1 There was a man of Ramataim of Zophim, of mount Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite.
2 And he had two wives; The name of one was Anna, and the name of the other was Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Anna had none.
3 And every year that man went up from his city to worship and to offer sacrifices to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh, where two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests of the Lord, were.
4 And when the day came for Elkanah to sacrifice, he gave to Peninnah his wife, to all her sons, and to all her daughters, to each one his share.
5 But to Hannah he gave a choice portion; because he loved Hannah, although Jehovah had not granted her children.
6 And her rival irritated her, making her angry and sad, because the LORD had not granted her children by her.
7 Thus she did every year; When he went up to the house of the Lord, he provoked her thus; for which Ana cried, and she did not eat.
8 And Elkanah her husband said to her, Hannah, why are you weeping? why don’t you eat? and why is your heart troubled? Is not I better for you than ten children?
9 And Hannah arose after she had eaten and drunk in Shiloh; And while Eli the priest was sitting on a chair by a pillar of the temple of the Lord,
10 she prayed to the Lord with bitterness of soul, and wept profusely.
11 And she made a vow, saying, O Lord of hosts, if you will deign to look upon the affliction of your handmaid, and will remember me, and will not forget your handmaid, but will give to your handmaid a man child, I will dedicate him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor will come upon his head.
12 While she was praying for a long time before the Lord, Eli was watching her mouth.
13 But Hannah spoke in her heart, and only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard; and Eli thought her drunk.
14 Then she said to Eli, How long will you be drunk? Digest your wine.
15 And Anna answered him, saying, No, my lord; I am a woman troubled in spirit; I have not drunk wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord.
16 Do not regard your servant as an ungodly woman; because because of the magnitude of my anguish and my affliction I have spoken until now.
17 Eli answered and said, Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you the request you have made of him.
18 And she said, May your servant find favor in your sight. And the woman went her way, and she ate, and she was no longer sad.
19 And they rose early in the morning, and worshiped before the Lord, and returned and went to her house in Ramah. And Elkanah came to Hannah her wife, and the Lord remembered her.
20 And it came to pass, when the time was fulfilled, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son, and named him Samuel, saying, Because I asked of the Lord.
21 Then the man Elkanah went up with all his family to offer to Jehovah the customary sacrifice and his vow.
22 But Hannah did not go up, but she said to her husband, I will not go up until the child is weaned, so that I may take him and present him before the Lord, and that he may remain there forever.
23 And Elkanah her husband answered her, Do what seems good to you; stay until you wean him; only may Jehovah fulfill his word. And the woman remained, and she nursed her son until she weaned him.
24 After she had weaned him, she took him with her, with three calves, an ephah of flour, and a jar of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh; and the child was small.
25 And killing the calf, they brought the child to Eli.
26 And she said, O my lord! Live your soul, my Lord, I am that woman who was here with you praying to Jehovah.
27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord gave me what I asked for.
28 I therefore also dedicate it to Jehovah; As long as he lives, he will be the Lord’s. And he worshiped Jehovah there.
1 And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoices in the Lord, My power is exalted in the Lord; My mouth was enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoiced in your salvation.
2 There is no saint like Jehovah; For there is none besides you, And there is no refuge like our God.
3 Do not multiply words of greatness and arrogance; Let the arrogant words of your mouth cease; Because the God of all knowledge is Jehovah, and it is up to him to weigh actions.
4 The bows of the strong were broken, and the weak were girded with power.
5 The satisfied hired themselves for bread, And the hungry were no longer hungry; Even the barren one has given birth to seven, And she who had many children languishes.
6 The Lord kills, and he gives life; He brings down Sheol, and he brings up.
7 Jehovah makes poor, and he makes rich; He abases, and exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust, And exalts the needy from the dunghill, To make him sit with princes and inherit a place of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, And he established the world upon them.
9 He guards his holy feet, But the wicked perish in darkness; For no one will be strong by his own strength.
10 Before the LORD his adversaries will be broken, and upon them he will thunder from the heavens; The LORD will judge the ends of the earth, he will give power to his King, and exalt the might of his Anointed One.
11 And Elkanah returned to her house in Ramah; and the child ministered to Jehovah before Eli the priest. The sin of the sons of Eli
12 The sons of Eli were wicked men, and had no knowledge of the Lord.
13 And it was the custom of the priests with the people, that when someone offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come while the meat was cooking, bringing in his hand a hook with three prongs,
14 and put it in the basin, in the pot, in the cauldron or in the kettle; and everything that the hook brought out, the priest took for himself. They did this with every Israelite who came to Shiloh.
15 Likewise, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant came and said to the sacrificer: Give meat to roast for the priest; for he will not take cooked meat from you, but raw.
16 And if the man answered him, Burn the fat first, and then take as much as you want; He responded: No, but give it to me right now; Otherwise I will take it by force.
17 Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah; for men despised the offerings of the Lord.
18 And young Samuel ministered in the presence of the Lord, dressed in a linen ephod.
19 And her mother made him a small tunic, and she brought it to him every year, when she went up with her husband to offer her customary sacrifice.
20 And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, saying, The Lord give you children by this woman instead of the one he asked of the Lord. And they returned to his house.
21 And the LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived, and she bore three sons and two daughters. And young Samuel grew before the Lord.
22 But Eli was very old; and he heard of all that his sons did with all Israel, and how they slept with the women who kept watch at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
23 And he said to them: Why do you do such things? Because I hear your evil actions from all this people.
24 No, my children, because it is not a good report that I hear; for you cause the people of Jehovah to sin.
25 If man sins against man, the judges will judge him; But if anyone sins against the Lord, who will pray for him? But they did not listen to the voice of his father, because the Lord had determined to put them to death.
26 And the young Samuel grew up, and was accepted before God and before men.
27 And a man of God came to Eli and said to him, Thus says the LORD: Did I not manifest myself clearly to your father’s house, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh’s house?
28 And I chose him to be my priest among all the tribes of Israel, to offer on my altar, and to burn incense, and to wear the ephod before me; and give to your father’s house all the offerings of the children of Israel.
29 Why have you trampled on my sacrifices and my offerings, which I commanded to be offered in the tabernacle; and have you honored your children more than me, fattening yourself with the chief of all the offerings of my people Israel?
30 Therefore, the Lord God of Israel says: I had said that your house and your father’s house would walk before me forever; but now the Lord has said: Never shall I do such a thing, for I will honor those who honor me, and those who despise me will be esteemed little.
31 Behold, the days are coming when I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will be no elder in your house.
32 You will see your house humbled, while God showers Israel with good things; and in no time will there be an old man in your house.
33 The man of yours that I do not cut off from my altar will consume your eyes and fill your soul with pain; and all those born in your house will die in manhood.
34 And this will be a sign to you that will happen to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: they will both die in one day.
35 And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to my heart and my soul; and I will build him a firm house, and he will walk before my anointed always.
36 And whoever is left in your house will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, saying to him, Please add me to one of the ministries, so that I may eat a morsel of bread.
1 Young Samuel ministered to the Lord in the presence of Eli; and the word of the Lord was scarce in those days; he had no vision frequently.
2 And it came to pass one day, as Eli lay in his chamber, when his eyes began to grow dark so that he could not see,
3 Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was; and before the lamp of God was put out,
4 Jehovah called Samuel; and he answered: Here I am.
5 And running immediately to Eli, he said, Here am I, why did you call me? And Eli said to him: I have not called; come back and lie down. And he turned and lay down.
6 And the LORD called Samuel again. And Samuel arose and came to Eli and said, Here am I; What did you call me for? And he said: My son, I have not called; come back and lie down.
7 And Samuel had not yet known the LORD, nor had the word of the LORD been revealed to him.
8 So the Lord called Samuel the third time. And he arose and came to Eli, and said, Here am I; What did you call me for? Then Eli understood that Jehovah was calling the young man.
9 And Eli said to Samuel, Go and lie down; and if I call you, you shall say, Speak, Jehovah, for your servant hears. So Samuel went away, and he lay down in his place.
10 And the Lord came and stood, and called as before: Samuel, Samuel! Then Samuel said, Speak, for your servant hears.
11 And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, that whoever hears it, both ears will ring.
12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have said concerning his house, from the beginning to the end.
13 And I will show him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity that he knows; for his sons have blasphemed God, and he has not hindered them.
14 Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of the house of Eli will never be atoned for, neither with sacrifices nor with offerings.
15 And Samuel lay until morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel was afraid to reveal the vision to Eli.
16 So Eli called Samuel and said to him, My son, Samuel. And he answered: Here I am.
17 And Eli said, What is the word that he spoke to you? I beg you not to hide it from me; May God do so to you and even more, if you conceal from me a word of all that he spoke to you.
18 And Samuel revealed everything to him, hiding nothing from him. Then he said, It is Jehovah; He does what seems right to him.
19 And Samuel grew, and the jehovah was with him, and did not let any of his words fall to the ground.
20 And all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was a faithful prophet of the Lord.
21 And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh; for the jehovah was revealed to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the jehovah.
1 And Samuel spoke to all Israel. At that time Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle, and camped near Ebenezer, and the Philistines camped at Aphek.
2 And the Philistines offered battle to Israel; and when the battle was engaged, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who wounded about four thousand men in the battle in the field.
3 When the people returned to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord struck us today before the Philistines?” Let us bring to us from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the Lord, so that coming among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies.
4 And the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, which dwelt between the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
5 It came to pass, when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came to the camp, that all Israel shouted with such great joy that the earth trembled.
6 When the Philistines heard the voice of joy, they said, What voice of great joy is this in the camp of the Hebrews? And they knew that the ark of the Lord had been brought into the camp.
7 And the Philistines were afraid, because they said, God has come to the camp. And they said: Woe to us! Well before now it was not like that.
8 Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these powerful gods? These are the gods who struck Egypt with every plague in the desert.
9 Be strong, O Philistines, and be men, lest you serve the Hebrews, as they have served you; be men, and fight.
10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled each one to his tents; and there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot men fell from Israel.
11 And the ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed.
12 And a man of Benjamin ran from the battle and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn and earth on his head;
13 And when he came, behold, Eli was sitting on a chair, watching by the way, for his heart was trembling because of the ark of God. So when that man arrived in the city, and the news was given, the whole city shouted.
14 When Eli heard the noise of the shouting, he said, What noise of commotion is this? And that man came quickly and told Eli.
15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were darkened, so that he could not see.
16 So the man said to Eli: I have come from the battle, I have escaped from the battle today. And Eli said, What has happened, my son?
17 And the messenger answered and said, Israel fled before the Philistines, and there was also a great slaughter among the people; and also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed, and the ark of God has been taken.
18 And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell backward from the seat by the door, and broke his neck, and died; because he was an old and heavy man. And he had judged Israel forty years.
19 And her daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, who was with child, near the birth, hearing the rumor that the ark of God had been taken, and her father-in-law and her husband dead, she bowed down and gave to light; because her pain came upon her suddenly.
