Study Desk

So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?"

So he left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David was in the stronghold.

But the prophet Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah." So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

Saul said to him, "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and inquiring of God for him, so that he has rebelled against me and lies in wait for me, as he does today?"

The king then ordered Doeg, "You turn and strike down the priests." So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck them down. That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.

So David and his men went to Keilah, fought the Philistines and carried off their livestock. He inflicted heavy losses on the Philistines and saved the people of Keilah.

So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there.

Now, O king, come down whenever it pleases you to do so, and we will be responsible for handing him over to the king."

So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Desert of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon.

So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.

As the old saying goes, 'From evildoers come evil deeds,' so my hand will not touch you.

So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

So he sent ten young men and said to them, "Go up to Nabal at Carmel and greet him in my name.

David said to his men, "Put on your swords!" So they put on their swords, and David put on his. About four hundred men went up with David, while two hundred stayed with the supplies.

David had just said, "It's been useless-all my watching over this fellow's property in the desert so that nothing of his was missing. He has paid me back evil for good.

May God deal with David, be it ever so severely, if by morning I leave alive one male of all who belong to him!"

When Abigail went to Nabal, he was in the house holding a banquet like that of a king. He was in high spirits and very drunk. So she told him nothing until daybreak.

So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph, with his three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search there for David.

So David and Abishai went to the army by night, and there was Saul, lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.