1 {1:1} Now there was a certain man of Ramathaimzophim,
of mount Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the
son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of
Zuph, an Ephrathite: {1:2} And he had two wives; the name
of the one [was] Hannah, and the name of the other
Peninnah: and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no
children. {1:3} And this man went up out of his city yearly
to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in
Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the
priests of the LORD, [were] there.
{1:4} And when the time was that Elkanah offered, he
gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her
daughters, portions: {1:5} But unto Hannah he gave a
worthy portion; for he loved Hannah: but the LORD had
shut up her womb. {1:6} And her adversary also provoked
her sore, for to make her fret, because the LORD had shut
up her womb. {1:7} And [as] he did so year by year, when
she went up to the house of the LORD, so she provoked her;
therefore she wept, and did not eat. {1:8} Then said
Elkanah her husband to her, Hannah, why weepest thou?
and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved?
[am] not I better to thee than ten sons?
{1:9} So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh,
and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat
by a post of the temple of the LORD. {1:10} And she [was]
in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept
sore. {1:11} And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of
hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine
handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine
handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child,
then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life,
and there shall no razor come upon his head. {1:12} And it
came to pass, as she continued praying before the LORD,
that Eli marked her mouth. {1:13} Now Hannah, she spake
in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not
heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken. {1:14}
And Eli said unto her, How long wilt thou be drunken? put
away thy wine from thee. {1:15} And Hannah answered
and said, No, my lord, I [am] a woman of a sorrowful spirit:
I have drunken neither wine nor strong drink, but have
poured out my soul before the LORD. {1:16} Count not
thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial: for out of the
abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken
hitherto. {1:17} Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace:
and the God of Israel grant [thee] thy petition that thou hast
asked of him. {1:18} And she said, Let thine handmaid find
grace in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and did eat,
and her countenance was no more [sad.]
{1:19} And they rose up in the morning early, and
worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to
their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife;
and the LORD remembered her. {1:20} Wherefore it came
to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had
conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel,
[saying,] Because I have asked him of the LORD. {1:21}
And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer
unto the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. {1:22}
But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, [I
will not go up] until the child be weaned, and [then] I will
bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there
abide for ever. {1:23} And Elkanah her husband said unto
her, Do what seemeth thee good; tarry until thou have
weaned him; only the LORD establish his word. So the
woman abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him.
{1:24} And when she had weaned him, she took him up
with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of flour, and a
bottle of wine, and brought him unto the house of the
LORD in Shiloh: and the child [was] young. {1:25} And
they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. {1:26}
And she said, Oh my lord, [as] thy soul liveth, my lord, I
[am] the woman that stood by thee here, praying unto the
LORD. {1:27} For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath
given me my petition which I asked of him: {1:28}
Therefore also I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he
liveth he shall be lent to the LORD. And he worshipped the
LORD there.

2 {2:1} And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in
the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is
enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy
salvation. {2:2} [There is] none holy as the LORD: for
[there is] none beside thee: neither [is there] any rock like
our God. {2:3} Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let [not]
arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God
of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. {2:4} The
bows of the mighty men [are] broken, and they that
stumbled are girded with strength. {2:5} [They that were]
full have hired out themselves for bread; and [they that
were] hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven;
and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. {2:6} The
LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the
grave, and bringeth up. {2:7} The LORD maketh poor, and
maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. {2:8} He
raiseth up the poor out of the dust, [and] lifteth up the
beggar from the dunghill, to set [them] among princes, and
to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of
the earth [are] the LORD’S, and he hath set the world upon
them. {2:9} He will keep the feet of his saints, and the
wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no
man prevail. {2:10} The adversaries of the LORD shall be
broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them:
the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall
give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his
anointed. {2:11} And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house.
And the child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the
priest.
{2:12} Now the sons of Eli [were] sons of Belial; they
knew not the LORD. {2:13} And the priest’s custom with
the people [was, that,] when any man offered sacrifice, the
priest’s servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a
fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; {2:14} And he struck
[it] into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the
fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they
did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. {2:15}
Also before they burnt the fat, the priest’s servant came, and
said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the
priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.
{2:16} And [if] any man said unto him, Let them not fail to
burn the fat presently, and [then] take [as much] as thy soul
desireth; then he would answer him, [Nay;] but thou shalt
give [it me] now: and if not, I will take [it] by force. {2:17}
Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before
the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.
{2:18} But Samuel ministered before the LORD, [being]
a child, girded with a linen ephod. {2:19} Moreover his
mother made him a little coat, and brought [it] to him from
year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer
the yearly sacrifice.
{2:20} And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said,
The LORD give thee seed of this woman for the loan which
is lent to the LORD. And they went unto their own home.
{2:21} And the LORD visited Hannah, so that she
conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the
child Samuel grew before the LORD.
{2:22} Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons
did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that
assembled [at] the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. {2:23} And he said unto them, Why do ye
such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this
people. {2:24} Nay, my sons; for [it is] no good report that I
hear: ye make the LORD’S people to transgress. {2:25} If
one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but
if a man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him?
Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their
father, because the LORD would slay them. {2:26} And the
child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the
LORD, and also with men.
{2:27} And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said
unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Did I plainly appear unto
the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in
Pharaoh’s house? {2:28} And did I choose him out of all
the tribes of Israel [to be] my priest, to offer upon mine
altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did
I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by
fire of the children of Israel? {2:29} Wherefore kick ye at
my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded
[in my] habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to
make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of
Israel my people? {2:30} Wherefore the LORD God of
Israel saith, I said indeed [that] thy house, and the house of
thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the
LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I
will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly
esteemed. {2:31} Behold, the days come, that I will cut off
thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall
not be an old man in thine house. {2:32} And thou shalt see
an enemy [in my] habitation, in all [the wealth] which
[God] shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in
thine house for ever. {2:33} And the man of thine, [whom] I
shall not cut off from mine altar, [shall be] to consume thine
eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine
house shall die in the flower of their age. {2:34} And this
[shall be] a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two
sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die
both of them. {2:35} And I will raise me up a faithful priest,
[that] shall do according to [that] which [is] in mine heart
and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he
shall walk before mine anointed for ever. {2:36} And it
shall come to pass, [that] every one that is left in thine
house shall come [and] crouch to him for a piece of silver
and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee,
into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a piece of
bread.

3 {3:1} And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD
before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in
those days; [there was] no open vision. {3:2} And it came
to pass at that time, when Eli [was] laid down in his place,
and his eyes began to wax dim, [that] he could not see;
{3:3} And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the
LORD, where the ark of God [was,] and Samuel was laid
down [to sleep;] {3:4} That the LORD called Samuel: and
he answered, Here [am] I. {3:5} And he ran unto Eli, and
said, Here [am] I; for thou calledst me. And he said, I called
not; lie down again. And he went and lay down. {3:6} And
the LORD called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and
went to Eli, and said, Here [am] I; for thou didst call me.
And he answered, I called not, my son; lie down again.
{3:7} Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was
the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him. {3:8} And the
LORD called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and
went to Eli, and said, Here [am] I; for thou didst call me.
And Eli perceived that the LORD had called the child.
{3:9} Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down: and it
shall be, if he call thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, LORD;
for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and lay down in his
place. {3:10} And the LORD came, and stood, and called as
at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered,
Speak; for thy servant heareth.
{3:11} And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a
thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that
heareth it shall tingle. {3:12} In that day I will perform
against Eli all [things] which I have spoken concerning his
house: when I begin, I will also make an end. {3:13} For I
have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the
iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made
themselves vile, and he restrained them not. {3:14} And
therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the
iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor
offering for ever.
{3:15} And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the
doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel feared to
shew Eli the vision. {3:16} Then Eli called Samuel, and
said, Samuel, my son. And he answered, Here [am] I.
{3:17} And he said, What [is] the thing that [the LORD]
hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide [it] not from me: God
do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide [any] thing from
me of all the things that he said unto thee. {3:18} And
Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And
he said, It [is] the LORD: let him do what seemeth him
good.
{3:19} And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him,
and did let none of his words fall to the ground. {3:20} And
all Israel from Dan even to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel
[was] established [to be] a prophet of the LORD. {3:21}
And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD
revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the
LORD.

4 {4:1} And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now
Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched
beside Eben-ezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek.
{4:2} And the Philistines put themselves in array against
Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten
before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the
field about four thousand men.
{4:3} And when the people were come into the camp, the
elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us
to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the
covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it
cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our
enemies. {4:4} So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might
bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of
hosts, which dwelleth [between] the cherubims: and the two
sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, [were] there with the ark
of the covenant of God. {4:5} And when the ark of the
covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel
shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.
{4:6} And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout,
they said, What [meaneth] the noise of this great shout in
the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark
of the LORD was come into the camp. {4:7} And the
Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the
camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been
such a thing heretofore. {4:8} Woe unto us! who shall
deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these [are]
the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in
the wilderness. {4:9} Be strong, and quit yourselves like
men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the
Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like
men, and fight.
{4:10} And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten,
and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very
great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand
footmen. {4:11} And the ark of God was taken; and the two
sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
{4:12} And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army,
and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and
with earth upon his head. {4:13} And when he came, lo, Eli
sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart
trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into
the city, and told [it,] all the city cried out. {4:14} And
when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What
[meaneth] the noise of this tumult? And the man came in
hastily, and told Eli. {4:15} Now Eli was ninety and eight
years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.
{4:16} And the man said unto Eli, I [am] he that came out
of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said,
What is there done, my son? {4:17} And the messenger
answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and
there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and
thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the
ark of God is taken. {4:18} And it came to pass, when he
made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the
seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake,
and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had
judged Israel forty years.
{4:19} And his daughter in law, Phinehas’ wife, was with
child, [near] to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings
that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and
her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for
her pains came upon her. {4:20} And about the time of her
death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not;
for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did
she regard [it.] {4:21} And she named the child I-chabod,
saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of
God was taken, and because of her father in law and her
husband. {4:22} And she said, The glory is departed from
Israel: for the ark of God is taken.

