1 Samuel 21:1 David went to the priest Ahimelech at Nob. Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?”
1 Samuel 21:2 David answered the priest Ahimelech, “The king gave me a mission, but he told me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or what I have ordered you to do.’ I have stationed my boys at a certain place.
1 Samuel 21:3 Now what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever can be found.”
1 Samuel 21:4 The priest told him, “There is no ordinary bread on hand. However, there is consecrated bread, but the boys may eat it only if they have kept themselves from women.”
1 Samuel 21:5 David answered him, “I swear that women are being kept from us, as always when I go out to battle. The boys’ bodies are consecrated even on an ordinary mission, so of course their bodies are consecrated today.”
1 Samuel 21:6 So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, for there was no bread there except the Bread of the Presence that had been removed from the presence of Yahveh. When the bread was removed, it had been replaced with warm bread.
1 Samuel 21:7 One of Saul’s slaves, detained before Yahveh, was there that day. His name was Doeg the Edomite, chief of Saul’s shepherds.
1 Samuel 21:8 David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword on hand? I didn’t even bring my sword or my weapons since the king’s mission was urgent.”
1 Samuel 21:9 The priest replied, “Notice, the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, then take it, for there isn’t another one here.” “There’s none like it!” David said. “Give it to me.”
1 Samuel 21:10 David fled that day from Saul’s presence and went to King Achish of Gath.
1 Samuel 21:11 But Achish’s slaves said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Don’t they sing about him during their dances: Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands?”
1 Samuel 21:12 David took this to heart and became very afraid of King Achish of Gath,
1 Samuel 21:13 so he pretended to be insane in their presence. He acted like a madman around them, scribbling on the doors of the city gate and letting saliva run down his beard.
1 Samuel 21:14 “Notice! You can see the man is crazy,” Achish said to his slaves. “Why did you bring him to me?
1 Samuel 21:15 Do I have such a shortage of crazy people that you brought this one to act crazy around me? Is this one going to come into my house?”
1 Samuel 20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What did I do wrong? How have I sinned against your father so that he wants to take my throat?”
1 Samuel 20:2 Jonathan said to him, “No, you won’t die. Notice, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This can’t be true.”
1 Samuel 20:3 But David said, “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor with you. He has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or else he will be grieved.'” David also swore, “As surely as Yahveh lives and as your throat lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
1 Samuel 20:4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”
1 Samuel 20:5 So David told him, “Notice, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I’m supposed to sit down and eat with the king. Instead, let me go, and I’ll hide in the countryside for the next two nights.
1 Samuel 20:6 If your father misses me at all, say, ‘David urgently requested my permission to go quickly to his hometown Bethlehem for an annual sacrifice there involving the whole clan.’
1 Samuel 20:7 If he says, ‘Good,’ then your slave is safe, but if he becomes angry, you will know he has evil intentions.
1 Samuel 20:8 Deal kindly with your slave, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before Yahveh. If I have done anything wrong, then kill me yourself; why take me to your father?”
1 Samuel 20:9 “No!” Jonathan responded. “If I ever find out my father has evil intentions against you, wouldn’t I tell you about it?”
1 Samuel 20:10 So David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
1 Samuel 20:11 He answered David, “Come on, let’s go out to the countryside.” So both of them went out to the countryside.
1 Samuel 20:12 “By Yahveh, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. Notice, if I find out that he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you?
1 Samuel 20:13 If my father intends to bring evil on you, may God punish Jonathan and do so severely if I do not tell you and send you away so you may leave safely. May Yahveh be with you, just as he was with my father.
1 Samuel 20:14 If I continue to live, show me kindness from Yahveh, but if I die,
1 Samuel 20:15 don’t ever withdraw your kindness from my household– not even when Yahveh cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the land.”
1 Samuel 20:16 Then Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May Yahveh hold David’s enemies accountable.”
1 Samuel 20:17 Jonathan once again swore to David in his love for him, because he loved him as he loved his throat.
1 Samuel 20:18 Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the New Moon; you’ll be missed because your seat will be empty.
1 Samuel 20:19 The following day hurry down and go to the place where you hid on the day this incident began and stay beside the rock Ezel.
1 Samuel 20:20 I will shoot three arrows beside it as if I’m aiming at a target.
1 Samuel 20:21 Then, notice, I will send a boy and say, ‘Go and find the arrows! ‘ Now, if I expressly say to the servant, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you– get them,’ then come, because as Yahveh lives, it is safe for you and there is no problem.
1 Samuel 20:22 But if I say this to the youth, Notice, the arrows are beyond you! ‘ then go, for Yahveh is sending you away.
1 Samuel 20:23 As for the matter you and I have spoken about, Ynotice, Yahveh will be a witness between you and me forever.”
