1 Samuel 26:6–12

⁶David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai, who was Zeruiah’s son and Joab’s brother, “Who will go with me to Saul in the camp?” 

Abishai answered, “I’ll go with you.” 

⁷So David and Abishai went among ⸤Saul’s⸥ troops that night. Saul was lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him. ⁸Abishai said to David, “Today God has turned your enemy over to you. Please let me nail him to the ground with one stab of the spear. I won’t have to do it twice!” 

⁹“Don’t kill him!” David told Abishai. “No one has ever attacked the Lord’s anointed king and remained free of guilt. ¹⁰I solemnly swear, as the Lord lives,” David added, “the Lord will strike him. Either his time will come when he’ll die ⸤naturally⸥, or he’ll go into battle and be swept away. ¹¹It would be unthinkable for me to attack the Lord’s anointed king. But please take that spear near his head and that jar of water, and let’s go.” 

¹²David took the spear and the jar of water near Saul’s head, and they left. All of them were asleep. No one saw them, knew about it, or woke up. The Lord had made them fall into a deep sleep.