20 And as she died, those who were near her said to her, Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son. But she did not respond, nor did she understand.
21 And she called the child Ichabod, saying, The glory of Israel is pierced! for the ark of God having been taken, and for the death of her father-in-law and her husband.
22 So she said, The glory of Israel is pierced; because the ark of God has been taken.
1 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
2 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and placed it by Dagon.
3 And when the men of Ashdod arose early the next day, behold, Dagon fell prostrate on the ground before the ark of the LORD; and they took Dagon and brought him back to his place.
4 And when he arose again in the morning the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen prostrate to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and the two palms of his hands were cut off above the threshold, leaving only the trunk left to Dagon.
5 For this reason the priests of Dagon and all who enter the temple of Dagon do not set foot on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, until today.
6 And the hand of the LORD was heavy upon those of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and smote them with tumors in Ashdod and in all its territory.
7 And when those of Ashdod saw this, they said, Let not the ark of the God of Israel remain with us, for his hand is hard on us and on our god Dagon.
8 So they called together all the princes of the Philistines, and said to them, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they said, Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought to Gath. And they brought the ark of the God of Israel there.
9 And it came to pass, when they had passed through it, that the hand of the LORD was against the city with great destruction, and it afflicted the men of that city from the small to the great, and they were filled with tumors.
10 Then they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And when the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us to kill us and our people.
11 And they sent and gathered together all the princes of the Philistines, saying, Send the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its place, and kill not us nor our people; for there was a deadly consternation in the whole city, and the hand of God was heavy there.
12 And those who did not die were wounded with tumors; and the cry of the city ascended to heaven.
1 The ark of the Lord was in the land of the Philistines seven months.
2 Then the Philistines called the priests and diviners and asked, What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Let us know how we are to send her back to his place.
3 They said, If you send the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but pay him the atonement; then you will be healed, and you will know why he did not remove his hand from you.
4 And they said: And what will be the atonement that we will pay him? They answered, According to the number of the princes of the Philistines, five golden tumors, and five golden mice, because the same plague has afflicted all of you and your princes.
5 Therefore you will make images of your tumors, and of your mice that destroy the earth, and you will give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps he will lighten his hand from you and from your gods and from your land.
6 Why do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened his heart? After he had treated them like this, didn’t they let them go and leave?
7 Now therefore make a new cart, and then take two young cows, on which no yoke has been put, and hitch the cows to the cart, and bring their calves home from behind them.
8 Then you will take the ark of the Lord and put it on the cart, and you will put the gold jewelry that you are to pay him as a guilt offering in a box next to it; and you will let her go.
9 And you will observe; If he goes up by the way from his land to Beth-shemesh, he has done us this great evil; and if not, we will know that it is not his hand that has wounded us, but that this happened by accident.
10 And those men did so; Taking two cows that they were raising, they yoked them to the cart, and locked up their calves in the house.
11 Then they put the ark of the Lord on the cart, and the box with the golden mice and the figures of their tumors.
12 And the cows went along the road to Beth-shemesh, and they followed a straight path, walking and bellowing, turning neither to the right nor to the left; and the princes of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth-shemesh.
13 And those of Beth-shemesh reaped the wheat in the valley; And they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, and they rejoiced when they saw it.
14 And the chariot came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh, and stopped there where there was a great stone; and they cut down the wood of the cart, and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.
15 And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord, and the box that was next to it, in which were the gold jewels, and placed them on that great stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh sacrificed burnt offerings and dedicated sacrifices to the Lord on that day.
16 When the five princes of the Philistines saw this, they returned to Ekron the same day.
17 These were the golden tumors that the Philistines paid as a sin offering to the Lord: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one.
18 And the golden mice were according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five princes, both the fortified cities and the unwalled villages. The great stone on which they placed the ark of the Lord is in the field of Joshua in Beth-shemesh to this day.
19 Then God put to death the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; He killed fifty thousand and seventy men of the people. And the people wept, because the Lord had struck them with such a great slaughter.
20 And they of Beth-shemesh said, Who can stand before the Lord the holy God? Who will he raise from us?
21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord; go down, therefore, and take it to yourselves.
1 The men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the ark of the Lord, and put it in the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and they sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord.
2 From the day the ark arrived at Kiriath-jearim many days passed, twenty years; and all the house of Israel mourned after the Lord.
3 Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If you return to the Lord with all your heart, put away the foreign gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your heart to the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.
4 Then the children of Israel removed the Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served only the Lord.
5 And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you to the Lord.
6 And they gathered together at Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it before the LORD, and fasted that day, and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.
7 When the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered at Mizpah, the princes of the Philistines went up against Israel; And when the children of Israel heard this, they were afraid of the Philistines.
8 Then the children of Israel said to Samuel, Do not cease to cry for us to the Lord our God, to keep us from the hand of the Philistines.
9 And Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it whole as a burnt offering to the Lord; And Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him.
10 And it came to pass, while Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, that the Philistines came to fight with the children of Israel. But the Lord thundered that day with a great noise against the Philistines, and terrified them, and they were defeated before Israel.
11 And the children of Israel went out from Mizpah and followed the Philistines, striking them down to Bethcar.
12 Then Samuel took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Shen, and called it Ebenezer, saying, Up to this point the Lord has helped us.
13 Thus the Philistines were subdued, and they did not enter the territory of Israel again; and the hand of the jehovah was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
14 And the cities that the Philistines had taken from the Israelites, from Ekron to Gath, were restored to the children of Israel; and Israel delivered its territory from the hand of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
15 And Samuel judged Israel all the time that he lived.
16 And every year he went back and forth to Bethel, to Gilgal, and to Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places.
17 Then he returned to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel; and he built there an altar to the Lord.
1 It came to pass, when Samuel grew old, that he made his sons judges over Israel.
2 And the name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah; and they were judges in Beersheba.
3 But the children did not walk in the ways of their father, but turned after greed, allowing themselves to be bribed and perverting the law.
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together, and came to Ramah to see Samuel,
5 and said to him, Behold, you have grown old, and your children do not walk in your ways; Therefore now make for us a king to judge us, as all nations have.
6 But this word that they said did not please Samuel: Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord.
7 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hear the voice of the people in everything they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me, from reigning over them.
8 According to all the works that they have done from the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so do they also with you.
9 Now therefore hear his voice; but protest solemnly against them, and show them how the king who will reign over them will treat them.
10 And Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who had asked him for king.
11 So he said, This is what the king who will reign over you will do: he will take your sons and put them in his chariots and in his horsemen, to run before his chariot;
12 and he will appoint for himself leaders of thousands and leaders of fifties; He will also make them plow his fields and reap his crops, and make his weapons of war and the equipment for his chariots.
13 He will also take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and kneaders.
14 He also will take the best of your lands, your vineyards and your olive groves, and give them to his servants.
15 He will tithe your grain and your vineyards, to give to his officials and his servants.
16 He will take your male and female servants, your best young men, and your donkeys, and with them he will do his work.
17 He will also tithe your flocks, and you will be his servants.
18 And you will cry out on that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourself, but the Lord will not answer you on that day.
19 But the people would not hear the voice of Samuel, and he said, No, but there will be a king over us;
20 and we also will be like all the nations, and our king will rule over us, and he will go out before us, and he will make our wars.
21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he reported them in the ears of the Lord.
22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hear his voice, and set a king over them. Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Go each one to your city.”
1 There was a man of Benjamin, a mighty man, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphia, the son of a Benjamite.
2 And he had a son named Saul, young and handsome. Among the children of Israel there was no one more beautiful than him; From shoulders up he towered over anyone in the town.
3 And the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost; So Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you now, and get up and go look for the donkeys.”
4 And he passed over mount Ephraim, and from there to the land of Salisha, and they did not find them. Then they passed through the land of Saalim, and neither. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, and did not find them.
5 When they came to the land of Zuf, Saul said to his servant whom he had with him, Come, let us return; because perhaps my father, abandoning his concern for the donkeys, will be distressed for us.
6 He answered him, Behold, now there is in this city a man of God, who is a distinguished man; everything he says comes to pass without fail. So let’s go there; perhaps he will give us some clue about the object for which we set out on our path.
7 Saul said to his servant, Let us go now; but what shall we take to the man? Because the bread in our bags has run out, and we have nothing to offer to the man of God. What we have?
8 Then the servant answered Saul again, saying, Behold, there is in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver; This I will give to the man of God, that he may declare our way to us.
9 (Formerly in Israel, anyone who went to inquire of God said thus: Come, and let us go to the seer; for whoever is called a prophet today was then called a seer.)
10 Then Saul said to his servant, You speak well; Let’s go. And they went to the city where the man of God was.
11 And when they were going up the hill of the city, they found maidens going out to draw water, to whom they said, Is the seer in this place?
12 They answered them and said, Yes; behold it there before you; Hurry, then, because today he has come to the city because the people have a sacrifice today in the high place.
13 When you enter the city, you will find him immediately before he goes up to the high place to eat; for the people will not eat until he has arrived, because he is the one who blesses the sacrifice; After this the guests eat. Go up therefore now, for now you will find him.
14 So they went up to the city; And when they were in the midst of it, behold, Samuel came toward them to go up to the high place.
15 And one day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed in the ear of Samuel, saying:
16Tomorrow at this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, whom you will anoint prince over my people Israel, and he will save my people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon my people, because their cry has reached me.
17 And when Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said to him, Behold, this is the man of whom I told you; He this one will govern my people.
18 So Saul approached Samuel in the middle of the gate, and he said to him, Please show me where the seer’s house is.
19 And Samuel answered Saul, saying, I am the seer; He goes up before me to the high place, and eats with me today, and in the morning I will send you away, and will reveal to you all that is in your heart.
20 And take care of the donkeys that were lost to you three days ago, because they have been found. But to whom is all that is desirable in Israel, but to you and to all your father’s house?
21 Saul answered and said, Am I not the son of Benjamin, of the least of the tribes of Israel? And my family, is it not the smallest of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then have you told me such a thing?
22 Then Samuel took Saul and his servant, brought them into the room, and placed them at the head of the guests, who were about thirty men.
23 And Samuel said to the cook, Bring here the portion that I gave you, which I told you to keep aside.
24 Then the cook lifted up a shoulder, with what was on it, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said: Behold what he reserved; set it before you and eat, because it was reserved for you for this occasion, when I said: I have invited the people. And Saul ate that day with Samuel.
25 And when they had come down from the high place to the city, he spoke with Saul on the roof.
26 The next day they got up early; And as day broke, Samuel called to Saul, who was on the roof, and said, Arise, that I may send you away. Then Saul got up, and both he and Samuel went out.
27 And they went down to the edge of the city, and Samuel said to Saul, Tell the servant to come forward (and the servant came forward), but wait a little while so that I may declare the word of God to you.
1 Then Samuel took a vial of oil, poured it on his head, and kissed him, and said to him, Has not the jehovah anointed you prince over his people Israel?
