1 Samuel 20:30–23:29

30 Saul was furious with Jonathan and said to him, “How rebellious and faithless your mother was! Now I know you are taking sides with David and are disgracing yourself and that mother of yours! 31Don’t you realize that as long as David is alive, you will never be king of this country? Now go and bring him here—he must die!”

32 “Why should he die?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?”

33 At that, Saul threw his spear at Jonathan to kill him, and Jonathan realized that his father was really determined to kill David. 34Jonathan got up from the table in a rage and ate nothing that day—the second day of the New Moon Festival. He was deeply distressed about David, because Saul had insulted him. 35The following morning Jonathan went to the fields to meet David, as they had agreed. He took a young boy with him 36and said to him, “Run and find the arrows I’m going to shoot.” The boy ran, and Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. 37When the boy reached the place where the arrow had fallen, Jonathan shouted to him, “The arrow is further on! 38Don’t just stand there! Hurry up!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master, 39not knowing what it all meant; only Jonathan and David knew. 40Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and told him to take them back to the town.

41 After the boy had left, David got up from behind the pile of stones,m fell on his knees and bowed with his face to the ground three times. Both he and Jonathan were crying as they kissed each other; David’s grief was even greater than Jonathan’s.n 42Then Jonathan said to David, “God be with you. The Lord will make sure that you and I, and your descendants and mine, will for ever keep the sacred promise we have made to each other.” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.

David Flees from Saul

21 * David went to the priest Ahimelech in Nob. Ahimelech came out trembling to meet him and asked, “Why did you come here all by yourself?”

2 *“I am here on the king’s business,” David answered. “He told me not to let anyone know what he sent me to do. As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place. 3*Now, then, what supplies have you got? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.”

4 *The priest said, “I haven’t any ordinary bread, only sacred bread; you can have it if your men haven’t had sexual relations recently.”

5 *“Of course they haven’t,” answered David. “My men always keep themselves ritually pure even when we go out on an ordinary mission; how much more this time when we are on a special mission!”

6 *So the priest gave David the sacred bread, because the only bread he had was the loaves offered to God, which had been removed from the sacred table and replaced by fresh bread.

7 (Saul’s chief herdsman, Doeg, who was from Edom, happened to be there that day, because he had to fulfil a religious obligation.)

8 David said to Ahimelech, “Have you got a spear or a sword you can give me? The king’s orders made me leave in such a hurry that I didn’t have time to get my sword or any other weapon.”

9 *Ahimelech answered, “I have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah; it is behind the ephod, wrapped in a cloth. If you want it, take it—it’s the only weapon here.”

“Give it to me,” David said. “There is not a better sword anywhere!”

10 So David left, fleeing from Saul, and went to King Achish of Gath. 11*The king’s officials said to Achish, “Isn’t this David, the king of his country? This is the man about whom the women sang, as they danced, ‘Saul has killed thousands, but David has killed tens of thousands.’ ”

12 *Their words made a deep impression on David, and he became very much afraid of King Achish. 13*So whenever they were around, David pretended to be insane and acted like a madman when they tried to restrain him; he would scribble on the cityo gates and dribble down his beard. 14So Achish said to his officials, “Look! The man is mad! Why did you bring him to me? 15Haven’t I got enough madmen already? Why bring another one to annoy me with his daft actions right here in my own house?”

The Slaughter of the Priests

22 * David fled from the city of Gath and went to a cave near the town of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of the family heard that he was there, they joined him. 2People who were oppressed or in debt or dissatisfied went to him, about 400 men in all, and he became their leader.

3 David went on from there to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come and stay with you until I find out what God is going to do for me.” 4So David left his parents with the king of Moab, and they stayed there as long as David was hiding in the cave.

5 Then the prophet Gad came to David and said, “Don’t stay here; go at once to the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

6 One day Saul was in Gibeah, sitting under a tamarisk tree on a hill, with his spear in his hand, and all his officers were standing round him. He was told that David and his men had been found, 7and he said to his officers, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Do you think that David will give fields and vineyards to all of you, and make you officers in his army? 8Is that why you are plotting against me? Not one of you told me that my own son had made an alliance with David. No one is concerned about me or tells me that David, one of my own men, is at this moment looking for a chance to kill me, and that my son has encouraged him!”

