Study Desk

Then Saul said to David, "You are blessed, my son David. You will do great things and succeed." So David went on his way, and Saul went back home.

So David and his six hundred men left Israel and went to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath.

David, his men, and their families made their home in Gath with Achish. David had his two wives with him—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal.

David and his men raided the people of Geshur, Girzi, and Amalek. (These people had lived for a long time in the land that reached to Shur and Egypt.)

Now Samuel was dead, and all the Israelites had shown their sadness for him. They had buried Samuel in his hometown of Ramah. And Saul had forced out the mediums and fortune-tellers from the land.

When he saw the Philistine army, he was afraid, and his heart pounded with fear.

Then Saul said to his servants, "Find me a woman who is a medium so I may go and ask her what will happen." His servants answered, "There is a medium in Endor."

Then Saul put on other clothes to disguise himself, and at night he and two of his men went to see the woman. Saul said to her, "Talk to a spirit for me. Bring up the person I name."

But Saul refused, saying, "I won't eat." His servants joined the woman in asking him to eat, and he listened to them. So he got up from the ground and sat on the bed.

The Philistine kings were marching with their groups of a hundred and a thousand men. David and his men were marching behind Achish.

But the Philistine commanders were angry with Achish and said, "Send David back to the city you gave him. He cannot go with us into battle. If he does, we'll have an enemy in our own camp. He could please his king by killing our own men.

David is the one the Israelites dance and sing about, saying: ‘Saul has killed thousands of his enemies, but David has killed tens of thousands.'"

So David and his men got up early in the morning and went back to the country of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

On the third day, when David and his men arrived at Ziklag, he found that the Amalekites had raided southern Judah and Ziklag, attacking Ziklag and burning it.

When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found the town had been burned and their wives, sons, and daughters had been taken as prisoners.

Then David and his army cried loudly until they were too weak to cry anymore.

The men in the army were threatening to kill David with stones, which greatly upset David. Each man was sad and angry because his sons and daughters had been captured, but David found strength in the Lord his God.

David got his two wives back and everything the Amalekites had taken.

David took all the sheep and cattle, and his men made these animals go in front, saying, "They are David's prize."

But the evil men and troublemakers among those who followed David said, "Since these two hundred men didn't go with us, we shouldn't give them any of the things we recovered. Just let each man take his wife and children and go."