Book of 1stSamuel
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Verse by verse, account of the book of 1^st Samuel

1^st Samuel: chapter 1

Birth of Samuel, (priest and prophet).

¹Now there was a certain man named Elkanah, (his name means: God has possessed) who was the fourth descendent of the Zuph family, that lived in the city of Ramathaim. ²He had two wives, their names were Hannah, (her name means: gracious) and Peninnah, (her name means: pearl) . Peninnah had children but Hannah had none. ³Now yearly Elkanah would go up to the city of Shiloh to worship and to sacrifice unto the Lord of Hosts. Where the two sons of Eli (the priest), Hophni and Phinehas, served as priests of the Lord. ⁴When Elkanah would sacrifice an offering to the Lord, he would give portions of the sacrificed meat to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and her daughters. ⁵But he would give a double portion to his wife Hannah, for he loved Hannah even though the Lord had not given her any children. ⁶In Hannah's shame because the Lord had not granted her children, Peninnah ridiculed her unmercifully. ⁷Peninnah provoked Hannah year after year, at the time when they went to worship at the house of the Lord, to the point where Hannah wept and refused to eat. ⁸Then Elkanah, Hannah's husband said to her; Why should your heart be grieved and you refuse to eat? Am I not better to you than ten sons?

⁹After they had all eaten and drank while in Shiloh, Hannah rose up as Eli the priest sat on by the side post of the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰Now Hannah's soul was very grieved and she wept and prayed to the Lord. ¹¹And she made a vow and said; Lord of Hosts, if You will look upon the affliction of Your handmaid and give Your handmaid a male child. I will give him back to the Lord, for all his days and no razor shall come upon his head. ¹²As Hannah continued praying before the Lord, Eli noticed her mouth moving. ¹³For Hannah spoke in her heart and only her lips moved, for there was no voice. But, Eli thought she had become drunk. ¹⁴Eli then spoke to her and said; How long will you continue to be drunk? Put away your wine! ¹⁵Hannah answered, saying; No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not been drinking wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. ¹⁶Do not regard your handmaid as a wicked person, for out of the grief of my heart have I spoken. ¹⁷Eli then answered, saying; Go in peace and may the God of Israel grant the petition that you have asked of Him. ¹⁸And Hannah said, May your handmaid find grace in your sight and she went her way and her countenance was no longer saddened.

¹⁹The family then rose early in the morning to worship before the Lord and returned to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah slept with Hannah his wife and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰From this Hannah conceived and bore a son and called his name Samuel, saying; Because I have asked of the Lord for a male child. ²¹The next year Elkanah and those in his house went up to offer sacrifice to the Lord. ²²But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband; I will go up when the child is weaned so that he may appear before the Lord and stay there forever. ²³Elkanah answered her, saying; Do what seems good to you, stay until you have weaned the boy. Then shall the Lord establish His Word. ²⁴Now when Hannah had finished nursing him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, an ephah of flour, a skin of wine and brought all this to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. ²⁵They then killed the bull and brought the child to Eli the priest. ²⁶And Hannah said; My lord (Eli), I am the woman who stood here, praying to the Lord. ²⁷I was praying for this boy and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. ²⁸I have now returned him to the Lord for as long as he lives and they worshiped the Lord there.

1^st Samuel: chapter 2

¹Hannah prayed, saying; My heart rejoices in the Lord, I am exalted in the Lord and am no longer silenced by my enemies because I rejoice in the salvation of the Lord. ²No one is as holy or as unmovable as the Lord, for there is none beside Him. ³Let not others talk so very proudly, let them remove the arrogance from their mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge and judges all actions. ⁴For He breaks the weapons of the mighty and gives strength to those who stumble. ⁵They that were once filled, have now hired themselves out for bread and the hungry have ceased to be hungry. While the barren have bore a complete number and she who had many sons has languished. ⁶The Lord kills and makes alive. Those that go down to Him, He rises up. ⁷He takes away and gives riches, bringing some low and lifting up others. ⁸Raising the poor and the needy out of the dust and setting them among nobles, to inherit a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the Lord's and He has set the world on them. ⁹He protects His own, but the wicked are silenced in darkness, nether shall their strength save them. ¹⁰The foes of the Lord shall be broken into pieces, as He thunders in the heavens upon them. The Lord will judge all on the earth, giving strength to His king and exalting His anointed.

¹¹Elkanah and his wife Hannah then went back to their house in Ramah, leaving the child there to serve the Lord before Eli the priest. ¹²But the sons of Eli were worthless, they did not know or regard the Lord. ¹³For their custom was when the people offered a sacrifice, to go to the flesh of sacrifice before it was dedicated to the Lord. ¹⁴And prepare their portion. ¹⁵Even before the fat was burnt off the sacrifice, the two sons would come to him saying; Give us some of the flesh to roast, for we will not accept boiled flesh from you, only raw! ¹⁶Even if the man sacrificing to the Lord insisted on burning the fat off, (NOTE: according to the laws of the sacrifices) and then offering to the priests. They would reply; No! You shall give it to us now, or we shall take it by force. ¹⁷And their sin was very great before the Lord. For because of them men despised the offering of the Lord.

¹⁸Now the child Samuel ministered before the Lord, girded with a linen ephod. ¹⁹And Hannah his mother, each year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice, would bring the boy a new coat. ²⁰When they came up, Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say; May the Lord give you children by this woman because of the gift of the child that you gave to the Lord. ²¹And the Lord visited Hannah so that she conceived and she bore three sons and two daughters, while the child Samuel grew before the Lord.

²²Now Eli was very old and he had heard about all that his sons did to the people of Israel. How they would lay with the women who gathered at the door of the tabernacle ²³Eli then brought this up to them, saying; ²⁴My sons, this is not a good report that I hear the Lord's people spreading. ²⁵If a man sins against another man, he will be judged by a man. But if a man sins against the Lord, who shall plead for him? But, the two sons did not listen to their father, because the Lord desired to kill them. ²⁶And the child Samuel kept on growing both in stature and in goodness, both with the Lord and with men.

²⁷Now there came a man of God to Eli, (NOTE: most likely a prophet also from the family line of Aaron) and said to him; So says the Lord: Did I not plainly appear to your father's when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh's bondage. ²⁸I have chosen the tribe of Levi and this family out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer sacrifices on My altar, to burn incense and to wear an ephod before Me. Also, giving to that chosen family all the offerings made by fire from the sons of Israel. ²⁹Why do you now allow My sacrifice and My offering, that I have commanded, to be treated with such contempt, do you honor your sons above Me? Indulging yourselves and becoming fat with the best of all the people's offerings of Israel. ³⁰Therefore the Lord God of Israel says; Your house and the house of your father that has gone on before Me, shall now be far from Me! For those who honor Me, I will honor and those that think little of Me shall be lightly regarded. ³¹Thus, the day is coming when I will quench your strength and the strength of your father's house and no old man shall dwell in your house. ³²In that day you shall see your replacement in My house, doing good for the people of Israel, but there shall not be an old man in your house. ³³That man that I leave to attend to My altar, shall grieve your heart and you shall weep over your families ruin, for your sons shall die as young men. ³⁴And the sign shall be that your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; shall both die within the same day. ³⁵I will then raise up a faithful priest, to Myself, one who shall do according to what is in My heart and mind. I will build him a sure house and he shall walk before My anointed forever. ³⁶Everyone that is left in your house shall come and bow down to him for a piece of bread. And they shall beg of him to have their priestly office restored, so that they may eat of the offerings again.

1^st Samuel: chapter 3

¹Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the Word of the Lord was scarce in those days, for there were no open visions. ²And it happened that when Eli's eyes had become dim so that he could not see and he was lying down. ³Before the light in the temple had gone out, Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the Ark of God was.

⁴The Lord called; Samuel!. And Samuel answered; Here I am. ⁵And the boy ran to Eli, saying; Here I am, for you called me. But, Eli said; I did not call you, go and lie back down. So the boy went back and lay down. ⁶The Lord then called to Samuel again, saying; Samuel! And Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, Here I am, for you called me. But, Eli answered, saying; I did not call you, my son. Go back and lie down. ⁷For Samuel did not yet know the Lord and the Word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. ⁸The Lord then called; Samuel!, the third time. And Samuel arose, went to Eli and said; Here I am, for you called me. But, this time Eli realized that the Lord had called the child. ⁹And Eli said to Samuel; Go, lie down; And if One calls you again, you shall say, Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening. So Samuel went to his place to lie down. ¹⁰This time the Lord came and stood and called as before, saying: Samuel! Then Samuel answered, Speak, for Your servant hears.

¹¹And the Lord said to Samuel; I am about to do a work in Israel that all that hear it shall rise to attention. ¹²In that day I will confirm to Eli that which I have spoken, it shall be the beginning of the end of his house. ¹³I have told him that I will judge the iniquity of his house, for his sons have made themselves vile and he did not do anything to restrain them. ¹⁴For I have sworn that the house of Eli, because of their iniquity shall not be cleansed and atoned for with sacrifices forever.

¹⁵Samuel laid on his bed until morning, then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, for Samuel was afraid to share the vision with Eli. ¹⁶But Eli called to Samuel and Samuel said; Here I am. ¹⁷And Eli asked, What the Lord had told him? I pray that you do not hide it from me. If you hide a thing from me, may God do so to you and even more. ¹⁸So Samuel told Eli all the words the Lord had spoken to him, hiding nothing. And Eli said; It is the Lord, let Him do what seems good to Him.

¹⁹And Samuel grew, for the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰All of Israel realized that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord. ²¹And the Lord continued to appear and reveal Himself to Samuel in Shiloh through the Word of the Lord.

1^st Samuel: chapter 4

The Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant.

¹Now the word of Samuel was revealed to all Israel. And at this time Israel battled against the Philistines. ²When the Philistines had grouped themselves against Israel and that day the Philistines killed about four thousand men of Israel. ³When the people had assembled back at the camp, the elders of Israel questioned, why the Lord had beaten them through the hand of the Philistines? Then they agreed among themselves to go to Shiloh and take the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, so it would save them from the hand of the enemy. ⁴So the army of Israel sent men to Shiloh to bring back the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of Hosts. Now over at Shiloh the two worthless sons of Eli, (Hophni and Phinehas), where there with the Ark, (NOTE: thus they were willing to let the Ark out of their possession, for they did not regard the name of the Lord).

⁵When the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all the people shouted with a such a great shout that the earth resounded. ⁶And when the Philistines heard the noise in the camp of the Hebrews, they questioned what this was? Later to see that the Ark of the Lord had come into their camp. ⁷This greatly made the Philistines afraid and they said; God has come into the camp, nothing like this has ever happened before. ⁸Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with all the plagues. ⁹Therefore, we must be strong and fight like men, so that we do not become servants to the Hebrews, as they were once to us.

¹⁰At the next battle, the Philistines greatly defeated Israel and after the men of Israel had fled, thirty thousand footmen of Israel had fallen. ¹¹The Ark of God was captured and Hophni and Phinehas, the two worthless sons of Eli were slain.

¹²Now the same day, a man of the tribe of Benjamin escaped from the armies and while still in grief, ran to Shiloh. ¹³As he came into the city, Eli was sitting in his seat by the wayside watching. For his heart was grieved, for they had taken the Ark of God. And when the man told of what had happened, the whole city cried out. ¹⁴When Eli heard the crying, he inquired what had happened, so the man told Eli. ¹⁵Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, his eyes had dimmed and he had become blind. ¹⁶And the man said to Eli; I came from the battle and fled here. And Eli said; How did the matter go, my son? ¹⁷And the messenger answered; There was a great slaughter and Israel fled, your two sons, (Hophni and Phinehas) are dead and the Ark of God was taken. ¹⁸When he spoke of the Ark of God, Eli fell backward off his seat, breaking his neck and he died, for he was an old man and very heavy. And Eli had judged Israel for forty years.

