From www.ebible.org with slight reformatting by Martin Ward.



Book 09 1 Samuel
001:001 Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim,
        of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah,
        the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu,
        the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite:
001:002 and he had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah,
        and the name of other Peninnah:  and Peninnah had children,
        but Hannah had no children.
001:003 This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship
        and to sacrifice to Yahweh of Armies in Shiloh.  The two sons
        of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests to Yahweh, were there.
001:004 When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave to Peninnah
        his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions:
001:005 but to Hannah he gave a double portion; for he loved Hannah,
        but Yahweh had shut up her womb.
001:006 Her rival provoked her sore, to make her fret, because Yahweh
        had shut up her womb.
001:007 [as] he did so year by year, when she went up to the house
        of Yahweh, so she provoked her; therefore she wept,
        and did not eat.
001:008 Elkanah her husband said to her, Hannah, why weep you? and why
        don't you eat? and why is your heart grieved? am I not better
        to you than ten sons?
001:009 So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after
        they had drunk.  Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat
        by the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh.
001:010 She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Yahweh,
        and wept sore.
001:011 She vowed a vow, and said, Yahweh of Armies, if you will indeed
        look on the affliction of your handmaid, and remember me,
        and not forget your handmaid, but will give to your handmaid
        a boy, then I will give him to Yahweh all the days of his life,
        and there shall no razor come on his head.
001:012 It happened, as she continued praying before Yahweh, that Eli
        marked her mouth.
001:013 Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart; only her lips moved,
        but her voice was not heard:  therefore Eli thought she
        had been drunken.
001:014 Eli said to her, How long will you be drunken? put away your
        wine from you.
001:015 Hannah answered, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit:
        I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I poured
        out my soul before Yahweh.
001:016 Don't count your handmaid for a wicked woman; for out
        of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation have
        I spoken hitherto.
001:017 Then Eli answered, Go in peace; and the God of Israel grant
        your petition that you have asked of him.
001:018 She said, Let your handmaid find favor in your sight.
        So the woman went her way, and ate; and her facial expression
        wasn't sad any more.
001:019 They rose up in the morning early, and worshiped before Yahweh,
        and returned, and came to their house to Ramah:
        and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and Yahweh remembered her.
001:020 It happened, when the time was come about, that Hannah conceived,
        and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, [saying], Because I
        have asked him of Yahweh.
001:021 The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to Yahweh
        the yearly sacrifice, and his vow.
001:022 But Hannah didn't go up; for she said to her husband, [I will not
        go up] until the child be weaned; and then I will bring him,
        that he may appear before Yahweh, and there abide forever.
001:023 Elkanah her husband said to her, Do what seems you good;
        wait until you have weaned him; only Yahweh establish his word.
        So the woman waited and nursed her son, until she weaned him.
001:024 When she had weaned him, she took him up with her,
        with three bulls, and one ephah of meal, and a bottle
        of wine, and brought him to the house of Yahweh in Shiloh:
        and the child was young.
001:025 They killed the bull, and brought the child to Eli.
001:026 She said, Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my lord, I am
        the woman who stood by you here, praying to Yahweh.
001:027 For this child I prayed; and Yahweh has given me my petition
        which I asked of him:
001:028 therefore also I have granted him to Yahweh; as long as he lives
        he is granted to Yahweh.  He worshiped Yahweh there.
002:001 Hannah prayed, and said:  My heart exults in Yahweh!  My horn
        is exalted in Yahweh.  My mouth is enlarged over my enemies,
        because I rejoice in your salvation.
002:002 There is no one as holy as Yahweh, For there is no one besides you,
        nor is there any rock like our God.
002:003 Talk no more so exceeding proudly.  Don't let arrogance
        come out of your mouth, For Yahweh is a God of knowledge.
        By him actions are weighed.
002:004 The bows of the mighty men are broken.  Those who stumbled
        are girded with strength.
002:005 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread.
        Those who were hungry have ceased [to hunger]. Yes, the barren
        has borne seven.  She who has many children languishes.
002:006 Yahweh kills, and makes alive.  He brings down to Sheol,
        and brings up.
002:007 Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich.  He brings low,
        he also lifts up.
002:008 He raises up the poor out of the dust.  He lifts up the needy
        from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, and inherit
        the throne of glory, for the pillars of the earth are Yahweh's.
        He has set the world on them.
002:009 He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked shall be put
        to silence in darkness; for no man shall prevail by strength.
002:010 Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces.
        He will thunder against them in the sky.  Yahweh will judge
        the ends of the earth.  He will give strength to his king,
        and exalt the horn of his anointed.
002:011 Elkanah went to Ramah to his house.  The child did minister
        to Yahweh before Eli the priest.
002:012 Now the sons of Eli were base men; they didn't know Yahweh.
002:013 The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man
        offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh
        was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand;
002:014 and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot;
        all that the fork brought up the priest took therewith.
        So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there.
002:015 Yes, before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said
        to the man who sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest;
        for he will not have boiled flesh of you, but raw.
002:016 If the man said to him, They will surely burn the fat first,
        and then take as much as your soul desires; then he would say,
        No, but you shall give it me now:  and if not, I will take
        it by force.
002:017 The sin of the young men was very great before Yahweh;
        for the men despised the offering of Yahweh.
002:018 But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child,
        girded with a linen ephod.
002:019 Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it
        to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband
        to offer the yearly sacrifice.
002:020 Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, Yahweh give you seed
        of this woman for the petition which was asked of Yahweh.
        They went to their own home.
002:021 Yahweh visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons
        and two daughters.  The child Samuel grew before Yahweh.
002:022 Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did
        to all Israel, and how that they lay with the women who served
        at the door of the tent of meeting.
002:023 He said to them, Why do you such things? for I hear of your
        evil dealings from all this people.
002:024 No, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear:
        you make Yahweh's people to disobey.
002:025 If one man sin against another, God shall judge him;
        but if a man sin against Yahweh, who shall entreat for him?
        Notwithstanding, they didn't listen to the voice of their father,
        because Yahweh was minded to kill them.
002:026 The child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Yahweh,
        and also with men.
002:027 There came a man of God to Eli, and said to him, Thus says
        Yahweh, Did I reveal myself to the house of your father,
        when they were in Egypt [in bondage] to Pharaoh's house?
002:028 and did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be
        my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear
        an ephod before me? and did I give to the house of your father
        all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire?
002:029 Why kick you at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have
        commanded in [my] habitation, and honor your sons above me,
        to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings
        of Israel my people?
002:030 Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, I said indeed
        that your house, and the house of your father, should walk
        before me forever:  but now Yahweh says, Be it far from me;
        for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise
        me shall be lightly esteemed.
002:031 Behold, the days come, that I will cut off your arm, and the arm
        of your father's house, that there shall not be an old man
        in your house.
002:032 You shall see the affliction of [my] habitation, in all the wealth
        which [God] shall give Israel; and there shall not be an old
        man in your house forever.
002:033 The man of yours, [whom] I shall not cut off from my altar,
        [shall be] to consume your eyes, and to grieve your heart;
        and all the increase of your house shall die in the flower
        of their age.
002:034 This shall be the sign to you, that shall come on your two sons,
        on Hophni and Phinehas:  in one day they shall die both of them.
002:035 I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do
        according to that which is in my heart and in my mind:
        and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before
        my anointed forever.
002:036 It shall happen, that everyone who is left in your house shall
        come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf
        of bread, and shall say, Please put me into one of the priests'
        offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.
003:001 The child Samuel ministered to Yahweh before Eli.
        The word of Yahweh was precious in those days; there was
        no frequent vision.
003:002 It happened at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place
        (now his eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see),
003:003 and the lamp of God hadn't yet gone out, and Samuel had laid
        down [to sleep], in the temple of Yahweh, where the ark
        of God was;
003:004 that Yahweh called Samuel; and he said, Here am I.
003:005 He ran to Eli, and said, Here am I; for you called me.
        He said, I didn't call; lie down again.  He went and lay down.
003:006 Yahweh called yet again, Samuel.  Samuel arose and went to Eli,
        and said, Here am I; for you called me.  He answered,
        I didn't call, my son; lie down again.
003:007 Now Samuel didn't yet know Yahweh, neither was the word
        of Yahweh yet revealed to him.
003:008 Yahweh called Samuel again the third time.  He arose
        and went to Eli, and said, Here am I; for you called me.
        Eli perceived that Yahweh had called the child.
003:009 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down:  and it shall be,
        if he call you, that you shall say, Speak, Yahweh; for your
        servant hears.  So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
003:010 Yahweh came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel.
        Then Samuel said, Speak; for your servant hears.
003:011 Yahweh said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel,
        at which both the ears of everyone who hears it shall tingle.
003:012 In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken
        concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end.
003:013 For I have told him that I will judge his house forever,
        for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons did bring
        a curse on themselves, and he didn't restrain them.
003:014 Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli, that the iniquity
        of Eli's house shall not be expiated with sacrifice
        nor offering forever.
003:015 Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house
        of Yahweh.  Samuel feared to show Eli the vision.
003:016 Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son.
        He said, Here am I.
003:017 He said, "What is the thing that [Yahweh] has spoken to you?
        Please don't hide it from me.  God do so to you, and more also,
        if you hide anything from me of all the things that he
        spoke to you."
003:018 Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him.
        He said, It is Yahweh:  let him do what seems him good.
003:019 Samuel grew, and Yahweh was with him, and did let none of his
        words fall to the ground.
003:020 All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was
        established to be a prophet of Yahweh.
003:021 Yahweh appeared again in Shiloh; for Yahweh revealed himself
        to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of Yahweh.
004:001 The word of Samuel came to all Israel.  Now Israel went out
        against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Ebenezer:
        and the Philistines encamped in Aphek.
004:002 The Philistines put themselves in array against Israel:
        and when they joined battle, Israel was struck before
        the Philistines; and they killed of the army in the field
        about four thousand men.
004:003 When the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said,
        Why has Yahweh struck us today before the Philistines?  Let us
        get the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of Shiloh to us,
        that it may come among us, and save us out of the hand
        of our enemies.
004:004 So the people sent to Shiloh; and they brought from there the ark
        of the covenant of Yahweh of Armies, who sits [above] the cherubim:
        and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there
        with the ark of the covenant of God.
004:005 When the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came into the camp,
        all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.
004:006 When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said,
        What means the noise of this great shout in the camp of
        the Hebrews?  They understood that the ark of Yahweh was come
        into the camp.
004:007 The Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come
        into the camp.  They said, Woe to us! for there has not been
        such a thing heretofore.
004:008 Woe to us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty
        gods? these are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all
        manner of plagues in the wilderness.
004:009 Be strong, and behave yourselves like men, O you Philistines,
        that you not be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you:
        quit yourselves like men, and fight.
004:010 The Philistines fought, and Israel was struck, and they fled
        every man to his tent:  and there was a very great slaughter;
        for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
004:011 The ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni
        and Phinehas, were slain.
