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## Shmuel Alef

### Chapter 1

1Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Yerocham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Efrati. 2He had two wives. The name of one was Channah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Channah had no children. 3This man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to YHWH Tzeva'ot in Shilo. The two sons of Eli, Chofni and Pinchas, priests to YHWH, were there. 4When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters; 5but he gave a double portion to Channah, for he loved Channah, but YHWH had shut up her womb. 6Her rival provoked her severely, to irritate her, because YHWH had shut up her womb. 7So year by year, when she went up to YHWH’s house, her rival provoked her. Therefore she wept, and didn’t eat. 8Elkanah her husband said to her, “Channah, why do you weep? Why don’t you eat? Why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” 9So Channah rose up after they had finished eating and drinking in Shilo. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of YHWH’s Beit HaMikdash. 10She was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to YHWH, weeping bitterly. 11She vowed a vow, and said, “YHWH Tzeva'ot, if you will indeed look at the affliction of your servant and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a boy, then I will give him to YHWH all the days of his life, and no razor shall come on his head.” 12As she continued praying before YHWH, Eli saw her mouth. 13Now Channah spoke in her heart. Only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Get rid of your wine!” 15Channah answered, “No, my adonai, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not been drinking wine or strong drink, but I poured out my soul before YHWH. 16Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman; for I have been speaking out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation.” 17Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; and may the Elohim of Yisrael grant your petition that you have asked of him.” 18She said, “Let your servant find favour in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate; and her facial expression wasn’t sad any more. 19They rose up in the morning early and worshipped YHWH, then returned and came to their house to Ramah. Then Elkanah knew Channah his wife; and YHWH remembered her. 20When the time had come, Channah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Shmuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of YHWH.” 21The man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to YHWH the yearly sacrifice and his vow. 22But Channah didn’t go up, for she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before YHWH, and stay there forever.” 23Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems good to you. Wait until you have weaned him; only may YHWH establish his word.” So the woman waited and nursed her son until she weaned him. 24When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, and one ephah of meal, and a container of wine, and brought him to YHWH’s house in Shilo. The child was young. 25They killed the bull, and brought the child to Eli. 26She said, “Oh, my adonai, as your soul lives, my adonai, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to YHWH. 27I prayed for this child, and YHWH has given me my petition which I asked of him. 28Therefore I have also given him to YHWH. As long as he lives he is given to YHWH.” He worshipped YHWH there.

### Chapter 2

1Channah prayed, and said, “My heart exults in YHWH! My horn is exalted in YHWH. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. 2There is no one as kodesh as YHWH, for there is no one besides you, nor is there any rock like our Elohim. 3“Don’t keep talking so exceedingly proudly. Don’t let arrogance come out of your mouth, for YHWH is a Elohim of knowledge. By him actions are weighed. 4“The bows of the mighty men are broken. Those who stumbled are armed with strength. 5Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry are satisfied. Yes, the barren has borne seven. She who has many children languishes. 6“YHWH kills and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol and brings up. 7YHWH makes poor and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up. 8He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill to make them sit with princes and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are YHWH’s. He has set the world on them. 9He will keep the feet of his kodesh ones, but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness; for no man will prevail by strength. 10Those who strive with YHWH shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. “YHWH will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.” 11Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. The child served YHWH before Eli the priest. 12Now the sons of Eli were wicked men. They didn’t know YHWH. 13The custom of the priests with the people was that when anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant came while the meat was boiling, with a fork of three teeth in his hand; 14and he stabbed it into the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot. The priest took all that the fork brought up for himself. They did this to all the B'nei Yisrael who came there to Shilo. 15Yes, before they burnt the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, “Give meat to roast for the priest; for he will not accept boiled meat from you, but raw.” 16If the man said to him, “Let the fat be burnt first, and then take as much as your soul desires;” then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.” 17The sin of the young men was very great before YHWH; for the men despised YHWH’s offering. 18But Shmuel ministered before YHWH, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod. 19Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. 20Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, “May YHWH give you offspring from this woman for the petition which was asked of YHWH.” Then they went to their own home. 21YHWH visited Channah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. The child Shmuel grew before YHWH. 22Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons did to all Yisrael, and how that they slept with the women who served at the door of the Ohel Mo'ed. 23He said to them, “Why do you do such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all these people. 24No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear! You make YHWH’s people disobey. 25If one man sins against another, Elohim will judge him; but if a man sins against YHWH, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because YHWH intended to kill them. 26The child Shmuel grew on, and increased in favour both with YHWH and also with men. 27A man of Elohim came to Eli and said to him, “YHWH says, ‘Did I reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Mitzrayim in bondage to Pharaoh’s house? 28Didn’t I choose him out of all the tribes of Yisrael to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? Didn’t I give to the house of your father all the offerings of the children of Yisrael made by fire? 29Why do you kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honour your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Yisrael my people?’ 30“Therefore YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says, ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father should walk before me forever.’ But now YHWH says, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me will be cursed. 31Behold, the days come that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, that there will not be an old man in your house. 32You will see the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which I will give Yisrael. There shall not be an old man in your house forever. 33The man of yours whom I don’t cut off from my altar will consume your eyes and grieve your heart. All the increase of your house will die in the flower of their age. 34This will be the sign to you that will come on your two sons, on Chofni and Pinchas: in one day they will both die. 35I will raise up a faithful priest for myself who will do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. I will build him a sure house. He will walk before my anointed forever. 36It will happen that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, “Please put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”