¹⁹Now Eli's daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was with child and ready to deliver. She heard the report that the Ark of God was taken, that both her father-in-law and her husband were dead. She then dropped to her knees and gave birth, for her pains had come upon her. ²⁰Near the time of her death the midwife that stood by her said to her, Do not fear, for you have given birth to a son. But she did not answer, nor did she regard what was said. ²¹She named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory has departed from Israel, because the Ark of God has been taken, also because of her father-in-law and her husband. ²²And she said, The glory has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God is taken.

1^st Samuel: chapter 5

¹And the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it to the fortified city of Ashdod. ²Bringing the Ark of God into the house of Dagon (their pagan god) and they set it beside the statue of Dagon. ³The next day early in the morning, when the people of Ashdod arose. The statue of Dagon had fallen on his face before the Ark of the Lord. But, the people simply set the stature of Dagon back in his place again. ⁴When they arose early on the next morning, The statue of Dagon had again fallen on his face before the Ark of the Lord. But, this time the head and both his hands were cut off from the body. ⁵This is the reason why neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, dare to walk on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

⁶Thus the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people and He struck the people of Ashdod and its borders, with painful tumors and boils. ⁷When the men of Ashdod realized this, they said; The Ark of the God of Israel does not abide with us. For His hand is sore upon us and upon Dagon our god. ⁸So they gathered all the lords of the Philistines together and took council of what they should do with the Ark of the God of Israel? And they agreed that the Ark of the God of Israel would be carried to the city of Gath, another principal city. ⁹But after they had carried the Ark to Gath, the hand of the Lord was against that city. Causing the people great panic, striking the men of the city with painful tumors and boils. ¹⁰So the Ark of God was sent to the principal city of Ekron. And when the Ark came into the city the people of the city cried out saying; They have brought the Ark of the God of Israel to us in order to kill us. ¹¹Then they gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, Send the Ark away and let it return to its own place, so that it does not kill us. For there was already a deadly destruction throughout the whole city, for the hand of God was very heavy there. ¹²And the men that did not die were stricken with painful tumors and boils. And the cry of the city went up to the heavens.

1^st Samuel: chapter 6

Philistines return the Ark on a new cart.

¹Now the Ark of the Lord was in the land of the Philistines for seven months. ²Then the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, asking them what they should do with the Ark of the Lord, how shall we send it back to its place? ³And the council answered; Do not send the Ark away empty, for you must send a guilt offering to Him. Then you shall be healed, but if you don't you shall realize why His hand is not removed from you. ⁴The Philistines then asked, what the guilt offering should be? And the council answered, five golden tumors and five golden mice, for the number of the lords of the Philistines. For one plague was on each of you. ⁵You need to make images of your tumors and images of mice that destroyed the land and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps then He will remove His hand from you, your gods and from your land. ⁶But don't harden your hearts, such as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts. For He worked powerful signs among them, causing the Egyptians to let the Israelites depart. ⁷Make a new cart and take two milk cows that have never been yoked to pull the cart and take their calves away from them. ⁸Then place the Ark of the Lord on the cart. And put the gold as a trespass offering in a box by the side of the cart. ⁹And watch the cart as it goes. If it goes straight, by the way, of its own border to Beth-shemesh, then we will know the Lord God of Israel has done us this great evil. But, if the cart does not go straight up, then we will know it was not His hand that struck us and it was simply chance that came upon us.

¹⁰So the men took two milk cows and tied them to a new cart and separated them from their new born calves, (NOTE: so the cows would resent being separated from their young). ¹¹They laid the Ark of the Lord on the cart along with the box containing the jewels of gold. ¹²When the cows were released, they went straight along the highway up to Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went, they did not turn aside to the right nor to the left. And the lords of the Philistines followed them all the way to the border of Beth-shemesh.

¹³Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting their wheat. And when they saw the Ark they rejoiced. ¹⁴The cart came to rest in the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, where there was a great stone. The Israelites then cut up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵And the Levites took down the Ark of the Lord and the box containing the jewels of gold and put them on the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and gave sacrifices that day to the Lord. ¹⁶When the five lords of the Philistines had seen this, they then returned that day to their own city of Ekron.

¹⁷Now the five golden tumors that were returned as a guilt offering to the Lord, were for the five principal cities of the Philistines: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. ¹⁸Also the golden mice were according to the number of the cities and for the five lords. The land from the fortified cities to the villages in the country, even to the great stone on which the Israelites set the Ark of the Lord on, in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite.

¹⁹But the Lord struck seventy men of Beth-shemesh, including fifty chief men because they had looked into the Ark of the Lord. And the people were grieved because of the great slaughter. ²⁰The men of Beth-shemesh then said; Who is able to stand before the holy Lord God? And who can handle this Ark and bring it up? ²¹So the Israelites sent messengers to the people of the city of Kirjath-jearim, saying; The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord to us. Come down and take it back with you.

1^st Samuel: chapter 7

¹Now the men of Kirjath-jearim came and brought the Ark of the Lord, into the house of Abinadab, (his name means: father of willingness), of the tribe of Judah, in the hill country. And they sanctified Eleazar, his son, (his name means: God is the helper), to keep the Ark of the Lord. ²The Ark of the Lord dwelt in Kirjath-jearim, a city of Benjamin for twenty years, while all the people of Israel yearned after the Lord.

³Samuel then spoke to the people of Israel, saying; If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then you must put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth (NOTE: a pagan goddess, the Romans called her Venus), from among you, then prepare your hearts for the Lord and serve Him only. And He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁴So Israel put away the false gods and served the Lord only. ⁵Samuel then told the people of Israel to gather themselves together at Mizpeh, that he would pray for them there. ⁶When they had gathered there, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord (NOTE: this is a sign of true repentance) and they fasted on that day, also confessing that they had sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpeh.

⁷But when the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered together at Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines prepared for battle against Israel. And when the Israelites heard of this, they became afraid. ⁸And they said to Samuel, Do not cease from crying to the Lord our God for us, so that He will save us from the hand of the Philistines. ⁹So Samuel took a young lamb and offered a whole burnt offering to the Lord, crying to the Lord on Israel's behalf and the Lord answered him. ¹⁰Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But, the Lord thundered with a great noise and it troubled the Philistines and they were defeated before Israel. ¹¹And the men of Israel pursued the Philistines, striking them down as far as to the next village. ¹²So Samuel set a stone up and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying; the Lord has helped us.

¹³The Philistines were at last subdued and they no longer crossed over into the border of Israel, for the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. ¹⁴And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were given back to Israel, also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵Now Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶And his yearly circuit was through the cities of Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpeh and Samuel judged Israel in all those places. ¹⁷Then returning to Ramah, where his house was. There he also judged Israel and built an altar to the Lord.

1^st Samuel: chapter 8

¹Now when Samuel was old, he set his sons to be judges over Israel. ²The name of his firstborn son was Joel (his name means: Jehovah is God) and the name of his second son was Abijah (his name means: The Lord is my Father) and they were judges in Beer-sheba. ³But his sons did not walk after the ways of Samuel, for they went after ill-gotten gains, taking bribes and perverting judgment.

⁴So the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel. ⁵Saying; you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Therefore, appoint for us a king to judge us, as the other nations have. ⁶But this displeased Samuel and he prayed to the Lord, when they asked for a king to judge them. ⁷However the Lord said to Samuel: Listen to the request of the people. For they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. ⁸According to all their works since the day I brought them up out of Egypt until now, their works have proven that they have forsaken Me by serving other gods and so they also do this to you. ⁹Listen to their voice, but protest solemnly to them, showing them the kind of king who shall reign over them.

¹⁰So Samuel told all the Words of the Lord to the people who asked for a king. ¹¹And Samuel said; This will be the ways of the king, who will reign over you. He will appoint your sons within his service. ¹²The king will appoint commanders and rank his men, some to plow his grounds and reap his harvest and some to make weapons of war and weapons for his chariots. ¹³The king will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. ¹⁴And will take the best of your fields, vineyards and olive-yards and give them to his servants. ¹⁵He will also take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give it to his eunuchs and to his servants. ¹⁶He will take your male and female servants, the finest of your young men, your cattle and donkeys and put them to his work. ¹⁷He will take a tenth of your sheep and you shall become his servants. ¹⁸In that day you shall cry out, because of the king whom you have chosen and the Lord will not answer you in that day.

¹⁹Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, saying; We wish to have a king over us. ²⁰We shall then be like all the nations, where our king shall govern over us and go out before us to fight our battles. ²¹Samuel repeated the words of the people to the Lord. ²²And the Lord said to Samuel; Listen to their request and appoint for them a king. Samuel then dismissed every man to go to his own city.

1^st Samuel: chapter 9

Saul chosen to be king of Israel.

¹There was a man of the tribe of Benjamin, of the fifth generation and his name was Kish, a mighty man of wealth and power. ²He had a son named Saul (the name means: asked), he was a young and handsome man. There was not a man among the sons of Israel that was more handsome than he, as he was also taller than any of the people.

³Now the donkeys of Saul's father were lost. And Kish told Saul to take a servant and look for the donkeys. ⁴So Saul passed through mount Ephraim and the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. So they passed through the land of Shaalim and the land of Benjamin, but they still did not find them. ⁵Then they came to the land of Zuph and Saul said to his servant; Let us return lest my father start to be concerned about us. ⁶But the servant said to Saul; In this city, there is an honorable man of God, let us go to him, perhaps he can tell us what to do. ⁷Saul then spoke to his servant saying; If we go there, what can we possibly bring the man? Our breed is gone, we have no present to bring to the man of God. ⁸But the young man replied; I have a quarter of a shekel of silver. I will give it to the man of God to tell us our way. ⁹(Formerly in Israel, when a man came to inquire of God, he said this: Let us go to the seer, for the prophet of today was before called a seer). ¹⁰Saul then said to his young man; Your advice is good. Come, let us go and see the man of God.

¹¹As they went up the hill to the city, they asked a young woman if the seer was in the city? ¹²She answered them and said; Yes, he is, hurry, for he came to the city today for the people have set this day to bring offerings to the high place. ¹³When you come into the city, you will immediately find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, because he blesses the feast. Afterwards those who have been invited partake. ¹⁴And when they had come into the middle of the city, Samuel came towards them, on his way to go up to the high place.

¹⁵Now the Lord had told Samuel the day before Saul came, that; ¹⁶Tomorrow around this time, I will send you a man out of the land of Benjamin and you shall anoint him to be leader over My people of Israel. And he shall save My people from the hand of the Philistines, for I have heard the cries of My people and seen their distress. ¹⁷And when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him; Here is the man of whom I spoke to you! He shall reign over My people.

¹⁸Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate and said; Sir, please tell me where the seer's house is? ¹⁹And Samuel answered Saul and said; I am the seer. Come with me up to the high place, for you shall eat with me today and tomorrow I will let you go and will tell you what is on your mind. ²⁰As for your donkeys that were lost three days ago, rest assured for they are found. As for you and your father's house, all the desire of Israel is on you. ²¹But Saul answered, saying; I am a Benjamite, the smallest of the tribes of Israel and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin. Why then do you tell me this?

²²Samuel then took Saul and his young man and brought them into the guest room at the high place and gave them the seat of honor of the invited ones, about thirty persons. ²³And Samuel said to the cook; Bring the portion that I had you set aside. ²⁴The cook then brought out the shoulder, (NOTE: the priests honored portion) and set it before Saul. And Samuel said; This has been reserved for you! Eat of it. For until this set time has it been kept for you, ever since I have invited these people. So Saul ate with Samuel that day.