1 Samuel 20:24 So David hid in the countryside. At the New Moon, the king sat down to eat the meal.
1 Samuel 20:25 He sat at his usual place on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat facing him and Abner took his place beside Saul, but David’s place was empty.
1 Samuel 20:26 Saul did not say anything that day because he thought, “Something unexpected has happened; he must be ceremonially unclean– yes, that’s it, he is unclean.”
1 Samuel 20:27 However, the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why didn’t Jesse’s son come to the meal either yesterday or today?”
1 Samuel 20:28 Jonathan answered, “David asked for my permission to go to Bethlehem.
1 Samuel 20:29 He said, ‘Please let me go because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the town, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if I have found favor with you, let me go so I can see my brothers.’ That’s why he didn’t come to the king’s table.”
1 Samuel 20:30 Then Saul became angry with Jonathan and shouted, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you are siding with Jesse’s son to your own shame and to the disgrace of your mother?
1 Samuel 20:31 Every day Jesse’s son lives on land you and your kingship are not secure. Now send for him and bring him to me– he must die!”
1 Samuel 20:32 Jonathan answered his father back: “Why is he to be killed? What has he done?”
1 Samuel 20:33 Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan to kill him, so he knew that his father was determined to kill David.
1 Samuel 20:34 He got up from the table fiercely angry and did not eat any food that second day of the New Moon, for he was grieved because of his father’s shameful behavior toward David.
1 Samuel 20:35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the countryside for the appointed meeting with David. A little boy was with him.
1 Samuel 20:36 He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I’m shooting.” As the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.
1 Samuel 20:37 The boy came to the location of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, but Jonathan called to him and said, “The arrow is beyond you, isn’t it?”
1 Samuel 20:38 Then Jonathan called to him, “Hurry up and don’t stop!” Jonathan’s boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master.
1 Samuel 20:39 He did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement.
1 Samuel 20:40 Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the boy who was with him and said, “Go, take it back to the city.”
1 Samuel 20:41 When the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone Ezel, fell facedown to the ground, and payed homage three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept with each other, though David wept more.
1 Samuel 20:42 Jonathan then said to David, “Go in the assurance the two of us pledged in the name of Yahveh when we said: Yahveh will be a witness between you and me and between my offspring and your offspring forever.” Then David left, and Jonathan went into the city.
1 Samuel 19:1 Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his slaves to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much,
1 Samuel 19:2 so he told him: “My father Saul intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning and hide in a secret place and stay there.
1 Samuel 19:3 I’ll go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are and talk to him about you. When I see what he says, I’ll tell you.”
1 Samuel 19:4 Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul. He said to him: “The king should not sin against his slave David. He hasn’t sinned against you; in fact, his actions have been a great advantage to you.
1 Samuel 19:5 He took his throat in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and Yahveh brought about a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”
1 Samuel 19:6 Saul listened to Jonathan’s advice and swore an oath: “As surely as Yahveh lives, David will not be killed.”
1 Samuel 19:7 So Jonathan summoned David and told him all these words. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served him as he did before.
1 Samuel 19:8 When war broke out again, David went out and fought against the Philistines. He defeated them with such great force that they fled from him.
1 Samuel 19:9 Now an evil breath sent from Yahveh came on Saul as he was sitting in his palace holding a spear. David was playing the lyre,
1 Samuel 19:10 and Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear. As the spear struck the wall, David eluded Saul, ran away, and escaped that night.
1 Samuel 19:11 Saul sent agents to David’s house to watch for him and kill him in the morning. But his wife Michal warned David, “If you don’t save your throat tonight, you will be dead tomorrow!”
1 Samuel 19:12 So she lowered David from the window, and he fled and escaped.
1 Samuel 19:13 Then Michal took the household idol and put it on the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.
1 Samuel 19:14 When Saul sent agents to seize David, Michal said, “He’s sick.”
1 Samuel 19:15 Saul sent the agents back to see David and said, “Bring him on his bed so I can kill him.”
1 Samuel 19:16 When the agents arrived, they noticed the household idol was on the bed with some goat hair on its head.
1 Samuel 19:17 Saul asked Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away, and he has escaped!” She answered him, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you? ‘”
1 Samuel 19:18 So David fled and escaped and went to Samuel at Ramah and told him everything Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel left and stayed at Naioth.
1 Samuel 19:19 When they told Saul “Notice, David is at Naioth in Ramah”,
1 Samuel 19:20 he sent agents to seize David. However, when they saw the group of prophets prophesying with Samuel leading them, the Breath of God came on Saul’s agents, and they also started prophesying.
1 Samuel 19:21 When they reported to Saul, he sent other agents, and they also began prophesying. So Saul tried again and sent a third group of agents, and even they began prophesying.