5 {5:1} And the Philistines took the ark of God, and
brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod. {5:2} When the
Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the
house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
{5:3} And when they of Ashdod arose early on the
morrow, behold, Dagon [was] fallen upon his face to the
earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon,
and set him in his place again. {5:4} And when they arose
early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon [was] fallen
upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and
the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands [were]
cut off upon the threshold; only [the stump of] Dagon was
left to him. {5:5} Therefore neither the priests of Dagon,
nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the
threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day. {5:6} But the
hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he
destroyed them, and smote them with emerods,1 [even]
Ashdod and the coasts thereof. {5:7} And 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 upon
us, and upon Dagon our god. {5:8} They sent therefore and
gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said,
What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And
they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried
about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of
Israel about [thither.] {5:9} And it was [so,] that, after they
had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the
city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of
the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their
secret parts.
{5:10} Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And
it came to pass, 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 slay us and our people.
{5:11} So they sent and gathered together all the lords of
the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of
Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us
not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction
throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy
there. {5:12} And the men that died not were smitten with
the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

6 {6:1} And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the
Philistines seven months. {6:2} And the Philistines called
for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to
the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith we shall send it to
his place. {6:3} And they said, If ye send away the ark of
the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return
him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall
be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.
{6:4} Then said they, What [shall be] the trespass offering
which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden
emerods, 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. {6:5} Wherefore ye shall make images of
your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land;
and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure
he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your
gods, and from off your land. {6:6} Wherefore then do ye
harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened
their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among
them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?
{6:7} Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch
kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to
the cart, and bring their calves home from them: {6:8} And
take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and put
the jewels of gold, which ye return him [for] a trespass
offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away,
that it may go. {6:9} And see, if it goeth up by the way of
his own coast to Beth-shemesh, [then] he hath done us this
great evil: but if not, then we shall know that [it is] not his
hand [that] smote us; it [was] a chance [that] happened to us.
{6:10} And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and
tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home:
{6:11} And they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart,
and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their
emerods. {6:12} And the kine took the straight way to the
way of Beth-shemesh, [and] went along the highway,
lowing as they went, and turned not aside [to] the right hand
or [to] the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after
them unto the border of Beth-shemesh. {6:13} And [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.] {6:14} And the cart came into the field
of Joshua, a Beth-shemite, and stood there, where [there
was] a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and
offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD. {6:15}
And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the
coffer that [was] with it, wherein the jewels of gold [were,]
and put [them] on the great stone: and the men of Bethshe-
mesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the
same day unto the LORD. {6:16} And when the five lords
of the Philistines had seen [it,] they returned to Ekron the
same day. {6:17} And these [are] the golden emerods which
the Philistines returned [for] a trespass offering unto the
LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for
Gath one, for Ekron one; {6:18} And the golden mice,
[according to] the number of all the cities of the Philistines
[belonging] to the five lords, [both] of fenced cities, and of
country villages, even unto the great [stone] of Abel,
whereon they set down the ark of the LORD: [which stone
remaineth] unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshe-
mite. {6:19} And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because
they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of
the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and
the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten [many]
of the people with a great slaughter. {6:20} And the men of
Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy
LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
{6:21} And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of
Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again
the ark of the LORD; come ye down, [and] fetch it up to
you.

7 {7:1} And the men of Kirjath-jearim came, and brought
up the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of
Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep
the ark of the LORD. {7:2} And it came to pass, while the
ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it
was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after
the LORD.
{7:3} And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel,
saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts,
[then] put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among
you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him
only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the
Philistines. {7:4} Then the children of Israel did put away
Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only. {7:5}
And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will
pray for you unto the LORD. {7:6} And they gathered
together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured [it] out
before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We
have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the
children of Israel in Mizpeh. {7:7} And when the Philistines
heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to
Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel.
And when the children of Israel heard [it,] they were afraid
of the Philistines. {7:8} And the children of Israel said to
Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us,
that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.
{7:9} And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered [it
for] a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel
cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him.
{7:10} And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering,
the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the
LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the
Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten
before Israel. {7:11} And the men of Israel went out of
Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until
[they came] under Beth-car. {7:12} Then Samuel took a
stone, and set [it] between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the
name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD
helped us.
{7:13} So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no
more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the LORD was
against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. {7:14} And
the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were
restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the
coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the
Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the
Amorites. {7:15} And Samuel judged Israel all the days of
his life. {7:16} And he went from year to year in circuit to
Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all
those places. {7:17} And his return [was] to Ramah; for
there [was] his house; and there he judged Israel; and there
he built an altar unto the LORD.

8 {8:1} And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he
made his sons judges over Israel. {8:2} Now the name of
his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah:
[they were] judges in Beer-sheba. {8:3} And his sons
walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and
took bribes, and perverted judgment. {8:4} Then all the
elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to
Samuel unto Ramah, {8:5} And said unto him, Behold, thou
art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a
king to judge us like all the nations.
{8:6} But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said,
Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the
LORD. {8:7} And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken
unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee:
for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me,
that I should not reign over them. {8:8} According to all the
works which they have done since the day that I brought
them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they
have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also
unto thee. {8:9} Now therefore hearken unto their voice:
howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them
the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
{8:10} And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto
the people that asked of him a king. {8:11} And he said,
This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over
you: He will take your sons, and appoint [them] for himself,
for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and [some] shall
run before his chariots. {8:12} And he will appoint him
captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and [will
set them] to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to
make his instruments of war, and instruments of his
chariots. {8:13} And he will take your daughters [to be]
confectionaries, and [to be] cooks, and [to be] bakers.
{8:14} And he will take your fields, and your vineyards,
and your oliveyards, [even] the best [of them,] and give
[them] to his servants. {8:15} And he will take the tenth of
your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers,
and to his servants. {8:16} And he will take your
menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest
young men, and your asses, and put [them] to his work.
{8:17} He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be
his servants. {8:18} And ye shall cry out in that day because
of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the
LORD will not hear you in that day.
{8:19} Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice
of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over
us; {8:20} 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. {8:21} And Samuel heard all the words of the
people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD.
{8:22} And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their
voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the
men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.

9 {9:1} Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name
[was] Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of
Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of
power. {9:2} And he had a son, whose name [was] Saul, a
choice young man, and a goodly: and [there was] not among
the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his
shoulders and upward [he was] higher than any of the
people. {9:3} And the asses of Kish Saul’s father were lost.
And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants
with thee, and arise, go seek the asses. {9:4} And he passed
through mount Ephraim, and passed through the land of
Shalisha, but they found [them] not: then they passed
through the land of Shalim, and [there they were] not: and
he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they
found [them] not. {9:5} [And] when they were come to the
land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that [was] with him,
Come, and let us return; lest my father leave [caring] for the
asses, and take thought for us. {9:6} And he said unto him,
Behold now, [there is] in this city a man of God, and [he is]
an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass:
now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way
that we should go. {9:7} 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? {9:8} And the
servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have here
at hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver: [that] will I give
to the man of God, to tell us our way. {9:9} (Beforetime in
Israel, when a man went to enquire of God, thus he spake,
Come, and let us go to the seer: for [he that is] now [called]
a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.) {9:10} Then said
Saul to his servant, Well said; come, let us go. So they went
unto the city where the man of God [was.]
{9:11} [And] as they went up the hill to the city, they
found young maidens going out to draw water, and said
unto them, Is the seer here? {9:12} And they answered
them, and said, He is; behold, [he is] before you: make haste
now, for he came to day to the city; for [there is] a sacrifice
of the people to day in the high place: {9:13} As soon as ye
be come into the city, ye shall straightway find him, before
he go up to the high place to eat: for the people will not eat
until he come, because he doth bless the sacrifice; [and]
afterwards they eat that be bidden. Now therefore get you
up; for about this time ye shall find him. {9:14} And they
went up into the city: [and] when they were come into the
city, behold, Samuel came out against them, for to go up to
the high place.
{9:15} Now the LORD had told Samuel in his ear a day
before Saul came, saying, {9:16} To morrow about this
time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and
thou shalt anoint him [to be] captain over my people Israel,
that he may save my people out of the hand of the
Philistines: for I have looked upon my people, because their
cry is come unto me. {9:17} And when Samuel saw Saul,
the LORD said unto him, Behold the man whom I spake to
thee of! this same shall reign over my people. {9:18} Then
Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, Tell me, I
pray thee, where the seer’s house [is.] {9:19} And Samuel
answered Saul, and said, I [am] the seer: go up before me
unto the high place; for ye shall eat with me to day, and to
morrow I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that [is] in
thine heart. {9:20} And as for thine asses that were lost
three days ago, set not thy mind on them; for they are found.
And on whom [is] all the desire of Israel? [Is it] not on thee,
and on all thy father’s house? {9:21} And Saul answered
and said, [Am] not I a Benjamite, of the smallest of the
tribes of Israel? and my family the least of all the families of
the tribe of Benjamin? wherefore then speakest thou so to
me? {9:22} And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and
brought them into the parlour, and made them sit in the
chiefest place among them that were bidden, which [were]
about thirty persons. {9:23} And Samuel said unto the cook,
Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said unto
thee, Set it by thee. {9:24} And the cook took up the
shoulder, and [that] which [was] upon it, and set [it] before
Saul. And [Samuel] said, Behold that which is left! set [it]
before thee, [and] eat: for unto this time hath it been kept
for thee since I said, I have invited the people. So Saul did
eat with Samuel that day.
{9:25} And when they were come down from the high
place into the city, [Samuel] communed with Saul upon the
top of the house. {9:26} And they arose early: and it came
to pass about the spring of the day, that Samuel called Saul
to the top of the house, saying, Up, that I may send thee
away. And Saul arose, and they went out both of them, he
and Samuel, abroad. {9:27} [And] as they were going down
to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant
pass on before us, (and he passed on,) but stand thou still a
while, that I may shew thee the word of God.

