14“And you shall not only show me the kindness of the LORD while I still live, that I may not die;
15“but myou shall not 2cut off your kindness from my 3house forever, no, not when the LORD has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.”
16So Jonathan made a covenant with the 4house of David, saying, n“Let the LORD require it at the hand of David’s enemies.”
17Now Jonathan again caused David to vow, because he loved him; ofor he loved him as he loved his own soul.
18Then Jonathan said to David, p“Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.
19“And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to qthe place where you hid on the day of the deed; and remain by the stone Ezel.
20“Then I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target;
21“and there I will send a lad, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to the lad, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them and come’—then, ras the LORD lives, there is safety for you and no harm.
22“But if I say thus to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you’—go your way, for the LORD has sent you away.
23“And as for sthe matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed the LORD be between you and me forever.”
24Then David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast.
25Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And 5Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty.
26Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him; he is unclean, surely he is tunclean.”
27And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”
28So Jonathan uanswered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem.
29“And he said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.”
30Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?
31“For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he 6shall surely die.”
32And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, v“Why should he be killed? What has he done?”
33Then Saul wcast a spear at him to 7kill him, xby which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David.
34So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully.
35And so it was, in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad was with him.
36Then he said to his lad, “Now run, find the arrows which I shoot.” As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
37When the lad had come to the place where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out after the lad and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”
38And Jonathan cried out after the lad, “Make haste, hurry, do not delay!” So Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master.
39But the lad did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter.
40Then Jonathan gave his 8weapons to his lad, and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.”
41As soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another; and they wept together, but David more so.
42Then Jonathan said to David, y“Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever.’ ” So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.
1 Samuel 21
David and the Holy Bread
1Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And aAhimelech was bafraid when he met David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”
2So David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you.’ And I have directed my young men to such and such a place.
3“Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found.”
4And the priest answered David and said, “There is no 1common bread on hand; but there is choly2 bread, dif the young men have at least kept themselves from women.”
5Then David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And 3the evessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated fin the vessel this day.”
6So the priest ggave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread hwhich had been taken from before the LORD, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.
7Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD. And his name was iDoeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
8And David said to Ahimelech, “Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”
9So the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in jthe Valley of Elah, kthere it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it. For there is no other except that one here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”
David Flees to Gath
10Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
11And lthe servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of him to one another in dances, saying:
m‘Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands’?”
12Now David ntook these words 4to heart, and was very much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
13So ohe changed his behavior before them, pretended 5madness in their hands, 6scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva fall down on his beard.
14Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me?
15“Have I need of madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”
1 Samuel 22
David’s Four Hundred Men
1David therefore departed from there and aescaped bto the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.
2cAnd everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was 1discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about dfour hundred men with him.
3Then David went from there to Mizpah of eMoab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come here with you, till I know what God will do for me.”
4So he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.
5Now the prophet fGad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go to the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.
Saul Murders the Priests
6When Saul hear
d that David and the men who were with him had been discovered—now Saul was staying in gGibeah under a tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants standing about him—
7then Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse hgive every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds?
8“All of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who reveals to me that imy son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse; and there is not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day.”
9Then answered jDoeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said, “I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to kAhimelech the son of lAhitub.
10m“And he inquired of the LORD for him, ngave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
11So the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were in Nob. And they all came to the king.
12And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub!” He answered, “Here I am, my lord.”
13Then Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day?”
14So Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as ofaithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, who goes at your bidding, and is honorable in your house?
15“Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king impute anything to his servant, or to any in the house of my father. For your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much.”
16And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all pyour father’s house!”
17Then the king said to the guards who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me.” But the servants of the king qwould not lift their hands to strike the priests of the LORD.
18And the king said to Doeg, “You turn and kill the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite turned and 2struck the priests, and rkilled on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod.
19sAlso Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep—with the edge of the sword.
20tNow one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, uescaped and fled after David.
21And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the LORD’s priests.
22So David said to Abiathar, “I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the persons of your father’s 3house.
23“Stay with me; do not fear. vFor he who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me you shall be safe.”
1 Samuel 23
David Saves the City of Keilah
1Then they told David, saying, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against aKeilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors.”
2Therefore David binquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and 1attack these Philistines?” And the LORD said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines, and save Keilah.”
3But David’s men said to him, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”
4Then David inquired of the LORD once again. And the LORD answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah. For I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
5And David and his men went to Keilah and cfought with the Philistines, struck them with a mighty blow, and took away their livestock. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
6Now it happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech dfled to David at Keilah, that he went down with an ephod in his hand.
7And Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah. So Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.”
8Then Saul called all the people together for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.
9When David knew that Saul plotted evil against him, ehe said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.”
10Then David said, “O LORD God of Israel, Your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah fto destroy the city for my sake.
11“Will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” And the LORD said, “He will come down.”
12Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah 2deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will deliver you.”
13So David and his men, gabout six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah and went wherever they could go. Then it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah; so he halted the expedition.
David in Wilderness Strongholds
14And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in hthe mountains in the Wilderness of iZiph. Saul jsought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.
15So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph 3in a forest.
16Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and 4strengthened his hand in God.
17And he said to him, k“Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. lEven my father Saul knows that.”
18So the two of them mmade a covenant before the LORD. And David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house.
19Then the Ziphites ncame up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding with us in strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?
20“Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to come down; and oour part shall be to deliver him into the king’s hand.”
21And Saul said, “Blessed are you of the LORD, for you have compassion on me.
22“Please go and find out for sure, and see the place where his hideout is, and who has seen him there. For I am told he is very crafty.
23“See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides; and come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. And it shall be, if he is in the land, that I will search for him throughout all the 5clans of Judah.”
24So they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. But David and his men were in the Wilderness pof Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon.
25When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David. Therefore he went down 6to the rock, and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued David in the Wilderness of Maon.
26Then Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. qSo David made haste to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men rwere encircling David and his men to take them.
27sBut a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have invaded the land!”
28Therefore Saul returned from pursuing David, and went against the Philistines; so they called that place 7the Rock of Escape.
29Then David went up from there and dwelt in strongholds at tEn Gedi.
1 Samuel 24
David Spares Saul
1Now it happened, awhen Saul had returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, “Take note! David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.”
2Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and bwent to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats.
3So he came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave; and cSaul went in to dattend to his needs. (eDavid and his
men were staying in the recesses of the cave.)
4fThen the men of David said to him, “This is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.’ ” And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
5Now it happened afterward that gDavid’s heart troubled him because he had cut Saul’s robe.
6And he said to his men, h“The LORD forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD.”
7So David irestrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way.
8David also arose afterward, went out of the cave, and called out to Saul, saying, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth, and bowed down.
9And David said to Saul: j“Why do you listen to the words of men who say, ‘Indeed David seeks your harm’?
10“Look, this day your eyes have seen that the LORD delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you, and I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’s anointed.’
11“Moreover, my father, see! Yes, see the corner of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the corner of your robe, and did not kill you, know and see that there is kneither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you. Yet you lhunt my life to take it.
12m“Let the LORD judge between you and me, and let the LORD avenge me on you. But my hand shall not be against you.
13“As the proverb of the ancients says, n‘Wickedness proceeds from the wicked.’ But my hand shall not be against you.
14“After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? oA dead dog? pA flea?
15q“Therefore let the LORD be judge, and judge between you and me, and rsee and splead my case, and deliver me out of your hand.”
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 139