1 Samuel 19:22 Then Saul himself went to Ramah. He came to the large cistern at Secu and asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” “Notice, at Naioth in Ramah,” someone said.
1 Samuel 19:23 So he went to Naioth in Ramah. The Breath of God also came on him, and as he walked along, he prophesied until he entered Naioth in Ramah.
1 Samuel 19:24 Saul then removed his clothes and also prophesied before Samuel; he collapsed and lay naked all that day and all that night. That is why they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
1 Samuel 18:1 When David had finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan’s throay was bound to David’s throat, and he loved him as much as he loved his throat.
1 Samuel 18:2 Saul kept David with him from that day on and did not let him return to his father’s house.
1 Samuel 18:3 Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as much as his throat..
1 Samuel 18:4 Then Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his military tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.
1 Samuel 18:5 David marched out with the army and was successful in everything Saul sent him to do. Saul put him in command of the fighting men, which pleased all the people and Saul’s slaves as well.
1 Samuel 18:6 As the troops were coming back, when David was returning from killing the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing with tambourines, with shouts of joy, and with three-stringed instruments.
1 Samuel 18:7 As they danced, the women sang: Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands.
1 Samuel 18:8 Saul was furious and resented this song. “They credited tens of thousands to David,” he complained, “but they only credited me with thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom?”
1 Samuel 18:9 So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward.
1 Samuel 18:10 The next day an evil breath sent from God came powerfully on Saul, and he began to rave inside the palace. David was playing the lyre as usual, but Saul was holding a spear,
1 Samuel 18:11 and he threw it, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David got away from him twice.
1 Samuel 18:12 Saul was afraid of David, because Yahveh was with David but had left Saul.
1 Samuel 18:13 Therefore, Saul sent David away from him and made him commander over a thousand men. David led the troops
1 Samuel 18:14 and continued to be successful in all his activities because Yahveh was with him.
1 Samuel 18:15 When Saul observed that David was very successful, he dreaded him.
1 Samuel 18:16 But all Israel and Judah loved David because he was leading their troops.
1 Samuel 18:17 Saul told David, “Notice my oldest daughter Merab. I’ll give her to you as a wife, if you will be a warrior for me and fight Yahveh’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “I don’t need to raise a hand against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
1 Samuel 18:18 Then David responded, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”
1 Samuel 18:19 When it was time to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.
1 Samuel 18:20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when it was reported to Saul, it pleased him.
1 Samuel 18:21 “I’ll give her to him,” Saul thought. “She’ll be a trap for him, and the hand of the Philistines will be against him.” So Saul said to David a second time, “You can now be my son-in-law.”
1 Samuel 18:22 Saul then ordered his slaves, “Speak to David in private and tell him, Notice, the king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. Therefore, you should become the king’s son-in-law.'”
1 Samuel 18:23 Saul’s slaves reported these words directly to David, but he replied, “Is it trivial in your sight to become the king’s son-in-law? I am a poor commoner.”
1 Samuel 18:24 The slaves reported back to Saul, “These are the words David spoke.”
1 Samuel 18:25 Then Saul replied, “Say this to David: ‘The king desires no other bride-price except a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.'” Actually, Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.
1 Samuel 18:26 When the slaves reported these terms to David, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the wedding day arrived,
1 Samuel 18:27 David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as full payment to the king to become his son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David as his wife.
1 Samuel 18:28 Saul realized that Yahveh was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him,
1 Samuel 18:29 and he became even more afraid of David. As a result, Saul was David’s enemy from then on.
1 Samuel 18:30 Every time the Philistine commanders came out to fight, David was more successful than all of Saul’s slaves. So his name became well known.
1 Samuel 17:1 The Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah and camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim.
1 Samuel 17:2 Saul and the men of Israel gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah; then they lined up in battle formation to face the Philistines.
1 Samuel 17:3 The Philistines were standing on one hill, and the Israelites were standing on another hill with a ravine between them.
1 Samuel 17:4 Then a champion named Goliath, from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was nine feet, nine inches tall
1 Samuel 17:5 and wore a bronze helmet and bronze scale armor that weighed one hundred twenty-five pounds.
1 Samuel 17:6 There was bronze armor on his shins, and a bronze javelin was slung between his shoulders.
1 Samuel 17:7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam, and the iron point of his spear weighed fifteen pounds. In addition, a shield-bearer was walking in front of him.
1 Samuel 17:8 He stood and shouted to the Israelite battle formations: “Why do you come out to line up in battle formation?” He asked them, “Am I not a Philistine and are you not slaves of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me.
1 Samuel 17:9 If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your slaves. But if I win against him and kill him, then you will be our slaves and serve us.”
1 Samuel 17:10 Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me a man so we can fight each other!”
1 Samuel 17:11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words from the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.