9 *Doeg was standing there with Saul’s officers, and he said, “I saw David when he went to Ahimelech son of Ahitub in Nob. 10*Ahimelech asked the Lord what David should do, and then he gave David some food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

11 So King Saul sent for the priest Ahimelech and all his relatives, who were also priests in Nob, and they came to him. 12Saul said to Ahimelech, “Listen, Ahimelech!” “At your service, sir,” he answered.

13 Saul asked him, “Why are you and David plotting against me? Why did you give him some food and a sword, and consult God for him? Now he has turned against me and is waiting for a chance to kill me!”

14 Ahimelech answered, “David is the most faithful officer you have! He is your own son-in-law, captain ofp your bodyguard, and highly respected by everyone in the royal court. 15Yes, I consulted God for him, and it wasn’t the first time.q As for plotting against you, Your Majesty must not accuse me or anyone else in my family. I don’t know anything about this matter!”

16 The king said, “Ahimelech, you and all your relatives must die.” 17Then he said to the guards standing near him, “Kill the Lord’s priests! They conspired with David and did not tell me that he had run away, even though they knew it all along.” But the guards refused to lift a hand to kill the Lord’s priests. 18So Saul said to Doeg, “You kill them!”—and Doeg killed them all. On that day he killed 85 priests who were qualified to carry the ephod. 19Saul also ordered all the other inhabitants of Nob, the city of priests, to be put to death: men and women, children and babies, cattle, donkeys, and sheep—they were all killed.

20 But Abiathar, one of Ahimelech’s sons, escaped, and went and joined David. 21He told him how Saul had slaughtered the priests of the Lord. 22David said to him, “When I saw Doeg there that day, I knew that he would be sure to tell Saul. So I am responsibler for the death of all your relatives. 23Stay with me and don’t be afraid. Saul wants to kill both you and me, but you will be safe with me.”

David Saves the Town of Keilah

23 David heard that the Philistines were attacking the town of Keilah and were stealing the newly harvested corn. 2So he asked the Lord, “Shall I go and attack the Philistines?”

“Yes,” the Lord answered. “Attack them and save Keilah.”

3 But David’s men said to him, “We have enough to be afraid of here in Judah; it will be much worse if we go to Keilah and attack the Philistine forces!” 4So David consulted the Lord again, and the Lord said to him, “Go and attack Keilah, because I will give you victory over the Philistines.” 5So David and his men went to Keilah and attacked the Philistines; they killed many of them and took their livestock. And that was how David saved the town.

6 When Abiathar son of Ahimelech escaped and joined David in Keilah, he took the ephod with him.

7 Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, and he said, “God has put him in my power. David has trapped himself by going into a walled town with fortified gates.” 8So Saul called his troops to war, to march against Keilah and besiege David and his men.

9 When David heard that Saul was planning to attack him, he said to the priest Abiathar, “Bring the ephod here.” 10Then David said, “Lord, God of Israel, I have heard that Saul is planning to come to Keilah and destroy it on account of me, your servant. 11Will the citizens of Keilah hand me over to Saul? Will Saul really come, as I have heard? Lord, God of Israel, I beg you to answer me!”

The Lord answered, “Saul will come.”

12 “And will the citizens of Keilah hand my men and me over to Saul?” David asked again. “They will,” the Lord answered. 13So David and his men—about 600 in all—left Keilah at once and kept on the move. When Saul heard that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up his plan.

David in the Hill-Country

14 David stayed in hiding in the hill country, in the wilderness near Ziph. Saul was always trying to find him, but God did not hand David over to him. 15David saw that Saul was out to kill him.

David was at Horesh, in the wilderness near Ziph. 16Jonathan went to him there and encouraged him with assurances of God’s protection, 17saying to him, “Don’t be afraid. My father Saul won’t be able to harm you. He knows very well that you are the one who will be the king of Israel and that I will be next in rank to you.” 18*The two of them made a sacred promise of friendship to each other. David stayed at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.

19 *Some people from Ziph…