004:012 There ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh
        the same day, with his clothes torn, and with earth on his head.
004:013 When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the
        road watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God.
        When the man came into the city, and told it, all the
        city cried out.
004:014 When Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What means
        the noise of this tumult?  The man hurried, and came
        and told Eli.
004:015 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; and his eyes were set,
        so that he could not see.
004:016 The man said to Eli, I am he who came out of the army, and I fled
        today out of the army.  He said, How went the matter, my son?
004:017 He who brought the news answered, Israel is fled before
        the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter
        among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas,
        are dead, and the ark of God is taken.
004:018 It happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that [Eli]
        fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate;
        and his neck broke, and he died:  for he was an old man, and heavy.
        He had judged Israel forty years.
004:019 His daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was with child,
        near to be delivered:  and when she heard the news that
        the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her
        husband were dead, she bowed herself and brought forth;
        for her pains came on her.
004:020 About the time of her death the women who stood by her said
        to her, Don't be afraid; for you have brought forth a son.
        But she didn't answer, neither did she regard it.
004:021 She named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed
        from Israel; because the ark of God was taken, and because
        of her father-in-law and her husband.
004:022 She said, The glory is departed from Israel; for the ark
        of God is taken.
005:001 Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought
        it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
005:002 The Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into
        the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
005:003 When they of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon was
        fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh.
        They took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
005:004 When they arose early on the next day morning, behold, Dagon was
        fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Yahweh;
        and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [lay]
        cut off on the threshold; only [the stump of] Dagon was
        left to him.
005:005 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any who come into
        Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod,
        to this day.
005:006 But the hand of Yahweh was heavy on them of Ashdod,
        and he destroyed them, and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod
        and the borders of it.
005:007 When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said,
        The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us;
        for his hand is sore on us, and on Dagon our god.
005:008 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines
        to them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God
        of Israel?  They answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel
        be carried about to Gath.  They carried the ark of the God
        of Israel [there].
005:009 It was so, that after they had carried it about, the hand
        of Yahweh was against the city with a very great confusion:
        and he struck the men of the city, both small and great;
        and tumors broke out on them.
005:010 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.  It happened, as the ark
        of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying,
        They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us,
        to kill us and our people.
005:011 They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of
        the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God
        of Israel, and let it go again to its own place, that it
        not kill us and our people.  For there was a deadly confusion
        throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
005:012 The men who didn't die were struck with the tumors;
        and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
006:001 The ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines seven months.
006:002 The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners,
        saying, "What shall we do with the ark of Yahweh?  Show us
        with which we shall send it to its place."
006:003 They said, "If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, don't send
        it empty; but by all means return him a trespass offering:
        then you shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why
        his hand is not removed from you."
006:004 Then they said, "What shall be the trespass offering which we
        shall return to him?"  They said, "Five golden tumors,
        and five golden mice, [according to] the number of the lords
        of the Philistines; for one plague was on you all,
        and on your lords.
006:005 Therefore you shall make images of your tumors, and images of your
        mice that mar the land; and you shall give glory to the God
        of Israel:  peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you,
        and from off your gods, and from off your land.
006:006 Why then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh
        hardened their hearts?  When he had worked wonderfully among them,
        didn't they let the people go, and they departed?
006:007 Now therefore take and prepare yourselves a new cart,
        and two milk cows, on which there has come no yoke; and tie
        the cows to the cart, and bring their calves home from them;
006:008 and take the ark of Yahweh, and lay it on the cart; and put
        the jewels of gold, which you return him for a trespass offering,
        in a coffer by the side of it; and send it away, that it may go.
006:009 Behold; if it goes up by the way of its own border to
        Beth Shemesh, then he has done us this great evil:  but if not,
        then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us;
        it was a chance that happened to us."
006:010 The men did so, and took two milk cows, and tied them to the cart,
        and shut up their calves at home;
006:011 and they put the ark of Yahweh on the cart, and the coffer
        with the mice of gold and the images of their tumors.
006:012 The cows took the straight way by the way to Beth Shemesh;
        they went along the highway, lowing as they went,
        and didn't turn aside to the right hand or to the left;
        and the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border
        of Beth Shemesh.
006:013 They of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley;
        and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced
        to see it.
006:014 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh,
        and stood there, where there was a great stone:
        and they split the wood of the cart, and offered up the cows
        for a burnt offering to Yahweh.
006:015 The Levites took down the ark of Yahweh, and the coffer that
        was with it, in which the jewels of gold were, and put them
        on the great stone:  and the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt
        offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day to Yahweh.
006:016 When the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned
        to Ekron the same day.
006:017 These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for
        a trespass offering to Yahweh:  for Ashdod one, for Gaza one,
        for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;
006:018 and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities
        of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified
        cities and of country villages, even to the great stone,
        whereon they set down the ark of Yahweh, [which stone remains]
        to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.
006:019 He struck of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked
        into the ark of Yahweh, he struck of the people fifty thousand
        seventy men; and the people mourned, because Yahweh had struck
        the people with a great slaughter.
006:020 The men of Beth Shemesh said, Who is able to stand before Yahweh,
        this holy God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
006:021 They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath Jearim,
        saying, The Philistines have brought back the ark of Yahweh;
        come you down, and bring it up to you.
007:001 The men of Kiriath Jearim came, and fetched up the ark of Yahweh,
        and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill,
        and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of Yahweh.
007:002 It happened, from the day that the ark abode in Kiriath Jearim,
        that the time was long; for it was twenty years:
        and all the house of Israel lamented after Yahweh.
007:003 Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If you
        do return to Yahweh with all your heart, then put away
        the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you,
        and direct your hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only;
        and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
007:004 Then the children of Israel did put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth,
        and served Yahweh only.
007:005 Samuel said, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray
        for you to Yahweh."
007:006 They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured
        it out before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, and said there,
        "We have sinned against Yahweh."  Samuel judged the children
        of Israel in Mizpah.
007:007 When the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were
        gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went
        up against Israel.  When the children of Israel heard it,
        they were afraid of the Philistines.
007:008 The children of Israel said to Samuel, "Don't cease to cry
        to Yahweh our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand
        of the Philistines."
007:009 Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt
        offering to Yahweh:  and Samuel cried to Yahweh for Israel;
        and Yahweh answered him.
007:010 As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines
        drew near to battle against Israel; but Yahweh thundered with a
        great thunder on that day on the Philistines, and confused them;
        and they were struck down before Israel.
007:011 The men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines,
        and struck them, until they came under Beth Kar.
007:012 Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen,
        and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto has
        Yahweh helped us.
007:013 So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more within
        the border of Israel:  and the hand of Yahweh was against
        the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
007:014 The cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were
        restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and the border
        of it did Israel deliver out of the hand of the Philistines.
        There was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
007:015 Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
007:016 He went from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal,
        and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all those places.
007:017 His return was to Ramah, for there was his house; and there
        he judged Israel:  and he built there an altar to Yahweh.
008:001 It happened, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons
        judges over Israel.
008:002 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of
        his second, Abijah:  they were judges in Beersheba.
008:003 His sons didn't walk in his ways, but turned aside after lucre,
        and took bribes, and perverted justice.
008:004 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together,
        and came to Samuel to Ramah;
008:005 and they said to him, Behold, you are old, and your sons
        don't walk in your ways:  now make us a king to judge us
        like all the nations.
008:006 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king
        to judge us.  Samuel prayed to Yahweh.
008:007 Yahweh said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people
        in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you,
        but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them.
008:008 According to all the works which they have done since the day
        that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day,
        in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods,
        so do they also to you.
008:009 Now therefore listen to their voice:  however you shall protest
        solemnly to them, and shall show them the manner of the king
        who shall reign over them.
008:010 Samuel told all the words of Yahweh to the people who asked
        of him a king.
008:011 He said, This will be the manner of the king who shall reign
        over you:  he will take your sons, and appoint them to him,
        for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they shall run
        before his chariots;
008:012 and he will appoint them to him for captains of thousands,
        and captains of fifties; and [he will set some] to plow his ground,
        and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war,
        and the instruments of his chariots.
008:013 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, and to be cooks,
        and to be bakers.
008:014 He will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive groves,
        even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
008:015 He will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards,
        and give to his officers, and to his servants.
008:016 He will take your male servants, and your female servants,
        and your best young men, and your donkeys, and put them
        to his work.
008:017 He will take the tenth of your flocks:  and you shall
        be his servants.
008:018 You shall cry out in that day because of your king whom you shall
        have chosen you; and Yahweh will not answer you in that day.
008:019 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel;
        and they said, No:  but we will have a king over us,
008:020 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king
        may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
008:021 Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed
        them in the ears of Yahweh.
008:022 Yahweh said to Samuel, Listen to their voice, and make them a king.
        Samuel said to the men of Israel, Go you every man to his city.
009:001 Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son
        of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son
        of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor.
009:002 He had a son, whose name was Saul, an impressive young man;
        and there was not among the children of Israel a better
        person than he.  From his shoulders and upward he was higher
        than any of the people.
009:003 The donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost.  Kish said
        to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with you,
        and arise, go seek the donkeys.
009:004 He passed through the hill country of Ephraim, and passed
        through the land of Shalishah, but they didn't find them:
        then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and there they
        weren't there:  and he passed through the land of the Benjamites,
        but they didn't find them.
009:005 When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant
        who was with him, Come, and let us return, lest my father
        leave off caring for the donkeys, and be anxious for us.
009:006 He said to him, See now, there is in this city a man of God,
        and he is a man who is held in honor; all that he says comes
        surely to pass:  now let us go there; peradventure he can
        tell us concerning our journey whereon we go.
009:007 Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall
        we bring the man? for the bread is spent in our vessels,
        and there is not a present to bring to the man of God:
        what have we?
009:008 The servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have
        in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver:
        that will I give to the man of God, to tell us our way.
009:009 (In earlier times in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God,
        thus he said, Come, and let us go to the seer; for he who is
        now called a Prophet was before called a Seer.)
009:010 Then said Saul to his servant, Well said; come, let us go.
        So they went to the city where the man of God was.
009:011 As they went up the ascent to the city, they found young maidens
        going out to draw water, and said to them, Is the seer here?
009:012 They answered them, and said, He is; behold, [he is] before you:
        make haste now, for he is come today into the city;
        for the people have a sacrifice today in the high place:
009:013 as soon as you are come into the city, you shall immediately
        find him, before he goes up to the high place to eat;
        for the people will not eat until he come, because he does bless
        the sacrifice; [and] afterwards they eat who are invited.
        Now therefore get you up; for at this time you shall find him.
009:014 They went up to the city; [and] as they came within the city,
        behold, Samuel came out toward them, to go up to the high place.
009:015 Now Yahweh had revealed to Samuel a day before Saul came, saying,
009:016 Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land
        of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my
        people Israel; and he shall save my people out of the hand
        of the Philistines:  for I have looked on my people,
        because their cry is come to me.