²⁵When they came down from the high place into the city, Samuel spoke with Saul on the top of his house. ²⁶Early in the morning Samuel arose and about dawn called to Saul, who was yet sleeping, saying; Wake up! So I may send you away. And Saul arose and both of them went out. ²⁷As they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul; Tell your servant to go on ahead. And we shall stand here, while I speak to you the Word of God.

1^st Samuel: chapter 10

The anointing of King Saul by the prophet Samuel.

¹Samuel then took a vial of oil and poured it on Saul's head, kissed him and said; The Lord has anointed you to be a leader over His inheritance of Israel. ²Today as you depart, you will find two men by Rachel's tomb in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will say to you that the donkeys that you were seeking are found and your father is now concerned about his son. ³From there you shall come to the great tree of Tabor. There you shall meet three men going up to God at Bethel, one carrying three young goats, one carrying three loaves of bread and the another carrying a skin of wine. ⁴They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall take from their hand. ⁵After that you will come to the hill of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is. When you come to the city, you shall meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a harp, a tambourine, a flute and a lyre and they shall prophesy. ⁶And the spirit of the Lord will come powerfully on you and you shall prophesy with them and shall be turned into another man. ⁷When these signs have come to you, you will do what your hand finds, for God is with you. ⁸You shall go down to Gilgal, before me. I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and peace offerings. Thus, you shall stay there for seven days until I come to you and show you what you must do.

⁹Now when Saul had left to go from Samuel, God gave Saul another heart. And all the signs were fulfilled that day. ¹⁰For when they came to the hill a company of prophets met him, the Spirit of God came upon Saul and he prophesied among them. ¹¹When those who had known Saul from before saw him prophesying among the other prophets, the people said to one another; What is this that has happened to the son of Kish, is Saul also among the prophets? ¹²But a man answered, saying; Is not the Father of all the prophets, God Himself? Therefore, this became a saying; Is Saul now also among the prophets?

¹³When Saul had finished his prophesying, he went up to the high place. ¹⁴There Saul's uncle asked him; where he and his servant went? And Saul answered; To look for the donkeys, when we did not find them, we went to Samuel the prophet. ¹⁵His uncle then asked what Samuel had said to you. ¹⁶And Saul replied; Samuel told us plainly that the donkeys were found. But, Saul did not tell his uncle of the matter of the kingdom that he and Samuel spoke of.

¹⁷Now Samuel called the people together unto the Lord at Mizpeh. ¹⁸And said to the sons of Israel; So says the Lord the God of Israel, I delivered you from your oppressors the Egyptians and brought Israel out of Egypt. ¹⁹This day you have rejected your God, who has saved you from your calamities and tribulations. For you have said to Him, set a king over us. Present yourselves now before the Lord by your tribes. ²⁰And the tribe of Benjamin was taken. ²¹Samuel then had the tribe of Benjamin separate by their families. And the family of Matri was taken and Saul the son of Kish was taken. And they looked for him, but he was not to be found. ²²When they further inquired of the Lord, if the man Saul had come up with the others? The Lord answered, saying; he is hiding himself among the baggage. ²³So they ran and brought Saul up from there and as he stood among the people, he was taller than all of them. ²⁴Samuel then said to the people, Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted; Long live the king! ²⁵Samuel then told the people of the manners of the kingdom, writing this in a book and placing it before the Lord and he sent all the people away, each to their own house. ²⁶Saul also went home to Gibeah, along with a group of men, whose hearts God had touched. ²⁷But certain worthless men questioned, how this man could ever save them? And they despised him bringing him no presents, but Saul held his peace.

1^st Samuel: chapter 11

¹Soon after Saul's appointment as king, Nahash the Ammonite came up and surrounded the Israelite city of Jabesh-gilead. And the men of that city were willing to make a treaty with the Ammonites and in exchange they would serve them. ²Nahash the Ammonite answered them, saying; I will make a treaty with you, on the condition that I put out all of your right eyes, thus making a disgrace of all of Israel. ³The elders of the city sent message back to him, saying; Allow us seven days, that we may seek help throughout Israel and if there is no man to save us, we will submit to you. ⁴When this message came to the city of Gibeah where Saul was and all the people heard it, they all wept.

⁵And when Saul had come in from the field. He inquired why all the people were weeping? Once they had told him the words of the men of Jabesh. ⁶Then the Spirit of God came powerfully on Saul when he heard those words and his anger was greatly kindled. ⁷Saul then took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, sending the pieces throughout all the territories of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying; Whoever does not come out with Saul and Samuel, this shall also be done to his oxen. The fear of the Lord then fell on the people and they came out united as one man.

⁸When Saul had numbered the sons of Israel, they were three hundred thousand and the men of Judah were thirty thousand. ⁹And the message they sent back to the men of Jabesh-gilead, was; by mid-day tomorrow you shall have help. When the men of the city heard this, they rejoiced. ¹⁰So the men of Jabesh sent a message back to the Ammonite king, saying; Tomorrow we will come out to you and you can do to us what you wish. ¹¹On the next day, Saul put the people in three companies and they came into the middle of the army, during the morning watch. And the Israelites slaughtered the Ammonites until the heat of the day. To such a point that the ones who remained were scattered so greatly, that two of Ammonite were not left together.

¹²Seeing this great victory, the people said to Samuel; Who was it that said; Shall Saul reign over us? Bring the men to us so that we may kill them this day. ¹³But Saul replied; There shall not be a man be put to death this day, for today the Lord has brought deliverance to Israel. ¹⁴Samuel then spoke, saying; Let us go back to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there. ¹⁵So all the people went to Gilgal, to make Saul king before the Lord. And there they offered peace offerings before the Lord, rejoiced greatly.

1^st Samuel: chapter 12

¹Samuel then said to all of Israel; I have listened to your request of me and have set a king over you. ²The king now walks before you. I am now old and gray-headed, my sons are with you, for I have walked before you from my childhood to this day. ³I speak this testimony before the people and the Lord shall be my witness; If I have taken anyone's cattle or defrauded anyone, if I have taken a bribe or oppress anyone, I will restore it to them. ⁴And the people replied; You have not defrauded us nor oppressed us, neither have you taken from any man's hand. ⁵Samuel then said to the people; This day the Lord is my witness, that you have not found anything in my hand. And the people said; He has witnessed this.

⁶Samuel then said to the people; It was the Lord, who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. ⁷And now give attention, that I may reason with you before the Lord concerning all the great and righteous acts He has done for you and your fathers. ⁸When Jacob and his family had come into Egypt, later only to be oppressed by the Egyptians. Your fathers cried out to the Lord and the Lord then sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and they settled here in this place. ⁹But when they forgot the Lord their God, He sold them into the hand of Sisera, giving them over to the captain of the army of Hazor, the hands of the Philistines, the hands of the king of Moab and they battled against each of them. ¹⁰Then they cried out to the Lord, saying; We have sinned because we have forsaken the Lord, serving false gods and Ashtaroth, (a pagan goddess). But, deliver us now from our enemies and we will serve You. ¹¹And the Lord sent various judges to Israel, Gideon, Barak, Jephthah and Samuel, to deliver you out of the hand of your enemies. ¹²And when you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me; we wish to have a king reign over us, even though the LORD your God was your King.

¹³Therefore, look upon the king whom you have desired and chosen, for the Lord has done as you wished! ¹⁴Now if you will fear the Lord, serve Him, listen to His voice and not rebel against His commands. Then both you and your king will continue following the Lord your God. ¹⁵But if you do not do such and you rebel against the commands of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord shall be against you as it was against your fathers.

¹⁶Look and see this great thing that the Lord will do before your eyes. ¹⁷Today starts the wheat harvest, but I will call to the Lord and He shall send thunder and rain, so that you may know that by asking Him for a king, your wickedness is great. ¹⁸Samuel then called to the Lord and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared the Lord and Samuel.

¹⁹The people then said to Samuel; Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, so that we will not die. For by asking for a king, we have added evil to all our sins. ²⁰And Samuel said; Do not fear, even though you have done all this wickedness. Yet, do not turn aside from following the Lord, rather serve Him with all your heart. ²¹Do not go after vain and worthless things, that are unprofitable. ²²For the Lord will not forsake His people, because of His name's sake, for it pleased the Lord to make you His people. ²³Far 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 the proper way. ²⁴Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with your whole heart, always considering what great things He has done for you. ²⁵But if you continue to do wickedly, both, you and your king, will be consumed.

1^st Samuel: chapter 13

¹Saul was forty years old when he became king and after two years of reigning over Israel. ²Saul took for himself three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand of these men were with Saul in the village of Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, while the rest of the men were with Jonathan, (NOTE: the oldest son of king Saul) in the town of Gibeah in the land of Benjamin. ³Jonathan first struck a garrison of the Philistines in Geba and Saul blew the ram's horn throughout all the land, for all the Hebrews to hear. ⁴And when the people of Israel heard, that Saul had struck a garrison of the Philistines. And that Israel had provoked the Philistines, all the people gathered at Gilgal, there with Saul.

⁵The Philistines gathered there to fight with Israel, they had thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen and a multitude of troops. And they made their camp in Michmash, eastward from Beth-aven. ⁶Summing up the situation, the men of Israel saw they were in a bad situation and the men were greatly distressed. And began to hid themselves in caves, in pits, the high places and in cisterns. ⁷Some of the Hebrews went over Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead, to escape the danger. But, Saul stayed in Gilgal and those who stayed with Saul trembled.

Samuel prophesies that the kingdom will be taken away from king Saul.

⁸Saul waited seven days, according to the prophecy Samuel had given him. But, Samuel did not come to Gilgal. And each day the people kept on scattering from him. ⁹So Saul said; Bring a burnt and peace offering to me and I will make the offering unto the Lord. ¹⁰And as soon as Saul had finished making the offerings Samuel came and Saul went out to greet him and knelt before him. (NOTE: Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin and was not permitted under Levitical law to perform a sacrifice). ¹¹The very first thing Samuel said to Saul, was; What have you done? And Saul replied; Because the people were scattering from me, the Philistines had gathered at Michmash and you had not come within the seven days appointed time. ¹²I thought, The Philistines would march on Gilgal, so I forced myself to make supplication to the Lord and offered a burnt offering. ¹³Samuel then said to Saul; You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He has commanded you. For the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. ¹⁴But now your kingdom shall not stand. For the Lord has sought a man after His own heart, appointing him to be the leader over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord has commanded of you.

¹⁵Samuel then arose, left Gilgal and went to Gibeah, (a nearby city). And Saul numbered the remaining men with him, they were but six hundred. ¹⁶Saul and his son Jonathan and the men who had remained, stayed in Gibeah, while the Philistines were camped in Michmash. ¹⁷Now raiders came out of the Philistines camp in three companies. One company went to the city of Ophrah. ¹⁸Another company went to the town of Beth-horon. And the last company went to the border of the valley of Zeboim, toward the wilderness.

¹⁹Now there was not a black-smith to be found throughout all the land of Israel. For the Philistines did not wish the Hebrews to make swords or spears. ²⁰And each man of the Israelites would go down to the Philistines to have their implements and tools sharpened, ²¹at high prices. ²²For in the day of battle there was not a sword or spear in any of the hands of the people, except for Saul and Jonathan. ²³And the garrison of the Philistines continued to advance, for they were now at the passage of Michmash.

