Study Desk

The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you go on grieving over Saul? I have rejected him as king of Israel. But now get some olive oil and go to Bethlehem, to a man named Jesse, because I have chosen one of his sons to be king."

But the Lord said to him, "Pay no attention to how tall and handsome he is. I have rejected him, because I do not judge as people judge. They look at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart."

David strapped Saul's sword over the armor and tried to walk, but he couldn't, because he wasn't used to wearing them. "I can't fight with all this," he said to Saul. "I'm not used to it." So he took it all off.

and when he got a good look at David, he was filled with scorn for him because he was just a nice, good-looking boy.

Jonathan swore eternal friendship with David because of his deep affection for him.

Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with David but had abandoned him.

and was successful in all he did, because the Lord was with him.

But everyone in Israel and Judah loved David because he was such a successful leader.

But David answered, "Your father knows very well how much you like me, and he has decided not to let you know what he plans to do, because you would be deeply hurt. I swear to you by the living Lord that I am only a step away from death!"

But if I tell him, ‘The arrows are on the other side of you,' then leave, because the Lord is sending you away.

but Saul said nothing that day, because he thought, "Something has happened to him, and he is not ritually pure."

‘Please let me go,' he said, ‘because our family is celebrating the sacrificial feast in town, and my brother ordered me to be there. So then, if you are my friend, let me go and see my relatives.' That is why he isn't in his place at your table."

Jonathan got up from the table in a rage and ate nothing that day—the second day of the New Moon Festival. He was deeply distressed about David, because Saul had insulted him.

So the priest gave David the sacred bread, because the only bread he had was the loaves offered to God, which had been removed from the sacred table and replaced by fresh bread.

(Saul's chief herdsman, Doeg, who was from Edom, happened to be there that day, because he had to fulfill a religious obligation.)

So David consulted the Lord again, and the Lord said to him, "Go and attack Keilah, because I will give you victory over the Philistines."

and he said to his men, "May the Lord keep me from doing any harm to my master, whom the Lord chose as king! I must not harm him in the least, because he is the king chosen by the Lord !"

You can see for yourself that just now in the cave the Lord put you in my power. Some of my men told me to kill you, but I felt sorry for you and said that I would not harm you in the least, because you are the one whom the Lord chose to be king.

Today you have shown how good you are to me, because you did not kill me, even though the Lord put me in your power.

Please forgive me, sir, for any wrong I have done. The Lord will make you king, and your descendants also, because you are fighting his battles; and you will not do anything evil as long as you live.