^26:1The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Isn’t David hiding on the hill of Hakilah near¹ Jeshimon?” ^26:2So Saul arose and went down to the desert of Ziph, accompanied by three thousand select men of Israel, to look for David in the desert of Ziph. ^26:3Saul camped by the road on the hill of Hakilah near Jeshimon, but David was staying in the desert. When he realized that Saul had come to the desert to find² him, ^26:4David sent scouts and verified that Saul had indeed arrived.³

^26:5So David set out and went to the place where Saul was camped. David saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the general in command of his army, were sleeping. Now Saul was lying in the entrenchment, and the army was camped all around him. ^26:6David said to Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” Abishai replied, “I will go down with you.”

^26:7So David and Abishai approached the army at night and found Saul lying asleep in the entrenchment with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and the army were lying all around him. ^26:8Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hands. Now let me drive the spear⁴ right through him into the ground with one swift jab!⁵ A second jab won’t be necessary!”

^26:9But David said to Abishai, “Don’t kill him! Who can extend his hand against the Lord’s chosen one⁶ and remain guiltless?” ^26:10David went on to say, “As the Lord lives, the Lord himself will strike him down. Either his day will come and he will die, or he will go down into battle and be swept away. ^26:11But may the Lord prevent me from extending my hand against the Lord’s chosen one! Now take the spear by Saul’s head and the jug of water, and let’s get out of here!” ^26:12So David took the spear and the jug of water by Saul’s head, and they got out of there. No one saw them or was aware of their presence or woke up. All of them were asleep, for the Lord had caused a deep sleep to fall on them.

^26:13Then David crossed to the other side and stood on the top of the hill some distance away; there was a considerable distance between them. ^26:14David called to the army and to Abner son of Ner, “Won’t you answer, Abner?” Abner replied, “Who are you, that you have called to the king?” ^26:15David said to Abner, “Aren’t you a man? After all, who is like you in Israel? Why then haven’t you protected your lord the king? One of the soldiers came to kill your lord the king. ^26:16This failure on your part isn’t good!⁷ As surely as the Lord lives, you people who have not protected your lord, the Lord’s chosen one, are as good as dead!⁸ Now look where the king’s spear and the jug of water that was by his head are!”

^26:17When Saul recognized David’s voice, he said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” David replied, “Yes, it’s my voice, my lord the king.” ^26:18He went on to say, “Why is my lord chasing his servant? What have I done? What wrong have I done?⁹^26:19So let my lord the king now listen to the words of his servant. If the Lord has incited you against me, may he take delight in¹⁰ an offering. But if men have instigated this,¹¹ may they be cursed before the Lord! For they have driven me away this day from being united with the Lord’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go on, serve other gods!’ ^26:20Now don’t let my blood fall to the ground away from the Lord’s presence, for the king of Israel has gone out to look for a flea the way one looks for a partridge¹² in the hill country.”

^26:21Saul replied, “I have sinned. Come back, my son David. I won’t harm you, for you treated my life with value¹³ this day. I have behaved foolishly and have made a very terrible mistake!”¹⁴^26:22David replied, “Here is the king’s spear! Let one of your servants cross over and get it. ^26:23The Lord rewards each man for his integrity and loyalty.¹⁵ Even though today the Lord delivered you into my hand, I was not willing to extend my hand against the Lord’s chosen one. ^26:24In the same way that I valued your life this day,¹⁶ may the Lord value my life¹⁷ and deliver me from all danger.” ^26:25Saul replied to David, “May you be rewarded,¹⁸ my son David! You will without question be successful!”¹⁹ So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

David Aligns Himself with the Philistines

^27:1David thought to himself,¹ “One of these days I’m going to be swept away by the hand of Saul! There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of searching for me through all the territory of Israel and I will escape from his hand.”

^27:2So David left and crossed over to King Achish son of Maoch of Gath accompanied by his six hundred men. ^27:3David settled with Achish in Gath, along with his men and their families.² David had with him his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the Carmelite, Nabal’s widow. ^27:4When Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he did not mount a new search for him.

^27:5David said to Achish, “If I have found favor with you, let me be given a place in one of the country towns so that I can live there. Why should your servant settle in the royal city with you?” ^27:6So Achish gave him Ziklag on that day. (For that reason Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah until this very day.) ^27:7The length of time³ that David lived in the Philistine countryside was a year⁴ and four months.