1^st Samuel: chapter 14

¹Then one day Jonathan, Saul's son, said to his armor-bearer; Let us go over to the Philistines' garrison on the other side. But, Jonathan did not tell the king. ²For Saul and the six hundred men with him had made camp on the border of Gibeah seeking refuge under the pomegranate trees in Migron. ³And in Saul's camp, Ahijah, Ichabod's brother, the Lord's priest in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod and no one knew that Jonathan was gone.

⁴Now the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines' garrison on either side was a sharp rocky wall, one side was named Bozez, (meaning: shining) and the other side named Seneh, (meaning: thornbush) ⁵The crag on the north faced Michmash and the crag on the south faced Gibeah. ⁶And Jonathan said to his armor-bearer. Let us go over to the garrison of the uncircumcised ones, it may be that the Lord will fight for us. For there is no restraint to the Lord, to save by many or by few. ⁷Jonathan's armor-bearer then replied; Do all that is in your heart, for I am with you. ⁸And Jonathan said; We will go over and show ourselves to these men. ⁹It shall be that if they say to us, wait there until we come to you, then we will wait here. ¹⁰But if they say, Come up to us. Then we will go to them, for that will be a sign to us, that the Lord has delivered them over to our own hands.

¹¹So both of them showed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said; Behold the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden themselves. ¹²The men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor-bearer, saying; Come up to us and we will teach you. So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer; Follow behind me, for the Lord has delivered them into the hand of Israel. ¹³Now the passage way was tight and Jonathan climbed on his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer behind him. And the Philistines fell before Jonathan and his armor-bearer. ¹⁴In the first blow Jonathan and his armor-bearer struck about twenty men within a space of approximately half an acre of land. ¹⁵This caused there to be trembling in the army of the Philistines, of that field, also among the garrison and the companies of raiders, for the earth greatly quaked.

¹⁶And Saul's watchmen in Gibeah, saw all the Philistines troops scattering ¹⁷So Saul then numbered the men, to see who was missing. When they had counted the troops they found that Jonathan and his armor-bearer were missing. ¹⁸Saul then said to Ahijah, the priest; Bring the Ark of God here. For the Ark of God was at that time with the sons of Israel. ¹⁹But while Saul was talking to the priest, the noise in the army of the Philistines grew louder and louder, so Saul dismissed the priest. ²⁰Then Saul and his six hundred men went to the battle site. To find that every man's sword was against his neighbor and there was a very great panic. ²¹The the Hebrews that had been with the Philistines before, went up into the camp and certain Philistines men began fighting along side of the Israelites with Saul and Jonathan. ²²And the Israelites who had hidden themselves heard that the Philistines had fled and they also joined in the battle. ²³That day the Lord saved Israel, as the battle dispersed into other lands.

²⁴However that day Saul commanded the men saying; Cursed is the man that eats food until evening, so that I may be avenged of my enemies and this distressed his men. ²⁵But as the men were in a forest, there happened to be honey on the ground. ²⁶And even more so as they went deeper into the woods, honey was dripping. But, no one dared put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. ²⁷But Jonathan was not there when his father made the men take the oath. So he dipped the end of his rod in his hand into the honeycomb and tasted the honey. Which was very refreshing to his weary eyes. ²⁸However one of the other men saw this and said; Your father has strictly made the men swear an oath, saying; Cursed is the man who eats food this day. Even though we are all weary. ²⁹Jonathan then said; My father has troubled the land! See how just a little honey has renewed me. ³⁰If the people were allowed to eat today of the spoil of their enemies, would there have not been an even a greater slaughter among the Philistines?

³¹And that day the Israelites struck the Philistines from Michmash for fifteen miles as Philistines fled back to their own land. ³²Now when evening came and the curse was lifted, the people rushed for the spoil. They took sheep, oxen and calves and slaughtered them on the ground, eating the meat with the blood. (NOTE: eating meat with its blood was against the law of God, Leviticus 17:10). ³³When Saul found out that the people had sin against the Lord by eating meat with its blood. He said; You have transgressed by eating the blood. Therefore, I will provide a great stone for you, where you can kill your animal and drain out the blood. ³⁴Let every man bring his livestock here and slaughter them on this stone and eat of it, so as to not sin against the Lord by eating the blood. So each man did so. ³⁵And Saul built an altar to the Lord. This was the first altar that he built to the Lord.

³⁶Saul then said; Let us by the cover of night go after the Philistines and plunder them until the morning light, we shall not leave a man standing. Saul's men said, we will do all that seems right to you. But, the priest said, let us inquire of God. ³⁷So Saul asked counsel of God; Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You deliver them into the hand of Israel? But, there was no answer from God that day. ³⁸So Saul then gathered all the chief of the people together, to find the sin that has caused God's silence. ³⁹As surely as the Lord lives and has saved Israel, even though it be Jonathan my son, he shall surely die for this sin. But there was not a man among all the people who answered. ⁴⁰Saul then said to his men; We will cast lots to find out who committed this sin. All my men will stand on one side and I and Jonathan my son will stand on the other. ⁴¹And Saul prayed to the Lord God of Israel, for a perfect lot. And the lot fell to Saul and Jonathan. ⁴²Saul then had the priest cast lots between himself and his son Jonathan. And the lot fell on Jonathan. ⁴³Then Saul said to Jonathan; Tell me what you have done. So Jonathan told him that he had eaten a little honey and said in disbelief, for this, I must die? ⁴⁴Saul replied; Shall God do this and more to you, yes you shall die Jonathan. ⁴⁵But the people said to Saul; Jonathan whom has initialized this great salvation in Israel from the Philistines, he shall not die! As the Lord lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day. ⁴⁶Saul then gave up his pursuit of the Philistines and the Philistines went back to their own place.

⁴⁷Saul then took his place in the kingdom of Israel and fought against all his enemies, the people of Moab, the sons of Ammon and with Edom, the kings of Zobah and with the Philistines. Wherever Saul directed his attention, he troubled those nations. ⁴⁸With the army he struck the Amalekites, delivering Israel out of their hands.

⁴⁹Now Saul's sons were Jonathan (his name means: Jehovah has given), Ishui (his name means: equal) and Melchishua (his name means: my king (gives) assistance) . The names of his two daughters: the firstborn's name was Merab (her name means: increase) and the name of the younger was, Michal (her name means: who is like God?).

⁵⁰The name of Saul's wife was Ahinoam (her name means: graceful), the daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of the commander of his army was Abner (his name means: father of light) , the son of Ner, Saul's uncle. ⁵¹Kish was the father of Saul and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel.

⁵²All the days of the reign of king Saul the war was heavy against the Philistines and when Saul saw any strong or brave man, he would take him for himself.

1^st Samuel: chapter 15

King Saul's last test, before his kingship is removed from him.

¹Samuel said to Saul; The Lord sent me to anoint you to be king over His people, of Israel. And now listen to the voice of the Words of the Lord. ²I will visit the Amalekites because they ambushed the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt. ³Therefore go and strike them, destroying all that they have. Kill both man and woman, infant, new-born and all their livestock. Spare nothing!

⁴Saul then gathered the people together and they were two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Judah. ⁵Saul and his men then came to a city of the Amalekites and they laid in wait in the valley. ⁶Seeing some of the Kenites there, Saul told them to Depart from the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to the sons of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. Thus the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. ⁷And Saul struck the Amalekites making a wide sweep through the land. ⁸Saul took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and he completely destroyed all the people with the sword. ⁹But Saul spared the king and the best of the sheep and the oxen along with all that he thought was good. But, everything that was undesirable and feeble they completely destroyed.

¹⁰Then the Word of the Lord came to Samuel saying; ¹¹I regret making Saul to be king. For he has turned from following Me and has not done My commands. This grieved Samuel and he cried out to the Lord all night. ¹²Samuel rose up early in the morning to meet Saul. But, was told that Saul went to the town of Carmel and set up a monument there for himself and then passed on to the city of Gilgal. ¹³When Samuel finely came to Saul. Saul greeted him and said; You are blessed of the Lord and I have done the command of the Lord. ¹⁴Samuel replied; Why do I then hear the sounds of livestock in the background? ¹⁵And Saul said, The people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, the others we have completely destroyed. ¹⁶Samuel then said to Saul; Stop right here! For I will tell you what the Lord has said to me. And Saul said to him, Speak. ¹⁷And Samuel said; When you were little in your own sight, you became the head of all Israel and the Lord anointed you king. ¹⁸The Lord sent you out and said; Go and completely destroy the Amalekites. ¹⁹Why then did you not obey the command of the Lord? For you grabbed all the spoil you could and you did evil in the sight of the Lord! ²⁰But Saul replied to Samuel; I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, I have gone the way that He has sent me. And have brought back Agag their king and have completely destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹The people only took the best of the livestock and the spoil, so as to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. ²²Samuel then said; Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as much as He does in obeying His commands? To hear His voice and to obey it is far better than sacrifice! ²³Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idol-worship. Because you have rejected the Word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king!

²⁴Saul then said to Samuel; I have sinned. I have disobeyed the command of the Lord and your word. Because I feared the people and harkened to their wants and desires. ²⁵Now, I pray that you will pardon my sin and turn to me so that I may worship the Lord. ²⁶But Samuel said; I will not, for you have rejected the Word of the Lord and therefore, the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel. ²⁷Then Samuel turned to go, but Saul grabbed his robe and tore it. ²⁸And Samuel turned to him and said; The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. ²⁹And this is the final word. For the God of Israel will not lie nor repent, for He is not a mortal man that He should repent. ³⁰Saul, then again pleaded; I have sinned. I pray that you honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel. Turn to me again and I will worship the Lord your God. ³¹So Samuel turned to Saul and Saul worshiped the Lord.

³²Samuel then said; Bring the king of the Amalekites to me. So with dignity the king came to him and said; Surely, the bitterness of death is past. ³³And Samuel said to him; As you made women childless, so shall your mother be become childless. And Samuel cut the king into pieces before the Lord. ³⁴Samuel then departed for Ramah and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah. ³⁵And Samuel did not see Saul again, until at his death. For Samuel mourned for Saul, but the Lord repented that He had made Saul king over Israel.

1^st Samuel: chapter 16

Anointing of David to be king over Israel.

¹Now the Lord said to Samuel; How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your vessel with oil and go to Jesse of Bethlehem. For I have seen a king for Me among his sons. ²Samuel said; But, how can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me. And the Lord said; Take a young cow with you and say; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. ³Call Jesse to the sacrifice and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for Me whomever I name to you. ⁴So Samuel did as the Lord said and went to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, asking; Have you come here in peace? ⁵And Samuel said; Yes, in peace. I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Therefore, sanctify yourselves and come to the sacrifice. And he called Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice.

⁶As Samuel came into the town, he saw Eliab, (NOTE: the oldest son of Jesse) and said to himself, surely this is the Lord's anointed. ⁷But the Lord said to Samuel; Do not look on the outward appearance, for I have rejected him. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. ⁸Jesse then called Abinadab, (Jesse' second son) and he passed before Samuel, but Samuel also said; The Lord has not chosen him. ⁹Jesse then had Shammah, (his third son) pass by, but Samuel again said; The Lord has not chosen him. ¹⁰Jesse passed all seven of his sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen any of these. ¹¹Samuel then ask Jesse; Are all your sons here? And Jesse replied; The youngest remains in the field, keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse; Send for him, we will not eat until he gets here. ¹²So they sent for David, (Jesse' youngest son), he had a healthy countenance and a good form. And the Lord said to Samuel; Anoint him. ¹³Then Samuel took his vessel of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. Samuel then got up and left for Ramah.

