the young men find favor in your eyes, for we come on a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’”

9When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal all those words in the name of David, and waited.

10Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days.

11Shall I then take my bread, my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who I don’t know where they come from?”

12So David’s young men turned on their way and went back, and came and told him all these words.

13David said to his men, “Every man put on his sword!” Every man put on his sword. David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David, and two hundred stayed by the baggage.

14But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master; and he insulted them.

15But the men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, and we didn’t miss anything as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields.

16They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.

17Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master and against all his house, for he is such a worthless fellow that one can’t speak to him.”

18Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five seahs of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.

19She said to her young men, “Go on before me. Behold, I am coming after you.” But she didn’t tell her husband, Nabal.

20As she rode on her donkey, and came down hidden by the mountain, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them.

21Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good.

22God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.”

23When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got off her donkey, and fell before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground.

24She fell at his feet and said, “On me, my lord, on me be the blame! Please let your servant speak in your ears. Hear the words of your servant.

25Please don’t let my lord pay attention to this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, didn’t see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

26Now therefore, my lord, as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, since Yahweh has withheld you from blood guiltiness and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies and those who seek evil to my lord be as Nabal.

27Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.

28Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For Yahweh will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights Yahweh’s battles. Evil will not be found in you all your days.

29Though men may rise up to pursue you and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord will be bound in the bundle of life with Yahweh your God. He will sling out the souls of your enemies as from a sling’s pocket.

30It will come to pass, when Yahweh has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Israel,

31that this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. When Yahweh has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant.”

32David said to Abigail, “Blessed is Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me!

33Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, who have kept me today from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand.

34For indeed, as Yahweh the God of Israel lives, who has withheld me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn’t have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.”

35So David received from her hand that which she had brought him. Then he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. Behold, I have listened to your voice and have granted your request.”

36Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light.

37In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things; and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

38About ten days later, Yahweh struck Nabal, so that he died.

39When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed is Yahweh, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. Yahweh has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to himself as wife.

40When David’s servants had come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife.”

41She arose and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, “Behold, your servant is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”

42Abigail hurriedly arose and rode on a donkey with her five maids who followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

43David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they both became his wives.

44Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.