1 Samuel 23-25

1Now it was reported to David, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and looting the threshing floors.”

2So David inquired of the LORD, “Should I go and attack these Philistines?” And the LORD said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”

3But David’s men said to him, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”

4Once again, David inquired of the LORD, and the LORD answered him: “Go at once to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.”

5Then David and his men went to Keilah, fought against the Philistines, and carried off their livestock, striking them with a mighty blow. So David saved the people of Keilah.

6(Now Abiathar son of Ahimelech had brought the ephod with him when he fled to David at Keilah.)

7When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.”

8Then Saul summoned all his troops to go to war at Keilah and besiege David and his men.

9When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”

10And David said, “O LORD, God of Israel, Your servant has heard that Saul intends to come to Keilah and destroy the city on my account.

11Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? O LORD, God of Israel, please tell Your servant.” “He will,” said the LORD.

12So David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” “They will,” said the LORD.

13Then David and his men, about six hundred strong, set out and departed from Keilah, moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he declined to go forth.

14And David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God would not deliver David into his hand.

15While David was in Horesh in the Wilderness of Ziph, he saw that Saul had come out to take his life.

16And Saul’s son Jonathan came to David in Horesh and strengthened his hand in God,

17saying, “Do not be afraid, for my father Saul will never lay a hand on you. And you will be king over Israel, and I will be your second-in-command. Even my father Saul knows this is true.”

18So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home.

19Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon?

20Now, O king, come down whenever your soul desires, and we will be responsible for delivering him into your hand.”

21“May you be blessed by the LORD,” replied Saul, “for you have had compassion on me.

22Please go and prepare further. Investigate and watch carefully where he goes and who has seen him there, for I am told that he is extremely cunning.

23Observe and find out all the places where he hides. Then come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the clans of Judah.”

24So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Wilderness of Maon in the Arabah south of Jeshimon,

25and Saul and his men went to seek him. When David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard of this, he pursued David there.

26Saul was proceeding along one side of the mountain, and David and his men along the other side. Even though David was hurrying to get away, Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them.

27Then a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly, for the Philistines have raided the land!”

28So Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why that place is called Sela-hammahlekoth.

29And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En-gedi.

1After Saul had returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.”

2So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to look for David and his men in the region of the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

3Soon Saul came to the sheepfolds along the road, where there was a cave, and he went in to relieve himself. And David and his men were hiding in the recesses of the cave.

4So David’s men said to him, “This is the day about which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do with him as you wish.’” Then David crept up and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

5Afterward, David’s conscience was stricken because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

6So he said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed. May I never lift my hand against him, since he is the LORD’s anointed.”

7With these words David restrained his men, and he did not let them rise up against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and went on his way.

8After that, David got up, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed facedown in reverence

9and said to Saul, “Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Look, David intends to harm you’?

10Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the LORD delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my lord, since he is the LORD’s anointed.’

11See, my father, look at the corner of your robe in my hand. For I cut it off, but I did not kill you. Know and see that there is no evil or rebellion in my hands. I have not sinned against you, even though you are hunting me down to take my life.

12May the LORD judge between you and me, and may the LORD take vengeance on you, but my hand will never be against you.

13As the old proverb says, ‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.’ But my hand will never be against you.

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

15May the LORD be our judge and decide between you and me. May He take notice and plead my case and deliver me from your hand.”

16When David had finished saying these things, Saul called back, “Is that your voice, David my son?” Then Saul wept aloud

17and said to David, “You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, though I have rewarded you with evil.

18And you have declared this day how you have treated me well, for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.

19When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go away unharmed? May the LORD reward you with good for what you have done for me this day.

20Now I know for sure that you will be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands.

21So now, swear to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s house.”

22So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

1When Samuel died, all Israel gathered to mourn for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David set out and went down to the Wilderness of Paran.

2Now there was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. He was a very wealthy man with a thousand goats and three thousand sheep, which he was shearing in Carmel.

3His name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.

4While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.

5So David sent ten young men and instructed them, “Go up to Nabal at Carmel. Greet him in my name

6and say to him, ‘Long life to you, and peace to you and to your house and to all that belongs to you.

7Now I hear that it is time for shearing. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harass them, and nothing of theirs was missing the whole time they were in Carmel.

8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. So let my young men find favor with you, for we have come on the day of a feast. Please give whatever you can spare to your servants and to your son David.’”

9When David’s young men arrived, they relayed all these words to Nabal on behalf of David. Then they waited.

10But Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many servants these days are breaking away from their masters.

11Why should I take my bread and water and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give them to these men whose origin I do not know?”

12So David’s men turned around and went back, and they relayed to him all these words.

13And David said to his men, “Strap on your swords!” So David and all his men strapped on their swords, and about four hundred men followed David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

14Meanwhile, one of Nabal’s young men informed Nabal’s wife Abigail, “Look, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed at them.

15Yet these men were very good to us. When we were in the field, we were not harassed, and nothing of ours went missing the whole time we lived among them.

16They were a wall around us, both day and night, the whole time we were herding our sheep near them.

17Now consider carefully what you must do, because disaster looms over our master and all his household. For he is such a scoundrel that nobody can speak to him!”

18Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five butchered sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on donkeys

19and said to her young men, “Go ahead of me. I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20As Abigail came riding her donkey into a mountain ravine, she saw David and his men coming down toward her, and she met them.

21Now David had just said, “In vain I have protected all that belonged to this man in the wilderness. Nothing that belongs to him has gone missing, yet he has paid me back evil for good.

22May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one male belonging to Nabal survive until morning.”

23When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him.

24She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant.

25My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

26Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, since the LORD has held you back from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hand, may your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.

27Now let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow you.

28Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the LORD will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the LORD’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.

29And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the LORD your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.

30When the LORD has done for my lord all the good He promised, and when He has appointed you ruler over Israel,

31then my lord will have no remorse or guilt of conscience over needless bloodshed and revenge. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, may you remember your servant.”

32Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me this day!

33Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.

34Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”

35Then David accepted from her hand what she had brought him, and he said to her, “Go home in peace. See, I have heeded your voice and granted your request.”

36When Abigail returned to Nabal, there he was in the house, holding a feast fit for a king, in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until morning light.

37In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him, and he became like a stone.

38About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal dead.

39On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has upheld my cause against the reproach of Nabal and has restrained His servant from evil. For the LORD has brought the wickedness of Nabal down upon his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife.

40When his servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said, “David has sent us to take you as his wife.”

41She arose, bowed facedown, and said, “Here is your servant, ready to serve and to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

42So Abigail hurried and got on a donkey, and attended by five of her maidens, she followed David’s messengers and became his wife.

43David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So she and Abigail were both his wives.

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