### Chapter 3

1The child Shmuel ministered to YHWH before Eli. YHWH’s word was rare in those days. There were not many visions, then. 2At that time, when Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see), 3and Elohim’s lamp hadn’t yet gone out, and Shmuel had laid down in YHWH’s Beit HaMikdash where Elohim’s ark was, 4YHWH called Shmuel. He said, “Here I am.” 5He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” He said, “I didn’t call. Lie down again.” He went and lay down. 6YHWH called yet again, “Shmuel!” Shmuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” He answered, “I didn’t call, my son. Lie down again.” 7Now Shmuel didn’t yet know YHWH, neither was YHWH’s word yet revealed to him. 8YHWH called Shmuel again the third time. He arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; for you called me.” Eli perceived that YHWH had called the child. 9Therefore Eli said to Shmuel, “Go, lie down. It shall be, if he calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, YHWH; for your servant hears.’” So Shmuel went and lay down in his place. 10YHWH came, and stood, and called as at other times, “Shmuel! Shmuel!” Then Shmuel said, “Speak; for your servant hears.” 11YHWH said to Shmuel, “Behold, I will do a thing in Yisrael at which both the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. 12In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end. 13For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he didn’t restrain them. 14Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be removed with sacrifice or offering forever.” 15Shmuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of YHWH’s house. Shmuel was afraid to show Eli the vision. 16Then Eli called Shmuel and said, “Shmuel, my son!” He said, “Here I am.” 17He said, “What is the thing that he has spoken to you? Please don’t hide it from me. Elohim do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the things that he spoke to you.” 18Shmuel told him every bit, and hid nothing from him. He said, “It is YHWH. Let him do what seems good to him.” 19Shmuel grew, and YHWH was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20All Yisrael from Dan even to Be'er Sheva knew that Shmuel was established to be a prophet of YHWH. 21YHWH appeared again in Shilo; for YHWH revealed himself to Shmuel in Shilo by YHWH’s word.

### Chapter 4

1The word of Shmuel came to all Yisrael. Now Yisrael went out against the Pelishtim to battle, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Pelishtim encamped in Aphek. 2The Pelishtim put themselves in array against Yisrael. When they joined battle, Yisrael was defeated by the Pelishtim, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. 3When the people had come into the camp, the elders of Yisrael said, “Why has YHWH defeated us today before the Pelishtim? Let’s get the Aron YHWH’s Brit out of Shilo and bring it to us, that it may come amongst us and save us out of the hand of our enemies.” 4So the people sent to Shilo, and they brought from there the Aron HaBrit of YHWH Tzeva'ot, who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Chofni and Pinchas, were there with the Aron HaBrit of Elohim. 5When the Aron YHWH’s Brit came into the camp, all Yisrael shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded. 6When the Pelishtim heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Ivrim mean?” They understood that YHWH’s ark had come into the camp. 7The Pelishtim were afraid, for they said, “Elohim has come into the camp.” They said, “Woe to us! For there has not been such a thing before. 8Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Mitzrim with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. 9Be strong and behave like men, O you Pelishtim, that you not be servants to the Ivrim, as they have been to you. Strengthen yourselves like men, and fight!” 10The Pelishtim fought, and Yisrael was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter; for thirty thousand footmen of Yisrael fell. 11Elohim’s ark was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Chofni and Pinchas, were slain. 12A man of Binyamin ran out of the army and came to Shilo the same day, with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head. 13When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for Elohim’s ark. When the man came into the city and told about it, all the city cried out. 14When Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, “What does the noise of this tumult mean?” The man hurried, and came and told Eli. 15Now Eli was ninety-eight years old. His eyes were set, so that he could not see. 16The man said to Eli, “I am he who came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army.” He said, “How did the matter go, my son?” 17He who brought the news answered, “Yisrael has fled before the Pelishtim, and there has been also a great slaughter amongst the people. Your two sons also, Chofni and Pinchas, are dead, and Elohim’s ark has been captured.” 18When he made mention of Elohim’s ark, Eli fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had judged Yisrael forty years. 19His daughter-in-law, Pinchas’ wife, was with child, near to giving birth. When she heard the news that Elohim’s ark was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth; for her pains came on her. 20About the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.” But she didn’t answer, neither did she regard it. 21She named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Yisrael!” because Elohim’s ark was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22She said, “The glory has departed from Yisrael; for Elohim’s ark has been taken.”