10 {10:1} Then Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured [it]
upon his head, and kissed him, and said, [Is it] not because
the LORD hath anointed thee [to be] captain over his
inheritance? {10:2} When thou art departed from me to day,
then thou shalt find two men by Rachel’s sepulchre in the
border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say unto thee,
The asses which thou wentest to seek are found: and, lo, thy
father hath left the care of the asses, and sorroweth for you,
saying, What shall I do for my son? {10:3} Then shalt thou
go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain
of Tabor, and there shall meet thee 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:
{10:4} And they will salute thee, and give thee two [loaves]
of bread; which thou shalt receive of their hands. {10:5}
After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where [is] the
garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when
thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a
company of prophets coming down from the high place
with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before
them; and they shall prophesy: {10:6} And the Spirit of the
LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with
them, and shalt be turned into another man. {10:7} And let
it be, when these signs are come unto thee, [that] thou do as
occasion serve thee; for God [is] with thee. {10:8} And thou
shalt go down before me to Gilgal; and, behold, I will come
down unto thee, to offer burnt offerings, [and] to sacrifice
sacrifices of peace offerings: seven days shalt thou tarry, till
I come to thee, and shew thee what thou shalt do.
{10:9} And it was [so,] that when he had turned his back
to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all
those signs came to pass that day. {10:10} And when they
came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met
him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he
prophesied among them. {10:11} And it came to pass, when
all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he
prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to
another, What [is] this [that] is come unto the son of Kish?
[Is] Saul also among the prophets? {10:12} And one of the
same place answered and said, But who [is] their father?
Therefore it became a proverb, [Is] Saul also among the
prophets? {10:13} And when he had made an end of
prophesying, he came to the high place.
{10:14} And Saul’s uncle said unto him and to his
servant, Whither went ye? And he said, To seek the asses:
and when we saw that [they were] no where, we came to
Samuel. {10:15} And Saul’s uncle said, Tell me, I pray
thee, what Samuel said unto you. {10:16} And Saul said
unto his uncle, He told us plainly that the asses were found.
But of the matter of the kingdom, whereof Samuel spake, he
told him not.
{10:17} And Samuel called the people together unto the
LORD to Mizpeh; {10:18} And said unto the children of
Israel, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought up
Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the
Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, [and] of
them that oppressed you: {10:19} And ye have this day
rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your
adversities and your tribulations; and ye have said unto him,
[Nay,] but set a king over us. Now therefore present
yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your
thousands. {10:20} And when Samuel had caused all the
tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin was
taken. {10:21} When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to
come near by their families, the family of Matri was taken,
and Saul the son of Kish was taken: and when they sought
him, he could not be found. {10:22} Therefore they
enquired of the LORD further, if the man should yet come
thither. And the LORD answered, Behold, he hath hid
himself among the stuff. {10:23} And they ran and fetched
him thence: and when he stood among the people, he was
higher than any of the people from his shoulders and
upward. {10:24} And Samuel said to all the people, See ye
him whom the LORD hath chosen, that [there is] none like
him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and
said, God save the king. {10:25} Then Samuel told the
people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote [it] in a book,
and laid [it ]up before the LORD. And Samuel sent all the
people away, every man to his house.
{10:26} And Saul also went home to Gibeah; and there
went with him a band of men, whose hearts God had
touched. {10:27} But the children of Belial said, How shall
this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him
no presents. But he held his peace.

11 {11:1} Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and
encamped against Jabesh-gilead: and all the men of
Jabesh said unto Nahash, Make a covenant with us,
and we will serve thee. {11:2} And Nahash the Am-
monite answered them, On this [condition] will I make
[a covenant] with you, that I may thrust out all your
right eyes, and lay it [for] a reproach upon all Israel.
{11:3} And the elders of Jabesh said unto him, Give us
seven days respite, that we may send messengers unto
all the coasts of Israel: and then, if [there be] no man
to save us, we will come out to thee.
{11:4} Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and
told the tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people
lifted up their voices, and wept. {11:5} And, behold, Saul
came after the herd out of the field; and Saul said, What
[aileth] the people that they weep? And they told him the
tidings of the men of Jabesh. {11:6} And the Spirit of God
came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger
was kindled greatly. {11:7} And he took a yoke of oxen,
and hewed them in pieces, and sent [them] throughout all
the coasts of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying,
Whosoever cometh not forth after Saul and after Samuel, so
shall it be done unto his oxen. And the fear of the LORD
fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.
{11:8} And when he numbered them in Bezek, the children
of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah
thirty thousand. {11:9} And they said unto the messengers
that came, Thus shall ye say unto the men of Jabesh-gilead,
Tomorrow, by [that time] the sun be hot, ye shall have
help. And the messengers came and shewed [it] to the men
of Jabesh; and they were glad. {11:10} Therefore the men
of Jabesh said, To morrow we will come out unto you, and
ye shall do with us all that seemeth good unto you. {11:11}
And it was [so] on the morrow, that Saul put the people in
three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in
the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat
of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained
were scattered, so that two of them were not left together.
{11:12} And the people said unto Samuel, Who [is] he
that said, Shall Saul reign over us? bring the men, that we
may put them to death. {11:13} And Saul said, There shall
not a man be put to death this day: for to day the LORD
hath wrought salvation in Israel. {11:14} Then said Samuel
to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the
kingdom there. {11:15} And all the people went to Gilgal;
and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal;
and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before
the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced
greatly.

12 {12:1} And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have
hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and
have made a king over you. {12:2} And now, behold, the
king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and,
behold, my sons [are] with you: and I have walked before
you from my childhood unto this day. {12:3} Behold, here I
[am:] witness against me before the LORD, and before his
anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I
taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed?
or of whose hand have I received [any] bribe to blind mine
eyes therewith? and I will restore it you. {12:4} And they
said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither
hast thou taken ought of any man’s hand. {12:5} And he
said unto them, The LORD [is] witness against you, and his
anointed [is] witness this day, that ye have not found ought
in my hand. And they answered, [He is] witness.
{12:6} And Samuel said unto the people, [It is] the LORD
that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your
fathers up out of the land of Egypt. {12:7} Now therefore
stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD of
all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and
to your fathers. {12:8} When Jacob was come into Egypt,
and your fathers cried unto the LORD, then the LORD sent
Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your fathers out of
Egypt, and made them dwell in this place. {12:9} And when
they forgat the LORD their God, he sold them into the hand
of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of
the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and
they fought against them. {12:10} And they cried unto the
LORD, and said, We have sinned, because we have
forsaken the LORD, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth:
but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we
will serve thee. {12:11} And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, and
Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of
the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled
safe. {12:12} And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the
children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me,
Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the LORD your
God [was] your king. {12:13} Now therefore behold the
king whom ye have chosen, [and] whom ye have desired!
and, behold, the LORD hath set a king over you. {12:14} If
ye will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice,
and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then
shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you
continue following the LORD your God: {12:15} But if ye
will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the
commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the
LORD be against you, as [it was] against your fathers.
{12:16} Now therefore stand and see this great thing,
which the LORD will do before your eyes. {12:17} [Is it]
not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he
shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see
that your wickedness [is] great, which ye have done in the
sight of the LORD, in asking you a king. {12:18} So
Samuel called unto the LORD; and the LORD sent thunder
and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the
LORD and Samuel. {12:19} And all the people said unto
Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that
we die not: for we have added unto all our sins [this] evil, to
ask us a king.
{12:20} And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye
have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from
following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your
heart; {12:21} And turn ye not aside: for [then should ye
go] after vain [things,] which cannot profit nor deliver; for
they [are] vain. {12:22} For the LORD will not forsake his
people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased
the LORD to make you his people. {12:23} Moreover as for
me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in
ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and
the right way: {12:24} Only fear the LORD, and serve him
in truth with all your heart: for consider how great [things]
he hath done for you. {12:25} But if ye shall still do
wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.

13 {13:1} Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned
two years over Israel, {13:2} Saul chose him three thousand
[men] of Israel; [whereof] two thousand were with Saul in
Michmash and in mount Bethel, and a thousand were with
Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin: and the rest of the people
he sent every man to his tent. {13:3} And Jonathan smote
the garrison of the Philistines that [was] in Geba, and the
Philistines heard [of it.] And Saul blew the trumpet
throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.
{13:4} And all Israel heard say [that] Saul had smitten a
garrison of the Philistines, and [that] Israel also was had
in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were
called together after Saul to Gilgal.
{13:5} And the Philistines gathered themselves together
to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six
thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which [is] on
the sea shore in multitude: and they came up, and pitched
in Michmash, eastward from Beth- aven. {13:6} 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 high places, and
in pits. {13:7} And [some of] the Hebrews went over Jordan
to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he [was] yet in
Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
{13:8} And he tarried seven days, according to the set
time that Samuel [had appointed:] but Samuel came not to
Gilgal; and the people were scattered from him. {13:9} And
Saul said, Bring hither a burnt offering to me, and peace
offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. {13:10} And 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 salute him.
{13:11} And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul
said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from
me, and [that] thou camest not within the days appointed,
and [that] the Philistines gathered themselves together at
Michmash; {13:12} Therefore said I, The Philistines will
come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made
supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and
offered a burnt offering. {13:13} And Samuel said to Saul,
Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the com-
mandment of the LORD thy God, which he commanded
thee: for now would the LORD have established thy
kingdom upon Israel for ever. {13:14} But now thy
kingdom shall not continue: the LORD hath sought
him a man after his own heart, and the LORD hath
commanded him [to be] captain over his people, because
thou hast not kept [that] which the LORD commanded
thee. {13:15} And Samuel arose, and gat him up from Gilgal
unto Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people
[that were] present with him, about six hundred men.
{13:16} And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people
[that were] present with them, abode in Gibeah of
Benjamin: but the Philistines encamped in Michmash.
{13:17} And the spoilers came out of the camp of the
Philistines in three companies: one company turned unto
the way [that leadeth to] Ophrah, unto the land of Shual:
{13:18} And another company turned the way [to] Beth-
horon: and another company turned [to] the way of the
border that looketh to the valley of Zeboim toward the
wilderness.
{13:19} Now there was no smith found throughout all the
land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews
make [them] swords or spears: {13:20} But all the Israelites
went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his
share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock. {13:21}
Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters,
and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads.
{13:22} 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 that [were] with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul
and with Jonathan his son was there found. {13:23} And the
garrison of the Philistines went out to the passage of
Michmash.

