Study Desk

So Saul listened to Jonathan and vowed, "As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be killed."

So she helped him climb out through a window, and he fled and escaped.

But Saul sent the troops back to get David. He ordered, "Bring him to me in his bed so I can kill him!"

So David escaped and went to Ramah to see Samuel, and he told him all that Saul had done to him. Then Samuel took David with him to live at Naioth.

David now fled from Naioth in Ramah and found Jonathan. "What have I done?" he exclaimed. "What is my crime? How have I offended your father that he is so determined to kill me?"

"That's not true!" Jonathan protested. "You're not going to die. He always tells me everything he's going to do, even the little things. I know my father wouldn't hide something like this from me. It just isn't so!"

Then David took an oath before Jonathan and said, "Your father knows perfectly well about our friendship, so he has said to himself, ‘I won't tell Jonathan—why should I hurt him?' But I swear to you that I am only a step away from death! I swear it by the Lord and by your own soul!"

But if he is angry and wants you killed, may the Lord strike me and even kill me if I don't warn you so you can escape and live. May the Lord be with you as he used to be with my father.

So Jonathan made a solemn pact with David, saying, "May the Lord destroy all your enemies!"

So David hid himself in the field, and when the new moon festival began, the king sat down to eat.

He said, ‘Please let me go, for we are having a family sacrifice. My brother demanded that I be there. So please let me get away to see my brothers.' That's why he isn't here at the king's table."

As long as that son of Jesse is alive, you'll never be king. Now go and get him so I can kill him!"

Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan, intending to kill him. So at last Jonathan realized that his father was really determined to kill David.

"Start running," he told the boy, "so you can find the arrows as I shoot them." So the boy ran, and Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.

Hurry, hurry, don't wait." So the boy quickly gathered up the arrows and ran back to his master.

David asked Ahimelech, "Do you have a spear or sword? The king's business was so urgent that I didn't even have time to grab a weapon!"

So David escaped from Saul and went to King Achish of Gath.

So he pretended to be insane, scratching on doors and drooling down his beard.

So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. Soon his brothers and all his other relatives joined him there.

So David's parents stayed in Moab with the king during the entire time David was living in his stronghold.