Day 77 of 365

¹David 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 will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hand."

²David arose, and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

³David lived 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.

⁴It was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him.

⁵David said to Achish, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?"

⁶Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: why Ziklag pertains to the kings of Judah to this day.

⁷The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.

⁸David and his men went up, and made a raid on the Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for those were the inhabitants of the land, who were of old, as you go to Shur, even to the land of Egypt.

⁹David struck the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the cattle, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the clothing; and he returned, and came to Achish.

¹⁰Achish said, "Against whom have you made a raid today?" David said, "Against the Negev of Judah, against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites, and against the Negev of the Kenites."

¹¹David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gath, saying, "Lest they should tell of us, saying, 'David has done this, and this has been his way all the time he has lived in the country of the Philistines.'"

¹²Achish believed David, saying, "He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he shall be my servant forever."

¹It happened in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. Achish said to David, "Know assuredly that you shall go out with me in the army, you and your men."

²David said to Achish, "Therefore you shall know what your servant will do." Achish said to David, "Therefore will I make you my bodyguard for ever."

³Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. Saul had put away those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.

⁴The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa.

⁵When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.

⁶When Saul inquired of the Lord, The Lord did not answer him, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.

⁷Then Saul said to his servants, "Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her." His servants said to him, "Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at Endor."

⁸Saul disguised himself, and put on other clothing, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, "Please divine to me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I shall name to you."

⁹The woman said to him, "Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?"

¹⁰Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, "As the Lord lives, no punishment shall happen to you for this thing."

¹¹Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up to you?" He said, "Bring Samuel up for me."

¹²When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!"

¹³The king said to her, "Do not be afraid. For what do you see?" The woman said to Saul, "I see a god coming up out of the earth."

¹⁴He said to her, "What does he look like?" She said, "An old man comes up. He is covered with a robe." Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and showed respect.

¹⁵Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up?" Saul answered, "I am very distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I shall do."

¹⁶Samuel said, "Why then do you ask of me, since the Lord has departed from you and has become your adversary?

¹⁷The Lord has done to you as he spoke by me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your neighbor, even to David.

¹⁸Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord, and did not execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day.

¹⁹Moreover the Lord will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will deliver the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines."

²⁰Then Saul fell immediately his full length on the earth, and was terrified, because of the words of Samuel. There was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night.

²¹The woman came to Saul, and saw that he was very troubled, and said to him, "Behold, your handmaid has listened to your voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have listened to your words which you spoke to me.

²²Now therefore, please listen also to the voice of your handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength, when you go on your way."

²³But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, constrained him; and he listened to their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat on the bed.

²⁴The woman had a fattened calf in the house. She hurried and killed it; and she took flour, and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread of it.

²⁵She brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they ate. Then they rose up, and went away that night.

¹Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites encamped by the spring which is in Jezreel.

²The lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rear with Achish.

³Then the princes of the Philistines said, "What about these Hebrews?" Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, "Isn't this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell away to this day?"

⁴But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; and the princes of the Philistines said to him, "Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For with what should this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Should it not be with the heads of these men?

⁵Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?'"

⁶Then Achish called David, and said to him, "As the Lord lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not favor you.

⁷Therefore now return, and go in peace, that you not displease the lords of the Philistines."

⁸David said to Achish, "But what have I done? What have you found in your servant so long as I have been before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?"

⁹Achish answered David, "I know that you are good in my sight, as an angel of God. Notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, 'He shall not go up with us to the battle.'

¹⁰Therefore now rise up early in the morning with the servants of your lord who have come with you; and as soon as you are up early in the morning, and have light, depart."

¹¹So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. The Philistines went up to Jezreel.

¹It happened, when David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev, and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag, and burned it with fire,

²and had taken captive the women and all who were therein, both small and great. They did not kill any, but carried them off, and went their way.

³When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captive.

⁴Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.

⁵David's two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

⁶David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

⁷David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring me here the ephod." Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

⁸David inquired of the Lord, saying, "If I pursue after this troop, shall I overtake them?" He answered him, "Pursue; for you shall surely overtake them, and shall without fail recover all."

⁹So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed.

¹⁰But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they couldn't go over the brook Besor.

¹¹They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink.

¹²They gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.

¹³David asked him, "To whom do you belong? Where are you from?" He said, "I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick.

¹⁴We made a raid on the South of the Kerethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the Negev of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire."

¹⁵David said to him, "Will you bring me down to this troop?" He said, "Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me, nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this troop."

¹⁶When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread around over all the ground, eating, drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.

¹⁷David struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped from there, except four hundred young men, who rode on camels and fled.

¹⁸David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives.

¹⁹There was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them. David brought back all.

²⁰David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other livestock, and said, "This is David's spoil."

²¹David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made to stay at the brook Besor; and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him. When David came near to the people, he greeted them.

²²Then all the wicked men and base fellows, of those who went with David, answered and said, "Because they did not go with us, we will not give them anything of the spoil that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that he may lead them away, and depart."

²³Then David said, "You shall not do so, my brothers, with that which the Lord has given to us, who has preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand.

²⁴Who will listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who tarries by the baggage: they shall share alike."

²⁵It was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

²⁶When David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil to the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, "Behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the Lord."

²⁷He sent it to those who were in Bethel, and to those who were in Ramoth of the Negev, and to those who were in Jattir,

²⁸and to those who were in Aroer, and to those who were in Siphmoth, and to those who were in Eshtemoa,

²⁹and to those who were in Racal, and to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those who were in the cities of the Kenites,

³⁰and to those who were in Hormah, and to those who were in Borashan, and to those who were in Athach,

³¹and to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men used to stay.