14 {14:1} Now it came to pass upon a day, that Jonathan
the son of Saul said unto the young man that bare his armour,
Come, and let us go over to the Philistines’ garrison, that
[is] on the other side. But he told not his father. {14:2} And
Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pome-
granate tree which is in Migron: and the people that
[were] with him [were] about six hundred men; {14:3} And
Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, I-chabod’s brother, the son of
Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD’S priest in Shiloh,
wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan
was gone.
{14:4} And between the passages, by which Jonathan
sought to go over unto the Philistines’ garrison, [there was]
a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other
side: and the name of the one [was] Bozez, and the name of
the other Seneh. {14:5} The forefront of the one [was]
situate northward over against Michmash, and the other
southward over against Gibeah. {14:6} And Jonathan said
to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go
over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be
that the LORD will work for us: for [there is] no restraint to
the LORD to save by many or by few. {14:7} And his
armourbearer said unto him, Do all that [is] in thine heart:
turn thee; behold, I [am] with thee according to thy heart.
{14:8} Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will pass over unto
[these] men, and we will discover ourselves unto them.
{14:9} If they say thus unto us, Tarry until we come to you;
then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up unto
them. {14:10} But if they say thus, Come up unto us; then
we will go up: for the LORD hath delivered them into our
hand: and this [shall be] a sign unto us. {14:11} And both of
them discovered themselves unto the garrison of the
Philistines: and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews
come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves.
{14:12} And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan
and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will
shew you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armourbearer,
Come up after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into
the hand of Israel. {14:13} And Jonathan climbed up upon
his hands and upon his feet, and his armourbearer after him:
and they fell before Jonathan; and his armourbearer slew
after him. {14:14} And that first slaughter, which Jonathan
and his armourbearer made, was about twenty men, within
as it were an half acre of land, [which] a yoke [of oxen
might plow.] {14:15} And there was trembling in the host,
in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the
spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was
a very great trembling. {14:16} And the watchmen of Saul
in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and, behold, the multitude
melted away, and they went on beating down [one another.]
{14:17} Then said Saul unto the people that [were] with
him, Number now, and see who is gone from us. And when
they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armourbearer
[were] not [there.] {14:18} And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring
hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time
with the children of Israel.
{14:19} And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the
priest, that the noise that [was] in the host of the Philis-
tines went on and increased: and Saul said unto the priest,
Withdraw thine hand. {14:20} And Saul and all the people
that [were] with him assembled themselves, and they came
to the battle: and, behold, every man’s sword was against
his fellow, [and there was] a very great discomfiture.
{14:21} Moreover the Hebrews [that] were with the
Philistines before that time, which went up with them into
the camp [from the country] round about, even they also
[turned] to be with the Israelites that [were] with Saul and
Jonathan. {14:22} Likewise all the men of Israel which had
hid themselves in mount Ephraim, [when] they heard that
the Philistines fled, even they also followed hard after them
in the battle. {14:23} So the LORD saved Israel that day:
and the battle passed over unto Beth-aven.
{14:24} And the men of Israel were distressed that day:
for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed [be] the
man that eateth [any] food until evening, that I may be
avenged on mine enemies. So none of the people tasted
[any] food. {14:25} And all [they of] the land came to a
wood; and there was honey upon the ground. {14:26} And
when the people were come into the wood, behold, the
honey dropped; but no man put his hand to his mouth: for
the people feared the oath. {14:27} But Jonathan heard not
when his father charged the people with the oath: wherefore
he put forth the end of the rod that [was] in his hand, and
dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth;
and his eyes were enlightened. {14:28} Then answered one
of the people, and said, Thy father straitly charged the
people with an oath, saying, Cursed [be] the man that eateth
[any] food this day. And the people were faint. {14:29}
Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled the land: see, I
pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I
tasted a little of this honey. {14:30} How much more, if
haply the people had eaten freely to day of the spoil of their
enemies which they found? for had there not been now a
much greater slaughter among the Philistines? {14:31} And
they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to
Aijalon: and the people were very faint. {14:32} And the
people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and
calves, and slew [them] on the ground: and the people did
eat [them] with the blood.
{14:33} Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people
sin against the LORD, in that they eat with the blood. And
he said, Ye have transgressed: roll a great stone unto me this
day. {14:34} And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the
people, and say unto them, Bring me hither every man his
ox, and every man his sheep, and slay [them] here, and eat;
and sin not against the LORD in eating with the blood. And
all the people brought every man his ox with him that night,
and slew [them] there. {14:35} And Saul built an altar unto
the LORD: the same was the first altar that he built unto the
LORD.
{14:36} And Saul said, Let us go down after the
Philistines by night, and spoil them until the morning light,
and let us not leave a man of them. And they said, Do
whatsoever seemeth good unto thee. Then said the priest,
Let us draw near hither unto God. {14:37} And Saul asked
counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? wilt
thou deliver them into the hand of Israel? But he answered
him not that day. {14:38} And Saul said, Draw ye near
hither, all the chief of the people: and know and see wherein
this sin hath been this day. {14:39} For, [as] the LORD
liveth, which saveth Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son,
he shall surely die. But [there was] not a man among all the
people [that] answered him. {14:40} Then said he unto all
Israel, Be ye on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be
on the other side. And the people said unto Saul, Do what
seemeth good unto thee. {14:41} Therefore Saul said unto
the LORD God of Israel, Give a perfect [lot.] And Saul and
Jonathan were taken: but the people escaped. {14:42} And
Saul said, Cast [lots] between me and Jonathan my son. And
Jonathan was taken. {14:43} Then Saul said to Jonathan,
Tell me what thou hast done. And Jonathan told him, and
said, I did but taste a little honey with the end of the rod that
[was] in mine hand, [and,] lo, I must die. {14:44} And Saul
answered, God do so and more also: for thou shalt surely
die, Jonathan. {14:45} And the people said unto Saul, Shall
Jonathan die, who hath wrought this great salvation in
Israel? God forbid: [as] the LORD liveth, there shall not one
hair of his head fall to the ground; for he hath wrought with
God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he died
not. {14:46} Then Saul went up from following the
Philistines: and the Philistines went to their own place.
{14:47} So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and 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
whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed [them.] {14:48}
And he gathered an host, and smote the Amalekites, and
delivered Israel out of the hands of them that spoiled them.
{14:49} Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishui, and
Melchi-shua: and the names of his two daughters [were
these;] the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the
younger Michal: {14:50} And the name of Saul’s wife
[was] Ahinoam, the daughter of Ahimaaz: and the name of
the captain of his host [was] Abner, the son of Ner, Saul’s
uncle. {14:51} And Kish [was] the father of Saul; and Ner
the father of Abner [was] the son of Abiel. {14:52} And
there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of
Saul: and when Saul saw any strong man, or any valiant
man, he took him unto him.

15 {15:1} Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me
to anoint thee [to be] king over his people, over Israel: now
therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the
LORD. {15:2} Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember
[that] which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid [wait] for
him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. {15:3} Now
go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have,
and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant
and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. {15:4} And Saul
gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim,
two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of
Judah. {15:5} And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid
wait in the valley.
{15:6} And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get
you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you
with them: for ye shewed kindness to all the children of
Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites
departed from among the Amalekites. {15:7} And Saul
smote the Amalekites from Havilah [until] thou comest to
Shur, that [is] over against Egypt. {15:8} And he took Agag
the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all
the people with the edge of the sword. {15:9} 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 would not utterly destroy them: but every
thing [that was] vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly.
{15:10} Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel,
saying, {15:11} It repenteth me that I have set up Saul [to
be] king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath
not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel;
and he cried unto the LORD all night. {15:12} And when
Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told
Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set
him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone
down to Gilgal. {15:13} And Samuel came to Saul: and
Saul said unto him, Blessed [be] thou of the LORD: I have
performed the commandment of the LORD. {15:14} And
Samuel said, What [meaneth] then this bleating of the sheep
in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?
{15:15} And Saul said, They have brought them from the
Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and
of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the
rest we have utterly destroyed. {15:16} Then Samuel said
unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath
said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. {15:17}
And Samuel said, When thou [wast] little in thine own
sight, [wast] thou not [made] the head of the tribes of Israel,
and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel? {15:18} And
the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly
destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them
until they be consumed. {15:19} Wherefore then didst thou
not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the
spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD? {15:20} And
Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the
LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me,
and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have
utterly destroyed the Amalekites. {15:21} But the people
took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things
which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto
the LORD thy God in Gilgal. {15:22} And Samuel said,
Hath the LORD [as great] delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to
obey [is] better than sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat
of rams. {15:23} For rebellion [is as] the sin of witchcraft,
and stubbornness [is as] iniquity and idolatry. Because thou
hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected
thee from [being] king.
{15:24} And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I
have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy
words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
{15:25} Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn
again with me, that I may worship the LORD. {15:26} And
Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou
hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath
rejected thee from being king over Israel. {15:27} And as
Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold upon the skirt
of his mantle, and it rent. {15:28} And Samuel said unto
him, The LORD hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee
this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, [that is]
better than thou. {15:29} And also the Strength of Israel
will not lie nor repent: for he [is] not a man, that he should
repent. {15:30} Then he said, I have sinned: [yet] honour
me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and
before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship
the LORD thy God. {15:31} So Samuel turned again after
Saul; and Saul worshipped the LORD.
{15:32} Then said Samuel, Bring ye hither to me Agag
the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came unto him
delicately. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is
past. {15:33} And Samuel said, As thy sword hath made
women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among
women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the
LORD in Gilgal.
{15:34} Then Samuel went to Ramah; and Saul went up
to his house to Gibeah of Saul. {15:35} And Samuel came
no more to see Saul until the day of his death: nevertheless
Samuel mourned for Saul: and the LORD repented that he
had made Saul king over Israel.