009:017 When Samuel saw Saul, Yahweh said to him, Behold, the man
        of whom I spoke to you! this same shall have authority
        over my people.
009:018 Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said,
        Tell me, Please, where the seer's house is.
009:019 Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer; go up before
        me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today:
        and in the morning I will let you go, and will tell you all
        that is in your heart.
009:020 As for your donkeys who were lost three days ago,
        don't set your mind on them; for they are found.
        For whom is all that is desirable in Israel?  Is it not for you,
        and for all your father's house?
009:021 Saul answered, Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest
        of the tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all
        the families of the tribe of Benjamin? why then speak you
        to me after this manner?
009:022 Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into
        the guest room, and made them sit in the best place among
        those who were invited, who were about thirty persons.
009:023 Samuel said to the cook, Bring the portion which I gave you,
        of which I said to you, Set it by you.
009:024 The cook took up the thigh, and that which was on it, and set it
        before Saul.  [Samuel] said, Behold, that which has been reserved!
        set it before you and eat; because to the appointed time has
        it been kept for you, for I said, I have invited the people.
        So Saul ate with Samuel that day.
009:025 When they were come down from the high place into the city,
        he talked with Saul on the housetop.
009:026 They arose early:  and it happened about the spring of the day,
        that Samuel called to Saul on the housetop, saying, Up, that I
        may send you away.  Saul arose, and they went out both of them,
        he and Samuel, abroad.
009:027 As they were going down at the end of the city, Samuel said
        to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us (and he passed on),
        but stand you still first, that I may cause you to hear
        the word of God.
010:001 Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it on his head,
        and kissed him, and said, Isn't it that Yahweh has anointed
        you to be prince over his inheritance?
010:002 When you are departed from me today, then you shall find two men
        by Rachel's tomb, in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they
        will tell you, The donkeys which you went to seek are found;
        and behold, your father has left off caring for the donkeys,
        and is anxious for you, saying, What shall I do for my son?
010:003 Then shall you go on forward from there, and you shall
        come to the oak of Tabor; and there shall meet you there
        three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids,
        and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying
        a bottle of wine:
010:004 and they will greet you, and give you two loaves of bread,
        which you shall receive of their hand.
010:005 After that you shall come to the hill of God, where is
        the garrison of the Philistines:  and it shall happen,
        when you are come there to the city, that you shall meet a band
        of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery,
        and a tambourine, and a pipe, and a harp, before them;
        and they will be prophesying:
010:006 and the Spirit of Yahweh will come mightily on you, and you shall
        prophesy with them, and shall be turned into another man.
010:007 Let it be, when these signs are come to you, that you do
        as occasion shall serve you; for God is with you.
010:008 You shall go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come
        down to you, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice
        sacrifices of peace offerings:  seven days shall you wait,
        until I come to you, and show you what you shall do.
010:009 It was so, that when he had turned his back to go
        from Samuel, God gave him another heart:  and all those signs
        happened that day.
010:010 When they came there to the hill, behold, a band of prophets
        met him; and the Spirit of God came mightily on him,
        and he prophesied among them.
010:011 It happened, when all who knew him before saw that, behold,
        he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said one
        to another, What is this that is come to the son of Kish?  Is Saul
        also among the prophets?
010:012 One of the same place answered, Who is their father?
        Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?
010:013 When he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place.
010:014 Saul's uncle said to him and to his servant, Where went you?
        He said, To seek the donkeys; and when we saw that they
        were not found, we came to Samuel.
010:015 Saul's uncle said, Tell me, Please, what Samuel said to you.
010:016 Saul said to his uncle, He told us plainly that the donkeys
        were found.  But concerning the matter of the kingdom,
        of which Samuel spoke, he didn't tell him.
010:017 Samuel called the people together to Yahweh to Mizpah;
010:018 and he said to the children of Israel, Thus says Yahweh,
        the God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt,
        and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians,
        and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you:
010:019 but you have this day rejected your God, who himself saves
        you out of all your calamities and your distresses;
        and you have said to him, [No], but set a king over us.
        Now therefore present yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes,
        and by your thousands.
010:020 So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe
        of Benjamin was taken.
010:021 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families;
        and the family of the Matrites was taken; and Saul the son
        of Kish was taken:  but when they sought him, he could
        not be found.
010:022 Therefore they asked of Yahweh further, Is there yet a man
        to come here?  Yahweh answered, Behold, he has hid himself
        among the baggage.
010:023 They ran and fetched him there; and when he stood among
        the people, he was higher than any of the people from his
        shoulders and upward.
010:024 Samuel said to all the people, "You see him whom Yahweh
        has chosen, that there is none like him among all the people?"
        All the people shouted, and said, [Long] live the king.
010:025 Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom,
        and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before Yahweh.
        Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house.
010:026 Saul also went to his house to Gibeah; and there went with him
        the army, whose hearts God had touched.
010:027 But certain worthless fellows said, How shall this man save us?
        They despised him, and brought him no present.
        But he held his peace.
011:001 Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh Gilead:
        and all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make a covenant
        with us, and we will serve you.
011:002 Nahash the Ammonite said to them, On this condition will I
        make it with you, that all your right eyes be put out;
        and I will lay it for a reproach on all Israel.
011:003 The elders of Jabesh said to him, Give us seven days' respite, that we
        may send messengers to all the borders of Israel; and then,
        if there be none to save us, we will come out to you.
011:004 Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and spoke these
        words in the ears of the people:  and all the people lifted
        up their voice, and wept.
011:005 Behold, Saul came following the oxen out of the field;
        and Saul said, What ails the people that they weep?
        They told him the words of the men of Jabesh.
011:006 The Spirit of God came mightily on Saul when he heard those words,
        and his anger was kindled greatly.
011:007 He took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent
        them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand
        of messengers, saying, Whoever doesn't come forth after
        Saul and after Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.
        The dread of Yahweh fell on the people, and they came out
        as one man.
011:008 He numbered them in Bezek; and the children of Israel were
        three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
011:009 They said to the messengers who came, Thus shall you tell
        the men of Jabesh Gilead, Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot,
        you shall have deliverance.  The messengers came and told
        the men of Jabesh; and they were glad.
011:010 Therefore the men of Jabesh said, Tomorrow we will come out to you,
        and you shall do with us all that seems good to you.
011:011 It was so on the next day, that Saul put the people in
        three companies; and they came into the midst of the camp in the
        morning watch, and struck the Ammonites until the heat of the day:
        and it happened, that those who remained were scattered,
        so that no two of them were left together.
011:012 The people said to Samuel, Who is he who said, Shall Saul reign
        over us? bring the men, that we may put them to death.
011:013 Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this day;
        for today Yahweh has worked deliverance in Israel.
011:014 Then said Samuel to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal,
        and renew the kingdom there.
011:015 All the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king
        before Yahweh in Gilgal; and there they offered sacrifices
        of peace offerings before Yahweh; and there Saul and all
        the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
012:001 Samuel said to all Israel, Behold, I have listened to your voice
        in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you.
012:002 Now, behold, the king walks before you; and I am old
        and gray-headed; and behold, my sons are with you:
        and I have walked before you from my youth to this day.
012:003 Here I am:  witness against me before Yahweh, and before
        his anointed:  whose ox have I taken? or whose donkey have I
        taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed?
        or of whose hand have I taken a ransom to blind my eyes
        therewith? and I will restore it you.
012:004 They said, You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us,
        neither have you taken anything of any man's hand.
012:005 He said to them, Yahweh is witness against you, and his anointed
        is witness this day, that you have not found anything in my hand.
        They said, He is witness.
012:006 Samuel said to the people, It is Yahweh who appointed Moses and Aaron,
        and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
012:007 Now therefore stand still, that I may plead with you
        before Yahweh concerning all the righteous acts of Yahweh,
        which he did to you and to your fathers.
012:008 When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried to Yahweh,
        then Yahweh sent Moses and Aaron, who brought forth your
        fathers out of Egypt, and made them to dwell in this place.
012:009 But they forgot Yahweh their God; and he sold them into the hand
        of Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, and into the hand
        of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab;
        and they fought against them.
012:010 They cried to Yahweh, and said, We have sinned, because we have
        forsaken Yahweh, and have served the Baals and the Ashtaroth:
        but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we
        will serve you.
012:011 Yahweh sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel,
        and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side;
        and you lived in safety.
012:012 When you saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came
        against you, you said to me, No, but a king shall reign over us;
        when Yahweh your God was your king.
012:013 Now therefore see the king whom you have chosen, and whom you
        have asked for:  and behold, Yahweh has set a king over you.
012:014 If you will fear Yahweh, and serve him, and listen to his voice,
        and not rebel against the commandment of Yahweh, and both you
        and also the king who reigns over you are followers of Yahweh
        your God, [well]:
012:015 but if you will not listen to the voice of Yahweh, but rebel
        against the commandment of Yahweh, then will the hand of Yahweh
        be against you, as it was against your fathers.
012:016 Now therefore stand still and see this great thing, which Yahweh
        will do before your eyes.
012:017 Isn't it wheat harvest today?  I will call to Yahweh,
        that he may send thunder and rain; and you shall know and see
        that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight
        of Yahweh, in asking you a king.
012:018 So Samuel called to Yahweh; and Yahweh sent thunder and rain
        that day:  and all the people greatly feared Yahweh and Samuel.
012:019 All the people said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to Yahweh
        your God, that we not die; for we have added to all our sins
        [this] evil, to ask us a king.
012:020 Samuel said to the people, "Don't be afraid; you have indeed
        done all this evil; yet don't turn aside from following Yahweh,
        but serve Yahweh with all your heart:
012:021 and don't turn aside; for [then would you go] after vain things
        which can't profit nor deliver, for they are vain.
012:022 For Yahweh will not forsake his people for his great name's sake,
        because it has pleased Yahweh to make you a people to himself.
012:023 Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against
        Yahweh in ceasing to pray for you:  but I will instruct you
        in the good and the right way.
012:024 Only fear Yahweh, and serve him in truth with all your heart;
        for consider how great things he has done for you.
012:025 But if you shall still do wickedly, you shall be consumed,
        both you and your king."
013:001 Saul was [forty] years old when he began to reign;
        and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
013:002 Saul chose him three thousand men of Israel, of which two
        thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in the Mount of Bethel,
        and one thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin:
        and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent.
013:003 Jonathan struck the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba:
        and the Philistines heard of it.  Saul blew the trumpet
        throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.
013:004 All Israel heard say that Saul had struck the garrison of
        the Philistines, and also that Israel was had in abomination
        with the Philistines.  The people were gathered together
        after Saul to Gilgal.
013:005 The Philistines assembled themselves together to fight with Israel,
        thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen,
        and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude:
        and they came up, and encamped in Michmash, eastward of Beth Aven.
013:006 When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait
        (for the people were distressed), then the people did
        hide themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks,
        and in coverts, and in pits.
