Study Desk

Saul said, "I have sinned; but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and go back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God."

So Samuel went back following Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.

Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women." And Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the LORD in Gilgal.

So Samuel did what the LORD said, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, "Do you come in peace?"

So it happened, when they had come, he looked at Eliab [the eldest son] and thought, "Surely the LORD'S anointed is before Him."

So Jesse sent word and brought him in. Now he had a ruddy complexion, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. The LORD said [to Samuel], "Arise, anoint him; for this is he."

So Saul told his servants, "Find me a man who plays well and bring him to me."

So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me David your son, who is with the flock."

So it came about that whenever the [evil] spirit from God was on Saul, David took a harp and played it with his hand; so Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would leave him.

Again the Philistine said, "I defy the battle lines of Israel this day; give me a man so that we may fight together."

So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, picked up the provisions and went just as Jesse had directed him. And he came to the encampment as the army was going out in battle formation shouting the battle cry.

Then David fastened his sword over his armor and tried to walk, [but he could not,] because he was not used to them. And David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these, because I am not used to them." So David took them off.

"This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck down the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David's hand.

So he ran and stood over the Philistine, grasped his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their [mighty] champion was dead, they fled.

So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he acted wisely and prospered; and Saul appointed him over the men of war. And it pleased all the people and also Saul's servants.

So Saul had David removed from his presence and appointed him as his commander of a thousand; and he publicly associated with the people.

Saul said, "I will give her to him so that she may become a snare (bad influence, source of trouble) to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him." So Saul said to David for a second time, "You shall be my son-in-law today."

So Saul's servants spoke these words to David. But David said, "Is it a trivial thing in your sight to become a king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man and insignificant?"

David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred Philistine men, and David brought their foreskins [as proof of death] and presented every one of them to the king, so that he might become the king's son-in-law. So Saul gave him Michal, his [younger] daughter, as a wife.