¹⁴And the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented and troubled him. ¹⁵This was apparent to Saul's servants and they said to him; An evil spirit from the Lord now terrifies you. ¹⁶Let our lord (Saul), instruct his servants to seek out a man to play soothing music on the harp. So that when the evil spirit from the Lord is on you, he can play for you and all shall then be well with you. ¹⁷And Saul said to his servants; Look for such a man who can play well and bring him to me. ¹⁸One of the servants then spoke saying; I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehem, who is skillful in playing and a mighty warrior. Wise in matters, a person of good form and the Lord is with him.

¹⁹Saul then sent messengers to Jesse and said; Send me your son David, who is with the sheep. ²⁰So Jesse loaded a donkey with bread, a skin of wine, a young goat and sent them by David his son, to Saul. ²¹David then came to Saul and served him. Saul immediately took to David and loved him greatly and David became Saul's armor-bearer. ²²Saul then sent a message to Jesse, saying; Please let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight. ²³And when the troubled spirit from the Lord was on Saul, David would play his harp and Saul would find relief, for the evil spirit would depart from him.

1^st Samuel: chapter 17

David's battle with Goliath the Philistine.

¹Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle, making the camp between two cities of Judah, on a mountain. ²And Saul with the men of Israel, gathered to battle against the Philistines. ³Both sides stood on mountains, the Philistines and the men of Israel, with a valley between them.

⁴Now there was a champion of the Philistines named Goliath from Gath and his height was nine feet nine inches. ⁵A bronze helmet was on his head, armed with scaled armor and the weight of the coat was one hundred twenty-five pounds of bronze. ⁶There was of armor on his legs and a bronze javelin upon his shoulder. ⁷The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, with the spear's head weighing fifteen pounds and made of iron. And the shield bearer walked in front of him. ⁸Goliath stood and shouted to the armies of Israel, saying to them; Why have you all come out for one man? I am the champion of the Philistine and you are all servants to king Saul. Therefore, choose a man for yourself and let him come down to me. ⁹If he is able to kill me, then we will be your slaves. But, if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our slaves and serve us. ¹⁰And Goliath said; I challenge and defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man to fight with. ¹¹When Saul and the men of Israel heard those words, they greatly feared.

¹²Now David was the youngest of Jesse's eight sons. However, Jesse himself was old in the days of Saul. ¹³And the three oldest sons of Jesse went out with Saul to the battle, their name are Eliab, Abinadab and Shammah. ^14-15While the three oldest brothers followed Saul. David, the youngest, made trips to Saul when he was not feeding his father's sheep in Bethlehem. ¹⁶Now Goliath came down from the Philistine and called out to the armies, both morning and evening and continued this for forty days. ¹⁷Then Jesse said to David, take this food to your brothers at their camp. ¹⁸Also take this cheeses to their commander and bring me report of how your brothers are faring, ¹⁹For Saul and your brothers along with all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines.

²⁰David rose up early in the morning, leaving the sheep with a keeper. And he came to the armies' encampment, as they were going out to battle. ²¹For there were also battles between the two sides, ranks to ranks. ²²As David arrived there he left his packages in the hand of the keeper of the baggage, ran to the troops and came and greeted his brothers. ²³As he was speaking with them, the champion named Goliath, came up out of the ranks and spoke of his challenge and David heard him. ²⁴And when the men of Israel, heard and saw Goliath, they ran in fear. ²⁵Then the men of Israel started talking, saying; have you seen this man Goliath, that has come to defy Israel? It shall be that whoever kills this man, the king will enrich the man with great riches, giving him his daughter as a wife and making his father's house free from taxes in Israel.

²⁶David then spoke to the men who stood by him, asking; What shall be the reward of the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the shame from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? ²⁷And the men answered David in the same way. ²⁸But his oldest brother Eliab overheard him as he spoke to the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David. And he said; Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the naughtiness of your heart. For you have come down to see the battle. ²⁹David replied; What have I done now? Was it not but a harmless question? ³⁰David then turned toward another and continued speaking according to the same question and the people answered him in the same way.

³¹However, the question and the words that David spoke were relayed to king Saul and the king sent for David. ³²And David said to Saul; Do not let any of the men's hearts fail because of this Goliath. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. ³³Now king Saul said to David; You are not able to fight against this Philistine, for he has been a man of war from his youth and you are but a youth. ³⁴But David replied to Saul; When I was keeping my father's sheep, there came a lion and a bear, taking a lamb out of the flock. ³⁵And I went after it and struck it, delivering the lamb out of its mouth. And when it came against me, I caught it by the beard, striking it and killed it. ³⁶Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be just like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷David went on to say; the Lord who has delivered me from the lion and from the bear, will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David; Go and may the Lord be with you.

³⁸Saul then put armor on David, putting a helmet of bronze on his head and scaled armor on him. ³⁹David then girded his sword over his armor and then tried to walk, but was not able to. And he said to Saul; I cannot wear these, for I am not accustomed to them and David took them off.

⁴⁰David then picked up his staff and chose five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch that he had. With his sling in his hand and he approached Goliath. ⁴¹Now Goliath drew near David, with his armor-bearer before him. ⁴²When the Philistine saw David, he was very distraught and felt great disdain for David. For he was only a youth, ruddy, having a handsome appearance. ⁴³And Goliath cursed David by his gods and said; Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? ⁴⁴Then the giant said to David; Come close and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field. ⁴⁵But David said to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, a spear and a javelin. But, I come to you in the name of the Lord of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶The Lord will deliver you into my hand today and I will strike you, cutting off your head. Thus today I will give the bodies of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth and all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷All the multitude shall then realize that the Lord does not save through the might of men or their power, for the battle is the Lord's and He will give you into our hands.

⁴⁸Now as the Philistine rose up to come to David, David began running toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹David then took a stone from his bag, put it in his sling and slung it. Striking the Philistine in his forehead and the stone sank into his forehead and Goliath fell on his face. ⁵⁰For David prevailed over the Philistine, killing him with a sling and with a stone, for no sword was in the hand of David. ⁵¹David then ran and stood on the Philistine, removing Goliath's sword and cutting off his head with it. When the Philistine armies saw that their champion was dead, they fled. ⁵²Then the men of Israel rose up and shouted and Judah pursued the Philistines striking them down all the way to the gates of Ekron. ⁵³And as the sons of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, they picked up the spoil on the way back. ⁵⁴And David brought the head of the Philistine to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.

⁵⁵When Saul saw David go up against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the army; Whose son is this young man? And Abner said; I do not know. ⁵⁶Saul then instructed Abner, to find out whose son the young man is. ⁵⁷As David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner brought him before Saul, David still having the head of the Philistine in his hand. ⁵⁸Saul then said to him; Young man, whose son are you? And David answered; I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.

1^st Samuel: chapter 18

¹When David had finished speaking with Saul, the soul of Jonathan, (NOTE: Saul's eldest son) was knit together with the soul of David's and Jonathan loved him as he did his own life. ²That day Saul took David into his service and would not let him return to his father's house any more. ³Jonathan and David also made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. ⁴And Jonathan gave David his robe that was on him, his armor, his sword and his bow, even giving David his belt. ⁵David went out wherever Saul sent him, acting wisely in all situations. And Saul placed David over his armies, this was pleasing to all the people and to Saul's own servants.

⁶Now as David returned from striking the Philistine, the women of the cities of Israel came out to meet King Saul joyfully singing and dancing with tambourines and with musical instruments. ⁷As the women played, they said; Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands. ⁸Hearing this Saul was very angry, for this was evil in his eyes. For he spouted; They have attributed tens of thousands to David and only thousands to me. And what more could he strive for but the kingdom itself! ⁹And Saul jealously eyed David from that day forward. ¹⁰But the very next day an evil spirit from God came upon Saul. As Saul was raving in the house, David played the lyre, however, a spear was in Saul's hand. ¹¹And Saul threw the spear. For he wished to pin David to the wall. But, David evaded him twice.

¹²Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him and the Lord had departed from him. ¹³So Saul removed David from his court, making him a commander over a thousand of his men. Then Saul went out and came in before the people. ¹⁴Now David was wise in all his ways and the Lord was with him. ¹⁵And when Saul saw how capable David was in all situations, he became afraid of him. ¹⁶But all of Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.

¹⁷Saul then said to David; I shall give you my older daughter Merab, as a wife. Only be brave my son and fight the Lord's battles. However, Saul's secret thought was, that his hand would not harm David, but the hand of the Philistines would harm him. ¹⁸But David said to Saul; Who am I, or my father's house in Israel, that I should be a son-in-law to the king? ¹⁹But before Merab, (Saul's daughter) was given to David, she was given to Adriel, the Meholathite to be his wife.

²⁰Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David. And they told Saul and this pleased him. ²¹So Saul said; I will give her to him, so that she may be a snare to him and so that the Philistines may be against him, (NOTE: in keeping the condition of killing 100 Philistines, that Saul would impose). And Saul said to David a second time; Today you shall be my son-in-law. ²²Then Saul commanded his servants, to talk with David in private and tell him the king and all his servant's delight in you. So do not have any concerns about being the king's son-in-law. ²³So Saul's servants spoke these words to David. And David said; Does it seem to you to be a light thing to be a king's son-in-law since I am a poor man and of little worth? ²⁴Saul's servants then relayed David's words back to Saul. ²⁵And Saul then said to his servants; Tell David that the king does not desire any dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, the king's enemies. But, Saul was secretly hoping that David would fall by the hand of the Philistines. ²⁶And when his servants told David these words, this pleased David to be the king's son-in-law before the days of the condition would expire. ²⁷So David arose and took his men and they killed two hundred Philistines. And David brought the full number of their foreskins to the king so that he might be the king's son-in-law. Saul then gave him his daughter Michal for a wife.

²⁸When Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that Michal, (his daughter), loved him. ²⁹Saul was even more afraid of David and he became David's enemy continually. ³⁰Then the rulers of the Philistines came out. And as often as they would come out, David would act more wisely, having greater success than all the servants of Saul, so that David's name became very precious to the people of Israel.

1^st Samuel: chapter 19

David's escape from King Saul, his thoughts are recorded in Psalm 59.

¹Saul now instructed his son Jonathan and all of his servants, to kill David. ²But Jonathan, (Saul's son), delighted much in David and told him. Saying; My father seeks to kill you. So be careful and hide in a secret place, until morning. ³Tomorrow I will go into the field with my father, there I will talk about you and shall relay to you what I find out. ⁴So Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul, saying; Why should the king sin against his servant David? David has not sinned against you, his works have been very good toward you. ⁵David took his life in his hand by going up against Goliath and killing him, the Lord has worked a great salvation in all of Israel. You also saw this and rejoiced! Why then would you sin against innocent blood, killing David without a cause? ⁶Saul listened to his son Jonathan and Saul swore; As the Lord lives, David shall not die. ⁷So Jonathan called David, telling him all these things. And Jonathan then brought David to Saul and David was in Saul's presence as in times past.

⁸War then broke out again with the Philistines and David went out, killing them in a great slaughter and scattering the rest. ⁹Again the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul as he sat in his house with a spear in his hand, while David played music on the lyre. ¹⁰And the thought came to Saul to pin David to the wall with the spear. But, David abruptly left Saul's presence, as Saul thew the spear into the wall.

¹¹Saul also sent messengers to David's house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. However, David's wife Michal told David, That if he did not escape tonight, tomorrow Saul is going to have you killed. ¹²So Michal let David down through a window. And he escaped and hurried away. ¹³She then took an image and laid it in the bed, putting a pillow of goats' hair at its head and covering it with a bedspread. ¹⁴Now when Saul sent messengers to take David, Michal told them, he was sick. ¹⁵Saul then sent the messengers bring David's bed back so that he could kill him. ¹⁶And when the messengers came in, they found the image in the bed with a pillow of goats' hair at its head. ¹⁷And Saul said to Michal (his daughter); Why have you deceived me so, letting my enemy escape? And Michal replied; He said to me; Let me go, why should I kill you?