16 {16:1} And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt
thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from
reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will
send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me
a king among his sons. {16:2} And Samuel said, How can I
go? if Saul hear [it,] he will kill me. And the LORD said,
Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to
the LORD. {16:3} And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will
shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me
[him] whom I name unto thee. {16:4} And Samuel did that
which the LORD spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the
elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest
thou peaceably? {16:5} And he said, Peaceably: I am come
to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come
with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his
sons, and called them to the sacrifice.
{16:6} And it came to pass, when they were come, that he
looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD’S anointed [is]
before him. {16:7} But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look
not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature;
because I have refused him: for [the LORD seeth] not as
man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but
the LORD looketh on the heart. {16:8} Then Jesse called
Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said,
Neither hath the LORD chosen this. {16:9} Then Jesse
made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the
LORD chosen this. {16:10} Again, Jesse made seven of his
sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse,
The LORD hath not chosen these. {16:11} And Samuel said
unto Jesse, Are here all [thy] children? And he said, There
remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the
sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for
we will not sit down till he come hither. {16:12} And he
sent, and brought him in. Now he [was] ruddy, [and] withal
of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the
LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this [is] he. {16:13}
Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the
midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came
upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and
went to Ramah.
{16:14} But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul,
and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him. {16:15}
And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil
spirit from God troubleth thee. {16:16} Let our lord now
command thy servants, [which are] before thee, to seek out
a man, [who is] a cunning player on an harp: and it shall
come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee,
that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.
{16:17} And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a
man that can play well, and bring [him] to me. {16:18}
Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have
seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, [that is] cunning in
playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and
prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD [is]
with him.
{16:19} Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and
said, Send me David thy son, which [is] with the sheep.
{16:20} And Jesse took an ass [laden] with bread, and a
bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent [them] by David his son
unto Saul. {16:21} And David came to Saul, and stood
before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his
armourbearer. {16:22} And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let
David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found
favour in my sight. {16:23} And it came to pass, when the
[evil] spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an
harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and
was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

17 {17:1} Now the Philistines gathered together their
armies to battle, and were gathered together at Shochoh,
which [belongeth] to Judah, and pitched between Shochoh
and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. {17:2} And Saul and the men
of Israel were gathered together, and pitched by the valley
of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines.
{17:3} And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one
side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side: and
[there was] a valley between them.
{17:4} And there went out a champion out of the camp of
the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height [was]
six cubits and a span. {17:5} And [he had] an helmet of
brass upon his head, and he [was] armed with a coat of
mail; and the weight of the coat [was] five thousand shekels
of brass. {17:6} And [he had] greaves of brass upon his
legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. {17:7}
And the staff of his spear [was] like a weaver’s beam; and
his spear’s head [weighed] six hundred shekels of iron: and
one bearing a shield went before him. {17:8} And he stood
and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why
are ye come out to set [your] battle in array? [am] not I a
Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for
you, and let him come down to me. {17:9} If he be able to
fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants:
but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be
our servants, and serve us. {17:10} And the Philistine said, I
defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we
may fight together. {17:11} When Saul and all Israel heard
those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and
greatly afraid.
{17:12} Now David [was] the son of that Ephrathite of
Bethlehemjudah, whose name [was] Jesse; and he had eight
sons: and the man went among men [for] an old man in the
days of Saul. {17:13} And the three eldest sons of Jesse
went [and] followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his
three sons that went to the battle [were] Eliab the first born,
and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
{17:14} And David [was] the youngest: and the three eldest
followed Saul. {17:15} But David went and returned from
Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. {17:16} And
the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and
presented himself forty days. {17:17} And Jesse said unto
David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this
parched [corn,] and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to
thy brethren; {17:18} And carry these ten cheeses unto the
captain of [their] thousand, and look how thy brethren fare,
and take their pledge. {17:19} Now Saul, and they, and all
the men of Israel, [were] in the valley of Elah, fighting with
the Philistines.
{17:20} And 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 trench, as the host was
going forth to the fight, and shouted for the battle. {17:21}
For Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in array,
army against army. {17:22} And David left his carriage in
the hand of the keeper of the carriage, and ran into the army,
and came and saluted his brethren. {17:23} And as he
talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the
Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the
Philistines, and spake according to the same words: and
David heard [them.] {17:24} And all the men of Israel,
when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore
afraid. {17:25} And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen
this man that is come up? surely to defy Israel is he come
up: and it shall be, [that] the man who killeth him, the king
will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his
daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel. {17:26}
And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying,
What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine,
and taketh away the reproach from Israel? for who [is] this
uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of
the living God? {17:27} And the people answered him after
this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that
killeth him.
{17:28} And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spake
unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David,
and he said, Why camest thou down hither? and with whom
hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy
pride, and the naughtiness of thine heart; for thou art come
down that thou mightest see the battle. {17:29} And David
said, What have I now done? [Is there] not a cause?
{17:30} And he turned from him toward another, and
spake after the same manner: and the people answered him
again after the former manner. {17:31} And when the
words were heard which David spake, they rehearsed
[them] before Saul: and he sent for him.
{17:32} And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail
because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this
Philistine. {17:33} And Saul said to David, Thou art not
able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou
[art but] a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.
{17:34} And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his
father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a
lamb out of the flock: {17:35} And I went out after him,
and smote him, and delivered [it] out of his mouth: and
when he arose against me, I caught [him] by his beard, and
smote him, and slew him. {17:36} Thy servant slew both
the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall
be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the
living God. {17:37} David said moreover, The LORD that
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. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be
with thee.
{17:38} And Saul armed David with his armour, and he
put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him
with a coat of mail. {17:39} And David girded his sword
upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not
proved [it.] And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with
these; for I have not proved [them.] And David put them off
him. {17:40} And he took his staff in his hand, and chose
him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a
shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling
[was] in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.
{17:41} And the Philistine came on and drew near unto
David; and the man that bare the shield [went] before him.
{17:42} And when the Philistine looked about, and saw
David, he disdained him: for he was [but] a youth, and
ruddy, and of a fair countenance. {17:43} And the Philistine
said unto David, [Am] I a dog, that thou comest to me with
staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
{17:44} And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I
will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts
of the field. {17:45} Then said David to the Philistine, Thou
comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a
shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
{17:46} This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine
hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee;
and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this
day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the
earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in
Israel. {17:47} And all this assembly shall know that the
LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle [is]
the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands. {17:48}
And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came
and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran
toward the army to meet the Philistine. {17:49} And David
put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang
[it,] and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone
sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.
{17:50} So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling
and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and slew him;
but [there was] no sword in the hand of David. {17:51}
Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and
took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and
slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the
Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. {17:52}
And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and
pursued the Philistines, until thou come to the valley, and to
the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell
down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto
Ekron. {17:53} And the children of Israel returned from
chasing after the Philistines, and they spoiled their tents.
{17:54} And David took the head of the Philistine, and
brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armour in his tent.
{17:55} And when Saul saw David go forth against the
Philistine, he said unto Abner, the captain of the host,
Abner, whose son [is] this youth? And Abner said, [As] thy
soul liveth, O king, I cannot tell. {17:56} And the king said,
Enquire thou whose son the stripling [is.] {17:57} And 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. {17:58} And Saul said to him, Whose
son [art] thou, [thou] young man? And David answered, [I
am] the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.

18 {18:1} And it came to pass, when he had made an end of
speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with
the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
{18:2} And Saul took him that day, and would let him go
no more home to his father’s house. {18:3} Then Jonathan
and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his
own soul. {18:4} And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe
that [was] upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments,
even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.
{18:5} And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him,
[and] behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the
men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the
people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. {18:6} And
it came to pass as they came, when David was returned
from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came
out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king
Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick.
{18:7} And the women answered [one another] as they
played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David
his ten thousands. {18:8} And Saul was very wroth, and the
saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto
David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed [but]
thousands: and [what] can he have more but the kingdom?
{18:9} And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.
{18:10} And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil
spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the
midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at
other times: and [there was] a javelin in Saul’s hand.
{18:11} And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite
David even to the wall [with it.] And David avoided out of
his presence twice.
{18:12} And Saul was afraid of David, because the
LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul. {18:13}
Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his
captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in
before the people. {18:14} And David behaved himself
wisely in all his ways; and the LORD [was] with him.
{18:15} Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself
very wisely, he was afraid of him. {18:16} But all Israel and
Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before
them.
{18:17} And Saul said to David, Behold my elder
daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife: only be thou
valiant for me, and fight the LORD’S battles. For Saul said,
Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the
Philistines be upon him. {18:18} And David said unto 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? {18:19}
But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul’s daughter
should have been given to David, that she was given unto
Adriel the Meholathite to wife. {18:20} And Michal Saul’s
daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing
pleased him. {18:21} And Saul said, I will give him her,
that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the
Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to
David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in [the one of]
the twain.
{18:22} And Saul commanded his servants, [saying,]
Commune with David secretly, and say, Behold, the king
hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee: now
therefore be the king’s son in law. {18:23} And Saul’s
servants spake those words in the ears of David. And David
said, Seemeth it to you [a] light [thing] to be a king’s son in
law, seeing that I [am] a poor man, and lightly esteemed?
{18:24} And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this
manner spake David. {18:25} And Saul said, Thus shall ye
say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an
hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the
king’s enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the
hand of the Philistines. {18:26} And when his servants told
David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s
son in law: and the days were not expired. {18:27}
Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew
of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their
foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he
might be the king’s son in law. And Saul gave him Michal
his daughter to wife.
{18:28} And Saul saw and knew that the LORD [was]
with David, and [that] Michal Saul’s daughter loved him.
{18:29} And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and
Saul became David’s enemy continually. {18:30} Then the
princes of the Philistines went forth: and it came to pass,
after they went forth, [that] David behaved himself more
wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was
much set by.

19 {19:1} And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all
his servants, that they should kill David. {19:2} But Jonathan
Saul’s son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told
David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now
therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning,
and abide in a secret [place,] and hide thyself: {19:3} And I
will go out and stand beside my father in the field where
thou [art,] and I will commune with my father of thee; and
what I see, that I will tell thee.
{19:4} And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his
father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his
servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against
thee, and because his works [have been] to thee-ward very
good: {19:5} For he did put his life in his hand, and slew
the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for
all Israel: thou sawest [it,] and didst rejoice: wherefore then
wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a
cause? {19:6} And Saul hearkened unto the voice of
Jonathan: and Saul sware, [As] the LORD liveth, he shall
not be slain. {19:7} And Jonathan called David, and
Jonathan shewed him all those things. And Jonathan
brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in
times past.
{19:8} And there was war again: and David went out, and
fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great
slaughter; and they fled from him. {19:9} And the evil spirit
from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with
his javelin in his hand: and David played with [his] hand.
{19:10} And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall
with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence,
and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and
escaped that night. {19:11} Saul also sent messengers unto
David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the
morning: and Michal David’s wife told him, saying, If thou
save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain.
{19:12} So Michal let David down through a window:
and he went, and fled, and escaped. {19:13} And Michal
took an image, and laid [it] in the bed, and put a pillow of
goats [hair] for his bolster, and covered [it] with a cloth.
{19:14} And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she
said, He [is] sick. {19:15} And Saul sent the messengers
[again] to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed,
that I may slay him. {19:16} And when the messengers
were come in, behold, [there was] an image in the bed, with
a pillow of goats’ [hair] for his bolster. {19:17} And Saul
said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent
away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal
answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I
kill thee?
{19:18} So David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel
to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And
he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth. {19:19} And it
was told Saul, saying, Behold, David [is] at Naioth in
Ramah. {19:20} And Saul sent messengers to take David:
and when they saw the company of the prophets
prophesying, and Samuel standing [as] appointed over
them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul,
and they also prophesied. {19:21} And when it was told
Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied
likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time,
and they prophesied also. {19:22} Then went he also to
Ramah, and came to a great well that [is] in Sechu: and he
asked and said, Where [are] Samuel and David? And [one]
said, Behold, [they be] at Naioth in Ramah. {19:23} And he
went thither to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God was
upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he
came to Naioth in Ramah. {19:24} And he stript off his
clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner,
and lay down naked all that day and all that night.
Wherefore they say, [Is] Saul also among the prophets?