2 Today, after you have left me, you will find two men at Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin in Selsa, who will say to you, The donkeys you went looking for have been found; Your father has ceased to worry about the donkeys, and he is grieving for you, saying, What shall I do about my son?
3 And as soon as you go further from there and come to the oak of Tabor, three men who are going up to God at Bethel will meet you, one carrying three goats, another three cakes of bread, and the third a pot of came;
4 who, after they have greeted you, will give you two loaves, which you will take from their hand.
5 After this you will come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is; and when you enter there into the city you will find a company of prophets coming down from the high place, and before them psaltery, tambourine, flute and harp, and they prophesying.
6 Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you with power, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be changed into another man.
7 And when these signs have happened to you, do whatever comes to your hand, for God is with you.
8 Then you will go down before me to Gilgal; then I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings. Wait seven days until I come to you and teach you what you should do.
9 Then it came to pass, as he turned his back from Samuel, that God changed his heart; and all these signs took place on that day.
10 And when they came there to the hill, behold, the company of the prophets came to meet him; and the Spirit of God came upon him with power, and he prophesied among them.
11 And it came to pass, when all who knew him before saw that he prophesied with the prophets, that the people said one to another, What has become of the son of Kish? Saul also among the prophets?
12 And one of them answered and said, And who is their father? For this reason it became a proverb: Is Saul also among the prophets?
13 And he ceased to prophesy, and came to the high place.
14 An uncle of Saul said to him and to his servant, Where did you go? And he answered: To look for the donkeys; and when we saw that they did not appear, we went to Samuel.
15 Saul’s uncle said, Please tell me what Samuel told you.
16 And Saul answered his uncle: He expressly declared to us that the donkeys had been found. But of the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel had spoken to him, he revealed nothing to him.
17Then Samuel summoned the people before the Lord in Mizpah,
18 and said to the children of Israel, Thus says the Lord God of Israel: I brought Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all the kingdoms that afflicted you.
19 But you have this day rejected your God, who preserves you from all your afflictions and troubles, and have said, No, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your thousands.
20 And Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken.
21 And he brought in the tribe of Benjamin by their families, and the family of Matri was taken; and from it Saul the son of Kish was taken. And they searched for him, but he was not found.
22 So they asked Jehovah again if the man had not yet come there. And the LORD answered, Behold, he is hidden among the baggage.
23 Then they ran and brought him from there; and placed in the middle of the people, from the shoulders up he was taller than all the people.
24 And Samuel said to all the people, Have you seen him whom the Lord has chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? Then the people cried out with joy, saying: Long live the king!
25 Samuel then recited to the people the laws of the kingdom, and wrote them in a book, which he kept before the Lord.
26 And Samuel sent all the people, each one to his house. Saul also went to his house in Gibeah, and the men of war whose hearts God had touched went with him.
27 But some wicked men said, How can this man save us? And they thought little of him, and brought him no present; but he hid it.
1 Then Nahas the Ammonite went up and camped against Jabesh Gilead. And all the people of Jabez said to Nahas, Make an alliance with us, and we will serve you.
2 And Nahas the Ammonite answered them, On this condition I will make a covenant with you, that I put out the right eye of every one of you, and put this reproach on all Israel.
3 Then the elders of Jabez said to him, Give us seven days, that we may send messengers throughout all the territory of Israel; and if there is no one to defend us, we will come out to you.
4 When Saul’s messengers came to Gibeah, they spoke these words in the ears of the people; and all the people lifted up their voices and wept.
5 And behold, Saul came from the field, following the oxen; And Saul said, “What is the matter with the people that they cry?” And they told him the words of the men of Jabez.
6 When Saul heard these words, the Spirit of God came upon him with power; and he was greatly enraged.
7 And taking a pair of oxen, he cut them into pieces and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by messengers, saying, This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not go out after Saul and after Samuel. And the fear of the Lord fell upon the people, and they went out as one man.
8 And he numbered them in Bezek; And the children of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
9 And they answered the messengers who had come: Thus shall you say to those of Jabesh Gilead: Tomorrow when the sun is warm, you will be delivered. And the messengers came and announced it to those of Jabez, who were glad.
10 And those of Jabez said to the enemies, Tomorrow we will go out to you, so that you may do to us whatever seems good to you.
11 It came to pass on the next day that Saul arranged the people in three companies, and they went into the midst of the camp at the morning watch, and smote the Ammonites until the day was warm; and those who remained were scattered, so that not two of them were left together.
12 The people then said to Samuel, Who are those who said, Shall Saul reign over us? Give us those men, and we will kill them.
13 And Saul said, No one will die today, because today the Lord has given salvation to Israel.
14 But Samuel said to the people, Come, let us go to Gilgal, that we may renew the kingdom there.
15 And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they installed Saul as king before the LORD in Gilgal. And they sacrificed peace offerings there before the Lord, and Saul and all the Israelites rejoiced there.
1 Samuel said to all Israel, Behold, I have heard your voice in all that you have said to me, and I have made you king.
2 Now therefore, behold, your king goes before you. I am already old and full of gray hair; but my children are with you, and I have walked before you from my youth until this day.
3 Here I am; Testify against me before Jehovah and before his anointed, if I have taken anyone’s ox, if I have taken anyone’s donkey, if I have slandered anyone, if I have wronged anyone, or if I have taken a bribe from anyone to blind my eyes. eyes with him; and I will restore it to you.
4 Then they said, You have never slandered us or wronged us, nor have you taken anything from the hand of any man.
5 And he said to them, The Lord is a witness against you, and his anointed is also a witness this day, that you have found nothing in my hand. And they answered: That’s right.
6 Then Samuel said to the people, The Lord who appointed Moses and Aaron, and brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt, is a witness.
7 Now therefore wait, and I will contend with you before the LORD concerning all the works of salvation which the LORD has done for you and for your fathers.
8 When Jacob had entered Egypt, and your fathers cried to the Lord, the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this place.
9 And they forgot the Lord their God, and he sold them into the hand of Sisera, chief of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, who made war against them.
10 And they cried unto the LORD, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served the Baalim and Ashtaroth; Deliver us now therefore from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.
11 Then the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you from the hand of your enemies round about, and you lived in safety.
12 And when you saw that Nahas king of the children of Ammon was coming against you, you said to me, No, but a king must reign over us; since Jehovah your God was your king.
13 Now, therefore, behold the king whom you have chosen, whom you have asked for; You see that the Lord has set a king over you.
14 If you fear the Lord and serve him, and listen to his voice, and do not rebel against the word of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you serve the Lord your God, you will do well.
15 But if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, and if you rebel against the words of the Lord, the hand of the Lord will be against you as he was against your fathers.
16 Wait even now, and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes.
17 Is it not now the wheat harvest? I will cry to the Lord, and he will give thunder and rain, so that you may know and see how great your wickedness is, which you have done in the sight of the Lord, asking for a king for yourselves.
18 And Samuel cried to the LORD, and the LORD gave thunder and rain on that day; and all the people feared Jehovah and Samuel greatly.
19 Then all the people said to Samuel, Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die; because to all our sins we have added this evil of asking for a king for ourselves.
20 And Samuel said to the people, Fear not; you have done all this evil; But with all this do not turn away from following Jehovah, but serve him with all your heart.
21 Do not turn away after vanities that do not profit or deliver, for they are vanities.
22 For the Lord will not forsake his people because of his great name; because Jehovah wanted to make you his people.
23 Therefore, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right path.
24 Only fear the Lord and truly serve him with all your heart, for consider how great things he has done for you.
25 But if you continue to do evil, you and your king will perish.
1 Saul had reigned one year; and when he had reigned over Israel two years,
2 then he chose three thousand men of Israel, of whom two thousand were with Saul in Michmash and in Mount Bethel, and one thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin; and he sent the rest of the people, each one to his tents.
3 And Jonathan attacked the garrison of the Philistines that was on the hill, and the Philistines heard it. And Saul made the trumpet sound throughout the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear.
4 And all Israel heard that it was said, Saul has attacked the garrison of the Philistines; and also that Israel had become abominable to the Philistines. And the people gathered after Saul at Gilgal.
5 Then the Philistines gathered together to fight against Israel, thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and a people as numerous as the sand on the seashore; and they went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.
6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (because the people were in trouble), they hid in caves, in ditches, in rocks, in rocks, and in cisterns.
7 And some of the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead; But Saul still remained in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
8 And he waited seven days, according to the period that Samuel had spoken; But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people deserted him.
9 Then Saul said, Bring me a burnt offering and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering.
10 And when he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul came out to meet him, to greet him.
11 Then Samuel said, What have you done? And Saul answered: Because I saw that the people deserted me, and that you did not come within the appointed time, and that the Philistines were gathered at Michmash,
12 I said to myself, Now the Philistines will come down against me to Gilgal, and I have not implored the favor of Jehovah. So I made an effort and offered a burnt offering.
13 Then Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly; you did not keep the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you; for now Jehovah would have confirmed your kingdom over Israel forever.
14 But now your kingdom will not last. The LORD has sought for himself a man after his own heart, whom the LORD has appointed to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.
15 And Samuel arose, and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul counted the people that were with him, about six hundred men.
16 So Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people who were with them, stayed in Gibeah of Benjamin; but the Philistines had camped at Michmash.
17 And marauders went out from the camp of the Philistines in three companies; A squadron marched along the road of Ophra towards the land of Sual,
18 Another squadron was marching toward Beth-horon, and the third squadron was marching toward the region overlooking the Valley of Zeboim, toward the wilderness.
19 And in all the land of Israel there was no blacksmith to be found; for the Philistines had said, Lest the Hebrews make sword or spear.
20 Therefore all of Israel had to go down to the Philistines to sharpen each one’s plowshare, his hoe, his ax or his sickle.
21 And the price was one pim for the plowshares and for the hoes, and the third part of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for mending the goads.
22 So it came to pass on the day of the battle that neither sword nor spear was found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan, except Saul and Jonathan his son, who had them.
23 And the garrison of the Philistines advanced to the pass of Michmas.
1 It came to pass one day, that Jonathan son of Saul said to his servant who brought him his weapons, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of the Philistines, which is on that side. And he didn’t let his father know.
2 And Saul was at the end of Gibeah, under a pomegranate tree that is in Migron, and the people that were with him were about six hundred men.
3 And Ahijah the son of Ahitob, the brother of Ichabod, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, priest of the Lord in Shiloh, wore the ephod; and the people did not know that Jonathan was gone.
4 And between the defiles through which Jonathan sought to pass to the garrison of the Philistines, there was a sharp rock on one side, and another on the other side; one was called Boses, and the other Sene.
5 One of the rocks was located to the north, towards Michmash, and the other was located to the south, towards Gibeah.
6 So Jonathan said to his officer in arms, Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; Perhaps Jehovah will do something for us, since it is not difficult for Jehovah to save with many or with few.
