1 Samuel 29:1 The Philistines brought all their military units together at Aphek while Israel was camped by the spring in Jezreel.
1 Samuel 29:2 As the Philistine leaders were passing in review with their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men were passing in review behind them with Achish.
1 Samuel 29:3 Then the Philistine commanders asked, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” Achish answered the Philistine commanders, “That is David, slave of King Saul of Israel. He has been with me a considerable period of time. From the day he defected until today, I’ve found no fault with him.”
1 Samuel 29:4 The Philistine commanders, however, were enraged with Achish and told him, “Send that man back and let him return to the place you assigned him. He must not go down with us into battle only to become our adversary during the battle. What better way could he ingratiate himself with his master than with the heads of our men?
1 Samuel 29:5 Isn’t this the David they sing about during their dances: Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands?”
1 Samuel 29:6 So Achish summoned David and told him, “As Yahveh lives, you are an honorable man. I think it is good to have you fighting in this unit with me, because I have found no fault in you from the day you came to me until today. But the leaders don’t think you are reliable.
1 Samuel 29:7 Now go back quietly and you won’t be doing anything the Philistine leaders think is wrong.”
1 Samuel 29:8 “But what have I done?” David replied to Achish. “From the first day I entered your service until today, what have you found against your slave to keep me from going to fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”
1 Samuel 29:9 Achish answered David, “I’m convinced that you are as reliable as an angel of God. But the Philistine commanders have said, ‘He must not go into battle with us.’
1 Samuel 29:10 So get up early in the morning, you and your masters’ slaves who came with you. When you’ve all gotten up early, go as soon as it’s light.”
1 Samuel 29:11 So David and his men got up early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
1 Samuel 28:1 At that time, the Philistines gathered their military units into one army to fight against Israel. So Achish said to David, “You know, of course, that you and your men must march out in the army with me.”
1 Samuel 28:2 David replied to Achish, “Good, you will find out what your slave can do.” So Achish said to David, “Very well, I will appoint you as my permanent bodyguard.”
1 Samuel 28:3 By this time Samuel had died, all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his city, and Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.
1 Samuel 28:4 The Philistines gathered and camped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel, and they camped at Gilboa.
1 Samuel 28:5 When Saul saw the Philistine camp, he was afraid and his heart pounded.
1 Samuel 28:6 He inquired of Yahveh, but Yahveh did not answer him in dreams or by the Lights[1] or by the prophets.
1 Samuel 28:7 Saul then said to his slaves, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I can go and consult her.” His servants replied, “Notice, there is a woman at En-dor who is a medium.”
1 Samuel 28:8 Saul disguised himself by putting on different clothes and set out with two of his men. They came to the woman at night, and Saul said, “Consult a spirit for me. Bring up for me the one I tell you.”
1 Samuel 28:9 But the woman said to him, “I notice that you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why are you setting a trap for my throat to get me killed?”
1 Samuel 28:10 Then Saul swore to her by Yahveh: “As surely as Yahveh lives, no punishment will come to you from this.”
1 Samuel 28:11 “Who is it that you want me to bring up for you?” the woman asked. “Bring up Samuel for me,” he answered.
1 Samuel 28:12 When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed, and then she asked Saul, “Why did you deceive me? You are Saul!”
1 Samuel 28:13 But the king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?” “I see a spirit form coming up out of the ground,” the woman answered.
1 Samuel 28:14 Then Saul asked her, “What does he look like?” “An old man is coming up,” she replied. “He’s wearing a robe.” Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he knelt low with his face to the ground and paid homage.
1 Samuel 28:15 “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Samuel asked Saul. “I’m in serious trouble,” replied Saul. “The Philistines are fighting against me and God has turned away from me. He doesn’t answer me anymore, either through the prophets or in dreams. So I’ve called on you to tell me what I should do.”
1 Samuel 28:16 Samuel answered, “Since Yahveh has turned away from you and has become your enemy, why are you asking me?
1 Samuel 28:17 Yahveh has done exactly what he said through me: Yahveh has torn the kingship out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David.