### Chapter 5

1Now the Pelishtim had taken Elohim’s ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2The Pelishtim took Elohim’s ark, and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. 3When the people of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before YHWH’s ark. They took Dagon and set him in his place again. 4When they arose early on the following morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before YHWH’s ark; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold. Only Dagon’s torso was intact. 5Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon’s house step on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. 6But YHWH’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and struck them with tumours, even Ashdod and its borders. 7When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the Elohim of Yisrael shall not stay with us, for his hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.” 8They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Pelishtim, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Elohim of Yisrael?” They answered, “Let the ark of the Elohim of Yisrael be carried over to Gat.” They carried the ark of the Elohim of Yisrael there. 9It was so, that after they had carried it there, YHWH’s hand was against the city with a very great confusion; and he struck the men of the city, both small and great, so that tumours broke out on them. 10So they sent Elohim’s ark to Ekron. As Elohim’s ark came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the Elohim of Yisrael here to us, to kill us and our people.” 11They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Pelishtim, and they said, “Send the ark of the Elohim of Yisrael away, and let it go again to its own place, that it not kill us and our people.” For there was a deadly panic throughout all the city. The hand of Elohim was very heavy there. 12The men who didn’t die were struck with the tumours; and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

### Chapter 6

1YHWH’s ark was in the country of the Pelishtim seven months. 2The Pelishtim called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with YHWH’s ark? Show us how we should send it to its place.” 3They said, “If you send away the ark of the Elohim of Yisrael, don’t send it empty; but by all means return a trespass offering to him. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.” 4Then they said, “What should the trespass offering be which we shall return to him?” They said, “Five golden tumours and five golden mice, for the number of the lords of the Pelishtim; for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. 5Therefore you shall make images of your tumours and images of your mice that mar the land; and you shall give glory to the Elohim of Yisrael. Perhaps he will release his hand from you, from your gods, and from your land. 6Why then do you harden your hearts as the Mitzrim and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had worked wonderfully amongst them, didn’t they let the people go, and they departed? 7“Now therefore take and prepare yourselves a new cart and two milk cows on which there has come no yoke; and tie the cows to the cart, and bring their calves home from them; 8and take YHWH’s ark and lay it on the cart. Put the jewels of gold, which you return him for a trespass offering, in a box by its side; and send it away, that it may go. 9Behold, if it goes up by the way of its own border to Beit Shemesh, then he has done us this great evil; but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us. It was a chance that happened to us.” 10The men did so, and took two milk cows and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 11They put YHWH’s ark on the cart, and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumours. 12The cows took the straight way by the way to Beit Shemesh. They went along the highway, lowing as they went, and didn’t turn away to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Pelishtim went after them to the border of Beit Shemesh. 13The people of Beit Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 14The cart came into the field of Yehoshua of Beit Shemesh, and stood there, where there was a great stone. Then they split the wood of the cart and offered up the cows for a burnt offering to YHWH. 15The Levi'im took down YHWH’s ark and the box that was with it, in which the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone; and the men of Beit Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day to YHWH. 16When the five lords of the Pelishtim had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day. 17These are the golden tumours which the Pelishtim returned for a trespass offering to YHWH: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gat one, for Ekron one; 18and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Pelishtim belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even to the great stone on which they set down YHWH’s ark. That stone remains to this day in the field of Yehoshua of Beit Shemesh. 19He struck of the men of Beit Shemesh, because they had looked into YHWH’s ark, he struck fifty thousand and seventy of the men. Then the people mourned, because YHWH had struck the people with a great slaughter. 20The men of Beit Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before YHWH, this kodesh Elohim? To whom shall he go up from us?” 21They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiryat Ye'arim, saying, “The Pelishtim have brought back YHWH’s ark. Come down and bring it up to yourselves.”

