⁶Then David said to Ahimelech ^athe Hittite and to ^bAbishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, saying, “Who ^cwill go down with me to Saul in the camp?” And Abishai said, “I will go down with you.”

⁷So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul lay sleeping inside the circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people were lying around him.

⁸Then Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand; now therefore, please let me strike him with the spear ¹to the ground with one stroke, and I will not ²strike him the second time.”

⁹But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for ^awho can stretch out his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be without guilt?”

¹⁰David also said, “As the Lord lives, ^asurely the Lord will strike him, or ^bhis day will come that he dies, or ^che will go down into battle and perish.

¹¹“^aThe Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed; but now please take the spear that is at his head and the jug of water, and let us go.”

¹²So David took the spear and the jug of water from beside Saul’s head, and they went away, but no one saw or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because ^aa sound sleep from the Lord had fallen on them.

Read in Logos

1 Samuel 26:9: But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?”

Footnotes

1Lit even into
2Lit repeat with respect to him

Cross references

a Gen 23:3; 26:34; Josh 3:10; 1 Kin 10:29; 2 Kin 7:6
b 1 Chr 2:16
c Judg 7:10, 11
a 1 Sam 24:6, 7; 2 Sam 1:14, 16
a Deut 32:35; 1 Sam 25:26, 38; Rom 12:19; Heb 10:30
b Gen 47:29; Deut 31:14; Ps 37:13
c 1 Sam 31:6
a 1 Sam 24:6, 12; Rom 12:17, 19; 1 Pet 3:9
a Gen 2:21; 15:12; Is 29:10