013:007 Now some of the Hebrews had gone over the Jordan to the land
        of Gad and Gilead; but as for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal,
        and all the people followed him trembling.
013:008 He stayed seven days, according to the set time that Samuel
        [had appointed]: but Samuel didn't come to Gilgal;
        and the people were scattered from him.
013:009 Saul said, Bring here the burnt offering to me, and the
        peace offerings.  He offered the burnt offering.
013:010 It came to pass that as soon as he had made an end of offering
        the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out
        to meet him, that he might greet him.
013:011 Samuel said, What have you done?  Saul said, Because I saw
        that the people were scattered from me, and that you didn't
        come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines
        assembled themselves together at Michmash;
013:012 therefore said I, Now will the Philistines come down on me
        to Gilgal, and I haven't entreated the favor of Yahweh:  I forced
        myself therefore, and offered the burnt offering.
013:013 Samuel said to Saul, You have done foolishly; you have not kept
        the commandment of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you:
        for now would Yahweh have established your kingdom
        on Israel forever.
013:014 But now your kingdom shall not continue:  Yahweh has sought
        him a man after his own heart, and Yahweh has appointed him
        to be prince over his people, because you have not kept
        that which Yahweh commanded you.
013:015 Samuel arose, and got him up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin.
        Saul numbered the people who were present with him,
        about six hundred men.
013:016 Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people who were present
        with them, abode in Geba of Benjamin:  but the Philistines
        encamped in Michmash.
013:017 The spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in
        three companies:  one company turned to the way that leads
        to Ophrah, to the land of Shual;
013:018 and another company turned the way to Beth Horon;
        and another company turned the way of the border that looks
        down on the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.
013:019 Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel;
        for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them
        swords or spears:
013:020 but all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen
        every man his plowshare, mattock, axe, and sickle;
013:021 yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the plowshares,
        and for the forks, and for the axes, and to set the goads.
013:022 So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither
        sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who
        were with Saul and Jonathan:  but with Saul and with Jonathan
        his son was there found.
013:023 The garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.
014:001 Now it fell on a day, that Jonathan the son of Saul said
        to the young man who bore his armor, Come, and let us go
        over to the Philistines' garrison, that is on yonder side.
        But he didn't tell his father.
014:002 Saul abode in the uttermost part of Gibeah under the pomegranate
        tree which is in Migron:  and the people who were with him
        were about six hundred men;
014:003 and Ahijah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas,
        the son of Eli, the priest of Yahweh in Shiloh, wearing an ephod.
        The people didn't know that Jonathan was gone.
014:004 Between the passes, by which Jonathan sought to go over to
        the Philistines' garrison, there was a rocky crag on the one side,
        and a rocky crag on the other side:  and the name of the one
        was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh.
014:005 The one crag rose up on the north in front of Michmash,
        and the other on the south in front of Geba.
014:006 Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, Come,
        and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised:
        it may be that Yahweh will work for us; for there is no
        restraint to Yahweh to save by many or by few.
014:007 His armor bearer said to him, Do all that is in your heart:
        turn you, behold, I am with you according to your heart.
014:008 Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over to the men,
        and we will disclose ourselves to them.
014:009 If they say thus to us, Wait until we come to you; then we
        will stand still in our place, and will not go up to them.
014:010 But if they say thus, Come up to us; then we will go up;
        for Yahweh has delivered them into our hand:  and this shall
        be the sign to us.
014:011 Both of them disclosed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines:
        and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth
        out of the holes where they had hid themselves.
014:012 The men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer,
        and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing.
        Jonathan said to his armor bearer, Come up after me;
        for Yahweh has delivered them into the hand of Israel.
014:013 Jonathan climbed up on his hands and on his feet, and his
        armor bearer after him:  and they fell before Jonathan;
        and his armor bearer killed them after him.
014:014 That first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer made,
        was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow's length
        in an acre of land.
014:015 There was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all
        the people; the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled;
        and the earth quaked:  so there was an exceeding great trembling.
014:016 The watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and behold,
        the multitude melted away, and they went [here] and there.
014:017 Then said Saul to the people who were with him, Number now,
        and see who is gone from us.  When they had numbered, behold,
        Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there.
014:018 Saul said to Ahijah, Bring here the ark of God.  For the ark
        of God was [there] at that time with the children of Israel.
014:019 It happened, while Saul talked to the priest, that the tumult
        that was in the camp of the Philistines went on and increased:
        and Saul said to the priest, Withdraw your hand.
014:020 Saul and all the people who were with him were gathered together,
        and came to the battle:  and behold, every man's sword was
        against his fellow, [and there was] a very great confusion.
014:021 Now the Hebrews who were with the Philistines as before,
        and who went up with them into the camp, [from the country]
        round about, even they also [turned] to be with the Israelites
        who were with Saul and Jonathan.
014:022 Likewise all the men of Israel who had hid themselves in the hill
        country of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled,
        even they also followed hard after them in the battle.
014:023 So Yahweh saved Israel that day:  and the battle passed over
        by Beth Aven.
014:024 The men of Israel were distressed that day; for Saul had
        adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man who eats any
        food until it be evening, and I be avenged on my enemies.
        So none of the people tasted food.
014:025 All the people came into the forest; and there was honey
        on the ground.
014:026 When the people were come to the forest, behold, the honey dropped:
        but no man put his hand to his mouth; for the people
        feared the oath.
014:027 But Jonathan didn't hear when his father charged the people
        with the oath:  therefore he put forth the end of the rod
        who was in his hand, and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put
        his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened.
014:028 Then answered one of the people, and said, Your father directly
        charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man
        who eats food this day.  The people were faint.
014:029 Then said Jonathan, My father has troubled the land.
        Please look how my eyes have been enlightened, because I
        tasted a little of this honey.
014:030 How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely today
        of the spoil of their enemies which they found? for now has
        there been no great slaughter among the Philistines.
014:031 They struck of the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon.
        The people were very faint;
014:032 and the people flew on the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen,
        and calves, and killed them on the ground; and the people
        ate them with the blood.
014:033 Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin
        against Yahweh, in that they eat with the blood.
        He said, you have dealt treacherously:  roll a great stone
        to me this day.
014:034 Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and tell them,
        Bring me here every man his ox, and every man his sheep,
        and kill them here, and eat; and don't sin against Yahweh
        in eating with the blood.  All the people brought every man
        his ox with him that night, and killed them there.
014:035 Saul built an altar to Yahweh:  the same was the first altar
        that he built to Yahweh.
014:036 Saul said, Let us go down after the Philistines by night,
        and take spoil among them until the morning light, and let us not
        leave a man of them.  They said, Do whatever seems good to you.
        Then said the priest, Let us draw near here to God.
014:037 Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines?
        will you deliver them into the hand of Israel?  But he didn't
        answer him that day.
014:038 Saul said, Draw near here, all you chiefs of the people;
        and know and see in which this sin has been this day.
014:039 For, as Yahweh lives, who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan
        my son, he shall surely die.  But there was not a man among
        all the people who answered him.
014:040 Then said he to all Israel, Be you on one side,
        and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side.
        The people said to Saul, Do what seems good to you.
014:041 Therefore Saul said to Yahweh, the God of Israel, Show the right.
        Jonathan and Saul were taken [by lot]; but the people escaped.
014:042 Saul said, Cast [lots] between me and Jonathan my son.
        Jonathan was taken.
014:043 Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what you have done.
        Jonathan told him, and said, I did certainly taste a little
        honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand; and behold,
        I must die.
014:044 Saul said, God do so and more also; for you shall
        surely die, Jonathan.
014:045 The people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who has
        worked this great salvation in Israel?  Far from it:
        as Yahweh lives, there shall not one hair of his head
        fall to the ground; for he has worked with God this day.
        So the people rescued Jonathan, that he didn't die.
014:046 Then Saul went up from following the Philistines;
        and the Philistines went to their own place.
014:047 Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he fought
        against all his enemies on every side, against Moab,
        and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom,
        and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines:
        and wherever he turned himself, he put [them] to the worse.
014:048 He did valiantly, and struck the Amalekites, and delivered
        Israel out of the hands of those who despoiled them.
014:049 Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishvi, and Malchishua;
        and the names of his two daughters were these:  the name
        of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the younger Michal:
014:050 and the name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz.
        The name of the captain of his army was Abner the son
        of Ner, Saul's uncle.
014:051 Kish was the father of Saul; and Ner the father of Abner was
        the son of Abiel.
014:052 There was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul:
        and when Saul saw any mighty man, or any valiant man,
        he took him to him.
015:001 Samuel said to Saul, Yahweh sent me to anoint you to be king
        over his people, over Israel:  now therefore listen you
        to the voice of the words of Yahweh.
015:002 Thus says Yahweh of Armies, I have marked that which Amalek
        did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way,
        when he came up out of Egypt.
015:003 Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have,
        and don't spare them; but kill both man and woman,
        infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.
015:004 Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Telaim,
        two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah.
015:005 Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley.
015:006 Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among
        the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you shown kindness
        to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt.
        So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
015:007 Saul struck the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur,
        that is before Egypt.
015:008 He took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly
        destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
015:009 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep,
        and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all
        that was good, and wouldn't utterly destroy them:  but everything
        that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
015:010 Then came the word of Yahweh to Samuel, saying,
015:011 It grieves me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned
        back from following me, and has not performed my commandments.
        Samuel was angry; and he cried to Yahweh all night.
015:012 Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning; and it
        was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and behold,
        he set him up a monument, and turned, and passed on,
        and went down to Gilgal.
015:013 Samuel came to Saul; and Saul said to him, Blessed are you
        by Yahweh:  I have performed the commandment of Yahweh.
015:014 Samuel said, What means then this bleating of the sheep in my ears,
        and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
015:015 Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites:
        for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen,
        to sacrifice to Yahweh your God; and the rest we
        have utterly destroyed.
015:016 Then Samuel said to Saul, Stay, and I will tell you what Yahweh
        has said to me this night.  He said to him, Say on.
015:017 Samuel said, "Though you were little in your own sight,
        weren't you made the head of the tribes of Israel?  Yahweh anointed
        you king over Israel;
015:018 and Yahweh sent you on a journey, and said, 'Go, and utterly
        destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them
        until they are consumed.'
015:019 Why then didn't you obey the voice of Yahweh, but flew on the spoil,
        and did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh?"
015:020 Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I have obeyed the voice of Yahweh,
        and have gone the way which Yahweh sent me, and have brought Agag
        the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
015:021 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief
        of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Yahweh your God in Gilgal.
015:022 Samuel said, Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings
        and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Yahweh?  Behold, to obey
        is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
015:023 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is
        as idolatry and teraphim.  Because you have rejected the word
        of Yahweh, he has also rejected you from being king.
015:024 Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed
        the commandment of Yahweh, and your words, because I feared
        the people, and obeyed their voice.
015:025 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me,
        that I may worship Yahweh.
015:026 Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you; for you
        have rejected the word of Yahweh, and Yahweh has rejected
        you from being king over Israel.