^27:8Then David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (They had been living in that land for a long time, from the approach⁵ to Shur as far as the land of Egypt.) ^27:9When David would attack a district,⁶ he would leave neither man nor woman alive. He would take sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothing and would then go back to Achish. ^27:10When Achish would ask, “Where⁷ did you raid today?” David would say, “The Negev of Judah” or “The Negev of Jeharmeel” or “The Negev of the Kenites.” ^27:11Neither man nor woman would David leave alive so as to bring them back to Gath. He was thinking, “This way they can’t tell on us, saying, ‘This is what David did.’ ” Such was his practice the entire time⁸ that he lived in the country of the Philistines. ^27:12So Achish trusted David, thinking to himself,⁹ “He is really hated¹⁰ among his own people in¹¹ Israel! From now on¹² he will be my servant.”

The Witch of Endor

^28:1In those days the Philistines gathered their troops¹ for war in order to fight Israel. Achish said to David, “You should fully understand that you and your men must go with me into the battle.”²^28:2David replied to Achish, “That being the case, you will come to know what your servant can do!” Achish said to David, “Then I will make you my bodyguard³ from now on.”⁴

^28:3Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown.⁵ In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums⁶ and magicians⁷ from the land. ^28:4The Philistines assembled; they came and camped at Shunem. Saul mustered all Israel and camped at Gilboa. ^28:5When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was absolutely terrified.⁸^28:6So Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him—not by dreams nor by Urim⁹ nor by the prophets. ^28:7So Saul instructed his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium,¹⁰ so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants replied to him, “There is a woman who is a medium in Endor.”

^28:8So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing and left, accompanied by two of his men. They came to the woman at night and said, “Use your ritual pit to conjure up for me the one I tell you.”¹¹

^28:9But the woman said to him, “Look, you are aware of what Saul has done; he has removed¹² the mediums and magicians¹³ from the land! Why are you trapping me¹⁴ so you can put me to death?” ^28:10But Saul swore an oath to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not incur guilt in this matter!” ^28:11The woman replied, “Who is it that I should bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up for me Samuel.”

^28:12When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out loudly.¹⁵ The woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” ^28:13The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What have you seen?” The woman replied to Saul, “I have seen one like a god¹⁶ coming up from the ground!” ^28:14He said to her, “What about his appearance?” She said, “An old man is coming up! He is wrapped in a robe!”

Then Saul realized it was Samuel, and he bowed his face toward the ground and kneeled down. ^28:15Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul replied, “I am terribly troubled! The Philistines are fighting against me and God has turned away from me. He does not answer me—not by the prophets nor by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what I should do.”

^28:16Samuel said, “Why are you asking me, now that the Lord has turned away from you and has become your enemy? ^28:17The Lord has done exactly as I prophesied!¹⁷ The Lord has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor David! ^28:18Since you did not obey the Lord¹⁸ and did not carry out his fierce anger against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this thing to you today. ^28:19The Lord will hand you and Israel over to the Philistines!¹⁹ Tomorrow both you and your sons will be with me.²⁰ The Lord will also hand the army²¹ of Israel over to the Philistines!”

^28:20Saul quickly fell full length on the ground and was very afraid because of Samuel’s words. He was completely drained of energy,²² not having eaten anything²³ all that day and night. ^28:21When the woman came to Saul and saw how terrified he was, she said to him, “Your servant has done what you asked.²⁴ I took my life into my own hands and did what you told me.²⁵^28:22Now it’s your turn to listen to your servant! Let me set before you a bit of bread so that you can eat. When you regain your strength, you can go on your way.”