7 And his page-at-arms answered him, Do all that is in your heart; Go, for here I am with you at your will.
8 Then Jonathan said, Let us go over to those men, and show ourselves to them.
9 If they say to us like this: Wait until we come to you, then we will stay in our place and will not go up to them.
10 But if they say thus to us, Come up to us, then we will go up, because the LORD has delivered them into our hand; and this will be a sign to us.
11 So they both showed themselves to the Philistine garrison, and the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews are coming out of the caves where they had hidden themselves.
12 And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his officer-in-arms, and said, Come up to us, and we will tell you something. Then Jonathan said to his servant, Come up after me, for the LORD has delivered them into the hand of Israel.
13 And Jonathan went up, climbing with his hands and his feet, and his armour-bearer followed him; and those who fell before Jonathan, his armour-bearer who went after him, killed them.
14 And this was the first massacre that Jonathan and his military officer made, about twenty men, in the space of a half acre of land.
15 And there was panic in the camp and in the field, and among all the people of the garrison; and those who had gone to wander, they too were terrified, and the earth shook; So there was great consternation.
16 And Saul’s watchmen saw from Gibeah of Benjamin how the multitude was troubled, and went to and fro, and was broken up.
17Then Saul said to the people who were with him: Review now, and see who is gone of our people. They reviewed, and behold, Jonathan and his page-at-arms were missing.
18 And Saul said to Ahijah, Bring the ark of God. For the ark of God was then with the children of Israel.
19 But it came to pass, while Saul was still speaking with the priest, that the commotion in the camp of the Philistines increased and increased greatly. Then Saul said to the priest, Stay your hand.
20 And Saul gathered all the people who were with him, and they came to the place of battle; and behold, each man’s sword was turned against his companion, and there was great confusion.
21 And the Hebrews who had been with the Philistines long ago, and had come with them from the surrounding areas to the camp, also sided with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.
22 Likewise all the Israelites who had hidden themselves in Mount Ephraim, hearing that the Philistines were fleeing, they also pursued them in that battle.
23 Thus Jehovah saved Israel that day. And the battle came to Beth-aven.
24 But the men of Israel were put in trouble that day; for Saul had sworn to the people, saying: Whoever eats bread before night falls, before I have taken revenge on my enemies, let him be cursed. And all the people had not tasted bread.
25 And all the people came to a forest, where there was honey on the surface of the field.
26 So the people entered the forest, and behold, honey was flowing; but there was no one who put his hand to his mouth, because the people feared the oath.
27 But Jonathan had not heard when his father had sworn the people, and he stretched out the end of a staff that he had in his hand, and dipped it in a honeycomb, and brought his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were cleared.
28 Then one of the people spoke, saying, Your father has made the people swear a solemn oath, saying, Cursed be the man who eats food today. And the people fainted.
29 Jonathan answered, My father has troubled the land. See now how my eyes have been cleared, for having tasted a little of this honey.
30 How much more if the people had eaten freely today of the plunder taken from their enemies? Wouldn’t greater havoc have been wreaked among the Philistines now?
31 And that day they smote the Philistines from Michmas to Aijalon; but the people were very tired.
32 And the people rushed upon the plunder, and took sheep and oxen and calves, and slaughtered them on the ground; and the people ate them with blood.
33 And they told Saul, saying, The people sin against the Lord, eating the flesh with the blood. And he said, You have transgressed; Now roll me a big stone here.
34 Saul also said, Scatter among the people, and tell them to bring me each one of his cows, and each one of his sheep, and slaughter them here, and eat; and do not sin against the Lord by eating the flesh with the blood. And he brought all the people, each by his own hand, to his cow that night, and they slaughtered it there.
35 And Saul built an altar to the Lord; This altar was the first that Jehovah built.
36 And Saul said, Let us go down by night against the Philistines, and we will plunder them until the morning, and we will not leave any of them. And they said: Do what seems good to you. Then the priest said: Let us draw near to God here.
37 And Saul inquired of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the hand of Israel? But Jehovah did not answer him that day.
38 Then Saul said, Come hither, all the leaders of the people, and know and see what this sin has consisted of today;
39 For as the Lord lives, who saves Israel, even if it were in Jonathan my son, he would surely die. And there was none in all the people who answered him.
40 Then he said to all Israel: You will be on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side. And the people said to Saul, Do what seems good to you.
41 Then Saul said to the LORD God of Israel, “It gives perfect luck.” And the lot fell on Jonathan and Saul, and the people went free.
42 And Saul said, Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And the lot fell on Jonathan.
43 Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what you have done. And Jonathan declared it to him and said: Indeed I tasted a little honey with the end of the rod that I had in my hand; and must I die?
44 And Saul answered, God do so to me, and more also, that you will surely die, Jonathan.
45 Then the people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who has wrought this great salvation in Israel? It won’t be like that. As Jehovah lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, since he has acted with God today. Thus the people saved Jonathan from dying.
46 And Saul stopped following the Philistines; and the Philistines went to his place.
47After he had taken possession of the kingdom of Israel, Saul made war against all his enemies around him: against Moab, against the children of Ammon, against Edom, against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines; and wherever he turned, he was victorious.
48 And he gathered an army and defeated Amalek, and delivered Israel from the hand of those who plundered it.
49 And the sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishui, and Malchishua. And the names of his two daughters were, the elder, Merab, and the younger, Michal.
50 And the name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam, daughter of Ahimaaz. And the name of the general of his army was Abner, the son of Ner, Saul’s uncle.
51 For Kish the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner, were sons of Abiel.
52 And there was bitter war against the Philistines all the time of Saul; And everyone that Saul saw was a strong man and capable of fighting, he gathered with him.
1 Then Samuel said to Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; Now therefore he is attentive to the words of Jehovah.
2 Thus says the LORD of hosts: I will punish what Amalek did to Israel by opposing him on the way when he was coming up from Egypt.
3 Go therefore and strike Amalek, and destroy all that he has, and have no mercy on him; He kills men, women, children, and even infants, cows, sheep, camels and donkeys.
4 So Saul called the people together and reviewed them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men from Judah.
5 And when Saul came to the city of Amalek, he laid an ambush in the valley.
6 And Saul said to the Kenites, Go, separate yourselves, and come out from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you together with them; for you showed mercy to all the children of Israel when they came up from Egypt. And the Kenites separated themselves from among the children of Amalek.
7 And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah until they came to Shur, which is east of Egypt.
8 And he took Agag king of Amalek alive, but he slew all the people with the edge of the sword.
9 And Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep and the cattle, and the fat animals, and the rams, and all that was good, and they did not want to destroy it; but everything that was vile and despicable they destroyed.
10 And the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,
11 I am sorry that I have made Saul king, because he has turned back from me, and he has not fulfilled my words. And Samuel was grieved, and cried unto the Lord all that night.
12 Then Samuel got up early to go meet Saul in the morning; and it was told to Samuel, saying, Saul is come to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument, and he turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal.
13 So Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed be you of the Lord; I have fulfilled the word of the Lord.
14 Samuel then said, What bleating of sheep and roaring of cows is this that I hear with my ears?
15 And Saul answered, They have brought them from Amalek; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the herds, to sacrifice them to Jehovah your God, but the rest We destroyed.
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, Let me declare to you what the Lord has told me tonight. And he answered him: Say.
17 And Samuel said, Although you were small in your own eyes, have you not been made leader of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord has anointed you king over Israel?
18 And the LORD sent you on a mission and said, Go, destroy the sinners of Amalek, and make war on them until you destroy them.
19Why then have you not listened to the voice of the Lord, but have returned to the spoils and done evil in the sight of the Lord?
20 And Saul said to Samuel, But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and went on the mission which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag king of Amalek, and have destroyed the Amalekites.
21 But the people took of the plunder sheep and oxen, the firstfruits of the accursed, to offer sacrifices to the LORD your God in Gilgal.
22 And Samuel said, Does the LORD take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices, and in obeying the words of the LORD? Surely to obey is better than sacrifices, and to heed than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and self-will is like idols and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned; for I have broken the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and consented to their voice. So forgive my sin now,
25 and return with me to worship the Lord.
26 And Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.
27 And Samuel turned to go, and he caught hold of the corner of his cloak, and it tore.
28 Then Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.
29 Furthermore, he who is the Glory of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man to repent.
30 And he said, I have sinned; But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me to worship the Lord your God.
31 And Samuel returned after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
32 Then Samuel said, Bring me Agag king of Amalek. And Agag came to him joyfully. And Agag said: Surely the bitterness of death is past.
33 And Samuel said, As your sword made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women. Then Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
34 Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.
35 And Samuel never saw Saul afterwards in all his life; and Samuel wept for Saul; and Jehovah repented that he had made Saul king over Israel.
1 The LORD said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and come, I will send you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have provided myself with his sons as a king.
2 And Samuel said, How shall I go? If Saul knew, he would kill me. The LORD answered, Take with you a heifer from the herd, and say, I have come to offer sacrifice to the LORD.
3 And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will teach you what you must do; and you will anoint me whomever I tell you.
4 So Samuel did as the Lord told him; And as soon as he came to Bethlehem, the elders of the city came out to meet him with fear, and said, Is your coming peaceful?
5 He answered, Yes, I come to offer sacrifice to the Lord; Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And sanctifying Jesse and his sons, he called them to sacrifice.
6 And it came to pass, when they came, that he saw Eliab, and said, Verily before the Lord is his anointed one.
7 And the LORD said to Samuel, Look not at his appearance, nor at the height of his stature, for I reject him; because Jehovah does not see what man sees; For a man looks at what is before his eyes, but the Lord looks at the heart.
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and brought him before Samuel, who said, The Lord has not chosen this one either.
9 Then he brought Jesse to Shammah. And he said, Neither has the LORD chosen this one.
10 And Jesse brought seven of his sons to pass before Samuel; But Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen these.
11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, Are these all your sons? And he said, There remains the youngest, who feeds the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send for him, for we will not sit at table until he comes here.
12 So he sent for him and brought him in; and he was blond, beautiful in eyes, and of good appearance. Then the LORD said, Arise and anoint him, for this is it.
13 And Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and from that day forward the Spirit of the Lord came upon David. Then Samuel arose and returned to Ramah.
14 The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.
15 And Saul’s servants said to him, Behold, now an evil spirit from God is tormenting you.
16 Therefore, let our lord tell your servants who are before you to look for someone who knows how to play the harp, so that when the evil spirit from God is upon you, he may play with his hand, and you may be relieved.
17 And Saul said to his servants, Find me now someone who plays well, and bring me to him.
18 Then one of the servants answered and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem, who knows how to play, and is brave and mighty and a man of war, prudent in his words, and handsome, and the Lord is with him.
19 And Saul sent messengers to Jesse, saying, Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.
20 And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a jar of wine, and a goat, and sent them to Saul by David his son.
21 And when David came to Saul, he stood before him; and he loved him very much, and made him his page-in-arms.
22 And Saul sent to Jesse and said, I pray you, let David be with me, for he has found favor in my eyes.
23 And when the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, David took the harp and played with his hand; and Saul was relieved and was better, and the evil spirit departed from him.