### Chapter 7

1The men of Kiryat Ye'arim came and took YHWH’s ark, and brought it into Avinadav’s house on the hill, and consecrated El'azar his son to keep YHWH’s ark. 2From the day that the ark stayed in Kiryat Ye'arim, the time was long—for it was twenty years; and all the house of Yisrael lamented after YHWH. 3Shmuel spoke to all the house of Yisrael, saying, “If you are returning to YHWH with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtarot from amongst you, and direct your hearts to YHWH, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Pelishtim.” 4Then the children of Yisrael removed the Baals and the Ashtarot, and served YHWH only. 5Shmuel said, “Gather all Yisrael to Mitzpah, and I will pray to YHWH for you.” 6They gathered together to Mitzpah, and drew water, and poured it out before YHWH, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against YHWH.” Shmuel judged the children of Yisrael in Mitzpah. 7When the Pelishtim heard that the children of Yisrael were gathered together at Mitzpah, the lords of the Pelishtim went up against Yisrael. When the children of Yisrael heard it, they were afraid of the Pelishtim. 8The children of Yisrael said to Shmuel, “Don’t stop crying to YHWH our Elohim for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Pelishtim.” 9Shmuel took a suckling lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt offering to YHWH. Shmuel cried to YHWH for Yisrael, and YHWH answered him. 10As Shmuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Pelishtim came near to battle against Yisrael; but YHWH thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Pelishtim and confused them; and they were struck down before Yisrael. 11The men of Yisrael went out of Mitzpah and pursued the Pelishtim, and struck them until they came under Beit Kar. 12Then Shmuel took a stone and set it between Mitzpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “YHWH helped us until now.” 13So the Pelishtim were subdued, and they stopped coming within the border of Yisrael. YHWH’s hand was against the Pelishtim all the days of Shmuel. 14The cities which the Pelishtim had taken from Yisrael were restored to Yisrael, from Ekron even to Gat; and Yisrael recovered its border out of the hand of the Pelishtim. There was peace between Yisrael and the Emorim. 15Shmuel judged Yisrael all the days of his life. 16He went from year to year in a circuit to Beit El, Gilgal, and Mitzpah; and he judged Yisrael in all those places. 17His return was to Ramah, for his house was there, and he judged Yisrael there; and he built an altar to YHWH there.

### Chapter 8

1When Shmuel was old, he made his sons judges over Yisrael. 2Now the name of his firstborn was Yoel, and the name of his second, Aviyah. They were judges in Be'er Sheva. 3His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned away after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice. 4Then all the elders of Yisrael gathered themselves together and came to Shmuel to Ramah. 5They said to him, “Behold, you are old, and your sons don’t walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6But the thing displeased Shmuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” Shmuel prayed to YHWH. 7YHWH said to Shmuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me as the king over them. 8According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Mitzrayim even to this day, in that they have forsaken me and served other gods, so they also do to you. 9Now therefore, listen to their voice. However, you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who will reign over them.” 10Shmuel told all YHWH’s words to the people who asked him for a king. 11He said, “This will be the way of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them as his servants, for his chariots and to be his horsemen; and they will run before his chariots. 12He will appoint them to him for captains of thousands and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plough his ground and to reap his harvest; and to make his instruments of war and the instruments of his chariots. 13He will take your daughters to be perfumers, to be cooks, and to be bakers. 14He will take your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, even your best, and give them to his servants. 15He will take one tenth of your seed and of your vineyards, and give it to his officers and to his servants. 16He will take your male servants, your female servants, your best young men, and your donkeys, and assign them to his own work. 17He will take one tenth of your flocks; and you will be his servants. 18You will cry out in that day because of your king whom you will have chosen for yourselves; and YHWH will not answer you in that day.” 19But the people refused to listen to the voice of Shmuel; and they said, “No, but we will have a king over us, 20that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.” 21Shmuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of YHWH. 22YHWH said to Shmuel, “Listen to their voice, and make them a king.” Shmuel said to the men of Yisrael, “Everyone go to your own city.”