¹⁸David escaped and went to Samuel (the prophet), in Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived in Naioth, (NOTE: a small village near or in Ramah, in Naioth, there was a company of prophets). ¹⁹However this was eventually told to Saul. ²⁰And Saul sent messengers to take David. However, when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God came on the messengers of Saul and they also prophesied. ²¹When they returned and told Saul, he sent other messengers, but they also prophesied. And Saul sent a third group of messengers, but they also prophesied. ²²Then he personalty went to Ramah and asked; Where Samuel and David were? And was told at Naioth in Ramah. ²³As Saul was going to Naioth in Ramah, the Spirit of God was on him also and he prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ²⁴When he arrived, Saul took off all his royal garments and prophesied before Samuel, laying down completely disrobed, all that day and all that night. Because of this they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?

1^st Samuel: chapter 20

¹However, David fled from the village of Naioth and went back to where Jonathan was. And said; What have I done? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life? ²And Jonathan replied; Far be it that you should die! My father does nothing either small or great that he will not share with me. My father would not hide this thing from me, thus it cannot be so. ³David solemnly said; Your father certainly knows that I have found grace with you. It is reasonable that he has purposed that you would not know this, lest Jonathan be filled with sorrow. But, as sure as the Lord lives, there is only a small gap between me and death. ⁴Jonathan then said to David; Whatever you wish, I will do that for you.

⁵And David said to Jonathan; Tomorrow is the new moon festival and I am to sit with the king at the table. However, I shall hide myself in a field until the evening of the third day. ⁶If your father should miss me at all, then say to him; David earnestly asked me that he might run to his city Bethlehem. For there is a yearly sacrifice for all the families. ⁷If Saul says, This is good, then peace shall be with me, but if he is very angry, then for sure he has evil planned for me. ⁸Please deal kindly with me, for you have brought me into a covenant of the Lord with you. But, if there is any iniquity in me, kill me yourself, rather than bringing me to your father.

⁹Jonathan replied; If I knew for certain that my father planned evil for you, I would certainly tell you. ¹⁰David then said to Jonathan; If your father does answer you roughly, how shall you let me know this? ¹¹And Jonathan said; Let's go in the field, so both of them went out into the field. ¹²Jonathan then said to David; With the Lord God of Israel as my witness. When I discover my father's intentions, about this time tomorrow or on the third day. If all is well, then I shall simply reveal it to you by speaking it out. ¹³If it seems good to my father to do you harm, may the Lord do so to Jonathan. Then I shall reveal it to you and send you away in peace. And may the Lord be with you, as He was once with my father. ¹⁴And while I still live, may you show me the kindness of the Lord. ¹⁵Do not cut off your kindness from my house forever, not even after the Lord has cut off all the enemies of David. ¹⁶And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying; may the Lord even require this covenant to be upheld by the hand of David's enemies. ¹⁷Jonathan then had David swear again to this oath, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

¹⁸Jonathan then said; Tomorrow is the new moon. Your seat at the feast will be empty and you shall be missed. ¹⁹On the third day you shall quietly come down near the feast, to the hiding place near the stone landmark Ezel, (the name means, division). ²⁰That day I will shoot three arrows on the side, as though I was shooting at a target. ²¹Sending a lad to retrieve the arrows. If I say to the lad; 'Look, the arrows are on this side of you, take them'. Then you will find peace and there will be no harm to you. ²²But if I say to the lad; 'Look, the arrows are beyond you'. Then you should go your own way, for the Lord has sent you away. ²³As to the covenant matter that we have spoken of, may the Lord be between you and me forever.

²⁴So David hid himself in the field. And at the time of the new moon, the king came up to the feast to eat. ²⁵Taking his customary seat by the wall. Jonathan sat opposite Saul and Abner sat by Saul's side, but David's place was empty. ²⁶Saul said nothing that day. For he thought, some matter happened to David, such as, he was not clean. (NOTE: coming in contact with a dead body would make one ritually unclean, Leviticus 7:20) ²⁷But on the next day, David's place was still empty. Saul said to his son Jonathan; Do you know why David has not come up to the feast, neither yesterday nor today? ²⁸And Jonathan answered Saul, saying; David earnestly asked of me, that he go to Bethlehem. ²⁹Saying; Please send me away, for we have a family sacrifice in the city. And my brother commanded me to be there. Now, if I have found favor with you, I pray that you will let me go so I can see my brothers. That is why he has not come to the king's table.

³⁰Saul's anger became kindled against Jonathan and he said to him; You are a son of a perverse rebellious woman. I know that you have chosen David to your own shame and to the shame of your mother who bore you. ³¹For as long as David remains on the earth, you shall not be established in your kingdom. Now send for David and get him up here, for he shall surely die! ³²Jonathan answered Saul, saying; Why should David be killed, what has he done? ³³Saul then threw a spear at Jonathan and by this Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David. ³⁴Jonathan then rose from the table in fierce anger and he refused to eat food on the second day of the new moon. For he was grieved for David, because his father had put him to shame.

³⁵Now in the morning Jonathan went out into the field at the time agreed upon with David. And a small lad was with him. ³⁶Jonathan said to this lad; Run and find the arrows that I shoot. As the lad ran, Jonathan shot an arrow, causing it to pass over him. ³⁷And when the lad came to where the arrow was, Jonathan cried out, saying; Is not the arrow beyond you? ³⁸Hurry now and make haste, do not stand. And the lad gathered up the arrow. ³⁹But the lad did not know anything, only Jonathan and David knew of the matter. ⁴⁰Jonathan then gave his weapons to this lad, to bring back to the city. ⁴¹And as soon as the lad had left. David came out of hiding, fell on his face and bowed himself three times. He and Jonathan kissed one another and wept with one another, until David gained his composure. ⁴²And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace because we have both sworn in the name of the Lord, saying; The Lord shall be between us and between my descendants and your descendants forever. Then David went away and Jonathan went back to the city.

1^st Samuel: chapter 21

David and his men eat the holy showbread.

¹David then fled to Nob (NOTE: a city of priests, within Israel) , to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was alarmed to see David and asked him; Why he was alone, without men with you? ²David told Ahimelech the priest; That he was on secret business from the king and that he was instructed to tell no man, not even of his whereabouts. ³Therefore, what have you got on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever you have. ⁴And the priest answered David, saying; We have no common bread, but there is holy bread if the young men have kept themselves at least from women. ⁵David answered, saying; I assure you women have been kept from us, for about three days, since I came out and my young men have kept themselves holy. And in a way the holy bread is common, but for today it shall be sanctified in holy vessels. ⁶So the priest gave him the holy bread, that was taken from before the Lord and warm bread was put back in it place, on the same day.

Doeg the Edomite, reports David's arrival to king Saul, this is spoken of in Psalm 52.

⁷However, a man from the servants of Saul was there on that day, very determined before the Lord. His name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsmen. ⁸And David said to Ahimelech; Is there not here under your hand a spear or sword? For I have not brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because of the king's business I needed to leave in haste. ⁹And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, that you killed is here, it is wrapped in a cloth under the ephod. Take it for yourself, for there is no other here except that one. And David replied; There is no other like it, give it to me.

David seeking refuge from a Philistine king, this is spoken of in Psalm 34

¹⁰That day David fled from there for fear of Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath. ¹¹However one of the king's servants said to the king; Is this not David the king of the land? Where the women sang and danced, saying; Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands?

¹²As David thought about these words he was now becoming very much afraid of Achish, the king of Gath. ¹³And he then changed his behavior before the Philistines and pretended to be mad in their presence. Scratching on the doors and letting his spittle fall down onto his beard. ¹⁴Achish, the king then said to his servants; Look, the man is mad. Why have you brought him to me? ¹⁵Do you think I have need of a mad man? Remove him from my presence.

1^st Samuel: chapter 22

¹David left from there and escaped to the cave, outside of the city of Adullam (NOTE: the name of the city means: refuge). And his brothers and all of his father's house heard he was there and they went down to him. ²Now every man that was with him was either distress, or had a creditor after him or simply bitter of soul. And David became commander over the group of approximately four hundred men.

³David then went to Mizpeh in Moab and asked the king; If his father and mother could stay in your land, until I know what God will do for me. ⁴And David brought them before the king of Moab. And they lived with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. (NOTE: Providing safe haven for his parents, not knowing how far Saul's revenge would go) ⁵But a prophet of the tribe of Gad said to David; Do not stay in the cave, but leave and go into the land of Judah. So David left there and came into the forest of Hareth.

⁶When Saul heard that the whereabouts of David and the men with him had been discovered, he was sitting in Gibeah under the tamarisk tree, with his spear in his hand. And all of his servants were standing about him. ⁷And he said to his servants, who were of the tribe of Benjamin; Do you really believe that David would give any of you fields and vineyards or make you officers of men? ⁸For all of you have conspired against me, none of you made it known to me when my son Jonathan cut a covenant with David? And not one of you regrets that my son has caused David to now lie in wait against me.

⁹But Doeg the Edomite replied, who was set over the servants of Saul, saying; I saw David in the city of Nob, with Ahimelech the priest. ¹⁰David asked for food and Ahimelech also gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine. ¹¹Saul then sent for Ahimelech the priest and for all who were in his father's house and all the priests in Nob. ¹²Then Saul said; Listen to me Ahimelech. And he answered, Yes, my lord. ¹³Why have you conspired against me together with David? You have given him bread and a sword and inquired of God for him, so that he could lie in wait against me.

¹⁴Ahimelech answered the king and said; There is none as faithful among all your servants as David, who is also the king's son-in-law. Whom you have also taken into your counsel and he is honored in your house? ¹⁵I have not inquired of God for him. May the king not impute a wrong against me or to my father house. For your servant knew nothing of all this. ¹⁶But Saul said; Ahimelech, you shall surely die, you and all within your father's house.

¹⁷Saul then said to the guard that stood around him; Kill these priests of the Lord, for they have conspired with David, knowing when he left and they did not disclose it to me. But, the servants of the king would not slaughter the priests of the Lord. ¹⁸So Saul turned to Doeg and said; You kill the priests. And Doeg the Edomite did so. On that day eighty-five persons who wore a linen ephod were slain. ¹⁹Doeg the Edomite also struck Nob, (the city of the priests), with the sword, both men and women, children and babes, oxen and cattle.

²⁰However one of the sons of Ahimelech, named Abiathar, escaped and fled to where David was. ²¹Telling David that Saul had slain the Lord's priests. ²²And David said; That day when I was there, I knew that Doeg the Edomite would tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the persons of your father's house. ²³Stay with me and do not fear. He who seeks my life, now also seeks your life.

1^st Samuel: chapter 23

Saul's neglect of the land, led to the Philistines raiding the land of Judah.

¹It was reported to David, that the Philistines were raiding the city of Keilah, ²So David inquired of the Lord, if he should go and war with the Philistines? And the Lord said to David; Go and strike the Philistines and save Keilah. ³But David's men said to him; We are afraid even to be here in Judah. How much more then if we go up against the armies of the Philistines? ⁴David, then again inquired of the Lord and the Lord answered him and said; Go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines over to you. ⁵So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines. There was a great slaughter, they scattered their cattle and David saved the people of Keilah. ⁶For when Abiathar (the son of the priest) had fled to David in Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand.

