Study Desk

"Please do not let my lord pay attention to this worthless man, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and stupidity is with him; but I your slave did not see the young men of my lord whom you sent.

"Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God; but the lives of your enemies He will sling out as from the hollow of a sling.

"And when the LORD does for my lord in accordance with all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and appoints you ruler over Israel,

this will not become an obstacle to you, or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord's having avenged himself. When the LORD deals well with my lord, then remember your slave."

And she got up and bowed with her face to the ground, and said, "Behold, your slave is a servant to wash the feet of my lord's servants."

Then Abigail got up quickly, and rode on a donkey, with her five female attendants who accompanied her; and she followed the messengers of David and became his wife.

So Saul set out and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, taking with him three thousand chosen men of Israel, to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph.

Then David said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab's brother, saying, "Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?" And Abishai said, "I will go down with you."

So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and behold, Saul lay sleeping inside the circle of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people were lying around him.

Then Abishai said to David, "Today God has handed your enemy over to you; now then, please let me pin him with the spear to the ground with one thrust, and I will not do it to him a second time."

But David said to Abishai, "Do not kill him, for who can reach out with his hand against the LORD'S anointed and remain innocent?"

"The LORD forbid that I would reach out with my hand against the LORD'S anointed! But now please take the spear that is at his head and the jug of water, and let's go."

Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on top of the mountain at a distance with a large area between them.

"And the LORD will repay each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the LORD handed you over to me today, but I refused to reach out with my hand against the LORD'S anointed.

So David set out and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

And David lived with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each with his own household—David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's widow.

Then David said to Achish, "If now I have found favor in your sight, have them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, so that I may live there; for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?"

Now it came about in those days that the Philistines gathered their armed camps for war, to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, "Know for certain that you will go out with me in the camp, you and your men."

Then Saul disguised himself by putting on different clothes, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night; and he said, "Consult the spirit for me, please, and bring up for me the one whom I shall name for you."

When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!"