1 Samuel 28:18 You did not obey Yahveh and did not carry out his burning anger against Amalek; therefore Yahveh has done this to you today.
1 Samuel 28:19 Yahveh will also hand Israel over to the Philistines along with you. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me, and Yahveh will hand Israel’s army over to the Philistines.”
1 Samuel 28:20 Immediately, Saul fell flat on the ground. He was terrified by Samuel’s words and was also weak because he had not eaten anything all day and all night.
1 Samuel 28:21 The woman came over to Saul, and she saw that he was terrified and said to him, “Notice, your servant has obeyed you. I took my throat in my hands and did what you told me to do.
1 Samuel 28:22 Now please listen to your servant. Let me set some food in front of you. Eat and it will give you strength so you can go on your way.”
1 Samuel 28:23 He refused, saying, “I won’t eat,” but when his slaves and the woman urged him, he listened to them. He got up off the ground and sat on the bed.
1 Samuel 28:24 The woman had a fattened calf at her house, and she quickly slaughtered it. She also took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread.
1 Samuel 28:25 She served it to Saul and his slaves, and they ate. Afterward, they got up and left that night.
1 Samuel 27:1 David said to himself, “One of these days I’ll be swept away by Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape immediately to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me everywhere in Israel, and I’ll escape from him.”
1 Samuel 27:2 So David set out with his six hundred men and went over to Achish son of Maoch, the king of Gath.
1 Samuel 27:3 David and his men stayed with Achish in Gath. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.
1 Samuel 27:4 When it was reported to Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.
1 Samuel 27:5 Now David said to Achish, “If I have found favor with you, let me be given a place in one of the outlying towns, so I can live there. Why should your slave live in the royal city with you?”
1 Samuel 27:6 That day Achish gave Ziklag to him, and it still belongs to the kings of Judah today.
1 Samuel 27:7 The length of time that David stayed in Philistine territory amounted to a year and four months.
1 Samuel 27:8 David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. From ancient times they had been the inhabitants of the region through Shur as far as the land of Egypt.
1 Samuel 27:9 Whenever David attacked the land, he did not leave a single person alive, either man or woman, but he took flocks, herds, donkeys, camels, and clothing. Then he came back to Achish,
1 Samuel 27:10 who inquired, “Where did you raid today?” David replied, “The south country of Judah,” “The south country of the Jerahmeelites,” or “The south country of the Kenites.”
1 Samuel 27:11 David did not let a man or woman live to be brought to Gath, for he said, “Or they will inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.'” This was David’s custom during the whole time he stayed in the Philistine territory.
1 Samuel 27:12 So Achish trusted David, thinking, “Since he has made himself repulsive to his people Israel, he will be my slave forever.”
1 Samuel 26:1 Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah saying, “David is hiding on the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon.”
1 Samuel 26:2 So Saul, accompanied by three thousand of the fit young men of Israel, went immediately to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there.
1 Samuel 26:3 Saul camped beside the road at the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon. David was living in the wilderness and discovered Saul had come there after him.
1 Samuel 26:4 So David sent out spies and knew for certain that Saul had come.
1 Samuel 26:5 Immediately, David went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of his army, were lying down. Saul was lying inside the inner circle of the camp with the troops camped around him.
1 Samuel 26:6 Then David asked Ahimelech the Hethite and Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, “Who will go with me into the camp to Saul?” “I’ll go with you,” answered Abishai.
1 Samuel 26:7 That night, David and Abishai came to the troops, and noticed Saul lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and the troops were lying around him.
1 Samuel 26:8 Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy to you. Let me thrust the spear through him into the ground just once. I won’t have to strike him twice!”
1 Samuel 26:9 But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him, for who can lift a hand against Yahveh’s anointed and be innocent?”
1 Samuel 26:10 David added, “As Yahveh lives, Yahveh will certainly strike him down: either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.
1 Samuel 26:11 However, because of Yahveh, I will never lift my hand against Yahveh’s anointed. Instead, take the spear and the water jug by his head, and let’s go.”