015:027 As Samuel turned about to go away, [Saul] laid hold on the skirt
        of his robe, and it tore.
015:028 Samuel said to him, Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel
        from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours
        who is better than you.
015:029 Also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent;
        for he is not a man, that he should repent.
015:030 Then he said, I have sinned:  yet honor me now, Please, before the
        elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me,
        that I may worship Yahweh your God.
015:031 So Samuel turned again after Saul; and Saul worshiped Yahweh.
015:032 Then said Samuel, Bring you here to me Agag the king
        of the Amalekites.  Agag came to him cheerfully.
        Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.
015:033 Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall
        your mother be childless among women.  Samuel hewed Agag
        in pieces before Yahweh in Gilgal.
015:034 Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up to his house
        to Gibeah of Saul.
015:035 Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death;
        for Samuel mourned for Saul:  and Yahweh grieved that he had
        made Saul king over Israel.
016:001 Yahweh said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I
        have rejected him from being king over Israel? fill your horn
        with oil, and go:  I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite;
        for I have provided me a king among his sons.
016:002 Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me.
        Yahweh said, Take a heifer with you, and say, I am come
        to sacrifice to Yahweh.
016:003 Call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do:
        and you shall anoint to me him whom I name to you.
016:004 Samuel did that which Yahweh spoke, and came to Bethlehem.
        The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said,
        Come you peaceably?
016:005 He said, Peaceably; I am come to sacrifice to Yahweh:
        sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.
        He sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.
016:006 It happened, when they had come, that he looked at Eliab,
        and said, Surely Yahweh's anointed is before him.
016:007 But Yahweh said to Samuel, "Don't look on his face, or on
        the height of his stature; because I have rejected him:
        for [Yahweh sees] not as man sees; for man looks at the
        outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart."
016:008 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel.
        He said, Neither has Yahweh chosen this.
016:009 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by.  He said, Neither has
        Yahweh chosen this.
016:010 Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel.
        Samuel said to Jesse, Yahweh has not chosen these.
016:011 Samuel said to Jesse, Are here all your children?
        He said, There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is
        keeping the sheep.  Samuel said to Jesse, Send and get him;
        for we will not sit down until he come here.
016:012 He sent, and brought him in.  Now he was ruddy,
        and withal of a beautiful face, and goodly to look on.
        Yahweh said, Arise, anoint him; for this is he.
016:013 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst
        of his brothers:  and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily
        on David from that day forward.  So Samuel rose up,
        and went to Ramah.
016:014 Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul, and an evil spirit
        from Yahweh troubled him.
016:015 Saul's servants said to him, See now, an evil spirit from
        God troubles you.
016:016 Let our lord now command your servants who are before you,
        to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp:
        and it shall happen, when the evil spirit from God is on you,
        that he shall play with his hand, and you shall be well.
016:017 Saul said to his servants, Provide me now a man who can play well,
        and bring him to me.
016:018 Then answered one of the young men, and said, Behold, I have seen
        a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing,
        and a mighty man of valor, and a man of war, and prudent
        in speech, and a comely person; and Yahweh is with him.
016:019 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, Send me
        David your son, who is with the sheep.
016:020 Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, and a bottle of wine,
        and a kid, and sent them by David his son to Saul.
016:021 David came to Saul, and stood before him:  and he loved him greatly;
        and he became his armor bearer.
016:022 Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Please let David stand before me;
        for he has found favor in my sight.
016:023 It happened, when the [evil] spirit from God was on Saul,
        that David took the harp, and played with his hand:
        so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit
        departed from him.
017:001 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle;
        and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah,
        and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim.
017:002 Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together,
        and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array
        against the Philistines.
017:003 The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side,
        and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side:
        and there was a valley between them.
017:004 There went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines,
        named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
017:005 He had a helmet of brass on his head, and he was clad with a
        coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand
        shekels of brass.
017:006 He had brass shin armor on his legs, and a javelin of brass
        between his shoulders.
017:007 The staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam;
        and his spear's head [weighed] six hundred shekels of iron:
        and his shield bearer went before him.
017:008 He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them,
        Why are you come out to set your battle in array? am I not
        a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? choose you a man for you,
        and let him come down to me.
017:009 If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then will we
        be your servants; but if I prevail against him, and kill him,
        then shall you be our servants, and serve us.
017:010 The Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day;
        give me a man, that we may fight together.
017:011 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine,
        they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.
017:012 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah,
        whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons:  and the man was
        an old man in the days of Saul, stricken [in years] among men.
017:013 The three eldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle:
        and the names of his three sons who went to the battle
        were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab,
        and the third Shammah.
017:014 David was the youngest; and the three eldest followed Saul.
017:015 Now David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's
        sheep at Bethlehem.
017:016 The Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented
        himself forty days.
017:017 Jesse said to David his son, Take now for your brothers
        an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves,
        and carry [them] quickly to the camp to your brothers;
017:018 and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand,
        and look how your brothers fare, and take their pledge.
017:019 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley
        of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.
017:020 David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with
        a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him;
        and he came to the place of the wagons, as the army which was
        going forth to the fight shouted for the battle.
017:021 Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array,
        army against army.
017:022 David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage,
        and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers.
017:023 As he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion,
        the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the ranks
        of the Philistines, and spoke according to the same words:
        and David heard them.
017:024 All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him,
        and were sore afraid.
017:025 The men of Israel said, Have you seen this man who is come
        up? surely to defy Israel is he come up:  and it shall be,
        that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him
        with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make
        his father's house free in Israel.
017:026 David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, What shall
        be done to the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away
        the reproach from Israel? for who is this uncircumcised Philistine,
        that he should defy the armies of the living God?
017:027 The people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall
        it be done to the man who kills him.
017:028 Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's
        anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why are you come down?
        and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?
        I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart;
        for you have come down that you might see the battle.
017:029 David said, What have I now done?  Is there not a cause?
017:030 He turned away from him toward another, and spoke after
        the same manner:  and the people answered him again after
        the former manner.
017:031 When the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed
        them before Saul; and he sent for him.
017:032 David said to Saul, Let no man's heart fail because of him;
        your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
017:033 Saul said to David, You are not able to go against this
        Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth,
        and he a man of war from his youth.
017:034 David said to Saul, Your servant was keeping his father's sheep;
        and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out
        of the flock,
017:035 I went out after him, and struck him, and delivered it out
        of his mouth; and when he arose against me, I caught him
        by his beard, and struck him, and killed him.
017:036 Your servant struck both the lion and the bear:
        and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them,
        seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.
017:037 David said, Yahweh who delivered me out of the paw of the lion,
        and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand
        of this Philistine.  Saul said to David, Go, and Yahweh shall
        be with you.
017:038 Saul clad David with his clothing, and he put a helmet of brass
        on his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail.
017:039 David girded his sword on his clothing, and he tried to go;
        for he had not proved it.  David said to Saul, I can't go with these;
        for I have not proved them.  David put them off him.
017:040 He took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones
        out of the brook, and put them in the shepherd's bag which
        he had, even in his wallet; and his sling was in his hand:
        and he drew near to the Philistine.
017:041 The Philistine came on and drew near to David; and the man
        who bore the shield went before him.
017:042 When the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him;
        for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and withal of a fair face.
017:043 The Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that you come to me
        with sticks?  The Philistine cursed David by his gods.
017:044 The Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give
        your flesh to the birds of the sky, and to the animals
        of the field.
017:045 Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword,
        and with a spear, and with a javelin:  but I come to you in
        the name of Yahweh of Armies, the God of the armies of Israel,
        whom you have defied.
017:046 This day will Yahweh deliver you into my hand; and I will
        strike you, and take your head from off you; and I will give
        the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day
        to the birds of the sky, and to the wild animals of the earth;
        that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,
017:047 and that all this assembly may know that Yahweh doesn't
        save with sword and spear:  for the battle is Yahweh's,
        and he will give you into our hand.
017:048 It happened, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew near
        to meet David, that David hurried, and ran toward the army
        to meet the Philistine.
017:049 David put his hand in his bag, and took there a stone,
        and slang it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead;
        and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face
        to the earth.
017:050 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and
        with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and killed him;
        but there was no sword in the hand of David.
017:051 Then David ran, and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword,
        and drew it out of the sheath of it, and killed him,
        and cut off his head therewith.  When the Philistines saw
        that their champion was dead, they fled.
017:052 The men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued
        the Philistines, until you come to Gai, and to the gates of Ekron.
        The wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim,
        even to Gath, and to Ekron.
017:053 The children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines,
        and they plundered their camp.
017:054 David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem;
        but he put his armor in his tent.
017:055 When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner,
        the captain of the army, Abner, whose son is this youth?
        Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I can't tell.
017:056 The king said, "Inquire whose son the young man is!"
017:057 As David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner
        took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of
        the Philistine in his hand.
017:058 Saul said to him, Whose son are you, you young man?
        David answered, I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.
018:001 It happened, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul,
        that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David,
        and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
018:002 Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home
        to his father's house.
018:003 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him
        as his own soul.
018:004 Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him,
        and gave it to David, and his clothing, even to his sword,
        and to his bow, and to his sash.
018:005 David went out wherever Saul sent him, [and] behaved himself wisely:
        and Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the sight
        of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.
018:006 It happened as they came, when David returned from the slaughter
        of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities
        of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul,
        with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music.
018:007 The women sang one to another as they played, and said,
        Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands.
018:008 Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him;
        and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands,
        and to me they have ascribed but thousands:  and what can
        he have more but the kingdom?
018:009 Saul eyed David from that day and forward.
018:010 It happened on the next day, that an evil spirit from God came
        mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house:
        and David played with his hand, as he did day by day.
        Saul had his spear in his hand;
018:011 and Saul cast the spear; for he said, I will strike David
        even to the wall.  David avoided out of his presence twice.
018:012 Saul was afraid of David, because Yahweh was with him,
        and was departed from Saul.
018:013 Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain
        over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.
018:014 David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and Yahweh
        was with him.
018:015 When Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood
        in awe of him.
018:016 But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came
        in before them.
018:017 Saul said to David, Behold, my elder daughter Merab, her will I give
        you as wife:  only be valiant for me, and fight Yahweh's battles.
        For Saul said, Don't let my hand be on him, but let the hand
        of the Philistines be on him.
018:018 David said to Saul, Who am I, and what is my life, [or] my
        father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law
        to the king?
018:019 But it happened at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter,
        should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel
        the Meholathite as wife.
018:020 Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David:  and they told Saul,
        and the thing pleased him.
018:021 Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him,
        and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.
        Therefore Saul said to David, You shall this day be my son-in-law
        a second time.
018:022 Saul commanded his servants, [saying], Commune with David secretly,
        and say, Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his
        servants love you:  now therefore be the king's son-in-law.
018:023 Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David.
        David said, Seems it to you a light thing to be the king's
        son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?
018:024 The servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner spoke David.
