1 Samuel 26:6–12

⁶Then David asked Ahimelech the Hittite ^yand Joab’s brother Abishai ^zson of Zeruiah, “Who will go with me into the camp ^ato 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 handed your enemy over 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 blameless?” ^b10David added, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will certainly strike him down: ^ceither his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. ¹¹However, because of the Lord, I will never lift my hand against the Lord’s anointed. ^dInstead, 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 ^ecame over them.