### Chapter 9

1Now there was a man of Binyamin, whose name was Kish the son of Avi'el, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Binyamini, a mighty man of valour. 2He had a son whose name was Sha'ul, an impressive young man; and there was not amongst the children of Yisrael a more handsome person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was taller than any of the people. 3The donkeys of Kish, Sha'ul’s father, were lost. Kish said to Sha'ul his son, “Now take one of the servants with you, and arise, go look for the donkeys.” 4He passed through the hill country of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they didn’t find them. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and they weren’t there. Then he passed through the land of the Binyaminim, but they didn’t find them. 5When they had come to the land of Zuph, Sha'ul said to his servant who was with him, “Come! Let’s return, lest my father stop caring about the donkeys and be anxious for us.” 6The servant said to him, “Behold now, there is a man of Elohim in this city, and he is a man who is held in honour. All that he says surely happens. Now let’s go there. Perhaps he can tell us which way to go.” 7Then Sha'ul said to his servant, “But behold, if we go, what should we bring the man? For the bread is spent in our sacks, and there is not a present to bring to the man of Elohim. What do we have?” 8The servant answered Sha'ul again and said, “Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of Elohim, to tell us our way.” 9(In earlier times in Yisrael, when a man went to enquire of Elohim, he said, “Come! Let’s go to the seer;” for he who is now called a prophet was before called a seer.) 10Then Sha'ul said to his servant, “Well said. Come! Let’s go.” So they went to the city where the man of Elohim was. 11As they went up the ascent to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said to them, “Is the seer here?” 12They answered them and said, “He is. Behold, he is before you. Hurry now, for he has come today into the city; for the people have a sacrifice today in the high place. 13As soon as you have come into the city, you will immediately find him before he goes up to the high place to eat; for the people will not eat until he comes, because he blesses the sacrifice. Afterwards those who are invited eat. Now therefore go up; for at this time you will find him.” 14They went up to the city. As they came within the city, behold, Shmuel came out towards them to go up to the high place. 15Now YHWH had revealed to Shmuel a day before Sha'ul came, saying, 16“Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man out of the land of Binyamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Yisrael. He will save my people out of the hand of the Pelishtim; for I have looked upon my people, because their cry has come to me.” 17When Shmuel saw Sha'ul, YHWH said to him, “Behold, the man of whom I spoke to you! He will have authority over my people.” 18Then Sha'ul approached Shmuel in the gateway, and said, “Please tell me where the seer’s house is.” 19Shmuel answered Sha'ul and said, “I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you are to eat with me today. In the morning I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart. 20As for your donkeys who were lost three days ago, don’t set your mind on them, for they have been found. For whom does all Yisrael desire? Is it not you and all your father’s house?” 21Sha'ul answered, “Am I not a Binyamini, of the smallest of the tribes of Yisrael? And my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Binyamin? Why then do you speak to me like this?” 22Shmuel took Sha'ul and his servant and brought them into the guest room, and made them sit in the best place amongst those who were invited, who were about thirty persons. 23Shmuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion which I gave you, of which I said to you, ‘Set it aside.’” 24The cook took up the thigh, and that which was on it, and set it before Sha'ul. Shmuel said, “Behold, that which has been reserved! Set it before yourself and eat; because it has been kept for you for the appointed time, for I said, ‘I have invited the people.’” So Sha'ul ate with Shmuel that day. 25When they had come down from the high place into the city, he talked with Sha'ul on the housetop. 26They arose early; and about daybreak, Shmuel called to Sha'ul on the housetop, saying, “Get up, that I may send you away.” Sha'ul arose, and they both went outside, he and Shmuel, together. 27As they were going down at the end of the city, Shmuel said to Sha'ul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us.” He went ahead, then Shmuel said, “But stand still first, that I may cause you to hear Elohim’s message.”

### Chapter 10

1Then Shmuel took the vial of oil and poured it on his head, then kissed him and said, “Hasn’t YHWH anointed you to be prince over his inheritance? 2When you have departed from me today, then you will find two men by Rachel’s tomb, on the border of Binyamin at Zelzah. They will tell you, ‘The donkeys which you went to look for have been found; and behold, your father has stopped caring about the donkeys and is anxious for you, saying, “What shall I do for my son?”’ 3“Then you will go on forward from there, and you will come to the oak of Tavor. Three men will meet you there going up to Elohim to Beit El: one carrying three young goats, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a container of wine. 4They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall receive from their hand. 5“After that you will come to the hill of Elohim, where the garrison of the Pelishtim is; and it will happen, when you have come there to the city, that you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a lute, a tambourine, a pipe, and a harp before them; and they will be prophesying. 6Then YHWH’s Ruach will come mightily on you, then you will prophesy with them and will be turned into another man. 7Let it be, when these signs have come to you, that you do what is appropriate for the occasion; for Elohim is with you. 8“Go down ahead of me to Gilgal; and behold, I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings. Wait seven days, until I come to you and show you what you are to do.” 9It was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Shmuel, Elohim gave him another heart; and all those signs happened that day. 10When they came there to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him; and the Ruach Elohim came mightily on him, and he prophesied amongst them. 11When all who knew him before saw that, behold, he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said to one another, “What is this that has come to the son of Kish? Is Sha'ul also amongst the prophets?” 12One from the same place answered, “Who is their father?” Therefore it became a proverb, “Is Sha'ul also amongst the prophets?” 13When he had finished prophesying, he came to the high place. 14Sha'ul’s uncle said to him and to his servant, “Where did you go?” He said, “To seek the donkeys. When we saw that they were not found, we came to Shmuel.” 15Sha'ul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Shmuel said to you.” 16Sha'ul said to his uncle, “He told us plainly that the donkeys were found.” But concerning the matter of the kingdom, of which Shmuel spoke, he didn’t tell him. 17Shmuel called the people together to YHWH to Mitzpah; 18and he said to the children of Yisrael, “YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, says ‘I brought Yisrael up out of Mitzrayim and I delivered you out of the hand of the Mitzrim, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ 19But you have today rejected your Elohim, who himself saves you out of all your calamities and your distresses; and you have said to him, ‘No! Set a king over us!’ Now therefore present yourselves before YHWH by your tribes and by your thousands.” 20So Shmuel brought all the tribes of Yisrael near, and the tribe of Binyamin was chosen. 21He brought the tribe of Binyamin near by their families and the family of the Matrites was chosen. Then Sha'ul the son of Kish was chosen; but when they looked for him, he could not be found. 22Therefore they asked of YHWH further, “Is there yet a man to come here?” YHWH answered, “Behold, he has hidden himself amongst the baggage.” 23They ran and got him there. When he stood amongst the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. 24Shmuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom YHWH has chosen, that there is no one like him amongst all the people?” All the people shouted and said, “Long live the king!” 25Then Shmuel told the people the regulations of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book and laid it up before YHWH. Shmuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. 26Sha'ul also went to his house in Giv'ah; and the army went with him, whose hearts Elohim had touched. 27But certain worthless fellows said, “How could this man save us?” They despised him, and brought him no tribute. But he held his peace.