^28:23But…

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Footnotes

1 Heb “upon the face of.”
2 Heb “after.”
3 Heb “and David sent scouts and he knew that Saul had certainly come.”
4 Here “the spear” almost certainly refers to Saul’s own spear, which according to the previous verse was stuck into the ground beside him as he slept. This is reflected in a number of English versions: , “his own spear”; “that spear.” Cf. , “my spear,” in which case Abishai refers to his own spear rather than Saul’s, but this is unlikely since (1) Abishai would probably not have carried a spear along since such a weapon would be unwieldy when sneaking into the enemy camp; and (2) this would not explain the mention of Saul’s own spear stuck in the ground beside him in the previous verse.
5 Heb “let me strike him with the spear and into the ground one time.”
6 Heb “anointed” (also in vv. 11, 16, 23).
7 Heb “Not good [is] this thing which you have done.”
8 Heb “you are sons of death.”
9 Heb “What in my hand [is] evil?”
10 Heb “may he smell.” The implication is that Saul should seek to appease God, for such divine instigation to evil would a sign of God’s disfavor. For a fuller discussion of this passage see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Deceive?” 155 (1998): .
11 Heb “but if the sons of men.”
12 Heb “the calling [one],” which apparently refers to a partridge.
13 Heb “my life was valuable in your eyes.”
14 Heb “and I have erred very greatly.”
15 Heb “and the Lord returns to the man his righteousness and his faithfulness.”
16 Heb “your life was great this day in my eyes.”
17 Heb “may my life be great in the eyes of the Lord.”
18 Heb “blessed.”
19 Heb “you will certainly do and also you will certainly be able.” The infinitive absolutes placed before the finite verbal forms lend emphasis to the statement.
1 Heb “said to his heart.”
2 Heb “a man and his house.”
3 Heb “the number of the days.”
4 Heb “days.” The plural of the word “day” is sometimes used idiomatically to refer specifically to a year. In addition to this occurrence in v. 7 see also 1 Sam 1:3, 21; 2:19; 20:6; Lev 25:29; Judg 17:10.
5 Heb “from where you come.”
6 Heb “the land.”
7 The translation follows the (ἐπι τίνα, epi tina) and (in quem) which assume אֶל מִי (’el mi, “to whom”) rather than the אַל (’al, “not”). The makes no sense here. Another possibility is that the text originally had אַן (’an, “where”), which has been distorted in the to אַל. Cf. the and the , which have “where.”
8 Heb “all the days.”
9 Heb “saying.”
10 Heb “he really stinks.” The expression is used figuratively here to describe the rejection and ostracism that David had experienced as a result of Saul’s hatred of him.
11 Many medieval Hebrew lack the preposition “in.”
12 Heb “permanently.”
1 Heb “their camps.”
2 The translation follows the (εἰς πόλεμον, eis polemon) and a Qumran מלחמה במלחמה ([m]lkhmh) bammilkhamah (“in the battle”) rather than the ’s בַמַּחֲנֶה (bammakhaneh, “in the camp”; cf. ). While the reading is not impossible here, and although admittedly it is the harder reading, the variant fits the context better. The can be explained as a scribal error caused in part by the earlier occurrence of “camp” in this verse.
3 Heb “the guardian for my head.”
4 Heb “all the days.”
5 Heb “in Ramah, even in his city.”
6 The Hebrew term translated “mediums” actually refers to a pit used by a magician to conjure up underworld spirits (see 2 Kgs 21:6). In v. 7 the witch of Endor is called the owner of a ritual pit. See H. Hoffner, “Second Millennium Antecedents to the Hebrew ’ÔB̲,” 86 (1967): 385–401. Here the term refers by metonymy to the owner of such a pit (see H. A. Hoffner, 1:133).
7 See Isa 8:19 for another reference to magicians who attempted to conjure up underworld spirits.
8 Heb “he was afraid, and his heart was very terrified.”
9 See the note at .
10 Heb “an owner of a ritual pit.” See the note at v. .
11 Heb “Use divination for me with the ritual pit and bring up for me the one whom I say to you.”
12 Heb “how he has cut off.”
13 See the note at v. .
14 Heb “my life.”
15 Heb “in a great voice.”
16 Heb “gods.” The modifying participle (translated “coming up”) is plural, suggesting that underworld spirits are the referent. But in the following verse Saul understands the plural word to refer to a singular being. The reference is to the spirit of Samuel.
17 Heb “just as he said by my hand.”
18 Heb “listen to the voice of the Lord.”
19 Heb “And the Lord will give also Israel along with you into the hand of the Philistines.”
20 With the exception of the Lucianic recension, the has here “and tomorrow you and your sons with you will fall.”
21 Heb “camp.”
22 Heb “also there was no strength in him.”
23 Heb “food.”
24 Heb “listened to your voice.”
25 Heb “listened to your words that you spoke to me.”