20 {20:1} And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came
and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what [is] mine
iniquity? and what [is] my sin before thy father, that he
seeketh my life? {20:2} And he said unto him, God forbid;
thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing either
great or small, but that he will shew it me: and why should
my father hide this thing from me? it [is] not [so.] {20:3}
And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly
knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith,
Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly [as]
the LORD liveth, and [as] thy soul liveth, [there is] but a
step between me and death. {20:4} Then said Jonathan unto
David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do [it] for
thee. {20:5} And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to
morrow [is] the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with
the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the
field unto the third [day] at even. {20:6} If thy father at all
miss me, then say, David earnestly asked [leave] of me that
he might run to Bethlehem his city: for [there is] a yearly
sacrifice there for all the family. {20:7} If he say thus, [It is]
well; thy servant shall have peace: but if he be very wroth,
[then] be sure that evil is determined by him. {20:8}
Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant; for thou
hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the LORD with
thee: notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me
thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father?
{20:9} And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee: for if I knew
certainly that evil were determined by my father to come
upon thee, then would not I tell it thee? {20:10} Then said
David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what [if] thy father
answer thee roughly?
{20:11} And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us
go out into the field. And they went out both of them into
the field. {20:12} And Jonathan said unto David, O LORD
God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about to
morrow any time, [or] the third [day,] and, behold, [if there
be] good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and
shew it thee; {20:13} The LORD do so and much more to
Jonathan: but if it please my father [to do] thee evil, then I
will shew it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go
in peace: and the LORD be with thee, as he hath been with
my father. {20:14} And thou shalt not only while yet I live
shew me the kindness of the LORD, that I die not: {20:15}
But [also] thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house
for ever: no, not when the LORD hath cut off the enemies
of David every one from the face of the earth. {20:16} So
Jonathan made [a covenant] with the house of David,
[saying,] Let the LORD even require [it] at the hand of
David’s enemies. {20:17} And Jonathan caused David to
swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he
loved his own soul. {20:18} Then Jonathan said to David,
To morrow [is] the new moon: and thou shalt be missed,
because thy seat will be empty. {20:19} And [when] thou
hast stayed three days, [then] thou shalt go down quickly,
and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when
the business was [in hand,] and shalt remain by the stone
Ezel. {20:20} And I will shoot three arrows on the side
[thereof,] as though I shot at a mark. {20:21} And, behold, I
will send a lad, [saying,] Go, find out the arrows. If I
expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this
side of thee, take them; then come thou: for [there is] peace
to thee, and no hurt; [as] the LORD liveth. {20:22} But if I
say thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows [are]
beyond thee; go thy way: for the LORD hath sent thee
away. {20:23} And [as touching] the matter which thou and
I have spoken of, behold, the LORD [be] between thee and
me for ever.
{20:24} So David hid himself in the field: and when the
new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat meat.
{20:25} And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times,
[even] upon a seat by the wall: and Jonathan arose, and
Abner sat by Saul’s side, and David’s place was empty.
{20:26} Nevertheless Saul spake not any thing that day: for
he thought, Something hath befallen him, he is not clean;
surely he [is] not clean. {20:27} And it came to pass on the
morrow, [which was] the second [day] of the month, that
David’s place was empty: and Saul said unto Jonathan his
son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither
yesterday, nor to day? {20:28} And Jonathan answered
Saul, David earnestly asked [leave] of me [to go] to
Bethlehem: {20:29} And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for
our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he
hath commanded me [to be there:] and now, if I have found
favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see
my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king’s table.
{20:30} Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan,
and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious
[woman,] do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of
Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy
mother’s nakedness? {20:31} For as long as the son of Jesse
liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor
thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me,
for he shall surely die. {20:32} And Jonathan answered
Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be
slain? what hath he done? {20:33} And Saul cast a javelin
at him to smite him: whereby Jonathan knew that it was
determined of his father to slay David. {20:34} So Jonathan
arose from the table in fierce anger, and did eat no meat the
second day of the month: for he was grieved for David,
because his father had done him shame.
{20:35} And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan
went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and
a little lad with him. {20:36} And he said unto his lad, Run,
find out now the arrows which I shoot. [And] as the lad ran,
he shot an arrow beyond him. {20:37} And when the lad
was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had
shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, [Is] not the
arrow beyond thee? {20:38} And Jonathan cried after the
lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan’s lad
gathered up the arrows, and came to his master. {20:39}
But the lad knew not any thing: only Jonathan and David
knew the matter. {20:40} And Jonathan gave his artillery
unto his lad, and said unto him, Go, carry [them] to the city.
{20:41} [And] as soon as the lad 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.
{20:42} And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace,
forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the
LORD, saying, The LORD be between me and thee, and
between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and
departed: and Jonathan went into the city.

21 {21:1} Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest:
and Ahimelech was afraid at the meeting of David, and said
unto him, Why [art] thou alone, and no man with thee?
{21:2} And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king
hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let
no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send
thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have
appointed [my] servants to such and such a place. {21:3}
Now therefore what is under thine hand? give [me] five
[loaves of] bread in mine hand, or what there is present.
{21:4} And the priest answered David, and said, [There is]
no common bread under mine hand, but there is hallowed
bread; if the young men have kept themselves at least from
women. {21:5} And David answered the priest, and said
unto him, Of a truth women [have been] kept from us about
these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the
young men are holy, and [the bread is] in a manner
common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the
vessel. {21:6} So the priest gave him hallowed [bread:] for
there was no bread there but the shewbread, that was taken
from before the LORD, to put hot bread in the day when it
was taken away. {21:7} Now a certain man of the servants
of Saul [was] there that day, detained before the LORD; and
his name [was] Doeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the
herdmen that [belonged] to Saul.
{21:8} And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not
here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither
brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the
king’s business required haste. {21:9} And the priest said,
The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in
the valley of Elah, behold, it [is here] wrapped in a cloth
behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take [it:] for [there
is] no other save that here. And David said, [There is] none
like that; give it me.
{21:10} And David arose, and fled that day for fear of
Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. {21:11} And the
servants of Achish said unto him, [Is] not this David the
king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in
dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his
ten thousands? {21:12} And David laid up these words in
his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
{21:13} And he changed his behaviour before them, and
feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the
doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his
beard. {21:14} Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye
see the man is mad: wherefore [then] have ye brought him
to me? {21:15} Have I need of mad men, that ye have
brought this [fellow] to play the mad man in my presence?
shall this [fellow] come into my house?

22 {22:1} David therefore departed thence, and escaped to
the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s
house heard it, they went down thither to him. {22:2} And
every one [that was] in distress, and every one that [was] in
debt, and every one [that was] discontented, gathered
themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them:
and there were with him about four hundred men.
{22:3} And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and
he said unto the king of Moab, Let my father and my
mother, I pray thee, come forth, [and be] with you, till I
know what God will do for me. {22:4} And he brought
them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all
the while that David was in the hold.
{22:5} And the prophet Gad said unto David, Abide not
in the hold; depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then
David departed, and came into the forest of Hareth.
{22:6} When Saul heard that David was discovered, and
the men that [were] with him, (now Saul abode in Gibeah
under a tree in Ramah, having his spear in his hand, and all
his servants [were] standing about him;) {22:7} Then Saul
said unto his servants that stood about him, Hear now, ye
Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you
fields and vineyards, [and] make you all captains of
thousands, and captains of hundreds; {22:8} That all of you
have conspired against me, and [there is] none that sheweth
me that my son hath made a league with the son of Jesse,
and [there is] none of you that is sorry for me, or sheweth
unto me that my son hath stirred up my servant against me,
to lie in wait, as at this day?
{22:9} Then answered Doeg the Edomite, which was set
over the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse
coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. {22:10}
And he enquired of the LORD for him, and gave him
victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.
{22:11} Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the
son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests that
[were] in Nob: and they came all of them to the king.
{22:12} And Saul said, Hear now, thou son of Ahitub. And
he answered, Here I [am,] my lord. {22:13} And Saul said
unto him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the
son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword,
and hast enquired of God for him, that he should rise against
me, to lie in wait, as at this day? {22:14} Then Ahimelech
answered the king, and said, And who [is so] faithful among
all thy servants as David, which is the king’s son in law, and
goeth at thy bidding, and is honourable in thine house?
{22:15} Did I then begin to enquire of God for him? be it
far from me: let not the king impute [any] thing unto his
servant, [nor] to all the house of my father: for thy servant
knew nothing of all this, less or more. {22:16} And the king
said, Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy
father’s house.
{22:17} And the king said unto the footmen that stood
about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD; because
their hand also [is] with David, and because they knew
when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of
the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the
priests of the LORD. {22:18} And the king said to Doeg,
Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite
turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day
fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod.
{22:19} And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the
edge of the sword, both men and women, children and
sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of
the sword.
{22:20} And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of
Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David.
{22:21} And Abiathar shewed David that Saul had slain the
LORD’S priests. {22:22} And David said unto Abiathar, I
knew [it] that day, when Doeg the Edomite [was] there, that
he would surely tell Saul: I have occasioned [the death] of
all the persons of thy father’s house. {22:23} Abide thou
with me, fear not: for he that seeketh my life seeketh thy
life: but with me thou [shalt be] in safeguard.