1 Samuel 26:12 So David took the spear and the water jug by Saul’s head, and they went their way. No one saw them, no one knew, and no one woke up; they all remained asleep because a deep sleep from Yahveh came over them.
1 Samuel 26:13 David crossed to the other side and stood on top of the mountain at a distance; there was a considerable space between them.
1 Samuel 26:14 Then David shouted to the troops and to Abner son of Ner: “Aren’t you going to answer, Abner?” “Who are you who calls to the king?” Abner asked.
1 Samuel 26:15 David called to Abner, “You’re a man, aren’t you? Who in Israel is your equal? So why didn’t you protect your lord the king when one of the people came to destroy him?
1 Samuel 26:16 What you have done is not good. As Yahveh lives, all of you deserve to die since you didn’t protect your lord, Yahveh’s anointed. Now look around; where are the king’s spear and water jug that were by his head?”
1 Samuel 26:17 Saul recognized David’s voice and asked, “Is that your voice, my son David?” “It is my voice, my lord and king,” David said.
1 Samuel 26:18 Then he continued, “Why is my lord pursuing his slave? What have I done? What crime have I committed?
1 Samuel 26:19 Now, may my lord the king please hear the words of his slave: If it is Yahveh who has incited you against me, then may he accept an offering. But if it is people, may they be cursed in the presence of Yahveh, for today they have banished me from sharing in the inheritance of Yahveh saying, ‘Go and worship other gods.’
1 Samuel 26:20 So don’t let my blood fall to the ground far from Yahveh’s presence, for the king of Israel has come out to search for a single flea, like one who pursues a partridge in the mountains.”
1 Samuel 26:21 Saul responded, “I have sinned. Come back, my son David, I will never harm you again because today you considered my throat precious. Notice I have been a fool! I’ve committed a grave error.”
1 Samuel 26:22 David answered, “Notice the king’s spear; have one of the boys come over and get it.
1 Samuel 26:23 Yahveh will repay every man for his righteousness and his loyalty. I wasn’t willing to lift my hand against Yahveh’s anointed, even though Yahveh handed you over to me today.
1 Samuel 26:24 Notice, Just as I considered your throat valuable today, so may Yahveh consider my throat valuable and rescue me from all trouble.”
1 Samuel 26:25 Saul said to him, “You are blessed, my son David. You will certainly do great things and will also prevail.” Then David went on his way, and Saul returned home.
1 Samuel 25:1 Samuel died, and all Israel assembled to mourn for him, and they buried him by his home in Ramah. David then went down to the Wilderness of Paran.
1 Samuel 25:2 A man in Maon had a business in Carmel; he was a very rich man with three thousand sheep and one thousand goats and was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
1 Samuel 25:3 The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name, Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, but the man, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.
1 Samuel 25:4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep,
1 Samuel 25:5 so David sent ten boys instructing them, “Go up to Carmel, and when you come to Nabal, greet him in my name.
1 Samuel 25:6 Then say this: ‘Long life to you, and peace to you, peace to your family, and peace to all that is yours.
1 Samuel 25:7 I hear that you are 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.
1 Samuel 25:8 Ask your boys, and they will tell you. So let my boys find favor with you, for we have come on a feast day. Please give whatever you have on hand to your slaves and to your son David.'”
1 Samuel 25:9 David’s boys went and said all these things to Nabal on David’s behalf, and they waited.
1 Samuel 25:10 Nabal asked them, “Who is David? Who is Jesse’s son? Many slaves these days are running away from their masters.
1 Samuel 25:11 Am I supposed to take my bread, my water, and my meat that I butchered for my shearers and give them to these men? I don’t know where they are from.”
1 Samuel 25:12 David’s boys retraced their steps. When they returned to him, they reported all these words.
1 Samuel 25:13 He said to his men, “All of you, put on your swords!” So each man put on his sword, and David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David while two hundred stayed with the supplies.
1 Samuel 25:14 One of Nabal’s boys informed Abigail, Nabal’s wife: “Notice, David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he screamed at them.
1 Samuel 25:15 The men treated us very well. When we were in the field, we weren’t harassed and nothing of ours was missing the whole time we were living among them.