1 Samuel 17:12 Now David was the son of the Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah named Jesse. Jesse had eight sons and during Saul’s reign was already an old man.
1 Samuel 17:13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to the war, and their names were Eliab, the firstborn, Abinadab, the next, and Shammah, the third,
1 Samuel 17:14 and David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul,
1 Samuel 17:15 but David kept going back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s flock in Bethlehem.
1 Samuel 17:16 Every morning and evening for forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand.
1 Samuel 17:17 One day Jesse had told his son David: “Take this half-bushel of roasted grain along with these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.
1 Samuel 17:18 Also take these ten portions of cheese to the field commander. Check on the well-being of your brothers and bring a confirmation from them.
1 Samuel 17:19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.”
1 Samuel 17:20 So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with someone to keep it, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had charged him. He arrived at the perimeter of the camp as the army was marching out to its battle formation shouting their battle cry.
1 Samuel 17:21 Israel and the Philistines lined up in battle formation facing each other.
1 Samuel 17:22 David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were.
1 Samuel 17:23 While he was speaking with them, notice suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the Philistine battle line and shouted his usual words, which David heard.
1 Samuel 17:24 When all the Israelite men saw Goliath, they retreated from him terrified.
1 Samuel 17:25 Previously, an Israelite man had declared: “Do you see this man who keeps coming out? He comes to defy Israel. The king will make the man who kills him very rich and will give him his daughter. The king will also make the family of that man’s father exempt from paying taxes in Israel.”
1 Samuel 17:26 David spoke to the men who were standing with him: “What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”
1 Samuel 17:27 The troops told him about the offer, concluding, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.”
1 Samuel 17:28 David’s oldest brother Eliab listened as he spoke to the men, and he became angry with him. “Why did you come down here?” he asked. “Who did you leave those few sheep with in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and your evil heart– you came down to see the battle!”
1 Samuel 17:29 “What have I done now?” protested David. “It was just a question.”
1 Samuel 17:30 Then he turned from those beside him to others in front of him and asked about the offer. The people gave him the same answer as before.
1 Samuel 17:31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, so he had David brought to him.
1 Samuel 17:32 David said to Saul, “Don’t let anyone be discouraged by him; your slave will go and fight this Philistine!”
1 Samuel 17:33 But Saul replied, “You can’t go fight this Philistine. You’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since he was young.”
1 Samuel 17:34 David answered Saul: “Your slave has been tending his father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock,
1 Samuel 17:35 I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it.
1 Samuel 17:36 Your slave has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”
1 Samuel 17:37 Then David said, “Yahveh who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and may Yahveh be with you.”
1 Samuel 17:38 Then Saul had his own military clothes put on David. He put a bronze helmet on David’s head and had him put on armor.
1 Samuel 17:39 David strapped his sword on over the military clothes and tried to walk, but he was not used to them. “I can’t walk in these,” David said to Saul, “I’m not used to them.” So David took them off.
1 Samuel 17:40 Instead, he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in the pouch, in his shepherd’s bag. Then, with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.
1 Samuel 17:41 The Philistine came closer and closer to David, with the shield-bearer in front of him.
1 Samuel 17:42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a boy, healthy and handsome.
1 Samuel 17:43 He said to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?” Then he cursed David by his gods.
1 Samuel 17:44 “Come here,” the Philistine called to David, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts!”
1 Samuel 17:45 David said to the Philistine: “You come against me with a sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of Yahveh of Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel– you have defied him.
1 Samuel 17:46 Today, Yahveh will hand you over to me. Today, I’ll strike you down, remove your head, and give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the wild creatures of the land. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God,
1 Samuel 17:47 and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that Yahveh saves, for the battle is Yahveh’s. He will hand you over to us.”
1 Samuel 17:48 When the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine.
1 Samuel 17:49 David put his hand in the bag, took out a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown to the ground.
1 Samuel 17:50 David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. David overpowered the Philistine and killed him without having a sword.
1 Samuel 17:51 David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword, pulled it from its sheath, and used it to kill him. Then he cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they fled.
1 Samuel 17:52 The men of Israel and Judah rallied, shouting their battle cry, and chased the Philistines to the entrance of the valley and to the gates of Ekron. Philistine bodies were strewn all along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.
1 Samuel 17:53 When the Israelites returned from the pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps.
1 Samuel 17:54 David took Goliath’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.
1 Samuel 17:55 When Saul had seen David going out to confront the Philistine, he asked Abner the commander of the army, “Whose son is this boy, Abner?” “Your Majesty, as surely as your throat lives, I don’t know,” Abner replied.
1 Samuel 17:56 The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is!”
1 Samuel 17:57 When David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head still in his hand.
1 Samuel 17:58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, boy?” “The son of your slave Jesse of Bethlehem,” David answered.
