1 Samuel, 25 thru 31
25 Samuel died, and all Israel came together to mourn for him, and he
was buried in his house in Ramah. Afterwards David went down to the
wilderness of Paran.
There was a man at Carmel in Maon, who had great influence and owned
three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his flocks
in Carmel. His name was Nabal and his wife's name was Abigail; she was a
beautiful and intelligent woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was surly
and mean. David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his
flocks, and sent ten of his men, saying to them, 'Go up to Carmel, find
Nabal and give him my greetings. You are to say, "All good wishes for the
year ahead! Prosperity to yourself, your household, and all that is yours!
I hear that you are shearing. Your shepherds have been with us lately and
we did not molest them; nothing of theirs was missing all the time they
were in Carmel. Ask your own people and they will tell you. Receive my
men kindly, for this is an auspicious day with us, and give what you can to
David your son and your servant." ' David's servants came and delivered
this message to Nabal in David's name. When they passed, Nabal answered,
'Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? In these days every slave who
breaks away from his master sets himself up as a chief. Am I to take my
food and my wine and meat I have provided for my shearers and give
it to men who come from I know not where?' David's men turned and
made their way back to him and told him all this. He said to his men,
'Buckle your swords, all of you.' So they buckled on their swords and
followed David, four hundred of them, while two hundred stayed behind
with the baggage.
One of the young men said to Abigail, Nabal's wife, 'David sent mes-
sengers from the wilderness to ask our master politely for a present, and
he flew out at them. The men h ave been very good to us and have not
molested us, nor did we miss anything all the time we were going about
with them in the open country. They were as good as a wall around us, night
and day, while we were minding the flocks. Think carefully what you had
better do, for it is certain ruin for our master and his whole family; he is
such a good-for-nothing that it is no good talking to him.' So Abigail
hastily collected two hundred loaves and two skins of wine, five sheep
ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, a hundred bunches of
raisins, and two hundred cakes of dried figs, and loaded them on asses, but
told her husband nothing about it. Then she said to her servants, 'Go on
ahead, I will follow you.' As she made her way on her ass, hidden by the
hill, there were David and his men coming down towards her, and she met
them. David had said, 'It was a waste of time to protect your fellow's prop-
erty in the wilderness so well that nothing of his was missing. He has
repaid me evil for good.' David swore a great oath: 'God do the same to
me and more if I leave him a single mother's son alive by morning!'
When Abigail saw David she dismounted in haste and prostrated herself
before him, bowing low to the ground at his feet, and said, 'Let me take
the blame, my lord, but allow me, your humble servant, to speak out and
let my lord give me a hearing. How can you take any notice of this good-
for-nothing? He is just what his name Nabal means: "Churl" is his name,
and churlish his behaviour. I did not myself, sir, see the men you sent.
And now, sir, the Lord has restrained you from bloodshed and from giving
vent to your anger. As the Lord lives, your life upon it, your enemies and
all who want to see you ruined will be like Nabal. Here is the present which
I, your humble servant, have brought; give it to the young men under
your command. Forgive me, my lord, if I am presuming; for the Lord
will establish your family for ever, because you have fought his wars. No
calamity shall overtake you as long as you live. If any man sets out to pursue
you and take your life, the Lord your God will wrap your life up and put
it with his own treasure, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away like
stones from a sling. When the Lord has made good all his promises to you,
and has made you ruler of Israel, there will be no reason why you should
stumble or your courage falter because you have shed innocent blood or
given way to your anger. Then when the Lord makes all you do prosper,
you will remember me, your servant.' David said to Abigail, 'Blessed is
the Lord the God of Israel who has sent you today to meet me. A blessing
on your good sense, a blessing on you because you have saved me today
from the guilt of bloodshed and from giving way to my anger. For I swear
by the life of the Lord the God of Israel who has kept me from doing you
wrong: if you had not come at once to meet me, not a man of Nabal's
household, not a single mother's son, would have been left alive by morn-
ing.' The David took from her what she had brought him and said, 'Go
home in peace, I have listened to you and I grant your request.'
On her return she found Nabal holding a banquet in his house, a banquet
fit for a king. He grew merry and became very drunk, so drunk that his wife
said nothing to him, trivial or serious, till daybreak. In the morning, when
the wine had worn off, she told him everything, and he had a seizure and
lay there like a stone. Ten days later the Lord struck him again and he
died. When David heard that Nabal was dead he said, 'Blessed be the Lord,
who has himself punished Nabal for his insult, and has kept me his servant
from doing wrong. The Lord made Nabal's wrongdoing recoil on his
own head.' David then sent to make proposals that Abigail should become
his wife. And his servants came to Abigail at Carmel and said to her, 'David
has sent us to fetch you to be his wife.' She rose and prostrated herself with
her face to the ground, and said, 'I am his slave to command, I would wash
the feet of my lord's servants.' So Abigail made her preparations with all
speed and, with her five maids in attendance, accompanied by David's
messengers, rode away on an ass; and she became David's wife. David had
also married Abinoam of Jezreel; both these women became his wives.
