1 Samuel 26:6–12

⁶Then David asked Ahimelech the Hethite^af and Joab’s brother Abishai^ag son of Zeruiah, “Who will go with me into the camp^ah to Saul?”

“I’ll go with you,” answered Abishai.

⁷That night, David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and the troops were lying around him. ⁸Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy to you. Let me thrust the spear through him into the ground just once. I won’t have to strike him twice!”

⁹But David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him, for who can lift a hand against the Lord’s anointed and be innocent?”^{a 10}David added, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will certainly strike him down:^b either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. ¹¹However, as the Lord, is my witness, I will never lift my hand against the Lord’s anointed.^c Instead, take the spear and the water jug by his head, and let’s go.”

¹²So David took the spear and the water jug by Saul’s head, and they went their way. No one saw them, no one knew, and no one woke up; they all remained asleep because a deep sleep from the Lord^d came over them.