Event 4 of 13

The Story of David

WEBWorld English Bible — Protestant Edition

A fugitive from Saul

David flees from Saul, gathers men at Adullam, and twice spares Saul's life because he is the LORD's anointed.

59 verses to read

1 Samuel 19:9–18 WEB

⁹An evil spirit from the LORD was on Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing music with his hand. ¹⁰Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence; and he stuck the spear into the wall. David fled and escaped that night. ¹¹Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you don’t save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” ¹²So Michal let David down through the window. He went away, fled, and escaped. ¹³Michal took the teraphim and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with clothes. ¹⁴When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” ¹⁵Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” ¹⁶When the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head. ¹⁷Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’” ¹⁸Now David fled and escaped, and came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and lived in Naioth.

1 Samuel 22:1–2 WEB

¹David therefore departed from there and escaped to Adullam’s cave. When his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. ²Everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered themselves to him; and he became captain over them. There were with him about four hundred men.

1 Samuel 24:1–22 WEB

¹When Saul had returned from following the Philistines, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.” ²Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats. ³He came to the sheep pens by the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were staying in the innermost parts of the cave. ⁴David’s men said to him, “Behold, the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe secretly. ⁵Afterward, David’s heart struck him because he had cut off Saul’s skirt. ⁶He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the LORD’s anointed.” ⁷So David checked his men with these words, and didn’t allow them to rise against Saul. Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way. ⁸David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave and cried after Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and showed respect. ⁹David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to men’s words, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to harm you’? ¹⁰Behold, today your eyes have seen how the LORD had delivered you today into my hand in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’s anointed.’ ¹¹Moreover, my father, behold, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe and didn’t kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor disobedience in my hand. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt for my life to take it. ¹²May the LORD judge between me and you, and may the LORD avenge me of you; but my hand will not be on you. ¹³As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness;’ but my hand will not be on you. ¹⁴Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea? ¹⁵May the LORD therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.” ¹⁶It came to pass, when David had finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” Saul lifted up his voice and wept. ¹⁷He said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for you have done good to me, whereas I have done evil to you. ¹⁸You have declared today how you have dealt well with me, because when the LORD had delivered me up into your hand, you didn’t kill me. ¹⁹For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away unharmed? Therefore may the LORD reward you good for that which you have done to me today. ²⁰Now, behold, I know that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand. ²¹Swear now therefore to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s house.” ²²David swore to Saul. Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

1 Samuel 26:1–25 WEB

¹The Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert?” ²Then Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. ³Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert, by the way. But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. ⁴David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul had certainly come. ⁵Then David arose and came to the place where Saul had encamped; and David saw the place where Saul lay, with Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his army. Saul lay within the place of the wagons, and the people were encamped around him. ⁶Then David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, saying, “Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp?” Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” ⁷So David and Abishai came to the people by night; and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the place of the wagons, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people lay around him. ⁸Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered up your enemy into your hand today. Now therefore please let me strike him with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time.” ⁹David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against the LORD’s anointed, and be guiltless?” ¹⁰David said, “As the LORD lives, the LORD will strike him; or his day shall come to die, or he shall go down into battle and perish. ¹¹The LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed; but now please take the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let’s go.” ¹²So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul’s head, and they went away. No man saw it, or knew it, nor did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen on them. ¹³Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of the mountain far away, a great space being between them; ¹⁴and David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Don’t you answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered, “Who are you who calls to the king?” ¹⁵David said to Abner, “Aren’t you a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy your lord the king. ¹⁶This thing isn’t good that you have done. As the LORD lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the LORD’s anointed. Now see where the king’s spear is, and the jar of water that was at his head.” ¹⁷Saul recognized David’s voice, and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” ¹⁸He said, “Why does my lord pursue his servant? For what have I done? What evil is in my hand? ¹⁹Now therefore, please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is so that the LORD has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, they are cursed before the LORD; for they have driven me out today that I shouldn’t cling to the LORD’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods!’ ²⁰Now therefore, don’t let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the LORD; for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.” ²¹Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David; for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes today. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.” ²²David answered, “Behold the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and get it. ²³The LORD will give to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness; because the LORD delivered you into my hand today, and I wouldn’t stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. ²⁴Behold, as your life was respected today in my eyes, so let my life be respected in the LORD’s eyes, and let him deliver me out of all oppression.” ²⁵Then Saul said to David, “You are blessed, my son David. You will both do mightily, and will surely prevail.” So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

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