Saul meanwhile had given his daughter Michal, David's wife, to Palti son
of Laish from Gallim.
26 The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah to report that David was in
hiding on the hill of Hachilah overlooking Jeshimon. Saul went down at
once to the wilderness of Ziph, taking with him three thousand picked
men to search for David there. He encamped beside the road on the hill
of Hachilah overlooking Jeshimon, while David was still in the wilderness.
As soon as David knew that Saul had come to the wilderness in pursuit of
him, he sent out scouts and found that Saul had reached such and such a
place. Without delay, he went to the place where Saul had pitched his
camp and observed where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander-in-
chief, were lying. Saul lay within the lines with his troops encamped in a
circle round him. David turned to Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son
of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, and said, 'Who will venture with me into the
camp, to go to Saul?' Abishai answered, 'I will.' David and Abishai
entered the camp at night and found Saul lying asleep within the lines with
his spear thrust into the ground by his head. Abner and the army were
lying all round him. Abishai said to David, 'God has put your enemy into
your power today; let me strike him and pin him to the ground with one
thrust of the spear; I shall not have to strike twice.' David said to him, 'Do
him no harm; who has ever lifted a finger against the Lord's anointed and
gone unpunished? As the Lord lives,' went on David, 'the Lord will
strike him down; either his time will come and he will die, or he will go
down to battle and meet his end. God forbid that I should lift a finger
against the Lord's anointed! But now let us take the spear which is by his
head, and the water-jar, and go.' So David took the spear and the water-
jar from beside Saul's head and they went. The whole camp was asleep;
no one saw him, no one knew anything, no one even woke up. A heavy
sleep sent by the Lord had fallen on them.
Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on the top of a hill
a long way off; there was n o little distance between them. David shouted
across to the army and hailed Abner, 'Answer me, Abner!' He answered,
'Who are you to shout to the king?' David said to Abner, 'Do you call
yourself a man? Is there anyone like you in Israel? Why, then, did you not
keep watch over your lord the king, when someone came to harm your lord
the king? This was not well done. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, all
of you, because you have not kept watch over your master the Lord's
anointed. Look! Where are the king's spear and water-jar that were by
his head?'
Saul recognized David's voice and said, 'Is that you, David my son?'
'Yes, sir, it is', said David. 'Why must your majesty pursue me? What have
I done? What mischief am I plotting? Listen, my lord, to what I have to
say. If it is the Lord who has set you against me, may an offering be
acceptable to him; but if it is men, a curse on them in the Lord;'s name; for
they have ousted me today from my share of the Lord's inheritance and
have banished me to serve other gods! Do not let my blood be shed on
foreign soil, far from the presence of the Lord, just because the king of
Israel came out to look for a flea, as one might hunt a partridge over the
hills.' Saul answered, 'I have done wrong; come back, David my son. You
have held my life precious this day, and I will never harm you again. I have
been a fool, I have been sadly in the wrong.' David answered, 'Here is the
king's spear; let one of your men come across and fetch it. The Lord who
rewards uprightness and loyalty will reward the man into whose power he
puts you today, when I refused to lift a finger against the Lord's anointed.
As I held your life precious today, so may the Lord hold mine precious and
deliver me from every distress.' Then Saul said to David, 'A blessing is on
you, David my son. You will do great things and be victorious.' So David
went on his way and Saul returned home.
27 David thought, 'One of these days I shall be killed by Saul. The best
thing for me to do will be to escape into Philistine territory; then Saul will
lose all further hope of finding me anywhere in Israel, search as he may, and
I shall escape his clutches.' So David and his six hundred men crossed the
frontier forthwith to Achish son of Maoch king of Gath. David settled in
Gath with Achish, 'If I stand well in your opinion, grant me a place in the
royal city with your majesty?' Achish granted him Ziklag on that day:
that its why Ziklag still belongs to the kings of Judah.
David spent a year and four months in Philistine country. He and his
men would sally out and raid the Geshurites, the Gizrites, and the Amalek-
ites, for it was they who inhabited the country from Telaim all the way
to Shur and Egypt. When David raided the country he left no one alive,
man or woman; he took flocks and herds, asses and camels, and clothes too,
and then came back to Achish. When Achish asked, 'Where was your
raid today?', David would answer, 'The Negeb of Judah" or 'The Negeb
of the Jerahmeelites' or The Negeb of the Kenites'. Neither man nor
woman did David bring back alive to Gath, for fear that they should
denounce him and his men for what they had done. This was his practice
as long as he remained with the Philistines. Achish trusted David, thinking
that he had won such a bad name among his own people the Israelites that
he would remain his subject all his life.
