determined against our master, and against all his house: for he is such a son of Belial, that one cannot speak to him."

Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. And she said unto her young men, "Go on before me; behold I come after you." But she told not her husband Nabal.

And it was so, as she rode on her ass, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them. Now David had said,

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Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath returned me evil for good. God do so unto the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light so much as one man child." And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off her ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.

And she fell at his feet, and said, "Upon me, my lord, upon me be the iniquity: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thine handmaid. Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. Now therefore my lord, as Yahweh liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing Yahweh hath withholden thee from bloodguiltiness, and from avenging thy self with thine own hand, now therefore let thine enemies, and them that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. And now this present which thy servant hath brought unto my lord, let it be given unto the young men that follow my lord. Forgive, I pray thee, the trespass of thine handmaid: for Yahweh will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fighteth the battles of Yahweh; and evil shall not be found in thee all thy days. And though man be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with Yahweh thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as from the hollow of a sling. And it shall come to pass, when Yahweh shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee prince over Israel; that this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself; and when Yahweh shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid."

And David said to Abigail, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: and blessed be thy wisdom, and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day from bloodguiltiness, and from avenging myself with mine own hand. For in very deed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, liveth, which hath withholden me from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light so much as one man child."

So David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he said unto her, "Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person."

And Abigail came to Nabal; and, behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal's heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken: wherefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone.

And it came to pass about ten days after, that Yahweh smote Nabal, that he died.

And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed be Yahweh, that hath pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and hath kept back his servant from evil: and the evil-doing of Nabal hath Yahweh returned upon his own head." And David sent and spake concerning Abigail, to take her to him to wife.

And when the servants of David were come to Abigail to Carmel, they spake unto her, saying, "David hath sent us unto thee, to take thee to him to wife." And she arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, "Behold, thine handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord." And Abigail hasted, and arose, and rode upon an ass, with five damsels of hers that followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.

David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they became both of them his wives. Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti, the son of Laish, which was of Gallim.

And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying, "Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert?" Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert, by the way.

But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come of a certainty. And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched: and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and Saul lay within the place of the wagons, and the people pitched round about him.

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

So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the place of the wagons, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head: and Abner and the people lay round about him.

Then said Abishai to David, "God hath delivered up thine enemy into thine hand this day: now, therefore, let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not smite him the second time."

And David said to Abishai, "Destroy him not: for who can put forth his hand against Yahweh's anointed, and be guiltless?" And David said, "As Yahweh liveth, Yahweh shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle, and perish. Yahweh forbid that I should put forth mine hand against Yahweh's anointed: but now take, I pray thee, the spear that is at his head, and the cruse of water, and let us go."

So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's head; and they gat them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither did any awake: for they were all asleep; because a deep sleep from Yahweh was fallen upon them.

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Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of the mountain afar off; a great space being between them: and David cried to the people, and to Abner, the son of Ner, saying, "Answerest thou not, Abner?" Then Abner answered and said, "Who art thou that criest to the king? And David said to Abner, "Art not thou a valiant man? And who is like to thee in Israel? Wherefore, then hast thou not kept watch over thy lord the king? For there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. This thing is not good that thou hast done. As Yahweh liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept watch over your lord, Yahweh's anointed. And now, see, where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his head."

And Saul knew David's voice, and said, "Is this thy voice, my son David? " And David said, "It is my voice, my lord, O king." And he said, "Wherefore doth my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in mine hand? Now therefore I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it be Yahweh that hath stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if it be the children of men, cursed be they before Yahweh; for they have driven me out this day that I should not cleave unto the inheritance of Yahweh, saying, 'Go, serve other gods.' Now therefore let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of Yahweh: for the king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains."

Then said Saul, "I have sinned: return, my son David: for I will no more do thee harm, because my life was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly." And David answered and said, "Behold the spear, O king! Let then one of the young men come over and fetch it. And Yahweh shall render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness: forasmuch as Yahweh delivered thee into my hand today, and I would not put forth mine hand against Yahweh's anointed. And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of Yahweh, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation." Then Saul said to David, "Blessed be thou, my son David: thou shalt both do mightily, and shalt surely prevail."

So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place. And David said in his heart, " I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand."

And David arose, and passed over, he and the six hundred men that were with him, unto Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife. And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath; and he sought no more again for him.

And David said unto Achish, "If now I have found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?" Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day.

And the number of the days that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months. And David and his men went up, and made a raid upon the Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for those nations were the inhabitants of the land, which were of old, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt. And David smote the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel; and he returned, and came to Achish.

And Achish said, "Hither have ye made a raid today?" And David said, "Against the South of Judah, and against the South of the Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the Kenites."

And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gath, saying, "Lest they should tell on us, saying, 'So did