1 The Philistines gathered their armies for war, and assembled at Soco, which is in Judah, and camped between Soco and Azekah, at Epheshdamim.
2 Saul also and the men of Israel gathered together, and camped in the Valley of Elah, and arrayed themselves in battle against the Philistines.
3 And the Philistines were on one mountain on one side, and Israel was on another mountain on the other side, and the valley between them.
4 Then a champion came out of the camp of the Philistines, whose name was Goliath of Gath, and his height was six cubits and a span.
5 And he had a bronze helmet on his head, and he wore a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze.
6 On his legs were bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.
7 The shaft of his spear was like a loom’s roller, and the iron of his spear had six hundred shekels of iron; and his armor bearer went before him.
8 And he stood and called to the armies of Israel, saying to them, Why have you arrayed yourselves in battle array? Am I not the Philistine, and you are the servants of Saul? Choose from among you a man who will come against me.
9 If he can fight with me, and he overcomes me, we will be your servants; and if I am stronger than him, and overcome him, you will be our servants and serve us.
10 And the Philistine added: Today I have challenged the camp of Israel; Give me a man to fight with me.
11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were troubled and were greatly afraid.
12 And David was the son of that Ephrathite man of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse, who had eight sons; and in the time of Saul this man was old and of great age among men.
13 And the three eldest sons of Jesse had gone to follow Saul into the war. And the names of his three sons who had gone to war were: Eliab the firstborn, Abinadab the second, and Shammah the third;
14 and David was the youngest. So the three eldest followed Saul.
15 But David had gone and returned, leaving Saul, to feed his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
16 So the Philistine came in the morning and in the evening, and he did so for forty days.
17 And Jesse his son said to David, Take now for your brothers an ephah of this toasted grain, and these ten loaves, and bring them quickly to the camp to your brothers.
18 And you will take these ten cheeses of milk to the leader of the thousand; and he sees if your brothers are good, and he takes pledges from them.
19 And Saul and they and all Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.
20 So David got up early in the morning, and leaving the sheep in the care of a keeper, he went with his load as Jesse had commanded him; And he arrived at the camp when the army was marching out in battle array, and he gave the battle cry.
21 And Israel and the Philistines arrayed themselves in battle array, army against army.
22 Then David left his burden in the hand of the baggage keeper, and ran to the army; and when he arrived, he asked about his brothers, if they were well.
23 While he was speaking with them, behold, that champion who stood between the two camps, whose name was Goliath, the Philistine of Gath, came out from among the ranks of the Philistines and spoke the same words, and David heard them. .
24 And all the men of Israel who saw the man fled from his presence, and were greatly afraid.
25 And each of Israel said, Have you not seen the man who has come out? He comes forward to provoke Israel. To the one who conquers him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and will exempt his father’s house in Israel from taxes.
26 Then David spoke to those standing by him, saying, “What will you do to the man who conquers this Philistine and takes away the reproach of Israel?” For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should provoke the armies of the living God?
27 And the people answered him the same words, saying, Thus shall it be done to the man that overcometh him.
28 And when Eliab, his elder brother, heard him speaking with those men, his anger burned against David, and he said, Why have you come down here? And who have you left those few sheep in the desert? I know your pride and the malice of your heart, that you have come to see the battle.
29 David answered, What have I done now? Is this not mere talk?
30 And turning away from him to others, he asked in like manner; and the people gave him the same answer as before.
31 The words that David had spoken were heard, and they were spoken before Saul; and he made him come.
32 And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart faint because of him; Your servant will go and fight against this Philistine.
33 Saul said to David, You cannot go against that Philistine to fight with him; because you are a boy, and he is a man of war from his youth.
34 David said to Saul, “Your servant was a shepherd of his father’s sheep; and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the herd,
35 I went out after it, and struck it, and delivered it out of its mouth; and if he rose up against me, I would take hold of his jaw, and I would strike him and kill him.
36 Whether he was a lion or a bear, your servant killed him; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has provoked the army of the living God.
37 David added: The Lord, who has delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will also deliver me from the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and the Lord be with you.
38 And Saul dressed David in his clothes, and put a bronze helmet on his head, and gave him a breastplate.
39 And David girded his sword upon his garment, and tried to walk, because he had never tried it. And David said to Saul: I cannot walk with this, because I never practiced it. And David cast those things away.
40 And he took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag, in the bag that he had, and took his sling in his hand, and went towards the Philistine.
41 And the Philistine came walking and approaching David, and he shielded him before him.
42 And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him; because he was young, and blond, and handsome in appearance.
43 And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that you come at me with clubs? And he cursed David by his gods.
44 Then the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.
45 Then David said to the Philistine, You come to me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have provoked.
46 Today the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will defeat you, and I will cut off your head, and I will give today the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth; and all the earth will know that there is God in Israel.
47 And all this congregation will know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will deliver you into our hands.
48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose and set out to meet David, that David made haste and ran to the line of battle against the Philistine.
49 And David put his hand into the bag, and took a stone from there, and slung it with the sling, and struck the Philistine on the forehead; and the stone remained stuck in his forehead, and fell on his face to the ground.
fifty Thus David defeated the Philistine with sling and stone; and he smote the Philistine and killed him, David having no sword in his hand.
51 Then David ran and stood against the Philistine; and taking his sword and pulling it out of its sheath, he finished killing him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw their champion dead, they fled.
52 Then the people of Israel and Judah rose up and shouted and followed the Philistines until they came to the valley and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell on the road from Saaraim to Gath and Ekron.
53 And the children of Israel returned from pursuing the Philistines, and plundered their camp.
54 And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.
55 And when Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, general of the army, Abner, whose son is that young man? And Abner answered:
56 As your soul lives, O king, I do not know. And the king said: Ask whose son that young man is.
57 And when David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, David having the head of the Philistine in his hand.
58 And Saul said to him, Boy, whose son are you? And David answered, I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.
1 It came to pass, when he had finished speaking with Saul, that Jonathan’s soul was bound to David’s, and Jonathan loved him as himself.
2 And Saul took him that day, and would not let him return to his father’s house.
3 And Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as himself.
4 And Jonathan took off the cloak that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and other of his clothes, even his sword, his bow, and his sash.
5 And David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he behaved prudently. And Saul set him over men of war, and he was acceptable in the eyes of all the people, and in the eyes of Saul’s servants.
6 It happened that when they were returning, when David returned from killing the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with timbrels, with songs of joy and with musical instruments.
7 And the women who danced sang, and said, Saul smote his thousands, and David his ten thousands.
8 And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him, and he said, To David they gave ten thousands, and to me thousands; He only needs the kingdom.
9 And from that day Saul did not look kindly on David.
10 It happened the next day that an evil spirit from God took hold of Saul, and he was raving in the middle of the house. David played with his hand like the other days; and Saul had the spear in his hand.
11 And Saul threw down the spear, saying, I will nail David to the wall. But David evaded him twice.
12 But Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, and had departed from Saul;
13 Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him leader of a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.
14 And David conducted himself prudently in all his affairs, and the Lord was with him.
15 And when Saul saw that he behaved so wisely, he was afraid of him.
16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.
17 Then Saul said to David, Behold, I will give you Merab my eldest daughter to wife, provided you be a mighty man for me, and fight the battles of the Lord. But Saul said, My hand will not be against him, but the hand of the Philistines will be against him.
18 But David said to Saul, Who am I, or what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be the king’s son-in-law?
19 And when the time came when Merab daughter of Saul was to be given to David, she was given as a wife to Adriel the Meholathite.
20 But Michal, Saul’s other daughter, loved David; and it was told to Saul, and it seemed good to him in her sight.
21 And Saul said, I will give it to him, that it may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. So Saul said to David the second time: You will be my son-in-law today.
22 And Saul commanded his servants, Speak secretly to David, saying, Behold, the king loves you, and all his servants love you well; Be, therefore, the king’s son-in-law.
23 Saul’s servants spoke these words in David’s ears. And David said: Do you think it is a small thing to be the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man and of no esteem?
24 And Saul’s servants answered him, saying, These are the words David spoke.
25 And Saul said, Say thus to David: The king does not desire his dowry, but rather a hundred Philistine foreskins, that vengeance may be taken on the king’s enemies. But Saul planned to make David fall into the hands of the Philistines.
26 When his servants told David these words, it seemed good in David’s eyes that he should be the king’s son-in-law. And before the time was up,
27 David arose and went with his people, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines; And David brought their foreskins and gave them all to the king, so that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal to wife.
28 But Saul, seeing and considering that the Lord was with David, and that his daughter Michal loved him,
29 was more afraid of David; and Saul was David’s enemy every day.
30 And the princes of the Philistines went out to campaign; and each time they went out, David was more successful than all of Saul’s servants, for which reason his name became highly esteemed.
1 Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants to kill David; But Jonathan son of Saul loved David greatly,
2 and he told David, saying, Saul my father seeks to kill you; Therefore take care until morning, and be in a hidden place and hide yourself.
3 And I will go out and be with my father in the field where you are; and I will tell my father about you, and I will let you know what there is.
4 And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant David, because he has committed nothing against you, and because his works have been very good toward you;
5 for he took his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the LORD gave great salvation to all Israel. You saw it, and were glad; Why then will you sin against innocent blood, killing David without cause?
6 And Saul heard the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, As the Lord liveth, he shall not die.
7 And Jonathan called David, and declared all these words to him; and he himself brought David to Saul, and stood before him as before.
8 Afterwards there was war again; And David went out and fought against the Philistines, and smote them with great destruction, and they fled before him.
9 And the evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul; And as he sat in his house he had a spear at hand, while David was playing.
10 And Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he turned away from Saul, and he struck the wall with the spear; and David fled, and escaped that night.
11 Saul then sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But Michal his wife warned David, saying, If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.
12 And Michal let David down through a window; and he went and fled, and escaped.
13 Then Michal took a statue and placed it on the bed, and placed a pillow of goat’s hair at its head and covered it with clothing.
14 And when Saul sent messengers to arrest David, she answered: He is sick.
15 Saul again sent messengers to see David, saying, Bring him to my bed so that I may kill him.
16 And when the messengers came in, behold, the statue was on the bed, and a pillow of goat’s hair at its head.
17 Then Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me thus, and let my enemy escape? And Michal said to Saul, Because he said to me, Let me go; If not, I will kill you.
18 So David fled and escaped, and came to Samuel in Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived in Naioth.
19 And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.
20 Then Saul sent messengers to bring David, who saw a company of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing there and presiding over them. And the Spirit of God came upon Saul’s messengers, and they also prophesied.
21 When Saul heard about it, he sent other messengers, who also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again a third time, and they also prophesied.
22 Then he himself went to Ramah; And coming to the great well that is in Secu, he asked, saying, Where are Samuel and David? And one answered, Behold, they are in Naioth in Ramah.