28 In those days the Philistines mustered their army for an attack
on Israel. Achish said to David, 'You know that you and your men
must take the field with me.' David answered Achish, 'Good, you will
learn what your servant can do.' And Achish said to David, 'I will make
you my bodyguard for life.'
By this time Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and
buried him in Ramah, his own city; and Saul had banished from the land
all who trafficked in ghosts and spirits. The Philistines mustered and
encamped at Shunem, and Saul gathered all the Israelites and encamped
on Gilboa; and when Saul saw the Philistine force, fear struck him to the
heart. He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him, whether
by dreams or by Urim or by prophets. So he said to his servants, 'Find me a
woman who has a familiar spirit, and I will go and inquire through her.'
His servants told him that there was such a woman at En-dor. Saul put on
different clothes and went in disguise with two of his men. He came to the
woman by night and said, 'Tell me my fortunes by consulting the dead,
and call up the man I name to you.' But the woman answered, 'Surely you
know what Saul has done, how he has made away with all those who call up
ghosts and spirits; why do you press me to do what will lead to my death?'
Saul swore an oath: 'As the Lord lives, no harm shall come to you for
this.' The woman asked whom she should call up, and Saul answered,
'Samuel.' When the woman saw Samuel appear, she shrieked and said to
Saul, 'Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!' The king said to her,
'Do not be afraid. What do you see?' The woman answered, 'I see a ghostly
form coming up from the earth.' 'What is it like?' he asked; she answered,
'Like an old man coming up, wrapped in a cloak.' Then Saul knew it was
Samuel, and he bowed low with his face to the ground, and prostrated
himself. Samuel said to Saul, 'Why have you disturbed me and brought
me up?' Saul answered, 'I am in great trouble; the Philistines are pressing
me and God has turned away; he no longer answers me through prophets
or through dreams, and I have summoned you to tell me what I should do.'
Samuel said, 'Why do you ask me, now that the Lord has turned from you
and become your adversary? He has done what he foretold through me.
He has torn the kingdom from your hand and given it to another man, to
David. You have not obeyed the Lord, or executed the judgement of his
fury against the Amalekites; that is why he has done this to you today.
For the same reason the Lord will let your people Israel fall into the hands
of the Philistines and, what is more, tomorrow you and your sons shall be
with me. Yes, indeed, the Lord will give the Israelite army into the hands
of the Philistines.' Saul was overcome and fell in his full length to the ground,
terrified by Samuel's words. He had no strength left, for he had eaten
nothing all day and all night.
The woman went to Saul and saw that he was much disturbed, and she
said to him, 'I listened to what you said and I risked my life to obey you.
Now listen to me: let me set before you a little food to give you strength for
your journey.' But he refused to eat anything. When his servants joined the
woman in pressing him, he yielded, rose from the ground and sat on the
couch. The woman had fatted a calf at home, which she quickly slaughtered.
She took some meal, kneaded it and baked it unleavened cakes, which she
set before Saul and his servants. They ate the food and departed that same
night.
29 The Philistines mustered all their troops at Aphek, while the Israelites
encamped at En-harod in Jezreel. The Philistine princes were advancing
with their troops in units of a hundred and a thousand; David and his men
were in the rear of the column with Achish. The Philistine commanders
asked, 'Why are those Hebrews there?' Achish answered, 'This is David,
the servant of Saul king of Israel who has been with me now for a year or
more. I have had no fault to find in him ever since he came over to me.'
The Philistine commanders were indignant and said to Achish, 'Send the
man back to the town which you allotted to him. He shall not fight side by
side with us, or he may turn traitor in the battle. What better way to buy
his master's favour, than at the price of our lives? This is that David of
whom they sang, as they danced:
Saul made havoc among thousands
but David among tens of thousands.'
Achish summoned David and said to him, 'As the Lord lives, you are
an upright man and your service with my troops has well satisfied me. I
have had no fault to find with you ever since you joined me, but the other
princes are not willing to accept you. Now go home in peace, and you will
then be doing nothing that they can regard as wrong.' David protested,
'What have i done, or what fault have you found in me from the day I
first entered your service till now, that I should not come and fight against
the enemies of my lord the king?' Achish answered David, 'I agree that
you have been true to me as an angel of God, but the Philistine com-
manders insist that you shall not fight alongside them. Now rise early in
the morning with those of your lord's subjects who have followed you, and
go to the town which I allotted you; harbour no evil thoughts, for I am
well satisfied with you. Rise early and start as soon as it is light.' So David
and his men rose early to start the morning on their way back to the land
of the Philistines, while the Philistines went on to Jezreel.