1 Samuel 25:16 They were a wall around us, both day and night, the entire time we were with them herding the sheep.
1 Samuel 25:17 Now consider carefully what you should do, because there is certain to be trouble for our master and his entire family. He is such a worthless fool nobody can talk to him!”
1 Samuel 25:18 Abigail hurried, taking two hundred loaves of bread, two clay jars of wine, five butchered sheep, a bushel of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on donkeys.
1 Samuel 25:19 Then she said to her boys, “Go ahead of me. Notice I will be right behind you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
1 Samuel 25:20 As she rode the donkey down a mountain pass hidden from view, she noticed David and his men coming toward her and met them.
1 Samuel 25:21 David had just said, “I guarded everything that belonged to this man in the wilderness for nothing. He was not missing anything, yet he paid me back evil for good.
1 Samuel 25:22 May God punish me and do so severely if I let any of his males survive until morning.”
1 Samuel 25:23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey and knelt down with her face to the ground and paid homage to David.
1 Samuel 25:24 She knelt at his feet and said, “The guilt is mine, my lord, but please let your servant speak to you directly. Listen to the words of your servant.
1 Samuel 25:25 My lord should pay no attention to this worthless fool Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means ‘stupid,’ and stupidity is all he knows. I, your female slave, didn’t see my lord’s boys whom you sent.
1 Samuel 25:26 Now my lord, as surely as Yahveh lives and as your throat lives — it is Yahveh who kept you from participating in bloodshed and avenging yourself by your own hand– may your enemies and those who intend to harm my lord be like Nabal.
1 Samuel 25:27 Let this gift your female slave has brought to my lord be given to the boys who follow my lord.
1 Samuel 25:28 Please forgive your servant’s offense, for Yahveh is certain to make a lasting dynasty for my lord because he fights Yahveh’s battles. Throughout your life, may evil not be found in you.
1 Samuel 25:29 “Someone is pursuing you and seeks your throat. My lord’s throat is tucked safely in the place where Yahveh your God protects the living, but he is flinging away your enemies’ throats like stones from a sling.
1 Samuel 25:30 When Yahveh does for my lord all the good he promised you and appoints you ruler over Israel,
1 Samuel 25:31 there will not be remorse or a troubled conscience for my lord because of needless bloodshed or my lord’s revenge. And when Yahveh does good things for my lord, may you remember me your servant.”
1 Samuel 25:32 Then David said to Abigail, “Blessed be Yahveh God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!
1 Samuel 25:33 May your discernment be blessed, and may you be blessed. Today you kept me from participating in bloodshed and avenging myself by my own hand.
1 Samuel 25:34 Otherwise, as surely as Yahveh God of Israel lives, who prevented me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, Nabal wouldn’t have had any males left by morning light.”
1 Samuel 25:35 Then David accepted what she had brought him and said, “Go home in peace. See, I have heard what you said and have granted your request.”
1 Samuel 25:36 Then Abigail went to Nabal, and noticed him in his house, holding a feast fit for a king. Nabal’s heart was cheerful, and he was very drunk, so she didn’t say anything to him until morning light.
1 Samuel 25:37 In the morning when Nabal sobered up, his wife told him about these events. His heart died and he became a stone.
1 Samuel 25:38 About ten days later, Yahveh struck Nabal dead.
1 Samuel 25:39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be Yahveh who championed my cause against Nabal’s insults and restrained his slave from doing evil. Yahveh brought Nabal’s evil deeds back on his own head.” Then David sent messengers to speak to Abigail about marrying him.
1 Samuel 25:40 When David’s slaves came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David sent us to bring you to him as a wife.”
1 Samuel 25:41 She stood up, paid homage with her face to the ground, and said, “Notice me, your female slave, a maid to wash the feet of my lord’s slaves.”
1 Samuel 25:42 Then Abigail got up quickly, and with her five female slaves accompanying her, rode on the donkey following David’s messengers. And so she became his wife.
1 Samuel 25:43 David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and the two of them became his wives.
1 Samuel 25:44 But Saul gave his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
jeffersonvann 