1 Samuel 24:1–26:25

David Shames Saul

24After Saul returned from chasing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” ²So he took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and began looking for David and his men near the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

³Saul came to the sheep pens beside the road. A cave was there, and he went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were hiding far back in the cave. ⁴The men said to David, “Today is the day the Lord spoke of when he said, ‘I will give your enemy over to you. Do anything you want with him.’ ”

Then David crept up to Saul and quietly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. ⁵Later David felt guilty because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. ⁶He said to his men, “May the Lord keep me from doing such a thing to my master! Saul is the Lord’s appointed king. I should not do anything against him, because he is the Lord’s appointed king!” ⁷David used these words to stop his men; he did not let them attack Saul. Then Saul left the cave and went his way.

⁸When David came out of the cave, he shouted to Saul, “My master and king!” Saul looked back, and David bowed facedown on the ground. ⁹He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when people say, ‘David wants to harm you’? ¹⁰You have seen something with your own eyes today. The Lord put you in my power in the cave. They said I should kill you, but I was merciful. I said, ‘I won’t harm my master, because he is the Lord’s appointed king.’ ¹¹My father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe, but I didn’t kill you. Now understand and know I am not planning any evil against you. I did nothing wrong to you, but you are hunting me to kill me. ¹²May the Lord judge between us, and may he punish you for the wrong you have done to me! But I am not against you. ¹³There is an old saying: ‘Evil things come from evil people.’ But I am not against you. ¹⁴Whom is the king of Israel coming out against? Whom are you chasing? It’s as if you are chasing a dead dog or a flea. ¹⁵May the Lord be our judge and decide between you and me. May he support me and show that I am right. May he save me from you!”

¹⁶When David finished saying these words, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he cried loudly. ¹⁷He said, “You are a better man than I am. You have been good to me, but I have done wrong to you. ¹⁸You told me what good things you did. The Lord handed me over to you, but you did not kill me. ¹⁹People don’t normally let an enemy get away like this, do they? May the Lord reward you because you were good to me today. ²⁰I know you will surely be king, and you will rule the kingdom of Israel. ²¹Now swear to me by the Lord that you will not kill my descendants and that you won’t wipe out my name from my father’s family.”

²²So David made the promise to Saul. Then Saul went back home, and David and his men went up to their hideout.

Nabal Insults David

25Now Samuel died, and all the Israelites met and had a time of sadness for him. Then they buried him at his home in Ramah.

David moved to the Desert of Maon. ^{n 2}A man in Maon who had land at Carmel was very rich. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was cutting the wool off his sheep at Carmel. ³His name was Nabal, and he was a descendant of Caleb. His wife was named Abigail. She was wise and beautiful, but Nabal was cruel and mean.

⁴While David was in the desert, he heard that Nabal was cutting the wool from his sheep. ⁵So he sent ten young men and told them, “Go to Nabal at Carmel, and greet him for me. ⁶Say to Nabal, ‘May you and your family and all who belong to you have good health! ⁷I have heard that you are cutting the wool from your sheep. When your shepherds were with us, we did not harm them. All the time your shepherds were at Carmel, we stole nothing from them. ⁸Ask your servants, and they will tell you. We come at a happy time, so be kind to my young men. Please give anything you can find for them and for your son David.’ ”

⁹When David’s men arrived, they gave the message to Nabal, but Nabal insulted them. ¹⁰He answered them, “Who is David? Who is this son of Jesse? Many slaves are running away from their masters today! ¹¹I have bread and water, and I have meat that I killed for my servants who cut the wool. But I won’t give it to men I don’t know.”

¹²David’s men went back and told him all Nabal had said. ¹³Then David said to them, “Put on your swords!” So they put on their swords, and David put on his also. About four hundred men went with David, but two hundred men stayed with the supplies.

¹⁴One of Nabal’s servants said to Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but Nabal insulted them. ¹⁵These men were very good to us. They did not harm us. They stole nothing from us during all the time we were out in the field with them. ¹⁶Night and day they protected us. They were like a wall around us while we were with them caring for the sheep. ¹⁷Now think about it, and decide what you can do. Terrible trouble is coming to our master and all his family. Nabal is such a wicked man that no one can even talk to him.”