23 And he went to Naioth in Ramah; And the Spirit of God also came upon him, and he continued walking and prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah.
24 And he also took off his clothes, and prophesied likewise before Samuel, and was naked all that day and all that night. Hence it was said: Is Saul also among the prophets?
1 Then David fled from Naioth to Ramah, and came before Jonathan, and said, What have I done? What is my iniquity, or what is my sin against your father, that I seek my life?
2 He said to him: By no means; you will not die. Behold, my father will do nothing, great or small, that he will not reveal to me; Why then should my father hide this matter from me? It won’t be like that.
3 And David swore again, saying, Your father clearly knows that I have found favor in your sight, and he will say, Let Jonathan not know this, lest he be grieved; And certainly, as Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, there is barely a step between me and death.
4 And Jonathan said to David, Whatever your soul desires, I will do for you.
5 And David said to Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow will be a new moon, and I am accustomed to sit with the king to eat; but you will let me hide in the field until the evening of the third day.
6 If your father mentions me, you will say: He begged me very much to let him run to Bethlehem, his city, because all of his family celebrate the annual sacrifice there.
7 If he says, It is well, then your servant will have peace; but if he becomes angry, he knows that evil is determined on his part.
8 Therefore you will show mercy to your servant, since you have made your servant enter into the covenant of the Lord with you; and if there is evil in me, kill me, because there is no need to take me to your father.
9 And Jonathan said to him, Let no such thing happen to you; But if I knew that my father had determined evil against you, would I not let you know?
10 Then David said to Jonathan, Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?
11 And Jonathan said to David, Come, let us go out into the field. And they went out into the field.
12 Then Jonathan said to David, “Jehovah, the God of Israel, be a witness!” When I have asked my father about this time tomorrow, or on the third day, if it will work out well for David, then I will send to you to let you know.
13 But if my father intends to harm you, the Lord will do so to Jonathan, and even more so, if he does not let you know and send you so that you may depart in peace. And the Lord be with you, as he was with my father.
14 And if I live, you will show me mercy from the Lord, so that he does not die,
15 and you will not depart your mercy from my house forever. When the Lord has cut off David’s enemies from the land one by one, do not let the name of Jonathan be taken from the house of David.
16 Thus Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the LORD take him from the hand of David’s enemies.
17 And Jonathan made David swear again, because he loved him, for he loved him as himself.
18Then Jonathan said to him: Tomorrow is a new moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.
19 So you will stay three days, and then you will go down and come to the place where you were hiding on the day this same thing happened, and you will wait by the stone of Ezel. .
20 And I will shoot three arrows towards that side, as if practicing at the target.
21 Then I will send the servant, saying, Go, look for the arrows. And if he says to the servant: Here are the arrows closest to you, take them; You will come, because you have peace, and there is nothing evil, as the Lord lives.
22 But if I say to the boy thus: Behold the arrows beyond you; Go, for the Lord has sent you.
23 As for the matter of which you and I have spoken, may the Lord be between us both forever.
24 So David hid himself in the field, and when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat bread.
25 And the king sat in his chair, as he used to, on the seat by the wall, and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat down by Saul, and David’s place was left empty.
26 But that day Saul said nothing, because he said to himself, Something must have happened to him, and he is not clean; surely he is not purified.
27 On the next day, the second day of the new moon, it also happened that David’s seat was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why has Jesse’s son not come to eat today or yesterday?
28 And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked me to let him go to Bethlehem,
29 saying, Please let me go, because our family celebrates sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me; Therefore, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me go now to visit my brothers. For this reason, then, he has not come to the king’s table.
30 Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, “Son of the perverse and rebellious, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your confusion, and to the shame of your mother’s shame?”
31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will stand. So send now and bring him to me, for he must die.
32 And Jonathan answered Saul’s father and said unto him, Why shall he die? What has he done?
33 Then Saul threw a spear at him to strike him; from which Jonathan understood that his father was determined to kill David.
34 And Jonathan arose from the table in exalted anger, and ate no bread on the second day of the new moon; because he was in pain because of David, because his father had insulted him.
35 The next day, early in the morning, Jonathan went out into the field at the appointed time with David, and a little boy with him.
36 And he said to the boy, Run and look for the arrows that I will shoot. And when the boy was running, he would shoot the arrow so that it would pass past him.
37 And when the boy came to where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the boy, saying, Is not the arrow beyond thee?
38 And Jonathan shouted again after the boy: Run, hurry, do not stop. And Jonathan’s boy picked up the arrows, and came to his master.
39 But the boy understood nothing; Only Jonathan and David understood what it was about.
40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his girl, and said to her, Go and take them to the city.
41 And when the boy was gone, David stood up on the south side, and bowed down three times to the ground; and kissing each other, they wept with each other; and David cried more.
42 And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, for we have both sworn by the name of the LORD, saying, The LORD be between you and me, between your descendants and my descendants, forever. And he arose and went away; and Jonathan entered the city
1 David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest; And Ahimelech was surprised at his sight, and said to him, “How come you alone, and no one with you?”
2 And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king entrusted me with a matter, and he said to me, Let no one know anything about the matter to which I am sending you, and what I have entrusted to you; and I pointed out to the servants a certain place.
3 Now then, what do you have at hand? Give me five pieces of bread, or whatever you have.
4 The priest answered David and said, I have no common bread at hand, I only have holy bread; but I will give it if the servants have kept at least women.
5 And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Truly the women have been far from us yesterday and the day before yesterday; When I left, the vessels of the young people were already holy, although the journey is profane; How much more will their vessels be holy today?
6 So the priest gave him the sacred bread, because there was no other bread there except the shewbread, which had been taken away from the presence of the Lord, to put in hot loaves on the day when those were taken away.
7 And there was one of Saul’s servants that day detained before the Lord, whose name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.
8 And David said to Ahimelech, Have you no spear or sword here at hand? For I did not take my sword or my weapons in my hand, because the king’s order was urgent.
9 And the priest answered, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you defeated in the Valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a veil behind the ephod; If you want to take it, take it; because here there is no other but that one. And David said, None like her; give it to me
10 And David arose that day, and fled from the presence of Saul, and went to Achish king of Gath.
11 And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David, the king of the land? Is this not he of whom they sang in the dances, saying, Saul smote thousands of his, and David smote ten thousand of his?
12 And David put these words in his heart, and he was greatly afraid of Achish king of Gath.
13 And he changed his manner before them, and feigned madness among them, and wrote on the door-posts, and let saliva run down his beard.
14 And Achish said to his servants, Behold, you see that this man is mad; why have you brought him to me?
15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act as a madman before me? Was this one supposed to enter my house?
1 Then David left and fled to the cave of Adullam; And when his brothers and all his father’s house heard about it, they came to him there.
2 And all the afflicted were gathered to him, and all who were in debt, and all who were in bitterness of spirit, and he was made their leader; and he had with him about four hundred men.
3 And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, I pray you, let my father and my mother be with you, until I know what God will do to me.
4 So he brought them to the presence of the king of Moab, and they lived with him all the time that David was in the strong place.
5 But the prophet Gad said to David, Do not stay in this strong place; Go and go to the land of Judah. And David departed, and came to the forest of Hareth.
6 Saul heard that it was known about David and those who were with him. And Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under a tamarisk tree on a high place; and he had his spear in his hand, and all his servants were around him.
7 And Saul said to his servants who were standing around him, Hear now, you children of Benjamin: Will the son of Jesse also give you all lands and vineyards, and make you all leaders of thousands and leaders of hundreds,
8 so that all of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who reveals to me how my son has made an alliance with the son of Jesse, nor any of you who grieves for me and reveals to me how my son has raised up my servant against me. me to stalk me, just like he does today?
9 Then Doeg the Edomite, who was the chief of Saul’s servants, answered and said, I saw the son of Jesse come to Nob, Ahimelech the son of Ahitob,
10 who inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions, and He also gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.
11 And the king sent for Ahimelech the son of Ahitob the priest, and for all the house of his father, the priests who were in Nob; and they all came to the king.
12 And Saul said to him, Hear now, son of Ahitob. And he said: Here I am, my lord.
13 And Saul said to him, Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, when you gave him bread and a sword, and consulted God for him, so that he would rise up against me and lie in wait for me, as he does today? ?
14 Then Ahimelech answered the king and said, And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, also the king’s son-in-law, who serves under you and is illustrious in your house?
15 Have I begun to inquire of God about him from today? Far be it from me; Let the king not blame his servant or all my father’s house for anything; because your servant knows nothing about this matter, big or small.
16 And the king said, You will surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house.
17 Then the king said to the people of his guard that were around him, Go back and kill the priests of the Lord; because their hand is also with David, because they knew that he was fleeing, and they did not reveal it to me. But the king’s servants would not stretch out their hands to kill the priests of Jehovah.
18 Then the king said to Doeg, Go back and attack the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests, and on that day he killed eighty-five men who were wearing linen ephods.
19 And Nob, the city of the priests, he smote with the edge of the sword; He smote both men and women, even infants, oxen, donkeys and sheep with the edge of the sword.
20 But one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitob, whose name was Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.
21 And Abiathar told David how Saul had killed the priests of the Lord.
22 And David said to Abiathar, I knew that when Doeg the Edomite was there that day, he would tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the people of your father’s house.
23 Stay with me, do not be afraid; Whoever seeks my life will also seek yours; Well with me you will be safe.
1 They told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and steal the threshing floors.
2 And David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go and attack these Philistines? And the LORD said to David, Go, attack the Philistines, and deliver Keilah.
3 But those who were with David said to him, Behold, we here in Judah are afraid; How much more if we went to Keilah against the army of the Philistines?
4 Then David inquired of Jehovah again. And the LORD answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.
5 So David went with his men to Keilah, and fought against the Philistines, carried off their cattle, and caused them a great defeat; and David delivered those of Keilah.
6 And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled after David to Keilah, that he came down with the ephod in his hand.
7 And it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. Then Saul said, God has given him into my hand, for he has shut himself up by entering the city with doors and locks.
8 And Saul summoned all the people to battle to go down to Keilah, and lay siege to David and his men.
9 But David, knowing that Saul was plotting evil against him, said to Abiathar the priest, Bring the ephod.
10 And David said, Lord God of Israel, your servant understands that Saul intends to come against Keilah to destroy the city for my sake.
11 Will the residents of Keilah deliver me into their hands? Will Saul go down, as your servant has heard? Jehovah God of Israel, please declare this to your servant. And the LORD said, Yes, he will come down.
12 Then David said, Will the people of Keilah hand me and my men over to Saul? And the LORD answered, They will hand you over.
13 Then David arose with his men, who were about six hundred, and left Keilah, and walked from place to place. And the news came to Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, and he desisted from going out.
14 And David abode in the wilderness in strong places, and dwelt on a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph; And Saul looked for him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hands.
