1 Samuel 24:1–7

DAVID SPARES SAUL

24When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines,^k he was told, “David is in the wilderness near En-gedi.”^{l 2}So Saul took three thousand of Israel’s fit young men^m and went to look for David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. ³When Saul came to the sheep pens along the road, a cave was there, and he went in to relieve himself.^An David and his men were staying in the recesses of the cave,^{o 4}so they said to him, “Look, this is the day the Lord told you about: ‘I will hand your enemy over to you so you can do to him whatever you desire.’ ” Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

⁵Afterward, David’s conscience bothered^Bp him because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.^{C 6}He said to his men, “As the Lord is my witness, I would never do such a thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed.^q I will never lift my hand against him, since he is the Lord’s anointed.”^{r 7}With these words David persuaded^D his men, and he did not let them rise up against Saul.

Then Saul left the cave and went on his way.