¹⁸Abigail hurried. She took two hundred loaves of bread, two leather bags full of wine, five cooked sheep, a bushel of cooked grain, a hundred cakes of raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs and put all these on donkeys. ¹⁹Then she told her servants, “Go on. I’ll follow you.” But she did not tell her husband.

²⁰Abigail rode her donkey and came down toward the mountain hideout. There she met David and his men coming down toward her.

²¹David had just said, “It’s been useless! I watched over Nabal’s property in the desert. I made sure none of his sheep was missing. I did good to him, but he has paid me back with evil. ²²May God punish my enemies even more. I will not leave one of Nabal’s men alive until morning.”

²³When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed facedown on the ground before him. ²⁴She fell at David’s feet and said, “My master, let the blame be on me! Please let me talk to you. Listen to what I say. ²⁵My master, don’t pay attention to this worthless man Nabal. He is like his name. His name means ‘fool,’ and he is truly a fool. But I, your servant, didn’t see the men you sent. ²⁶The Lord has kept you from killing and punishing anyone. As surely as the Lord lives and as surely as you live, may your enemies become like Nabal! ²⁷I have brought a gift to you for the men who follow you.²⁸Please forgive my wrong. The Lord will certainly let your family have many kings, because you fight his battles. As long as you live, may you do nothing bad. ²⁹Someone might chase you to kill you, but the Lord your God will keep you alive. He will throw away your enemies’ lives as he would throw a stone from a sling. ³⁰The Lord will keep all his promises of good things for you. He will make you leader over Israel. ³¹Then you won’t feel guilty or troubled because you killed innocent people and punished them. Please remember me when the Lord brings you success.”

³²David answered Abigail, “Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me. ³³May you be blessed for your wisdom. You have kept me from killing or punishing people today. ³⁴As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, he has kept me from hurting you. If you hadn’t come quickly to meet me, not one of Nabal’s men would have lived until morning.”

³⁵Then David accepted Abigail’s gifts. He told her, “Go home in peace. I have heard your words, and I will do what you have asked.”

Nabal’s Death

³⁶When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was in the house, eating like a king. He was very drunk and in a good mood. So she told him nothing until the next morning. ³⁷In the morning when he was not drunk, his wife told him everything. His heart stopped, and he became like stone. ³⁸About ten days later the Lord struck Nabal and he died.

³⁹When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praise the Lord! Nabal insulted me, but the Lord has supported me! He has kept me from doing wrong. The Lord has punished Nabal for his wrong.”

Then David sent a message to Abigail, asking her to be his wife. ⁴⁰His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David sent us to take you so you can become his wife.”

⁴¹Abigail bowed facedown on the ground and said, “I am your servant. I’m ready to serve you and to wash the feet of my master’s servants.” ⁴²Abigail quickly got on a donkey and went with David’s messengers, with her five maids following her. And she became David’s wife.

⁴³David also had married Ahinoam of Jezreel. So they were both David’s wives. ⁴⁴Saul’s daughter Michal was also David’s wife, but Saul had given her to Paltiel son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

David Shames Saul Again

26The people of Ziph went to Saul at Gibeah and said to him, “David is hiding on the hill of Hakilah opposite Jeshimon.”

²So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to look for David there. ³Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah opposite Jeshimon, but David stayed in the desert. When he heard Saul had followed him, ⁴he sent out spies and learned for certain that Saul had come to Hakilah.

⁵Then David went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, were sleeping. Saul was sleeping in the middle of the camp with all the army around him.

⁶David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down into Saul’s camp with me?”

Abishai answered, “I’ll go with you.”

⁷So that night David and Abishai went into Saul’s camp. Saul was asleep in the middle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the army were sleeping around Saul. ⁸Abishai said to David, “Today God has handed your enemy over to you. Let me pin Saul to the ground with my spear. I’ll only have to do it once. I won’t need to hit him twice.”

⁹But David said to Abishai, “Don’t…