⁷It was then told to Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul's reasoning was that God has delivered David into his hands, for he is trapped within a fortified city having gates and bars. ⁸Saul then called his people together for battle, to go to Keilah and besiege David and his men. ⁹But David knew that Saul schemed evil against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, bring the ephod here. ¹⁰Then David said; Lord God of Israel, Your servant has surely heard that Saul is coming to Keilah, to destroy the city because of me. ¹¹Will Saul come down to Keilah? Lord God of Israel, I beg of You, let Your servant know this. And the Lord said; He will come down. ¹²David then asked; If the men of Keilah will hand me and my men over to Saul? And the Lord said; They will. ¹³So David and his men, now about six hundred, left the city of Keilah. It was told to Saul that David had escaped from the city, so Saul did not come to the city.

¹⁴David then remained in strongholds in the wilderness of southern Judah. And Saul searched for him daily, but God did not deliver David into his hand. ¹⁵As David was staying in the wooded wilderness of Ziph, he knew that Saul was hunting him. ¹⁶Now Jonathan, (Saul's son), went into the woods to encourage, comfort and strengthen David's hand. ¹⁷And Jonathan, said; Do not fear, for my father will not find you. For you shall be king over Israel and I shall sit beside you. My father Saul knows this also. ¹⁸The two of them made a covenant before the Lord. David then remained in the forest and Jonathan went back to his house.

¹⁹Then the men of that city reported to Saul, that David was hiding within strongholds in the forest. ²⁰Saying to the king; Come down to us and do to David according to the desire of your soul, we will deliver him over to you. ²¹Saul then sent message back, saying; You are a blessing from the Lord, for you have had pity on me. ²²Now, please make certain that he is there, for I am told that he is very crafty. ²³Take note of all his hiding places and return to me with the details. I will then come to you and if he is in the land of Judah, I will find him.

²⁴So the people of Ziph scouted out the land. But, in the meantime David and his men had moved to the wilderness of Maon, on the south of the desert, (NOTE: about 5 miles away). ²⁵Saul and his men then came looking for David and when Saul heard that David had gone down to the wilderness of Maon, Saul followed him. ²⁶And it happened that Saul camped on one side of the mountain and David and his men camped on the other side. And David quickly made haste to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men were near surrounding them.

²⁷A messenger then came to Saul, saying; Come back quickly, for the Philistines have invaded the land. ²⁸So Saul relented from pursuing David, returned home and went against the Philistines. Therefore, they called that (mountain), The Rock of the Division. ²⁹And David left there and stayed in strongholds at En-gedi, (NOTE: about 14 miles away).

1^st Samuel: chapter 24

¹When Saul had returned from the battle with the Philistines, the people told him that David was in the wilderness of En-gedi. ²Saul then took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel and went to seek David along the rock cliffs and the mountainous region of the wild goats. ³As Saul came to a certain regain where there was a cave. He turned into it for the night. And David and his men were in the sides of the cave. ⁴David's men came to him and said; This day the Lord has delivered your enemy into your hands, to do to as you wish. David then arose and cut off a piece of Saul's robe. ⁵But afterward David felt guilt-ridden, because he had cut off a piece of Saul's robe. ⁶And he said to his men; May the Lord keep me from stretching forth my hand against the king that He has anointed. ⁷David also restrained his men with words, not allowing them to rise against Saul. And the next day Saul rose, left the cave and continued on his way. ⁸When Saul had left the cave and was a distance away. David left the cave and cried out to Saul, saying; My lord the king! And Saul looked behind him. And David bowed his face to the ground.

⁹And David said to Saul; Why do you listen to the words of men that say that David seeks to do you evil? ¹⁰You have seen how the Lord had delivered you into my hands the cave. My men told me to kill you, but I had pity on you. For I said; I will not put forth my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed. ¹¹Moreover my father, see the piece of material in my hand, I cut it off from your robe and did not kill you. May you realize that there is no evil in my hands, I have not sinned against you. Yet, you hunt my life to kill me. ¹²May the Lord judge between me and you and avenge me from you, but my hand shall not be against you. ¹³As the proverb says; Wickedness proceeds from the wicked. ¹⁴Why is the king of Israel pursuing a poor shepherd boy? ¹⁵Therefore let the Lord judge between you and me and deliver me from your hand.

¹⁶When David had finished speaking these words to Saul. Saul said; Is that your voice, my son David? And he then wept. ¹⁷Saying to David; You are more righteous than I, for you have rewarded me with good, but I have rewarded you with evil. ¹⁸This day you have dealt well with me, for when the Lord put me into your hands, you did not kill me. ¹⁹When a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away unharmed? May the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. ²⁰Now I know and understand that you will be king of Israel and the kingdom shall be established in your hand. ²¹Now swear to me before the Lord that you will not cut off my name or destroy the descendants of my father's house. ²²And David swore to Saul. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went up into the stronghold.

1^st Samuel: chapter 25

¹When Samuel died, all the Israelites gathered to mourn his death and they buried him where his house was at Ramah. At that time David went down to the wilderness of Paran.

²Now there was a certain man in the city of Maon within the mountain region of Judah, whose work was in the city of Carmel. He was a very great man, having three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was currently shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³The man's name was Nabal, (his name means: worthlessness) and his wife's name was Abigail (her name means: father of joy). She was a wise woman and very beautiful, but the man was cruel and evil. Nabal was a descendant of Caleb, Numbers 13, Joshua 15:13.

⁴And David had heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵So he sent out ten young men, telling them to go to the city of Carmel and speak to Nabal, greeting him in my name. ⁶And say; life and peace be with you and your house and all that you have. ⁷Your shepherds that have been with us, we have protected them while they have been in the city of Carmel, for they have not suffered any loss. ⁸You can verify that with your young men. And now let our young men find favor with you, for we were there at an opportune time. So please give to your servants and to David some of the profits that you have gained. ⁹And David's young men spoke these words to Nabal. ¹⁰But Nabal answered David's servants and said; Who is this David? Are you not the servants who have broken away each from his own master and now David's gang is increasing in number. ¹¹Should I take my bread, water and meat that I have purposed for my workers and give it to men whom I know nothing about or where they come from?

¹²Then David's men left and returned to David, telling him these things. ¹³David then said to his men; Have each man take up their sword. Approximately, four hundred men went out with David and two hundred stayed behind to guard the camp. ¹⁴However one of the shepherds told Abigail, (Nabal's wife), that David had sent out messengers from his men to greet our master, but he screamed and insulted them. ¹⁵But his men were very good to us, we were not hurt, nor robbed in any way while we were staying with them. ¹⁶They were a protective wall to us both night and day ¹⁷And now consider what you will do, for evil is determined against our master and against all in his household. I have spoken to you, for no one can speak to Nabal, for he is a son of worthlessness.

¹⁸Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five measures of roasted grain, one hundred clusters of raisins and laid them on a donkey. ¹⁹She then said to her servants; Go ahead of me and I will come after you, however, she did not tell her husband Nabal.

²⁰Now as Abigail was riding on her donkey, nearing the mountain, she met David and his men. ²¹And David spoke to her, saying; Surely in vain we have protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness. And he has repaid me evil for good. ²²This and more may God do to the enemies of David, not one male of his household shall be left standing by morning.

²³When Abigail saw David, she quickly dismounted from her donkey, falling before David and bowing before him. ²⁴Saying; Put all this iniquity on me and please let your handmaid speak and hear my words. ²⁵Please do not regard the man Nabal, for he is a man of worthlessness, as his name is, so is he. But, I, your handmaid, did not speak to the messages that my lord sent. ²⁶Now, my lord, as the Lord Himself lives and your soul lives, He has kept you from shedding blood and avenging yourself by your own hand. May all your enemies and those that seek to do evil to my lord, be worthless fools as Nabal. ²⁷Now let this blessing which your handmaid has brought to my lord, also be given to the young men who follow my lord. ²⁸Please forgive my trespass. For the Lord will certainly make a sure house for you, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord and no evil has been found in you throughout your days. ²⁹Yet a man has risen to seek your life. But, your life is tightly bound together with the Lord your God and your enemies shall He find worthless as chaff. ³⁰And it shall be, when the Lord has done to my lord according to the good that He has spoken concerning you, you shall become ruler over Israel. ³¹When you have taken your rightful place as king over Israel, may this matter not be a stumbling block to my lord, that he has shed blood for nothing. May the Lord deal well with my lord and remember Your handmaid.

³²And David said to Abigail; Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you today to meet me. ³³Your advice is good and blessed are you who have kept me from shedding blood this day and from avenging myself with my own hand. ³⁴Truly, as the Lord God of Israel lives, who has kept me from doing evil to you. For if you had not hurried to meet to me, there would not have been any male descendants of Nabal left come morning. ³⁵David then received the gift she had brought and said to her; Go in peace to your house. For I have listened to your voice and granted your petition.

³⁶Abigail then returned to Nabal. And he was holding a great feast in his house, much like a king's feast. Nabal's heart was merry, for he was very drunk. So Abigail told him nothing until the morning light. ³⁷In the morning, when Nabal was sober, Abigail told him these things and upon hearing them Nabal's heart died within him and he became like a stone.

³⁸Approximately ten days after the Lord had struck Nabal and he died. ³⁹David heard of Nabal's death and he said; Blessed is the Lord, who has defended my reproach and has also kept His servant from evil. For the Lord has returned Nabal's own wickedness upon his own head. David then sent message to and spoke with Abigail, to take her as a wife.

⁴⁰And David's servants came to Abigail at the city of Carmel and spoke to her, saying; David has sent us to you that he shall take you as a wife. ⁴¹Then she bowed herself to the ground, saying; May his handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. ⁴²She then quickly mounted a donkey, with five of her maidens that came behind her. And she followed the messengers of David and became his wife. ⁴³David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel and both, she and Abigail became his wives. ⁴⁴For Saul gave his daughter Michal, (David's wife), to Phalti, that was of the tribe of Benjamin.

1^st Samuel: chapter 26

The people of Judah, report to king Saul, David's location, also told of in Psalm 54.

¹Now the Ziphites again came to Saul and told him that David was hiding himself in the hills on the edge of the desert. ²So Saul took three thousand chosen men with him and went down to the wilderness of Ziph to seek out David. ³Saul pitched his tent on the edge of the desert, by the highway. However, David was dwelling in the wilderness and was able to see Saul's camp. ⁴And he also sent out spies to verify that it was Saul. ⁵Then David went down with his men to the edge of Saul's camp. And saw the barricade where Saul lay, next to Abner, the captain of his army, with the troops camped all around him.

⁶David then asked his men, who will go down with me to Saul's camp. And Abishai (his name means: father of salivation), said, I will go down with you. ⁷Under the cover of night, David and Abishai went down to the camp. And Saul lay sleeping in the tent, his spear stuck in the ground by his head. ⁸And Abishai said to David; God has put your enemy into your hands this day. Now please let me strike him with the spear, I will pin him to the earth and will not have to strike him again. ⁹But David said to Abishai; Do not destroy him, for this is the Lord's anointed. How can we kill him and not be guiltless? ¹⁰Except the Lord strike him, or his day comes and he dies, or dies in battle. ¹¹By the goodness of the Lord, far be it from me to put forth my hand against the Lord's anointed. But, we shall take the spear at his head and his water jug and we shall go. ¹²And they left the camp without anyone knowing they had been there, for they were all sleeping, because the Lord had caused a deep sleep to come over them.