15 So when David saw that Saul had gone out to seek his life, he stayed at Horesh in the wilderness of Ziph.
16 Then Jonathan son of Saul arose and came to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.
17 And he said to him, Do not be afraid, for the hand of Saul my father will not find you, and you will reign over Israel, and I will be second after you; and even Saul my father knows this.
18 And they both made a covenant before the Lord; and David remained in Horesh, and Jonathan returned to his house.
19Then the men of Ziph went up to say to Saul in Gibeah: Is not David hidden in our land in the rocks of Horesh, on the hill of Hakilah, which is in the south of the desert?
20 Therefore, king, come down quickly now, according to your wish, and we will deliver him into the king’s hand.
21 And Saul said, Blessed are you of the Lord, who have had compassion on me.
22 Go therefore now, be more sure, know and see the place of his hiding place, and whoever has seen him there; for I have been told that he is very cunning.
23 Observe therefore and find out all the hiding places where it is hidden, and return to me with certain information, and I will go with you; and if he be in the land, I will search for him among all the thousands of Judah.
24 And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul. But David and his people were in the desert of Maon, in the Arabah south of the desert.
25 And Saul went with his people to look for him; But he was told David, and he went down to the rock, and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard this, he followed David into the wilderness of Maon.
26 And Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain, and David made haste to escape from Saul; but Saul and his men had locked up David and his people to capture them.
27 Then a messenger came to Saul, saying, Come quickly, for the Philistines have broken into the land.
28 Therefore Saul returned from pursuing David, and set out against the Philistines. For this reason they called that place Sela-hama-lecot.
29 Then David went up from there and lived in the strong places of En-gedi.
1 When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, they told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.
2 And Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and he went in search of David and his men along the tops of the rocks of the mountain goats.
3 And when he came to a sheepfold in the way, where there was a cave, Saul went into it to cover his feet; and David and his men were sitting in the corners of the cave.
4 Then David’s men said to him, Behold, the day that the Lord said to you, Behold, I give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do with him as you please. And David arose, and quietly cut the hem of Saul’s cloak.
5 After this David’s heart was troubled, because he had cut off the hem of Saul’s cloak.
6 And he said to his men, The Lord keep me from doing such a thing against my lord, the Lord’s anointed, that I should stretch out my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.
7 So David restrained his men with words, and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul, leaving the cave, continued on his way.
8 David also arose afterwards, and came out of the cave and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king! And when Saul looked back, David bowed his face to the ground and bowed.
9 And David said to Saul, Why do you hear the words of those who say, Behold, David seeks your evil?
10 Behold, your eyes have seen today how the Lord has given you into my hands today in the cave; and they told me to kill you, but I forgave you, because I said, I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord’s anointed.
11 And look, my father, look at the hem of your cloak in my hand; for I cut off the hem of your cloak, and did not kill you. He therefore knows and sees that there is no evil or treachery in my hand, nor have I sinned against you; However, you are hunting for my life to take it from me.
12 Let the Lord judge between you and me, and let the Lord avenge me on you; but my hand will not be against you.
13 As the proverb of the ancients says: From the wicked shall come wickedness; so my hand will not be against you.
14 After whom has the king of Israel come out? Who are you chasing? A dead dog? To a flea?
15 Therefore the Lord will be judge, and he will judge between you and me. May he see and support my cause, and may he defend me from your hand.
16 And it came to pass, when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, Is not this your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept,
17 And he said to David, You are more righteous than I, for you have repaid me with good, while I have repaid you with evil.
18 You have shown today that you have done good to me; for you have not killed me, since the Lord has given me into your hand.
19 For who will find his enemy and let him go safely? Jehovah repay you well for what you have done to me this day.
20 And now, as I understand that you will reign, and that the kingdom of Israel will be firm and stable in your hand,
21 therefore swear to me now by the Lord that you will not destroy my descendants after me, nor blot out my name of my father’s house.
22 Then David swore to Saul. And Saul went to his house, and David and his men went up to the strong place.
1 Samuel died, and all Israel gathered together, and mourned for him, and buried him in his house in Ramah. And David arose and went into the wilderness of Paran.
2 And in Maon there was a man who had his property in Carmel, who was very rich, and had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And it came to pass that he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
3 And that man’s name was Nabal, and his wife was Abigail. She was that woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance, but the man was hard and of bad deeds; and he was of the lineage of Caleb.
4 And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
5 Then David sent ten young men and said to them, Go up to Carmel and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name,
6 and say to him: Peace be to you, and peace to your family, and peace to all that you have.
7 I have heard that you have shearers. Now your shepherds have been with us; We did not treat them badly, nor did they lack anything in all the time they have been in Carmel.
8 Ask your servants, and they will tell you. Let these young people, therefore, find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a good day; I beseech you, give whatever you have on hand to your servants, and to your son David.
9 When the young men sent by David arrived, they told Nabal all these words in David’s name, and they were silent.
10 And Nabal answered the young men sent by David, and said, Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who flee from their masters.
11 Shall I now take my bread, my water, and the meat that I have prepared for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin I do not know?
12 And the young men whom David had sent turned on their way, and came and told David all these words.
13 Then David said to his men, Let every man put on his sword. And each one put on his sword, and David also put on his sword; And about four hundred men went up after David, and left two hundred with the baggage.
14 But one of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, and he has smitten them.
15 And those men have been very good to us, and they never treated us badly, nor did we lack anything all the time we walked with them, when we were in the field.
16 They were a wall to us day and night, all the days that we were with them feeding the sheep.
17 Now therefore, consider and see what you will do, because evil is already resolved against our master and against all his household; Well, he is such a perverse man that there is no one who can talk to him.
18Then Abigail immediately took two hundred loaves, two hides of wine, five stewed sheep, five measures of toasted grain, one hundred bunches of raisins, and two hundred loaves of dried figs, and loaded them all on donkeys.
19 And she said to her servants, Go before me, and I will follow you immediately; and she declared nothing to her husband Nabal.
20 And riding on a donkey, she went down into a secret part of the mountain; and behold, David and her men came before her, and she met them.
21 And David had said: Surely I have kept in vain all that this man has in the desert, and he has not lacked anything of all that is his; and he has turned me evil for good.
22 May God do so to David’s enemies, and furthermore, from now until tomorrow, of all that is his, I will not leave a single male alive.
23 And when Abigail saw David, she quickly got down from the donkey, and falling on her face before David, she bowed down to the ground;
24 And she fell at her feet, and said, My Lord, sin be upon me; but I pray you, let your servant speak in your ears, and listen to the words of your servant.
25 Do not pay attention now, my lord, to that wicked man, Nabal; for according to his name, so it is. His name is Nabal, and foolishness is with him; but I, your servant, did not see the young men whom you sent.
26 Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, for the LORD has prevented you from coming to shed blood and take revenge by your own hand. Let your enemies therefore be like Nabal, and all those who seek evil against my lord.
27 And now this present that your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the men who follow my lord.
28 And I beg you to forgive your servant this offense; For the Lord will surely make a stable house for my lord, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord, and no evil has been found in you in your days.
29 Although someone has risen to persecute you and threaten your life, yet the life of my lord will be bound in the bundle of those who live before the Lord your God, and he will cast out the life of your enemies as from the midst of the palm of a slingshot.
30 And it will come to pass, when the LORD will do to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken of you, and will establish you prince over Israel,
31 then, my lord, you will have no cause for sorrow or remorse for having shed blood without cause, or for having avenged yourself. Beware, therefore, my lord, and when the Lord does good to my lord, remember your servant.
32 And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you to find me today.
33 And blessed be your reasoning, and blessed are you, who have prevented me today from going to shed blood, and to take revenge by my own hand.
34 For as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has defended me from doing you harm, if you had not hastened to come to meet me, between now and tomorrow there would not have been a single male alive for Nabal.
35 And David received from his hand what he had brought him, and said to him, Go up in peace to your house, and see that I have heard your voice, and have respected you.
36 And Abigail returned to Nabal, and behold, he had a banquet in his house like a king’s banquet; and Nabal’s heart was glad, and he was completely drunk, so she did not tell him anything until the next day.
37 But in the morning, when the effects of the wine had worn off from Nabal, his wife told him these things; and her heart fainted in him, and he became like a stone.
38 And ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be the Lord, who has judged the cause of my disgrace at the hand of Nabal, and has preserved his servant from evil; and the Lord has turned the iniquity of Nabal on his own head. Then he sent David to speak to Abigail, to take her for his wife.
40 And David’s servants came to Abigail in Carmel, and spoke with her, saying, David has sent us to you, to take you for her wife.
41 And she arose and bowed her face to the ground, saying, Behold, your servant, who shall be a servant to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.
42And Abigail immediately rose up with five maidens who were serving her, and mounted a donkey and followed David’s messengers, and became his wife.
43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both became his wives.
44 For Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was from Galim.
1 The Ziphites came to Saul in Gibeah, saying, Is not David hidden in the hill of Hachilah, on the east side of the desert?
2 Saul then arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, taking with him three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph.
3 And Saul camped on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the east side of the wilderness, by the road. And David was in the desert, and he understood that Saul was following him in the desert.
4 David therefore sent spies, and knew for certain that Saul had come.
5 And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had camped; And David looked at the place where Saul and Abner the son of Ner, general of his army, were sleeping. And Saul was sleeping in the camp, and the people were camped around him.
6 Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, Who will go down with me to Saul into the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with you.
7 So David and Abishai went to the army by night; And behold, Saul was lying sleeping in the camp, and his spear was stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and his army were lying around him.
8 Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand; Now, therefore, let me strike him with the spear, and I will stick him in the ground with one blow, and I will not give him a second blow.
9 And David said to Abishai, Do not kill him; for who will stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be innocent?
10 David further said, As the LORD lives, unless the LORD smites him, or his day comes for him to die, or if he goes down in battle he perishes,
11 may the LORD keep me from stretching out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. But he now takes the spear that is at his head, and the jar of water, and let us go.
12 So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul’s bedside, and they departed; and there was no one who saw, or understood, or watched, because everyone was asleep; for a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them.
13 Then David crossed over to the opposite side, and stood on the top of the mountain in the distance, with a great distance between them.
14 And David cried out to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Do you not answer, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who art thou that cryeth unto the king?
15 And David said to Abner, Art thou not a man? and who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept your lord the king? Because one of the people has come to kill your lord the king.
16What you have done is not right. As the Lord lives, you are worthy of death, because you have not kept your lord, the Lord’s anointed. Look now, then, where is the king’s spear, and the vessel of water that was at his head.
17 And when Saul knew the voice of David, he said, Is not this your voice, my son David? And David answered, My voice is, my lord king.
18 And he said, Why does my lord persecute his servant like this? What have I done? What evil is in my hand?
19 I pray therefore that my lord the king may now hear the words of his servant. If the Lord incites you against me, let him accept the offering; But if they be sons of men, cursed are they in the presence of the Lord, because they have driven me out this day from having no share in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go and serve other gods.