23 {23:1} Then they told David, saying, Behold, the
Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the
threshingfloors. {23:2} Therefore David enquired of the
LORD, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And
the LORD said unto David, Go, and smite the Philistines,
and save Keilah. {23:3} And David’s men said unto him,
Behold, we be afraid here in Judah: how much more then if
we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?
{23:4} Then David enquired of the LORD yet again. And
the LORD answered him and said, Arise, go down to
Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand.
{23:5} So David and his men went to Keilah, and fought
with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and
smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the
inhabitants of Keilah. {23:6} And it came to pass, when
Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah,
[that] he came down [with] an ephod in his hand.
{23:7} And it was told Saul that David was come to
Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine
hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath
gates and bars. {23:8} And Saul called all the people
together to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and
his men.
{23:9} And David knew that Saul secretly practised
mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest,
Bring hither the ephod. {23:10} Then said David, O LORD
God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul
seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.
{23:11} Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his
hand? will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O
LORD God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And
the LORD said, He will come down. {23:12} Then said
David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into
the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver
[thee] up.
{23:13} Then David and his men, [which were] about six
hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went
whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that
David was escaped from Keilah; and he forbare to go forth.
{23:14} And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds,
and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And
Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into
his hand. {23:15} And David saw that Saul was come out to
seek his life: and David [was] in the wilderness of Ziph in a
wood.
{23:16} And Jonathan Saul’s son arose, and went to
David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.
{23:17} And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of
Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king
over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul
my father knoweth. {23:18} And they two made a covenant
before the LORD: and David abode in the wood, and
Jonathan went to his house.
{23:19} Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah,
saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds
in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which [is] on the south
of Jeshimon? {23:20} Now therefore, O king, come down
according to all the desire of thy soul to come down; and
our part [shall be] to deliver him into the king’s hand.
{23:21} And Saul said, Blessed [be] ye of the LORD; for ye
have compassion on me. {23:22} Go, I pray you, prepare
yet, and know and see his place where his haunt is, [and]
who hath seen him there: for it is told me [that] he dealeth
very subtilly. {23:23} See therefore, and take knowledge of
all the lurking places where he hideth himself, and come ye
again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you: and it
shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search
him out throughout all the thousands of Judah. {23:24} And
they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his
men [were] in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain on the
south of Jeshimon. {23:25} Saul also and his men went to
seek [him.] And they told David: wherefore he came down
into a rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when
Saul heard [that,] he pursued after David in the wilderness
of Maon. {23:26} And 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.
{23:27} But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying,
Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the
land. {23:28} Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after
David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they
called that place Sela-hammahlekoth.
{23:29} And David went up from thence, and dwelt in
strong holds at En-gedi.

24 {24:1} And it came to pass, when Saul was returned
from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying,
Behold, David is in the wilderness of En-gedi. {24:2} Then
Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and
went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild
goats. {24:3} And he came to the sheepcotes by the way,
where [was] a cave; and Saul went in to cover his feet: and
David and his men remained in the sides of the cave. {24:4}
And the men of David said unto him, Behold the day of
which the LORD said unto thee, Behold, I will deliver thine
enemy into thine hand, that thou mayest do to him as it shall
seem good unto thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt
of Saul’s robe privily. {24:5} And it came to pass
afterward, that David’s heart smote him, because he had cut
off Saul’s skirt. {24:6} And he said unto his men, The
LORD forbid that I should do this thing unto my master, the
LORD’S anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him,
seeing he is the anointed of the LORD. {24:7} So David
stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not
to rise against Saul. But Saul rose up out of the cave, and
went on [his] way. {24:8} David also arose afterward, and
went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord
the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped
with his face to the earth, and bowed himself.
{24:9} And David said to Saul, Wherefore hearest thou
men’s words, saying, Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?
{24:10} Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that the
LORD had delivered thee to day into mine hand in the cave:
and [some] bade [me] kill thee: but [mine eye] spared thee;
and I said, I will not put forth mine hand against my lord;
for he [is] the LORD’S anointed. {24:11} Moreover, my
father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand: for in
that I cut off the skirt of thy robe and killed thee not, know
thou and see that [there is] neither evil nor transgression in
mine hand, and I have not sinned against thee; yet thou
huntest my soul to take it. {24:12} The LORD judge
between me and thee, and the LORD avenge me of thee: but
mine hand shall not be upon thee. {24:13} As saith the
proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the
wicked: but mine hand shall not be upon thee. {24:14}
After whom is the king of Israel come out? after whom dost
thou pursue? after a dead dog, after a flea. {24:15} The
LORD therefore be judge, and judge between me and thee,
and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thine
hand.
{24:16} And it came to pass, when David had made an
end of speaking these words unto Saul, that Saul said, [Is]
this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice,
and wept. {24:17} And he said to David, Thou [art] more
righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I
have rewarded thee evil. {24:18} And thou hast shewed this
day how that thou hast dealt well with me: forasmuch as
when the LORD had delivered me into thine hand, thou
killedst me not. {24:19} For if a man find his enemy, will
he let him go well away? wherefore the LORD reward thee
good for that thou hast done unto me this day. {24:20} And
now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and
that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.
{24:21} Swear now therefore unto me by the LORD, that
thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt
not destroy my name out of my father’s house. {24:22} And
David sware unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and
his men gat them up unto the hold.

25 {25:1} And Samuel died; and all the Israelites were
gathered together, and lamented him, and buried him in his
house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the
wilderness of Paran. {25:2} And [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.
{25:3} Now the name of the man [was] Nabal; and the
name of his wife Abigail: and [she was] a woman of good
understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man
[was] churlish and evil in his doings; and he [was] of the
house of Caleb.
{25:4} And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did
shear his sheep. {25:5} And David sent out ten young men,
and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel,
and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: {25:6} And
thus shall ye say to him that liveth [in prosperity,] Peace
[be] both to thee, and peace [be] to thine house, and peace
[be] unto all that thou hast. {25:7} And now I have heard
that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with
us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto
them, all the while they were in Carmel. {25:8} Ask thy
young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the
young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good
day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto
thy servants, and to thy son David. {25:9} And when
David’s young men came, they spake to Nabal according to
all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
{25:10} And Nabal answered David’s servants, and said,
Who [is] David? and who [is] the son of Jesse? there be
many servants now a days that break away every man from
his master. {25:11} Shall I then take my bread, and my
water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and
give [it] unto men, whom I know not whence they [be?]
{25:12} So David’s young men turned their way, and went
again, and came and told him all those sayings. {25:13}
And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his
sword. And 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
stuff.
{25:14} But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s
wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the
wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them.
{25:15} But the men [were] very good unto us, and we
were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we
were conversant with them, when we were in the fields:
{25:16} They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all
the while we were with them keeping the sheep. {25:17}
Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for
evil is determined against our master, and against all his
household: for he [is such] a son of Belial, that [a man]
cannot speak to him.
{25:18} Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred
loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready
dressed, and five measures of parched [corn,] and an
hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs,
and laid [them] on asses. {25:19} And she said unto her
servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But
she told not her husband Nabal. {25:20} And it was [so, as]
she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the
hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against
her; and she met them. {25:21} Now David had said, Surely
in vain have I kept all that this [fellow] hath in the
wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that
[pertained] unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good.
{25:22} So and more also do God unto the enemies of
David, if I leave of all that [pertain] to him by the morning
light any that pisseth against the wall. {25:23} And when
Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and
fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the
ground, {25:24} And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my
lord, [upon] me [let this] iniquity [be:] and let thine
handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the
words of thine handmaid. {25:25} Let not my lord, I pray
thee, regard this man of Belial, [even] Nabal: for as his
name [is,] so [is] he; Nabal [is] his name, and folly [is] with
him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my
lord, whom thou didst send. {25:26} Now therefore, my
lord, [as] the LORD liveth, and [as] thy soul liveth, seeing
the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to [shed]
blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now
let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as
Nabal. {25:27} And now this blessing which thine
handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given
unto the young men that follow my lord. {25:28} I pray
thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD
will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord
fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been
found in thee [all] thy days. {25:29} Yet a man is risen to
pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord
shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God;
and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, [as
out] of the middle of a sling. {25:30} And it shall come to
pass, when the LORD shall have done to my lord according
to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and
shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; {25:31} That
this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my
lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my
lord hath avenged himself: but when the LORD shall have
dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.
{25:32} And David said to Abigail, Blessed [be] the
LORD God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me:
{25:33} And blessed [be] thy advice, and blessed [be] thou,
which hast kept me this day from coming to [shed] blood,
and from avenging myself with mine own hand. {25:34}
For in very deed, [as] the LORD God of Israel liveth, which
hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst
hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left
unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the
wall. {25:35} So David received of her hand [that] which
she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to
thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have
accepted thy person.
{25:36} And 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:
wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the
morning light. {25:37} But it came to pass in the morning,
when the wine was gone out of Nabal, and his wife had told
him these things, that his heart died within him, and he
became [as] a stone. {25:38} And it came to pass about ten
days [after,] that the LORD smote Nabal, that he died.
{25:39} And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he
said, Blessed [be] the LORD, that hath pleaded the cause of
my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept his
servant from evil: for the LORD hath returned the
wickedness of Nabal upon his own head. And David sent
and communed with Abigail, to take her to him to wife.
{25:40} And when the servants of David were come to
Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, David sent
us unto thee to take thee to him to wife. {25:41} And she
arose, and bowed herself on [her] face to the earth, and said,
Behold, [let] thine handmaid [be] a servant to wash the feet
of the servants of my lord. {25:42} And Abigail hasted, and
arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that
went after her; and she went after the messengers of David,
and became his wife. {25:43} David also took Ahinoam of
Jezreel; and they were also both of them his wives.
{25:44} But Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s
wife, to Phalti the son of Laish, which [was] of Gallim.