### Chapter 11

1Then Nachash the Amoni came up and encamped against Yavesh Gilead; and all the men of Yavesh said to Nachash, “Make a Brit with us, and we will serve you.” 2Nachash the Amoni said to them, “On this condition I will make it with you, that all your right eyes be gouged out. I will make this dishonour all Yisrael.” 3The elders of Yavesh said to him, “Give us seven days, that we may send messengers to all the borders of Yisrael; and then, if there is no one to save us, we will come out to you.” 4Then the messengers came to Giv'ah of Sha'ul, and spoke these words in the ears of the people, then all the people lifted up their voice and wept. 5Behold, Sha'ul came following the oxen out of the field; and Sha'ul said, “What ails the people that they weep?” They told him the words of the men of Yavesh. 6Elohim’s Ruach came mightily on Sha'ul when he heard those words, and his anger burnt hot. 7He took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, then sent them throughout all the borders of Yisrael by the hand of messengers, saying, “Whoever doesn’t come out after Sha'ul and after Shmuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.” The dread of YHWH fell on the people, and they came out as one man. 8He counted them in Bezek; and the children of Yisrael were three hundred thousand, and the men of Yehudah thirty thousand. 9They said to the messengers who came, “Tell the men of Yavesh Gilead, ‘Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, you will be rescued.’” The messengers came and told the men of Yavesh; and they were glad. 10Therefore the men of Yavesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you shall do with us all that seems good to you.” 11On the next day, Sha'ul put the people in three companies; and they came into the middle of the camp in the morning watch, and struck the Amonim until the heat of the day. Those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them were left together. 12The people said to Shmuel, “Who is he who said, ‘Shall Sha'ul reign over us?’ Bring those men, that we may put them to death!” 13Sha'ul said, “No man shall be put to death today; for today YHWH has rescued Yisrael.” 14Then Shmuel said to the people, “Come! Let’s go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.” 15All the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Sha'ul king before YHWH in Gilgal. There they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before YHWH; and there Sha'ul and all the men of Yisrael rejoiced greatly.

### Chapter 12

1Shmuel said to all Yisrael, “Behold, I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me, and have made a king over you. 2Now, behold, the king walks before you. I am old and grey-headed. Behold, my sons are with you. I have walked before you from my youth to this day. 3Here I am. Witness against me before YHWH and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.” 4They said, “You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything from anyone’s hand.” 5He said to them, “YHWH is witness against you, and his anointed is witness today, that you have not found anything in my hand.” They said, “He is witness.” 6Shmuel said to the people, “It is YHWH who appointed Moshe and Aharon, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Mitzrayim. 7Now therefore stand still, that I may plead with you before YHWH concerning all the righteous acts of YHWH, which he did to you and to your fathers. 8“When Yaakov had come into Mitzrayim, and your fathers cried to YHWH, then YHWH sent Moshe and Aharon, who brought your fathers out of Mitzrayim, and made them to dwell in this place. 9But they forgot YHWH their Elohim; and he sold them into the hand of Sisra, captain of the army of Chatzor, and into the hand of the Pelishtim, and into the hand of the king of Moab; and they fought against them. 10They cried to YHWH, and said, ‘We have sinned, because we have forsaken YHWH and have served the Baals and the Ashtarot; but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.’ 11YHWH sent Yeruba'al, Bedan, Yiftach, and Shmuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and you lived in safety. 12“When you saw that Nachash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when YHWH your Elohim was your king. 13Now therefore see the king whom you have chosen and whom you have asked for. Behold, YHWH has set a king over you. 14If you will fear YHWH, and serve him, and listen to his voice, and not rebel against the mitzvah of YHWH, then both you and also the king who reigns over you are followers of YHWH your Elohim. 15But if you will not listen to YHWH’s voice, but rebel against the mitzvah of YHWH, then YHWH’s hand will be against you, as it was against your fathers. 16“Now therefore stand still and see this great thing, which YHWH will do before your eyes. 17Isn’t it wheat harvest today? I will call to YHWH, that he may send thunder and rain; and you will know and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in YHWH’s sight, in asking for a king.” 18So Shmuel called to YHWH, and YHWH sent thunder and rain that day. Then all the people greatly feared YHWH and Shmuel. 19All the people said to Shmuel, “Pray for your servants to YHWH your Elohim, that we not die; for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for a king.” 20Shmuel said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have indeed done all this evil; yet don’t turn away from following YHWH, but serve YHWH with all your heart. 21Don’t turn away to go after vain things which can’t profit or deliver, for they are vain. 22For YHWH will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased YHWH to make you a people for himself. 23Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against YHWH in ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24Only fear YHWH, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things he has done for you. 25But if you keep doing evil, you will be consumed, both you and your king.”