20 Therefore let not my blood fall now on the ground before the Lord, for the king of Israel has gone out to search for a flea, just as one pursues a partridge on the mountains.
21 Then Saul said, I have sinned; Return, my son David, I will do you no more harm, because my life has been counted precious today in your eyes. Behold, I have done foolishly, and greatly erred.
22 And David answered and said, Behold the king’s spear; Let one of the servants come here and take it.
23 And Jehovah render to each his righteousness and his loyalty; For the Lord had delivered you into my hand today, but I did not want to stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed.
24 And behold, as your life has been esteemed precious this day in my eyes, so let my life be in the sight of the Lord, and free me from all affliction.
25 And Saul said to David, Blessed are you, my son David; You will undoubtedly undertake great things, and you will prevail. Then David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.
1 Then David said in his heart, At last I will one day be killed by the hand of Saul; Nothing, therefore, will be better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines, so that Saul does not worry about me, and does not go looking for me anymore throughout the territory of Israel; and so I will escape from his hand.
2 So David arose, and with the six hundred men that he had with him, he went over to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
3 And David dwelt with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each one with his family; David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail who was the wife of Nabal of Carmel.
4 And the news came to Saul that David had fled to Gath, and she sought him no more.
5 And David said to Achish, If I have found favor in your sight, let me be given a place in one of the villages to live there; for why should your servant dwell with you in the royal city?
6 And Achish gave that day to Ziklag, so Ziklag became one of the kings of Judah to this day.
7 The number of days that David lived in the land of the Philistines was one year and four months.
8 And David went up with his men, and they raided against the Geshurites, the Gezrites, and the Amalekites; for these had long inhabited the land, from as one goes to Shur to the land of Egypt.
9 And David devastated the country, and left neither man nor woman alive; and he took the sheep, the cows, the donkeys, the camels and the clothes, and he returned to Achish.
10 And Achish said, Where have you wandered today? And David said: In the Negev of Judah, and the Negev of Jerameel, or in the Negev of the Kenites.
11 David left neither man nor woman alive to come to Gath; saying, Lest they give notice of us and say, This is what David did. And this was his custom all the time that he dwelt in the land of the Philistines.
12 And Achish believed David, and said, He has made himself abominable to the people of Israel, and he will always be my servant.
1 It came to pass in those days that the Philistines gathered their forces to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David: Understand that you must go out with me on the campaign, you and your men.
2 And David said to Achish, Very well, you will know what your servant will do. And Achish said to David, Therefore I will make you keeper of my person as long as I live.
3 Samuel had already died, and all Israel had mourned him, and they had buried him in Ramah, his city. And Saul had driven out the enchanters and soothsayers from the land.
4 So the Philistines gathered together, and came and camped at Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel, and they camped at Gilboa.
5 And when Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart was greatly troubled.
6 And Saul inquired of the Lord; but the LORD did not answer him by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.
7 Then Saul said to her servants, Find me a woman who has a spirit of divination, so that I may go to her and ask through her. And his servants answered him, Behold, there is a woman in Endor who has a spirit of divination.
8 And Saul disguised himself, and put on other garments, and went with two men, and they came to that woman by night; and he said, I pray thee, divine for me by the spirit of divination, and bring up to me whomever I tell thee.
9 And the woman said to him, Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the evocators and the diviners from the land. Why then do you put a stumbling block in my life, to cause me to die?
10 Then Saul swore to him by the Lord, saying, As the Lord lives, no harm will come to you because of this.
11 The woman then said, “Whom shall I bring to you?” And he said, Bring me to Samuel.
12 And when the woman saw Samuel, he cried out with a loud voice, and the woman spoke to Saul, saying,
13 Why have you deceived me? Well you are Saul. And the king said to him: Do not be afraid. What have you seen? And the woman said to Saul, I have seen gods rising from the earth.
14 He said to him: What is its form? And she answered, An old man comes, covered with a cloak. Saul then understood that it was Samuel, and lowering his face to the ground, he made great obeisance.
15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you troubled me by bringing me here? And Saul answered, I am very distressed, for the Philistines fight against me, and God has departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by prophets nor by dreams; This is why I have called you, so that you can tell me what I have to do.
16 Then Samuel said, “And why do you ask me, since the Lord has turned away from you and is your enemy?”
17 The Lord has done to you as he said he did through me; for the LORD has taken the kingdom out of your hand, and has given it to your companion, David.
18 Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD, nor fulfill the fierceness of his anger against Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this to you today.
19 And the LORD will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your children will be with me; and the LORD will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.
20 Then Saul fell to the ground how great he was, and he was greatly afraid because of the words of Samuel; and he was without strength, because all that day and that night he had not eaten bread.
21 Then the woman came to Saul, and seeing him greatly troubled, she said to him, Behold, your servant has obeyed your voice, and I have risked my life, and I have heard the words that you have spoken to me.
22 I pray you, then, that you also hear the voice of your handmaid; I will put a morsel of bread before you for you to eat, so that you may gain strength and continue on your way.
23 And he refused, saying, I will not eat. But his servants and the woman persisted with him, and he obeyed them. So he got up from the ground and sat on a bed.
24 And she that woman had in her house a fattened calf, which she immediately killed; and he took flour and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread from it.
25 And she brought him before Saul and his servants; And after they had eaten, they got up and left that night.
1 The Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, and Israel camped at the spring in Jezreel.
2 And when the princes of the Philistines were reviewing their companies of hundreds and thousands of men, David and his men went in the rear with Achish.
3 And the princes of the Philistines said, What are these Hebrews doing here? And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me for days and years, and I have not found fault with him from the day he came over to me until this day? ?
4 Then the princes of the Philistines were angry with him, and said to him, Send this man away, that he may return to the place which you appointed him, and not come with us into the battle, lest in the battle he may become an enemy to us. ; because with what thing would he better return to the grace of his lord than with the heads of these men?
5 Is not this David, of whom they sang in the dances, saying, Saul smote his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
6 And Achish called David and said to him, As the LORD lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming into the camp with me seemed good to me, and I have found nothing evil in you since the day you came to me until today; but in the eyes of princes you are not pleasing.
7 So return and go in peace, so as not to displease the princes of the Philistines.
8 And David said to Achish, What have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I was with you until today, that I should not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?
9 And Achish answered David and said, I know that you are good in my sight, like an angel of God; But the princes of the Philistines have said to me: Do not come with us to battle.
10 Therefore get up early in the morning, you and your master’s servants who have come with you; and rising at dawn, march.
11 And David arose early in the morning, he and his men, to go and return to the land of the Philistines; and the Philistines went to Jezreel.
1 When David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had invaded the Negev and Ziklag, and had devastated Ziklag and set it on fire.
2 And they had taken the women captive and all who were there, from the least to the greatest; But they had not killed anyone, except they had taken them as they continued on their way.
3 So David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned, and his wives and his sons and daughters had been taken captive.
4 Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they no longer had the strength to weep.
5 David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail who was the wife of Nabal of Carmel, were also captives.
6 And David was very distressed, because the people were talking about stoning him, for all the people were in bitterness of soul, each one for his sons and his daughters; but David was strengthened in the Lord his God.
7 And David said to Abiathar the son of Ahimelech the priest, Please bring the ephod to me. And Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
8 And David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue these marauders? Will I be able to reach them? And he said to him, Follow them, for you will surely overtake them, and you will surely free the captives.
9 So David set out, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where some stayed.
10 And David went forward with four hundred men; because two hundred remained behind, who, tired, could not cross the torrent of Besor.
11 And they found an Egyptian man in the field, whom they brought to David, and they gave him bread, and he ate, and they gave him water to drink.
12 They also gave him a piece of dried fig dough and two bunches of raisins. And as soon as he ate, his spirit returned to him; because he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights.
13 And David said to him, Whose are you, and where are you from? And the young Egyptian answered: I am the servant of an Amalekite, and my master left me three days ago today, because I was sick;
14 So we raided the part of the Negev that belongs to the Cherethites, and to Judah, and to the Negev of Caleb; and we set fire to Ziklag.
15 And David said to him, Will you take me to that troop? And he said: Swear to me by God that you will not kill me, nor hand me over to my master, and I will take you to those people.
16 So he took him; And behold, they were scattered over all that land, eating and drinking and celebrating, because of all the great booty that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
17And David struck them from that morning until the evening of the next day; and not one escaped from them, but four hundred young men who mounted the camels and fled.
18 And David delivered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David also delivered his two wives.
19 And they did not lack anything, small or large, both sons and daughters, theft, and all the things that had been taken from them; David recovered everything.
20 David also took all the sheep and the cattle; and bringing it all before them, they said, This is David’s spoil.
21 And David came to the two hundred men who were tired and could not follow David, whom they had left at the brook Besor; and they went out to meet David and the people who were with him. And when David came to the people, he greeted them with peace.
22 Then all the wicked and wicked among those who had gone with David answered and said, Because they did not go with us, we will not give them of the spoil that we have taken, but to each man his wife and his children; Let them take them and leave.
23 And David said, Do not do this, my brethren, of what the LORD has given us, who has preserved us, and has delivered into our hand the marauders who came against us.
24 And who will listen to you in this case? For according to the portion of him who goes down to battle, so must be the portion of him who remains with the baggage; They will get an equal share.
25 From that day forward this was a law and ordinance in Israel, until this day.
26 And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, his friends, saying, Here is a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.
27 He sent it to those who were in Bethel, in Ramoth in the Negev, in Jatir,
28 in Aroer, in Siphmoth, in Estemoa,
29 in Racal, in the cities of Jerameel, in the cities of the Kenite,
30 in Hormah, in Korasan, in Atach,
31 in Hebron, and in all the places where David had been with his men.
1 So the Philistines fought against Israel, and the Israelites fled before the Philistines, and fell dead on Mount Gilboa.
2 And the Philistines followed Saul and his sons, and killed Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul’s sons.
3 And the battle against Saul raged, and the archers overtook him, and he was greatly afraid of them.
4 Then Saul said to his armor bearer, Draw out your sword, and pierce me with it, lest these uncircumcised men come and pierce me, and mock me. But his armor bearer did not want to, because he was greatly afraid. Then Saul took his own sword and fell on it.
5 And when his armor bearer saw Saul dead, he also fell upon his sword, and died with him.
6 So Saul died on that day, along with his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men.
7 And those of Israel who were from the other side of the valley, and from the other side of the Jordan, seeing that Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons had been killed, left the cities and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them.
8 It came to pass the next day, when the Philistines came to plunder the dead, they found Saul and his three sons lying on Mount Gilboa.
9 And they cut off his head, and stripped him of his weapons; And they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to bring the good news to the temple of their idols and to the people.
10 And they put their weapons in the temple of Ashtaroth, and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan.
11 But when the people of Jabesh Gilead heard what the Philistines did to Saul,
12 All the mighty men arose, and walked all that night, and removed the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan; And when they came to Jabez, they burned them there.
13 And taking his bones, they buried them under a tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
