1 Samuel 21-25

I Samuel 21

¹Then David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And when Ahimelech met David, he trembled and asked him, “Why are you alone? Why is no one with you?”

²“The king has given me a mission,” David replied. “He told me no one is to know about the mission or charge. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a certain place.

³Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.”

⁴“There is no common bread on hand,” the priest replied, “but there is some consecrated bread—provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.”

⁵David answered, “Women have indeed been kept from us, as is usual when I set out. And the equipment of the young men is holy, as it is even on common missions, and all the more at this time.”

⁶So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, since there was no bread there but the Bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD and replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away.

⁷Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the LORD. And his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief shepherd for Saul.

⁸Then David asked Ahimelech, “Is there not a spear or sword on hand here? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business was urgent.”

⁹The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want, you may take it. For there is no other but this one.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

¹⁰That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.

¹¹But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing about him in their dances, saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”

¹²Now David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

¹³So he changed his behavior before them and feigned madness in their hands; he scratched on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard.

¹⁴Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you can see that the man is insane! Why have you brought him to me?

¹⁵Am I in need of madmen, that you have brought this man to rave in my presence? Must this man come into my house?”

I Samuel 22

¹So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s household heard about it, they went down to him there.

²And all who were distressed or indebted or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.

³From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I learn what God will do for me.”

⁴So he left them in the care of the king of Moab, and they stayed with him the whole time David was in the stronghold.

⁵Then the prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold. Depart and go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

⁶Soon Saul learned that David and his men had been discovered. At that time Saul was in Gibeah, sitting under the tamarisk tree on the hill at Gibeah, with his spear in hand and all his servants standing around him.

⁷Then Saul said to his servants, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Is the son of Jesse giving all of you fields and vineyards and making you commanders of thousands or hundreds?

⁸Is that why all of you have conspired against me? Not one of you told me that my own son had made a covenant with the son of Jesse. Not one of you has shown concern for me or revealed to me that my son has stirred up my own servant to lie in wait against me, as is the case today.”

⁹But Doeg the Edomite, who had stationed himself with Saul’s servants, answered: “I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob.

¹⁰Ahimelech inquired of the LORD for him and gave him provisions. He also gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

¹¹Then the king sent messengers to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and his father’s whole family, who were priests at Nob. And all of them came to the king.

¹²“Listen now, son of Ahitub,” said Saul. “Here I am, my lord,” he replied.

¹³And Saul asked him, “Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me? You gave him bread and a sword and inquired of God for him so that he could rise up against me to lie in wait, as he is doing today.”

¹⁴Ahimelech answered the king, “Who among all your servants is as faithful as David, the king’s son-in-law, the captain of your bodyguard who is honored in your house?

¹⁵Was that day the first time I inquired of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of my father’s household, for your servant knew nothing of this whole affair—not in part or in whole.”

¹⁶But the king replied, “You will surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house!”

¹⁷Then the king ordered the guards at his side, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they did not tell me.” But the king’s servants would not lift a hand to strike the priests of the LORD.

¹⁸So the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.

¹⁹He also put to the sword Nob, the city of the priests, with its men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep.

²⁰But one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub escaped. His name was Abiathar, and he fled to David.

²¹And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.

²²Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that Doeg the Edomite was there that day, and that he was sure to tell Saul. I myself am responsible for the lives of everyone in your father’s house.

²³Stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks your life is seeking mine as well. You will be safe with me.”

I Samuel 23

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Samuel 24

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁸And you have shown this day how well you have dealt with me; for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.

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

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

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

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

I Samuel 25

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

²²May God punish David, and ever so severely, if I let one of Nabal’s men survive until morning.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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