### Chapter 13

1Sha'ul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Yisrael forty-two years. 2Sha'ul chose for himself three thousand men of Yisrael, of which two thousand were with Sha'ul in Michmash and in the Mount of Beit El, and one thousand were with Yonatan in Giv'ah of Binyamin. He sent the rest of the people to their own tents. 3Yonatan struck the garrison of the Pelishtim that was in Geva, and the Pelishtim heard of it. Sha'ul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, “Let the Ivrim hear!” 4All Yisrael heard that Sha'ul had struck the garrison of the Pelishtim, and also that Yisrael was considered an abomination to the Pelishtim. The people were gathered together after Sha'ul to Gilgal. 5The Pelishtim assembled themselves together to fight with Yisrael: thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude. They came up and encamped in Michmash, eastward of Beit Aven. 6When the men of Yisrael saw that they were in trouble (for the people were distressed), then the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in tombs, and in pits. 7Now some of the Ivrim had gone over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead; but as for Sha'ul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. 8He stayed seven days, according to the time set by Shmuel; but Shmuel didn’t come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. 9Sha'ul said, “Bring the burnt offering to me here, and the peace offerings.” He offered the burnt offering. 10It came to pass that as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Shmuel came; and Sha'ul went out to meet him, that he might greet him. 11Shmuel said, “What have you done?” Sha'ul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you didn’t come within the days appointed, and that the Pelishtim assembled themselves together at Michmash, 12therefore I said, ‘Now the Pelishtim will come down on me to Gilgal, and I haven’t entreated the favour of YHWH.’ I forced myself therefore, and offered the burnt offering.” 13Shmuel said to Sha'ul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the mitzvah of YHWH your Elohim, which he commanded you; for now YHWH would have established your kingdom on Yisrael forever. 14But now your kingdom will not continue. YHWH has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and YHWH has appointed him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept that which YHWH commanded you.” 15Shmuel arose, and went from Gilgal to Giv'ah of Binyamin. Sha'ul counted the people who were present with him, about six hundred men. 16Sha'ul, and Yonatan his son, and the people who were present with them, stayed in Geva of Binyamin; but the Pelishtim encamped in Michmash. 17The raiders came out of the camp of the Pelishtim in three companies: one company turned to the way that leads to Ofrah, to the land of Shual; 18another company turned the way to Beit Choron; and another company turned the way of the border that looks down on the valley of Zeboim towards the wilderness. 19Now there was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Yisrael, for the Pelishtim said, “Lest the Ivrim make themselves swords or spears”; 20but all the B'nei Yisrael went down to the Pelishtim, each man to sharpen his own ploughshare, mattock, axe, and sickle. 21The price was one payim each to sharpen mattocks, ploughshares, pitchforks, axes, and goads. 22So it came to pass in the day of battle that neither sword nor spear was found in the hand of any of the people who were with Sha'ul and Yonatan; but Sha'ul and Yonatan his son had them. 23The garrison of the Pelishtim went out to the pass of Michmash.