30 On the third day David and his men reached Ziklag. Now the Amelekites
had made a raid into Negeb, attacked Ziklag and set fire to it; they had
carried off all the women, high and low, without putting one of them to
death. These they drove with them and continued their march. When
David and his men approached the town, they found it destroyed by fire,
and their wives, their sons, and their daughters carried off. David and the
people with him wept aloud until they could weep no more. David's two
wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail widow of Nabal of Carmel, were
among the captives. David was in a desperate position because the people,
embittered by the loss of their sons and daughters, threatened to stone him.
So David sought strength in the Lord his God. He told Abiathar the priest,
son of Ahimelech, to bring the ephod. When Abiathar had brought the
ephod, David inquired of the Lord, 'Shall I pursue these raiders? and
shall I overtake them?' The answer came, 'Pursue them: you will overtake
them and rescue everyone.' So David and his six hundred men set out and
reached the ravine of Besor. Two hundred of them who were too weary to
cross the ravine stayed behind, and David with four hundred pressed on
in pursuit.
In the open country they came across an Egyptian and took him to
David. They gave him food to eat and water to drink, also a lump of dried
figs and two bunches of raisins. When he had eaten these he revived; for
he had had nothing to eat or drink for three days and nights. David asked
him, 'Whose slave are you? and where have you come from?' 'I am an
Egyptian boy,' he answered, the slave of an Amalekite, but my master left
me behind because I fell ill three days ago. We had raided the Negeb of the
Kerethites, part of Judah, and the Negeb of Caleb; we also set fire to
Ziklag.' David asked, 'Can you guide me to this band?' 'Swear to me by
God', he answered 'that you will not put me to death or hand me back to
my master, and I will guide you to them.' So he led him down, and there
they were scattered everywhere, eating and drinking and celebrating the
capture of the great mass of spoil taken from Philistine and Judaean
territory.
David attacked from dawn till dusk and continued till next day; only
four hundred young men mounted on camels made good their escape.
David rescued all those whom the Amalekites had taken, including his
two wives. No one was missing, high or low, sons or daughters, and none
of the spoil, nor anything they had taken for themselves: David recovered
everything. They took all the flocks and herds, drove the cattle before
him and said, This is David's spoil.' When David returned to the two
hundred men who had been too weak to follow him and whom he had left
behind at the ravine of Besor, they came forward to meet him and his men.
David greeted them all, inquiring how things were with them. But some
of those who had gone with David, worthless men and scoundrels, broke
in and said, 'These men did not go with us; we will not allot them any of
the spoil that we have retrieved, except that each of them may take his own
wife and children and then go.' 'That you shall never do,' said David,
'considering what the Lord has given us, and how he has kept us safe and
given the raiding party into our hands. Who could agree with what you
propose? Those who stayed with the stores shall have the same share as
those who went into battle. They shall share and share alike.' From
this time onwards, this has been the established custom in Israel down to
this day.
When David reached Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of
Judah and to his friends, with this message: 'This is a present for you out
of the spoil taken from the Lord's enemies.' He sent to those in Bethuel,
in Ramoth-negeb, in Jattir, in Ararah, in Siphmoth, in Eshtemoa, in
Rachal, in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, in the cities of the Kenites, in
Hormah, in Borashan, in Athak, in Hebron, and in all the places over which
he and his men had ranged.
31 The Philistines had fought a battle against Israel, and the men of Israel were
routed, leaving their dead on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines hotly pursued
Saul and his sons and killed the three sons, Jonathan, Abinadab and
Malchishua. The battle went hard for Saul, for some archers came upon
him and he was wounded in the belly by the archers. So he said to his
armour-bearer, 'Draw your sword and run me through, so that these
uncircumcised brutes may not come and taunt me and make sport of me.'
But the armour-bearer refused, he dared not; whereupon Saul took his
own sword and fell on it. When the armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead,
he too fell on his sword and died with him. Thus they all died together on
that day, Saul, his three sons, and his armour-bearer, as well as his men.
And all the Israelites in the district of the Vale of the Jordan, when they
saw that the other Israelites had fled and that Saul and his sons had perished,
fled likewise, abandoning their cities, and the Philistines went in and
occupied them.
Next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul
and his three sons lying dead on Mount Gilboa. They cut off his head and
stripped him of his weapons; then they sent messengers through the
length and breadth of their land to take the good news to idols and people
alike. They deposited his armour in the temple of Ashtoreth and nailed his
body on the wall of Beth-shan. When the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead
heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, the bravest of them journeyed
together all night long and recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons from
the wall of Beth-shan; they brought them back to Jabesh and anointed
them there with spices. Then they took their bones and buried them under
the tamarisk-tree in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted May 15, 2018, 9:16 PM UTC · edited
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