018:025 Saul said, Thus shall you tell David, The king desires
        no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines,
        to be avenged of the king's enemies.  Now Saul thought to make
        David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
018:026 When his servants told David these words, it pleased David
        well to be the king's son-in-law. The days were not expired;
018:027 and David arose and went, he and his men, and killed
        of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought
        their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king,
        that he might be the king's son-in-law. Saul gave him Michal
        his daughter as wife.
018:028 Saul saw and knew that Yahweh was with David;
        and Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him.
018:029 Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul was
        David's enemy continually.
018:030 Then the princes of the Philistines went forth:
        and it happened, as often as they went forth, that David
        behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul;
        so that his name was much set by.
019:001 Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants,
        that they should kill David.  But Jonathan, Saul's son,
        delighted much in David.
019:002 Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeks to kill you:
        now therefore, please take care of yourself in the morning,
        and live in a secret place, and hide yourself:
019:003 and I will go out and stand beside my father in the field
        where you are, and I will commune with my father of you;
        and if I see anything, I will tell you.
019:004 Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him,
        Don't let the king sin against his servant, against David;
        because he has not sinned against you, and because his works
        have been very good toward you:
019:005 for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine,
        and Yahweh worked a great victory for all Israel:  you saw it,
        and did rejoice; why then will you sin against innocent blood,
        to kill David without a cause?
019:006 Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan:  and Saul swore,
        As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.
019:007 Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things.
        Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence,
        as before.
019:008 There was war again:  and David went out, and fought with
        the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter;
        and they fled before him.
019:009 An evil spirit from Yahweh was on Saul, as he sat in his house
        with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand.
019:010 Saul sought to strike David even to the wall with the spear;
        but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he struck
        the spear into the wall:  and David fled, and escaped that night.
019:011 Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him,
        and to kill him in the morning:  and Michal, David's wife,
        told him, saying, If you don't save your life tonight,
        tomorrow you will be slain.
019:012 So Michal let David down through the window:  and he went,
        and fled, and escaped.
019:013 Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put
        a pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it, and covered it
        with the clothes.
019:014 When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.
019:015 Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up
        to me in the bed, that I may kill him.
019:016 When the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed,
        with the pillow of goats' [hair] at the head of it.
019:017 Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me thus, and let my
        enemy go, so that he is escaped?  Michal answered Saul, He said
        to me, Let me go; why should I kill you?
019:018 Now David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah,
        and told him all that Saul had done to him.  He and Samuel
        went and lived in Naioth.
019:019 It was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.
019:020 Saul sent messengers to take David:  and when they saw the company
        of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head
        over them, the Spirit of God came on the messengers of Saul,
        and they also prophesied.
019:021 When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they
        also prophesied.  Saul sent messengers again the third time,
        and they also prophesied.
019:022 Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well
        that is in Secu:  and he asked and said, Where are Samuel
        and David?  One said, Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.
019:023 He went there to Naioth in Ramah:  and the Spirit of God came
        on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came
        to Naioth in Ramah.
019:024 He also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied
        before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night.
        Therefore they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"
020:001 David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said
        before Jonathan, "What have I done?  What is my iniquity?"
        and "What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?"
020:002 He said to him, "Far from it; you shall not die:  behold, my father
        does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it
        to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me?
        It is not so."
020:003 David swore moreover, and said, "Your father knows
        well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says,
        'Don't let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved:'
        but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is
        but a step between me and death."
020:004 Then said Jonathan to David, "Whatever your soul desires,
        I will even do it for you."
020:005 David said to Jonathan, "Behold, tomorrow is the new moon,
        and I should not fail to dine with the king; but let me go,
        that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening.
020:006 If your father miss me at all, then say, 'David earnestly
        asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city;
        for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family.'
020:007 If he says, 'It is well;' your servant shall have peace:
        but if he be angry, then know that evil is determined by him.
020:008 Therefore deal kindly with your servant; for you have
        brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you:
        but if there be in me iniquity, kill me yourself; for why
        should you bring me to your father?"
020:009 Jonathan said, "Far be it from you; for if I should at all
        know that evil were determined by my father to come on you,
        then wouldn't I tell you that?"
020:010 Then said David to Jonathan, "Who shall tell me if perchance
        your father answer you roughly?"
020:011 Jonathan said to David, "Come, and let us go out into the field."
        They both went out into the field.
020:012 Jonathan said to David, "Yahweh, the God of Israel, [be witness]:
        when I have sounded my father about this time tomorrow,
        [or] the third day, behold, if there be good toward David,
        shall I not then send to you, and disclose it to you?
020:013 Yahweh do so to Jonathan, and more also, should it please my
        father to do you evil, if I don't disclose it to you, and send
        you away, that you may go in peace:  and Yahweh be with you,
        as he has been with my father.
020:014 You shall not only while yet I live show me the loving kindness
        of Yahweh, that I not die;
020:015 but also you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever;
        no, not when Yahweh has cut off the enemies of David everyone
        from the surface of the earth."
020:016 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, [saying],
        Yahweh will require it at the hand of David's enemies.
020:017 Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had
        to him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
020:018 Then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon:
        and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.
020:019 When you have stayed three days, you shall go down quickly,
        and come to the place where you did hide yourself when the
        business was in hand, and shall remain by the stone Ezel.
020:020 I will shoot three arrows on the side of it, as though I shot
        at a mark.
020:021 Behold, I will send the boy, [saying], Go, find the arrows.
        If I tell the boy, Behold, the arrows are on this side of you;
        take them, and come; for there is peace to you and no hurt,
        as Yahweh lives.
020:022 But if I say thus to the boy, Behold, the arrows are beyond you;
        go your way; for Yahweh has sent you away.
020:023 As touching the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold,
        Yahweh is between you and me forever.
020:024 So David hid himself in the field:  and when the new moon was come,
        the king sat him down to eat food.
020:025 The king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat
        by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul's side:
        but David's place was empty.
020:026 Nevertheless Saul didn't say anything that day:
        for he thought, Something has happened to him.  He is not clean.
        Surely he is not clean.
020:027 It happened on the next day after the new moon, [which was]
        the second [day], that David's place was empty:  and Saul said
        to Jonathan his son, Why doesn't the son of Jesse come to meat,
        neither yesterday, nor today?
020:028 Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me
        to go to Bethlehem:
020:029 and he said, Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice
        in the city; and my brother, he has commanded me [to
        be there]: and now, if I have found favor in your eyes,
        let me get away, I pray you, and see my brothers.
        Therefore he is not come to the king's table.
020:030 Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said
        to him, You son of a perverse rebellious woman, don't I know
        that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame,
        and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?
020:031 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall
        not be established, nor your kingdom.  Therefore now send
        and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.
020:032 Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, "Why should
        he be put to death?  What has he done?"
020:033 Saul cast his spear at him to strike him.  By this Jonathan
        knew that his father was determined to put David to death.
020:034 So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food
        the second day of the month; for he was grieved for David,
        because his father had done him shame.
020:035 It happened in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field
        at the time appointed with David, and a little boy with him.
020:036 He said to his boy, Run, find now the arrows which I shoot.
        As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
020:037 When the boy was come to the place of the arrow which
        Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the boy, and said,
        Isn't the arrow beyond you?
020:038 Jonathan cried after the boy, Go fast!  Hurry!  Don't delay!
        Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.
020:039 But the boy didn't know anything:  only Jonathan and David
        knew the matter.
020:040 Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy, and said to him, Go,
        carry them to the city.
020:041 As soon as the boy was gone, David arose out of [a place]
        toward the South, and fell on his face to the ground,
        and bowed himself three times:  and they kissed one another,
        and wept one with another, until David exceeded.
020:042 Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, because we have sworn
        both of us in the name of Yahweh, saying, Yahweh shall be
        between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever.
        He arose and departed:  and Jonathan went into the city.
021:001 Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest:
        and Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him,
        Why are you alone, and no man with you?
021:002 David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has commanded me
        a business, and has said to me, Let no man know anything of the
        business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you:
        and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.
021:003 Now therefore what is under your hand? give me five loaves
        of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present.
021:004 The priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread
        under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young
        men have kept themselves from women.
021:005 David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth
        women have been kept from us about these three days;
        when I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy,
        though it was but a common journey; how much more then today
        shall their vessels be holy?
021:006 So the priest gave him holy [bread]; for there was no bread
        there but the show bread, that was taken from before Yahweh,
        to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.
021:007 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day,
        detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite,
        the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
021:008 David said to Ahimelech, Isn't there here under your hand spear
        or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons
        with me, because the king's business required haste.
021:009 The priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine,
        whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here
        wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod:  if you will take that,
        take it; for there is no other except that here.
        David said, There is none like that; give it me.
021:010 David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went
        to Achish the king of Gath.
021:011 The servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David
        the king of the land?  Didn't they sing one to another
        about him in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands,
        David his ten thousands?'"
021:012 David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid
        of Achish the king of Gath.
021:013 He changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad
        in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate,
        and let his spittle fall down on his beard.
021:014 Then said Achish to his servants, Look, you see the man is mad;
        why then have you brought him to me?
021:015 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play
        the madman in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?
022:001 David therefore departed there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam:
        and when his brothers and all his father's house heard it,
        they went down there to him.
022:002 Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt,
        and everyone who was discontented, gathered themselves to him;
        and he became captain over them:  and there were with him
        about four hundred men.
022:003 David went there to Mizpeh of Moab:  and he said to the king
        of Moab, Please let my father and my mother come forth,
        [and be] with you, until I know what God will do for me.
022:004 He brought them before the king of Moab:  and they lived
        with him all the while that David was in the stronghold.
022:005 The prophet Gad said to David, Don't stay in the stronghold;
        depart, and get you into the land of Judah.  Then David departed,
        and came into the forest of Hereth.
022:006 Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him:
        now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree
        in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants
        were standing about him.
022:007 Saul said to his servants who stood about him, Hear now,
        you Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give everyone of you
        fields and vineyards, will he make you all captains of thousands
        and captains of hundreds,
022:008 that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none
        who discloses to me when my son makes a league with the son
        of Jesse, and there is none of you who is sorry for me,
        or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant
        against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
022:009 Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants
        of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob,
        to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.
022:010 He inquired of Yahweh for him, and gave him food, and gave
        him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.
022:011 Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub,
        and all his father's house, the priests who were in Nob:
        and they came all of them to the king.
022:012 Saul said, Hear now, you son of Ahitub.  He answered,
        Here I am, my lord.
022:013 Saul said to him, Why have you conspired against me,
        you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread,
        and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should
        rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?
022:014 Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, Who among all your
        servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law,
        and is taken into your council, and is honorable in your house?
022:015 Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? be it far from me:
        don't let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to
        all the house of my father; for your servant knows nothing
        of all this, less or more.
022:016 The king said, You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you, and all
        your father's house.
022:017 The king said to the guard who stood about him, Turn, and kill
        the priests of Yahweh; because their hand also is with David,
        and because they knew that he fled, and didn't disclose it to me.