¹³David then went over to the other side and stood on top of a hill, having a goodly distance between him and Saul's camp. ¹⁴David shouted out to the men in Saul's camp, saying; Abner, do you not answer? And Abner answered, saying; Who are you that cries to the king? ¹⁵David then said; Are you not bound by your office to guard the lord your king? For while you were sleeping, someone came in to destroy the king. ¹⁶This is not good, for you have not watched over your master, the Lord's anointed, therefore, you are worthy of death. For see where the king's spear is and his jug of water that were at his head. ¹⁷But Saul recognized David's voice and said; Is that your voice, my son David? And David answered; Yes it is, my lord and king. ¹⁸David continued and said; Why does my lord pursue after his servant this way? For what have I done, what evil is in my hand? ¹⁹Please hear the words of your servant. If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let Him accept an offering. But, if men have stirred you up, they are cursed before the Lord. For they have become a barrier to me from receiving my inheritance of the Lord, as they serve their false gods and encourage others to do likewise. ²⁰Let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the Lord. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a poor shepherd boy.

²¹Saul then said; I have sinned! Return, my son David, for I will not harm you any more, For you have regarded my life this day, I have erred greatly and acted foolishly. ²²David then said; here is the king's spear! Let one of your men come over and get it. ²³And may the Lord reward each of us accordingly to that man's righteousness and faithfulness. For the Lord delivered you into my hand today, but I would not stretch forth my hand against the Lord's anointed. ²⁴Just as your life was precious in my eyes this day, so let my life be precious in the eyes of the Lord and may He deliver me out of all tribulations. ²⁵And Saul said to David; Blessed are you, my son David. You shall both do great things and shall also prevail. So David went on his way and Saul returned to his place.

1^st Samuel: chapter 27

¹However, David thought in his heart, that he would perish one day by the hand of Saul. I shall escape into the land of the Philistines and Saul shall abandon his efforts to seek me within the border of Israel. ²So David and his six hundred men passed over to Achish the king of Gath. ³There in the Philistine city of Gath, David and his men stayed, each one with his household, David with his two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail. ⁴Saul was told that David had fled to Gath and he never again looked for him.

⁵David then said to Achish, the king; If I have now found favor in your eyes, may we be given land within the country to live. For why should your servant live in the royal city with you? ⁶So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. And Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah to this day. ⁷And David lived in the land of the Philistines for one year and four months.

⁸From Ziklag, David and his men went out and raided the Geshurites, the Gezrites and the Amalekites. For they had been the inhabitants of the land in the past days. ⁹When David struck the land, he did not let any man or woman remain alive and he carried away their sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels and their clothing and would then return to Achish the king. ¹⁰And Achish would ask; Where have you made a raid today? But, David would say; Against the far side of Judah, against the far side of the Jerahmeelites and against the far side of the Kenites. (NOTE: These territories were far removed from Gath, so that the king would not verify them). ¹¹The territories that David raided, he left no man or woman alive, so that no report would be brought back to the king of Gath. That was his way of operation all the days he lived in the fields of the Philistines. ¹²And Achish, the king believed David, thinking that, David had made himself to be hated among his people Israel and had become his servant forever.

1^st Samuel: chapter 28

King Saul, consults the witch of En-Dor.

(NOTE: The village of En-Dor was remote however it was part of the tribe of Manasseh)

¹Now it happened that the Philistines gathered their armies together for war, to fight with Israel. And Achish, the king said to David; You do know that you and you men will surely go up with us to the battle. ²And David said to the king; You shall surly see what your servant can do. And Achish said; I shall then make you my bodyguard forever.

³Now Samuel was dead and Saul had put all the mediums and the soothsayers out of the land of Israel. ⁴And the Philistines armies gathered themselves near the boarder and likewise, did Saul and all of Israel. ⁵When Saul saw the armies of the Philistines, he became afraid and his heart greatly trembled. ⁶For when Saul inquired of the Lord, he did not get an answer, not by dreams, or by Urim, nor by prophets.

⁷So Saul said to his servants; Find me a woman who is a medium, so that I may inquire of her. And his servant answered, saying; There is a woman who is a medium at En-Dor. ⁸Saul then disguised himself and left with two of his men. The three came to the woman by night and said; We wish for you to call up the dead, the man that we shall name. ⁹And the woman replied; Have you heard what king Saul has done, how he has removed mediums and soothsayers, out of the land of Israel. Why then do you lay a trap for my life to cause me to die? ¹⁰But Saul swore to her, saying; As the Lord lives, no harm shall come to you, for doing this. ¹¹So the woman asked; Whom shall I bring up for you? And he said; Bring up for me Samuel.

¹²When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed. Saying to Saul; Why have you deceived me? For you are king Saul! ¹³And the king said to her; Do not be afraid, tell me what you saw? And the woman said to Saul; I saw gods coming up out of the earth. ¹⁴Saul then asked, what is his form? And she said; An old man comes up, covered with a cloak. Then Saul knew that it was Samuel and he bowed his face to the ground.

¹⁵Samuel then said to Saul; Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up? And Saul answered; I am greatly distressed, for the Philistines are warring against me. God has left me and does not answer me any more, not by prophets or by dreams. So I have called you so that you may make known to me what I should do. ¹⁶Samuel replied; Why then do you ask me, if the Lord has left you and has become your enemy? ¹⁷The Lord has done exactly as He has spoken through me in the past. He has taken the kingdom out of your hand and is giving it to your neighbor, to David. ¹⁸Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, nor executed His fierce wrath on Amalek. ¹⁹The Lord will deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines and by tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me.

²⁰Upon hearing this Saul immediately fell headlong on the earth and was afraid and there was no strength left in him, for he had fasted all day and night. ²¹Now the woman came to Saul, seeing that he was very troubled and said to him; Your handmaid has obeyed your voice and has put her life in your hands, for I have listened to and obeyed your commands. ²²Please now listen to your handmaid and let me set a bit of bread before you, so that you have strength when you go on your way. ²³Saul refused the food, saying; I will not eat. But, his servants along with the woman persuaded him to, so he got up from the ground and sat on the bed. ²⁴The woman killed a fatted calf, kneaded some flour and baked unleavened bread. ²⁵Bringing it before Saul and his servants and they ate. Then they rose up and went away that night.

NOTE: (click here, to see a paper on the witch of En-dor).

1^st Samuel: chapter 29

¹Now the Philistines had assembled their armies and they were also advancing. And the Israelites also were advancing their men. ²As the troops of the Philistines were marching in ranks of hundreds and thousands by the rulers of the Philistines, David and his men were in the rear with Achish, the king. ³ And the rulers of the Philistines said to Achish; What are these Hebrews doing in our ranks? And Achish said to the rulers of the Philistines; This is David the servant of Saul the king of Israel, he has been with me these days and years. And I have not found anything evil in him from the day he fell away until today? ⁴But the rulers of the Philistines were angry with Achish. And said to him; Send the men back to the land you have appointed them. They shall not go with us to battle, becoming an enemy to us in the heat of the battle. For how could these men now become loyal to us? ⁵Is not this David, of whom they sang to one another in dances, saying, Saul has killed his thousands and David his ten thousands?

⁶So Achish called David and said to him, Surely, as the Lord lives, you have been upright and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight. For I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me until today. But, you are not good in the eyes of the lords. ⁷You must return now to your land, go in peace so that you do not displease the lords of the Philistines. ⁸And David said to Achish; But, what have I done? What have you found in your servant, so long as I have been with you to this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king? ⁹Achish answered David; I know that you are good in my sight, like an angel of God. But, the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle. ¹⁰Early in the morning, you and your men shall depart. ¹¹So in the morning, David and his men returned back to the land of the Philistines, while the Philistines went up to the battlefield.

1^st Samuel: chapter 30

¹When David and his men had returned to Ziklag, after three days. They found that the Amalekites had struck the south and burnt Ziklag. ²And had carried away all the women and children. ³So as David and his men came into the city, they found it burnt and that their wives, sons and daughters had been taken captive. ⁴all the men along with David then wept, until they could not weep any more. ⁵For David's two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail, had been seized. ⁶And he was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him, because all the men were also greatly grieved, each one for his sons and daughters. But, David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.

⁷David then said to Abiathar the priest; Please bring me the ephod. ⁸And David inquired of the Lord, if he should go after these raiders and overtake them? And the Lord answered him, saying; Go! You shall surely overtake them and will recover everything. ^9-10So David and the six hundred men that were with him left and came to the brook of Besor, where they left the men who were exhausted behind, but David and four hundred men pursued on. ¹¹As they traveled, they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. After they have given him bread and water and he ate, ¹²a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins, he revived. For he had not eaten for three days and nights. ¹³David then asked him; Who he was and where he came from? And he said; I am an Egyptian, a servant to an Amalekite. My master left me here three days ago, because I became sick. ¹⁴We raided the south of the Cherethites, that belonging to Judah, the south of Caleb and we burnt Ziklag. ¹⁵David then said; Can you bring me down to this band of men? And he said; Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master and I will bring you down to this company.

¹⁶When they had come to where the group of men were. They were scattered all over the land, eating, drinking and dancing, because of the great spoil they had taken. ¹⁷David struck them, beginning at twilight and continuing until the evening of the next day. And not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who fled on camels. ¹⁸All that was carried away was recovered and David's two wives were rescued. ¹⁹Nothing was lacking, all the sons and daughters, all the spoil, both small and great. David recovered it all. ²⁰And David took all the flocks and herds, that the enemy had. And they drove them ahead of them, claiming them as David's spoil.

²¹When they arrived back at the brook of Besor, where they had left the two hundred men who were too exhausted to go on. The two hundred came out to greet David and the other men. ²²And every evil and worthless man who had gone with David, said; Because you did not go with us, we will not give you any of the spoil that we have seized, only take your wives and children. ²³But David said; My brothers, you shall not do so with what the Lord has given us. For He has protected us and has delivered the company of raiders that came against us into our hands. ²⁴It will be that they who stayed with the gear shall have an equal share with those who went down to the battle. ²⁵From that day on David made it a statute and law in all of Israel. ²⁶When David came into Ziklag, he also sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah and to his friends, saying; Here is a present for you, some of the spoil from the enemies of the Lord. ²⁷He sent gifts to the elders in the cities of Bethel, Ramoth and Jattir, ²⁸the cities of Aroer and Siphmoth and the towns of Eshtemoa ²⁹and Rachal, to the cities of the Jerahmeelites, the Kenites, ³⁰Hormah and Chorashan and the village of Athach, ³¹And to the city of Hebron. All the places near and around Judah, where David and his men had stayed, as they were running from Saul.

1^st Samuel: chapter 31

Death of king Saul and his sons, is also recorded in, 1^st Chronicles 10.

¹Now the Philistines fought against Israel and the men of Israel fled, only to be slain in Mount Gilboa. ²And the Philistines followed Saul and his sons. Killing Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchishua, (Saul's sons). ³The battle went hard against Saul. For the archers hit him and badly wounded him. ⁴Then Saul said to his armor-bearer; Draw your sword and thrust me through with it. Lest these uncircumcised men come and abuse me, before they kill me. But, his armor-bearer would not, for he was very much afraid to do so. So Saul took a sword and fell on it. ⁵And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died along with him. ⁶That day, Saul died, his three sons, his armor-bearer and all his men. ⁷When the men of Israel beyond the valley on the other side of the Jordan river, saw that the men of Israel had been defeated and that Saul and his sons had died. They abandoned their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸Now on the next day, the Philistines came to strip the slain and they found Saul and his three sons fallen in Mount Gilboa. ⁹They cut off their heads, removed their armor and sent them all around the land of the Philistines, publishing their victory in the house of their idols and among the people. ¹⁰They then put Saul's armor in the house of Ashtaroth (their pagan goddess) and they fastened his body to the city wall of Beth-shean.

¹¹When the Israelites of Jabesh-gilead heard of what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹²all the brave men traveled all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shean. Then they returned to Jabesh-gilead and burned the bodies there. ¹³burying their bones under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh-gilead and they fasted for seven days.