Study Desk

This day will the LORD deliver thee into my hand; and I will smite thee, and take thy head from off thee; and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel;

And it came to pass on the morrow, that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved in the midst of the house; and David played with his hand, as he did day by day; and Saul had his spear in his hand.

And Saul sent messengers to take David; and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah; and the spirit of God came upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

And Jonathan said unto David: 'The LORD, the God of Israel--when I have sounded my father about this time to-morrow, or the third day, behold, if there be good toward David, shall I not then send unto thee, and disclose it unto thee?

And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab; and he said unto the king of Moab: 'Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me.'

And Saul said unto him: 'Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou hast given him bread, and a sword, and hast inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?'

Have I to-day begun to inquire of God for him? be it far from me; let not the king impute any thing unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for thy servant knoweth nothing of all this, less or more.'

And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said: 'God hath delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars.'

Then said David: 'O LORD, the God of Israel, Thy servant hath surely heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.

Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as Thy servant hath heard?' O LORD, the God of Israel, I beseech Thee, tell Thy servant.' And the LORD said: 'He will come down.'

And David abode in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill-country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.

And Jonathan Saul's son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.

God do so unto the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light so much as one male.'--

And though man be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling.

And David said to Abigail: 'Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me;

For in very deed, as the LORD, the God of Israel, liveth, who hath withholden me from hurting thee, except thou hadst made haste and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light so much as one male.'

Then said Abishai to David: 'God hath delivered up thine enemy into thy hand this day; now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not smite him the second time.'

And Samuel said to Saul: 'Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?' And Saul answered: 'I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams; therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.'

And Achish answered and said to David: 'I know that thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God; notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said: He shall not go up with us to the battle.