        But the servants of the king wouldn't put forth their hand
        to fall on the priests of Yahweh.
022:018 The king said to Doeg, Turn you, and fall on the priests.
        Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell on the priests,
        and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore
        a linen ephod.
022:019 Nob, the city of the priests, struck he with the edge of
        the sword, both men and women, children and nursing babies,
        and oxen and donkeys and sheep, with the edge of the sword.
022:020 One of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar,
        escaped, and fled after David.
022:021 Abiathar told David that Saul had slain Yahweh's priests.
022:022 David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite
        was there, that he would surely tell Saul:  I have occasioned
        [the death] of all the persons of your father's house.
022:023 Abide you with me, don't be afraid; for he who seeks my life
        seeks your life:  for with me you shall be in safeguard.
023:001 They told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting
        against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors.
023:002 Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, Shall I go and strike
        these Philistines?  Yahweh said to David, Go, and strike
        the Philistines, and save Keilah.
023:003 David'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?
023:004 Then 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.
023:005 David 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.
023:006 It happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David
        to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.
023:007 It was told Saul that David was 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.
023:008 Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah,
        to besiege David and his men.
023:009 David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him;
        and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring here the ephod.
023:010 Then said David, 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.
023:011 Will 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.
023:012 Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver up to me
        and my men into the hand of Saul?  Yahweh said, They will
        deliver you up.
023:013 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and
        departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go.
        It was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah;
        and he gave up going there.
023:014 David abode 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.
023:015 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life:
        and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the wood.
023:016 Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and went to David into the wood,
        and strengthened his hand in God.
023:017 He said to him, Don't be afraid; for the hand of Saul my father
        shall not find you; and you shall be king over Israel, and I
        shall be next to you; and that also Saul my father knows.
023:018 They two made a covenant before Yahweh:  and David abode
        in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.
023:019 Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doesn't David
        hide himself with us in the strongholds in the wood,
        in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert?
023:020 Now therefore, O king, come down, according to all the desire
        of your soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver
        him up into the king's hand.
023:021 Saul said, Blessed be you of Yahweh; for you have had
        compassion on me.
023:022 Please go make yet more sure, and know and see his place
        where his haunt is, [and] who has seen him there; for it
        is told me that he deals very subtly.
023:023 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places
        where he hides himself, and come you again to me of a certainty,
        and I will go with you:  and it shall happen, if he be in the land,
        that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.
023:024 They 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.
023:025 Saul 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 after David in the
        wilderness of Maon.
023:026 Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men
        on that side of the mountain:  and David made haste to get
        away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David
        and his men round about to take them.
023:027 But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, Haste you, and come;
        for the Philistines have made a raid on the land.
023:028 So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went
        against the Philistines:  therefore they called that
        place Sela Hammahlekoth.
023:029 David went up from there, and lived in the strongholds
        of En Gedi.
024:001 It happened, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines,
        that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness
        of En Gedi.
024:002 Then 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.
024:003 He came to the sheep pens by the way, where was a cave;
        and Saul went in to relieve himself.  Now David and his men
        were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave.
024:004 The men of David 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.
024:005 It happened afterward, that David's heart struck him,
        because he had cut off Saul's skirt.
024:006 He said to his men, Yahweh forbid that I should do this thing
        to my lord, Yahweh's anointed, to put forth my hand against him,
        seeing he is Yahweh's anointed.
024:007 So 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.
024:008 David 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 did obeisance.
024:009 David said to Saul, Why listen you to men's words, saying,
        Behold, David seeks your hurt?
024:010 Behold, this day your eyes have seen how that Yahweh
        had delivered you today into my hand in the cave:
        and some bade me kill you; but [my eye] spared you;
        and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord;
        for he is Yahweh's anointed.
024:011 Moreover, 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 you and see that there is neither evil
        nor disobedience in my hand, and I have not sinned against you,
        though you hunt after my life to take it.
024:012 Yahweh judge between me and you, and Yahweh avenge me of you;
        but my hand shall not be on you.
024:013 As says the proverb of the ancients, Out of the wicked comes
        forth wickedness; but my hand shall not be on you.
024:014 After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom do you
        pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea.
024:015 Yahweh therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you,
        and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.
024:016 It came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking
        these words to Saul, that Saul said, Is this your voice,
        my son David?  Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.
024:017 He said to David, You are more righteous than I; for you have
        rendered to me good, whereas I have rendered to you evil.
024:018 You have declared this day how that you have dealt well with me,
        because when Yahweh had delivered me up into your hand,
        you didn't kill me.
024:019 For 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 this day.
024:020 Now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that
        the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand.
024:021 Swear now therefore to me by Yahweh, that you will not cut
        off my seed after me, and that you will not destroy my name
        out of my father's house.
024:022 David swore to Saul.  Saul went home; but David and his men
        got them up to the stronghold.
025:001 Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together,
        and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah.
        David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
025:002 There was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel;
        and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep,
        and a thousand goats:  and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
025:003 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail;
        and the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful face:
        but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was
        of the house of Caleb.
025:004 David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
025:005 David 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:
025:006 and thus shall you tell him who lives [in prosperity],
        Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be
        to all that you have.
025:007 Now I have heard that you have shearers:  your shepherds have
        now been with us, and we did them no hurt, neither was there
        anything missing to them, all the while they were in Carmel.
025:008 Ask your young men, and they will tell you:  therefore let
        the young men find favor in your eyes; for we come in a good day.
        Please give whatever comes to your hand, to your servants,
        and to your son David.
025:009 When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according
        to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
025:010 Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David?
        and who is the son of Jesse? there are many servants who break
        away from their masters these days.
025:011 Shall I then take my bread, and 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?
025:012 So David's young men turned on their way, and went back,
        and came and told him according to all these words.
025:013 David said to his men, Gird you on every man his sword.
        They girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on
        his sword:  and there went up after David about four hundred men;
        and two hundred abode by the baggage.
025:014 But 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 railed at them.
025:015 But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt,
        neither missed we anything, as long as we went with them,
        when we were in the fields:
025:016 they were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we
        were with them keeping the sheep.
025:017 Now 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.
025:018 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves,
        and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five
        measures of parched grain, and one hundred clusters of raisins,
        and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys.
025:019 She said to her young men, Go on before me; behold, I come after you.
        But she didn't tell her husband, Nabal.
025:020 It was so, as she rode on her donkey, and came down by the covert
        of the mountain, that behold, David and his men came down
        toward her; and she met them.
025:021 Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this
        fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all
        that pertained to him:  and he has returned me evil for good.
025:022 God 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.{or, male.}
025:023 When Abigail saw David, she hurried, and alighted from her donkey,
        and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself
        to the ground.
025:024 She fell at his feet, and said, On me, my lord, on me be
        the iniquity; and please let your handmaid speak in your ears.
        Hear the words of your handmaid.
025:025 Please don't let my lord regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal;
        for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly
        is with him:  but I your handmaid didn't see the young men
        of my lord, whom you did send.
025:026 Now therefore, my lord, as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives,
        seeing 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.
025:027 Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord,
        let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
025:028 Please forgive the trespass of your handmaid:  for Yahweh
        will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord
        fights the battles of Yahweh; and evil shall not be found
        in you all your days.
025:029 Though men be risen up to pursue you, and to seek your soul,
        yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life
        with Yahweh your God; and the souls of your enemies,
        them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling.
025:030 It shall come to pass, when Yahweh shall have done to my lord
        according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you,
        and shall have appointed you prince over Israel,
025:031 that 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 shall
        have dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid.
025:032 David said to Abigail, Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel,
        who sent you this day to meet me:
025:033 and blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you, that have
        kept me this day from blood guiltiness, and from avenging
        myself with my own hand.
025:034 For in very deed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, who has
        withheld me from hurting you, except 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.{or, male.}
025:035 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him:
        and he said to her, Go up in peace to your house; behold, I have
        listened to your voice, and have accepted your person.
025:036 Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house,
        like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him,
        for he was very drunken:  therefore she told him nothing,
        less or more, until the morning light.
025:037 It happened in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal,
        that his wife told him these things, and his heart died
        within him, and he became as a stone.
025:038 It happened about ten days after, that Yahweh struck Nabal,
        so that he died.
025:039 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Yahweh,
        who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand
        of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil:
        and the evil-doing of Nabal has Yahweh returned on his own head.
        David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to
        him as wife.
025:040 When the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel,
        they spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to you, to take
        you to him as wife.
025:041 She arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth,
        and said, Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet
        of the servants of my lord.
025:042 Abigail hurried, and arose, and rode on a donkey, with five ladies
        of hers who followed her; and she went after the messengers
        of David, and became his wife.
025:043 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they became both
        of them his wives.
025:044 Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife,
        to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.
026:001 The Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doesn't David hide
        himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert?
026:002 Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph,
        having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek
        David in the wilderness of Ziph.
026:003 Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert,
        by the way.  But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw
        that Saul came after him into the wilderness.
026:004 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was
        come of a certainty.
026:005 David arose, and came to the place where Saul had encamped;
        and David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner,
        the captain of his army:  and Saul lay within the place
        of the wagons, and the people were encamped round about him.
026:006 Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite,
        and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab,
        saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp?
        Abishai said, I will go down with you.
026:007 So David and Abishai came to the people by night:
        and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the place of the wagons,
        with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner
        and the people lay round about him.
026:008 Then said Abishai to David, God has delivered up your enemy
        into your hand this day:  now therefore please let me strike
        him with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will
        not strike him the second time.
026:009 David said to Abishai, Don't destroy him; for who can put forth
        his hand against Yahweh's anointed, and be guiltless?
026:010 David said, As Yahweh lives, Yahweh will strike him; or his day
        shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle and perish.
026:011 Yahweh forbid that I should put forth my hand against
        Yahweh's anointed:  but now please take the spear that is at
        his head, and the jar of water, and let us go.
026:012 So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul's head;
        and they got them away:  and no man saw it, nor knew it,
        neither did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep
        sleep from Yahweh was fallen on them.
026:013 Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top
        of the mountain afar off; a great space being between them;
026:014 and David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner,
        saying, Don't you answer, Abner?  Then Abner answered,
        Who are you who cries to the king?
026:015 David said to Abner, Aren't you a [valiant] man? and who is like
        you in Israel? why then have you not kept watch over your lord,
        the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy
        the king your lord.
026:016 This thing isn't good that you have done.  As Yahweh lives,
        you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over
        your lord, Yahweh's anointed.  Now see where the king's spear is,
        and the jar of water that was at his head.
026:017 Saul knew David's voice, and said, Is this your voice,
        my son David?  David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king.
026:018 He said, Why does my lord pursue after his servant? for what
        have I done? or what evil is in my hand?
026:019 Now therefore, please let my lord the king hear the words
        of his servant.  If it be Yahweh that has stirred you
        up against me, let him accept an offering:  but if it
        be the children of men, cursed be they before Yahweh:
        for they have driven me out this day that I shouldn't cling
        to Yahweh's inheritance, saying, Go, serve other gods.