26 {26:1} And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah,
saying, Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah,
[which is] before Jeshimon? {26:2} 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. {26:3} And Saul pitched in the hill of
Hachilah, which [is] before Jeshimon, by the way. But
David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came
after him into the wilderness. {26:4} David therefore sent
out spies, and understood that Saul was come in very deed.
{26:5} And David arose, and came to the place where
Saul had pitched: and David beheld the place where Saul
lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and
Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about
him. {26:6} 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? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee. {26:7}
So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and,
behold, Saul lay sleeping within the trench, and his spear
stuck in the ground at his bolster: but Abner and the people
lay round about him. {26:8} Then said Abishai to David,
God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day:
now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear
even to the earth at once, and I will not [smite] him the
second time. {26:9} And David said to Abishai, Destroy
him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the
LORD’S anointed, and be guiltless? {26:10} David said
furthermore, [As] the LORD liveth, the LORD shall smite
him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into
battle, and perish. {26:11} The LORD forbid that I should
stretch forth mine hand against the LORD’S anointed: but, I
pray thee, take thou now the spear that [is] at his bolster,
and the cruse of water, and let us go. {26:12} So David took
the spear and the cruse of water from Saul’s bolster; and
they gat them away, and no man saw [it,] nor knew [it,]
neither awaked: for they [were] all asleep; because a deep
sleep from the LORD was fallen upon them.
{26:13} Then David went over to the other side, and
stood on the top of an hill afar off; a great space [being]
between them: {26:14} And David cried to the people, and
to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Answerest thou not,
Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who [art] thou
[that] criest to the king? {26:15} And David said to Abner,
[Art] not thou a [valiant] man? and who [is] like to thee in
Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king?
for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy
lord. {26:16} This thing [is] not good that thou hast done.
[As] the LORD liveth, ye [are] worthy to die, because ye
have not kept your master, the LORD’S anointed. And now
see where the king’s spear is, and the cruse of water that
[was] at his bolster. {26:17} And Saul knew David’s voice,
and said, [Is] this thy voice, my son David? And David said,
[It is] my voice, my lord, O king. {26:18} And he said,
Wherefore doth my lord thus pursue after his servant? for
what have I done? or what evil [is] in mine hand? {26:19}
Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the
words of his servant. If the LORD have stirred thee up
against me, let him accept an offering: but if [they be] the
children of men, cursed [be] they before the LORD; for they
have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance
of the LORD, saying, Go, serve other gods. {26:20} Now
therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face
of the LORD: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a
flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains.
{26:21} Then said Saul, I have sinned: return, my son
David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul
was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played
the fool, and have erred exceedingly. {26:22} And David
answered and said, Behold the king’s spear! and let one of
the young men come over and fetch it. {26:23} The LORD
render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness:
for the LORD delivered thee into [my] hand to day, but I
would not stretch forth mine hand against the LORD’S
anointed. {26:24} And, behold, as thy life was much set by
this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the
eyes of the LORD, and let him deliver me out of all
tribulation. {26:25} Then Saul said to David, Blessed [be]
thou, my son David: thou shalt both do great things, and
also shalt still prevail. So David went on his way, and Saul
returned to his place.

27 {27:1} And 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 speedily escape into the land of the
Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any
more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.
{27:2} And David arose, and he passed over with the six
hundred men that [were] with him unto Achish, the son of
Maoch, king of Gath. {27:3} And David dwelt 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. {27:4} And it
was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no
more again for him.
{27:5} And David said unto Achish, If I have now found
grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town
in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy
servant dwell in the royal city with thee? {27:6} Then
Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag
pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day. {27:7} And
the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines
was a full year and four months.
{27:8} And David and his men went up, and invaded the
Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those
[nations were] of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou
goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt. {27:9} And
David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman
alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses,
and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to
Achish. {27:10} And Achish said, Whither have ye made a
road to day? And David said, Against the south of Judah,
and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the
south of the Kenites. {27:11} And David saved neither man
nor woman alive, to bring [tidings] to Gath, saying, Lest
they should tell on us, saying, So did David, and so [will be]
his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the
Philistines. {27:12} And Achish believed David, saying, He
hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore
he shall be my servant for ever.

28 {28:1} And it came to pass in those days, that the
Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to
fight with Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know thou
assuredly, that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and
thy men. {28:2} And David said to Achish, Surely thou
shalt know what thy servant can do. And Achish said to
David, Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head for
ever.
{28:3} Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented
him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And
Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the
wizards, out of the land. {28:4} And the Philistines gathered
themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and
Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa.
{28:5} And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he
was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. {28:6} And when
Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not,
neither by dreams nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
{28:7} Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a
woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and
enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, [there
is] a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. {28:8} And
Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he
went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman
by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the
familiar spirit, and bring me [him] up, whom I shall name
unto thee. {28:9} And the woman said unto him, Behold,
thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off
those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the
land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause
me to die? {28:10} And Saul sware to her by the LORD,
saying, [As] the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment
happen to thee for this thing. {28:11} Then said the woman,
Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up
Samuel. {28:12} And when the woman saw Samuel, she
cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul,
saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou [art] Saul.
{28:13} And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what
sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods
ascending out of the earth. {28:14} And he said unto her,
What form [is] he of? And she said, An old man cometh up;
and he [is] covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that
it [was] Samuel, and he stooped with [his] face to the
ground, and bowed himself.
{28:15} And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou
disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am
sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and
God is departed from me, and answereth me no more,
neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called
thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.
{28:16} Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of
me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become
thine enemy? {28:17} And the LORD hath done to him, as
he spake by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of
thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, [even] to David:
{28:18} Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD,
nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath
the LORD done this thing unto thee this day. {28:19}
Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into
the hand of the Philistines: and to morrow [shalt] thou and
thy sons [be] with me: the LORD also shall deliver the host
of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. {28:20} Then Saul
fell straightway all along 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.
{28:21} And the woman came unto Saul, and saw that he
was sore troubled, and said unto him, Behold, thine
handmaid hath obeyed thy voice, and I have put my life in
my hand, and have hearkened unto thy words which thou
spakest unto me. {28:22} Now therefore, I pray thee,
hearken thou also unto the voice of thine handmaid, and let
me set a morsel of bread before thee; and eat, that thou
mayest have strength, when thou goest on thy way. {28:23}
But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants,
together with the woman, compelled him; and he hearkened
unto their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat upon
the bed. {28:24} And the woman had a fat calf in the house;
and she hasted, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded
[it,] and did bake unleavened bread thereof: {28:25} And
she brought [it] before Saul, and before his servants; and
they did eat. Then they rose up, and went away that night.

29 {29:1} Now the Philistines gathered together all their
armies to Aphek: and the Israelites pitched by a fountain
which [is] in Jezreel. {29:2} And the lords of the Philistines
passed on by hundreds, and by thousands: but David and his
men passed on in the rereward with Achish. {29:3} Then
said the princes of the Philistines, What [do] these Hebrews
[here?] And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines,
[Is] not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel,
which hath been with me these days, or these years, and I
have found no fault in him since he fell [unto me] unto this
day? {29:4} And the princes of the Philistines were wroth
with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him,
Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place
which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down
with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us:
for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master?
[should it] not [be] with the heads of these men? {29:5} [Is]
not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances,
saying, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten
thousands?
{29:6} Then Achish called David, and said unto him,
Surely, [as] the LORD liveth, thou hast been upright, and
thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host [is]
good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the
day of thy coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless the
lords favour thee not. {29:7} Wherefore now return, and go
in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines.
{29:8} And David said unto Achish, But what have I
done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I
have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight
against the enemies of my lord the king? {29:9} And
Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou [art]
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. {29:10} Wherefore now rise up early in the
morning with thy master’s servants that are come with thee:
and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light,
depart. {29:11} So David and his men rose up early to
depart in the morning, to return into the land of the
Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

30 {30:1} And it came to pass, when David and his men
were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites
had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and
burned it with fire; {30:2} And had taken the women
captives, that [were] therein: they slew not any, either great
or small, but carried [them] away, and went on their way.
{30:3} So David and his men came to the city, and,
behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their
sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. {30:4} Then
David and the people that [were] with him lifted up their
voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
{30:5} And David’s two wives were taken captives,
Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the
Carmelite. {30:6} And David was greatly distressed; for the
people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the
people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his
daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his
God. {30:7} And David said to Abiathar the priest,
Ahimelech’s son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod.
And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. {30:8}
And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue
after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered
him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake [them,] and
without fail recover [all.] {30:9} So David went, he and the
six hundred men that [were] with him, and came to the
brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed.
{30:10} But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for
two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they
could not go over the brook Besor.
{30:11} And they found an Egyptian in the field, and
brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat;
and they made him drink water; {30:12} And 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. {30:13} And David said unto him, To whom
[belongest] thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I [am]
a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my
master left me, because three days agone I fell sick. {30:14}
We made an invasion [upon] the south of the Cherethites,
and upon [the coast] which [belongeth] to Judah, and upon
the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire. {30:15}
And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this
company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou
wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my
master, and I will bring thee down to this company.
{30:16} And when he had brought him down, behold,
[they were] spread abroad upon all the earth, 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. {30:17} And David smote them from the
twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there
escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men,
which rode upon camels, and fled. {30:18} And David
recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and
David rescued his two wives. {30:19} And there was
nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither
sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any [thing] that they
had taken to them: David recovered all. {30:20} And David
took all the flocks and the herds, [which] they drave before
those [other] cattle, and said, This [is] David’s spoil.
{30:21} And David came to the two hundred men, which
were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they
had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went
forth to meet David, and to meet the people that [were] with
him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted
them. {30:22} Then answered all the wicked men and
[men] of Belial, of those that went with David, and said,
Because they went not with us, we will not give them
[ought] of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every
man his wife and his children, that they may lead [them]
away, and depart. {30:23} Then said David, Ye shall not do
so, my brethren, with that which the LORD hath given us,
who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that
came against us into our hand. {30:24} For who will
hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part [is] that
goeth down to the battle, so [shall] his part [be] that tarrieth
by the stuff: they shall part alike. {30:25} And it was [so]
from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an
ordinance for Israel unto this day.
{30:26} And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the
spoil unto the elders of Judah, [even] to his friends, saying,
Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the
LORD; {30:27} To [them] which [were] in Bethel, and to
[them] which [were] in south Ramoth, and to [them] which
[were] in Jattir, {30:28} And to [them] which [were] in
Aroer, and to [them] which [were] in Siphmoth, and to
[them] which [were] in Eshtemoa, {30:29} And to [them]
which [were] in Rachal, and to [them] which [were] in the
cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to [them] which [were] in
the cities of the Kenites, {30:30} And to [them] which
[were] in Hormah, and to [them] which [were] in Chorashan,
and to [them] which [were] in Athach, {30:31} And
to [them] which [were] in Hebron, and to all the places
where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.

31 {31:1} Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the
men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down
slain in mount Gilboa. {31:2} And the Philistines followed
hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew
Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchi-shua, Saul’s sons.
{31:3} And the battle went sore against Saul, and the
archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers.
{31:4} Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy
sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these
uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me.
But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid.
Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it. {31:5} And
when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell
likewise upon his sword, and died with him. {31:6} So Saul
died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his
men, that same day together.
{31:7} And when the men of Israel that [were] on the
other side of the valley, and [they] that [were] on the other
side 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 dwelt in them. {31:8} And it
came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to
strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen
in mount Gilboa. {31:9} And they cut off his head, and
stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the
Philistines round about, to publish [it in] the house of their
idols, and among the people. {31:10} And they put his
armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his
body to the wall of Beth-shan.
{31:11} And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard
of that which the Philistines had done to Saul; {31:12} 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 Bethshan,
and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. {31:13}
And they took their bones, and buried [them] under a tree at
Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

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