026:020 Now therefore, don't let my blood fall to the earth away
        from the presence of Yahweh:  for the king of Israel is
        come out to seek a flea, as when one does hunt a partridge
        in the mountains.
026:021 Then said Saul, I have sinned:  return, my son David;
        for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious
        in your eyes this day:  behold, I have played the fool,
        and have erred exceedingly.
026:022 David answered, Behold the spear, O king! let then one of
        the young men come over and get it.
026:023 Yahweh will render to every man his righteousness and
        his faithfulness; because Yahweh delivered you into my hand today,
        and I wouldn't put forth my hand against Yahweh's anointed.
026:024 Behold, as your life was much set by this day in my eyes,
        so let my life be much set by in the eyes of Yahweh, and let
        him deliver me out of all oppression.
026:025 Then Saul said to David, Blessed be you, my son David:
        you shall both do mightily, and shall surely prevail.
        So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.
027:001 David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand
        of Saul:  there is nothing better for me than that I should
        escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair
        of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel:
        so shall I escape out of his hand.
027:002 David arose, and passed over, he and the six hundred men
        who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
027:003 David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man
        with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam
        the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.
027:004 It was told Saul that David was fled to Gath:  and he sought
        no more again for him.
027:005 David said to Achish, If now I have found favor in your eyes,
        let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country,
        that I may dwell there:  for why should your servant dwell
        in the royal city with you?
027:006 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day:  why Ziklag pertains
        to the kings of Judah to this day.
027:007 The number of the days that David lived in the country
        of the Philistines was a full year and four months.
027:008 David and his men went up, and made a raid on the Geshurites,
        and the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for those [nations] were
        the inhabitants of the land, who were of old, as you go to Shur,
        even to the land of Egypt.
027:009 David struck the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive,
        and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the donkeys,
        and the camels, and the clothing; and he returned,
        and came to Achish.
027:010 Achish said, Against whom have you made a raid today?
        David said, Against the South of Judah, and against the South
        of the Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the Kenites.
027:011 David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gath,
        saying, Lest they should tell of us, saying, So did David,
        and so has been his manner all the while he has lived
        in the country of the Philistines.
027:012 Achish believed David, saying, He has made his people Israel
        utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant forever.
028:001 It happened in those days, that the Philistines gathered
        their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel.
        Achish said to David, Know you assuredly, that you shall go
        out with me in the army, you and your men.
028:002 David said to Achish, Therefore you shall know what your servant
        will do.  Achish said to David, Therefore will I make you
        keeper of my head for ever.
028:003 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him,
        and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city.  Saul had
        put away those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards,
        out of the land.
028:004 The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and
        encamped in Shunem:  and Saul gathered all Israel together,
        and they encamped in Gilboa.
028:005 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid,
        and his heart trembled greatly.
028:006 When Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh didn't answer him,
        neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
028:007 Then said Saul to his servants, Seek me a woman who has
        a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her.
        His servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman who has
        a familiar spirit at Endor.
028:008 Saul disguised himself, and put on other clothing, and went,
        he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night:
        and he said, Please divine to me by the familiar spirit,
        and bring me up whoever I shall name to you.
028:009 The woman said to him, Behold, you know what Saul has done,
        how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards,
        out of the land:  why then lay you a snare for my life,
        to cause me to die?
028:010 Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, As Yahweh lives,
        there shall no punishment happen to you for this thing.
028:011 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up to you?
        He said, Bring me up Samuel.
028:012 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice;
        and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why have you deceived
        me? for you are Saul.
028:013 The king said to her, Don't be afraid:  for what do you see?
        The woman said to Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth.
028:014 He said to her, What form is he of?  She said, An old man
        comes up; and he is covered with a robe.  Saul perceived
        that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground,
        and did obeisance.
028:015 Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disquieted me, to bring me up?
        Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines
        make war against me, and God is departed from me,
        and answers me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams:
        therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me
        what I shall do.
028:016 Samuel said, Why then do you ask of me, seeing Yahweh is departed
        from you, and is become your adversary?
028:017 Yahweh has done to you, as he spoke by me:  and Yahweh has torn
        the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your neighbor,
        even to David.
028:018 Because you didn't obey the voice of Yahweh, and didn't execute
        his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore has Yahweh done this
        thing to you this day.
028:019 Moreover Yahweh will deliver Israel also with you into the hand
        of the Philistines; and tomorrow shall you and your sons be with me:
        Yahweh will deliver the army of Israel also into the hand
        of the Philistines.
028:020 Then Saul fell immediately his full length on 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 the day, nor all the night.
028:021 The woman came to Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled,
        and said to him, Behold, your handmaid has listened to your voice,
        and I have put my life in my hand, and have listened to your
        words which you spoke to me.
028:022 Now therefore, please listen also to the voice of your handmaid,
        and let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat,
        that you may have strength, when you go on your way.
028:023 But he refused, and said, I will not eat.  But his servants,
        together with the woman, constrained him; and he listened
        to their voice.  So he arose from the earth, and sat on the bed.
028:024 The woman had a fattened calf in the house; and she hurried,
        and killed it; and she took flour, and kneaded it, and did
        bake unleavened bread of it:
028:025 and she brought it before Saul, and before his servants;
        and they ate.  Then they rose up, and went away that night.
029:001 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek:
        and the Israelites encamped by the spring which is in Jezreel.
029:002 The lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands;
        and David and his men passed on in the rearward with Achish.
029:003 Then said the princes of the Philistines, What [do]
        these Hebrews [here]?  Achish said to the princes of
        the Philistines, Isn't this David, the servant of Saul the king
        of Israel, who has been with me these days, or [rather]
        these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell
        away [to me] to this day?
029:004 But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him;
        and the princes of the Philistines said to him,
        Make the man return, that he may go back to his place
        where you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us
        to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us:
        for with what should this [fellow] reconcile himself to his
        lord? should it not be with the heads of these men?
029:005 Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances,
        saying, Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?
029:006 Then Achish called David, and said to him, As Yahweh lives,
        you have been upright, and your going out and your coming
        in with me in the army is good in my sight; for I have not found
        evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day:
        nevertheless the lords don't favor you.
029:007 Therefore now return, and go in peace, that you not displease
        the lords of the Philistines.
029:008 David said to Achish, But what have I done? and what have you
        found in your servant so long as I have been before you
        to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies
        of my lord the king?
029:009 Achish answered David, I know that you are 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.
029:010 Therefore now rise up early in the morning with the servants
        of your lord who have come with you; and as soon as you are up
        early in the morning, and have light, depart.
029:011 So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in
        the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines.
        The Philistines went up to Jezreel.
030:001 It happened, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on
        the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the South,
        and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag, and burned it with fire,
030:002 and had taken captive the women [and all] who were therein,
        both small and great:  they didn't kill any, but carried them off,
        and went their way.
030:003 When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned
        with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters,
        were taken captive.
030:004 Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their
        voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
030:005 David's two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess,
        and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
030:006 David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him,
        because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man
        for his sons and for his daughters:  but David strengthened
        himself in Yahweh his God.
030:007 David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, Please bring
        me here the ephod.  Abiathar brought there the ephod to David.
030:008 David inquired of Yahweh, saying, If I pursue after this troop,
        shall I overtake them?  He answered him, Pursue; for you shall
        surely overtake [them], and shall without fail recover [all].
030:009 So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him,
        and came to the brook Besor, where those who were
        left behind stayed.
030:010 But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred
        stayed behind, who were so faint that they couldn't go over
        the brook Besor.
030:011 They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David,
        and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink.
030:012 They gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters 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.
030:013 David said to him, To whom belong you? and whence are you?
        He said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite;
        and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick.
030:014 We made a raid on the South of the Cherethites, and on
        that which belongs to Judah, and on the South of Caleb;
        and we burned Ziklag with fire.
030:015 David said to him, Will you bring me down to this troop?
        He said, Swear to me by God, that you will neither kill me,
        nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring
        you down to this troop.
030:016 When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad
        over all the ground, eating and drinking, and dancing,
        because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of
        the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.
030:017 David struck them from the twilight even to the evening
        of the next day:  and there not a man of them escaped,
        except four hundred young men, who rode on camels and fled.
030:018 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David
        rescued his two wives.
030:019 There was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great,
        neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything
        that they had taken to them:  David brought back all.
030:020 David took all the flocks and the herds, [which] they drove
        before those [other] livestock, and said, This is David's spoil.
030:021 David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they
        could not follow David, whom also they had made to abide
        at the brook Besor; and they went forth to meet David,
        and to meet the people who were with him:  and when David
        came near to the people, he greeted them.
030:022 Then answered all the wicked men and base fellows, of those who
        went with David, and said, Because they didn't go with us,
        we will not give them anything of the spoil that we
        have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children,
        that he may lead them away, and depart.
030:023 Then said David, You shall not do so, my brothers,
        with that which Yahweh has given to us, who has preserved us,
        and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand.
030:024 Who will listen to you in this matter? for as his share is
        who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who tarries
        by the baggage:  they shall share alike.
030:025 It was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute
        and an ordinance for Israel to this day.
030:026 When David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil to the elders
        of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold, a present
        for you of the spoil of the enemies of Yahweh:
030:027 To those who were in Bethel, and to those who were in Ramoth
        of the South, and to those who were in Jattir,
030:028 and to those who were in Aroer, and to those who were in Siphmoth,
        and to those who were in Eshtemoa,
030:029 and to those who were in Racal, and to those who were in the cities
        of the Jerahmeelites, and to those who were in the cities
        of the Kenites,
030:030 and to those who were in Hormah, and to those who were in Borashan,
        and to those who were in Athach,
030:031 and to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where
        David himself and his men used to stay.
031:001 Now the Philistines fought against Israel:  and the men of
        Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain
        on Mount Gilboa.
031:002 The Philistines followed hard on Saul and on his sons;
        and the Philistines killed Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua,
        the sons of Saul.
031:003 The battle went sore against Saul, and the archers overtook him;
        and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers.
031:004 Then said Saul to his armor bearer, Draw your sword, and thrust
        me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust
        me through, and abuse me.  But his armor bearer would not;
        for he was sore afraid.  Therefore Saul took his sword,
        and fell on it.
031:005 When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell
        on his sword, and died with him.
031:006 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor bearer,
        and all his men, that same day together.
031:007 When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley,
        and those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men
        of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead,
        they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came
        and lived in them.
031:008 It happened on the next day, when the Philistines came to strip
        the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen
        on Mount Gilboa.
031:009 They cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent
        into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry the news
        to the house of their idols, and to the people.
031:010 They put his armor in the house of the Ashtaroth; and they
        fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.
031:011 When the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard concerning him
        that which the Philistines had done to Saul,
031:012 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 Beth Shan;
        and they came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.
031:013 They took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree
        in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.