### Chapter 14

1Now it happened on a day that Yonatan the son of Sha'ul said to the young man who bore his armour, “Come! Let’s go over to the Pelishtim’ garrison that is on the other side.” But he didn’t tell his father. 2Sha'ul stayed in the uttermost part of Giv'ah under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron; and the people who were with him were about six hundred men, 3including Achiyah the son of Achituv, Ichabod’s brother, the son of Pinchas, the son of Eli the priest of YHWH in Shilo, wearing an ephod. The people didn’t know that Yonatan was gone. 4Between the passes, by which Yonatan sought to go over to the Pelishtim’ garrison, there was a rocky crag on the one side and a rocky crag on the other side; and the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. 5The one crag rose up on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geva. 6Yonatan said to the young man who bore his armour, “Come! Let’s go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that YHWH will work for us, for there is no restraint on YHWH to save by many or by few.” 7His armour bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Go, and behold, I am with you according to your heart.” 8Then Yonatan said, “Behold, we will pass over to the men, and we will reveal ourselves to them. 9If they say this to us, ‘Wait until we come to you!’ then we will stand still in our place and will not go up to them. 10But if they say this, ‘Come up to us!’ then we will go up, for YHWH has delivered them into our hand. This shall be the sign to us.” 11Both of them revealed themselves to the garrison of the Pelishtim; and the Pelishtim said, “Behold, the Ivrim are coming out of the holes where they had hidden themselves!” 12The men of the garrison answered Yonatan and his armour bearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you something!” Yonatan said to his armour bearer, “Come up after me, for YHWH has delivered them into the hand of Yisrael.” 13Yonatan climbed up on his hands and on his feet, and his armour bearer after him, and they fell before Yonatan; and his armour bearer killed them after him. 14That first slaughter, which Yonatan and his armour bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow’s length in an acre of land. 15There was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and amongst all the people; the garrison and the raiders also trembled; and the earth quaked, so there was an exceedingly great trembling. 16The watchmen of Sha'ul in Giv'ah of Binyamin looked; and behold, the multitude melted away and scattered. 17Then Sha'ul said to the people who were with him, “Count now, and see who is missing from us.” When they had counted, behold, Yonatan and his armour bearer were not there. 18Sha'ul said to Achiyah, “Bring Elohim’s ark here.” For Elohim’s ark was with the children of Yisrael at that time. 19While Sha'ul talked to the priest, the tumult that was in the camp of the Pelishtim went on and increased; and Sha'ul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand!” 20Sha'ul and all the people who were with him were gathered together, and came to the battle; and behold, they were all striking each other with their swords in very great confusion. 21Now the Ivrim who were with the Pelishtim before and who went up with them into the camp from all around, even they also turned to be with the B'nei Yisrael who were with Sha'ul and Yonatan. 22Likewise all the men of Yisrael who had hidden themselves in the hill country of Ephraim, when they heard that the Pelishtim fled, even they also followed hard after them in the battle. 23So YHWH saved Yisrael that day; and the battle passed over by Beit Aven. 24The men of Yisrael were distressed that day; for Sha'ul had adjured the people, saying, “Cursed is the man who eats any food until it is evening, and I am avenged of my enemies.” So none of the people tasted food. 25All the people came into the forest; and there was honey on the ground. 26When the people had come to the forest, behold, honey was dripping, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. 27But Yonatan didn’t hear when his father commanded the people with the oath. Therefore he put out the end of the rod that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes brightened. 28Then one of the people answered, and said, “Your father directly commanded the people with an oath, saying, ‘Cursed is the man who eats food today.’” So the people were faint. 29Then Yonatan said, “My father has troubled the land. Please look how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey. 30How much more, if perhaps the people had eaten freely today of the plunder of their enemies which they found? For now there has been no great slaughter amongst the Pelishtim.” 31They struck the Pelishtim that day from Michmash to Ayalon. The people were very faint; 32and the people pounced on the plunder, and took sheep, cattle, and calves, and killed them on the ground; and the people ate them with the blood. 33Then they told Sha'ul, saying, “Behold, the people are sinning against YHWH, in that they eat meat with the blood.” He said, “You have dealt treacherously. Roll a large stone to me today!” 34Sha'ul said, “Disperse yourselves amongst the people, and tell them, ‘Every man bring me here his ox, and every man his sheep, and kill them here, and eat; and don’t sin against YHWH in eating meat with the blood.’” All the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and killed them there. 35Sha'ul built an altar to YHWH. This was the first altar that he built to YHWH. 36Sha'ul said, “Let’s go down after the Pelishtim by night, and take plunder amongst them until the morning light. Let’s not leave a man of them.” They said, “Do whatever seems good to you.” Then the priest said, “Let’s draw near here to Elohim.” 37Sha'ul asked counsel of Elohim: “Shall I go down after the Pelishtim? Will you deliver them into the hand of Yisrael?” But he didn’t answer him that day. 38Sha'ul said, “Draw near here, all you chiefs of the people, and know and see in whom this sin has been today. 39For as YHWH lives, who saves Yisrael, though it is in Yonatan my son, he shall surely die.” But there was not a man amongst all the people who answered him. 40Then he said to all Yisrael, “You be on one side, and I and Yonatan my son will be on the other side.” The people said to Sha'ul, “Do what seems good to you.” 41Therefore Sha'ul said to YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, “Show the right.” Yonatan and Sha'ul were chosen, but the people escaped. 42Sha'ul said, “Cast lots between me and Yonatan my son.” Yonatan was selected. 43Then Sha'ul said to Yonatan, “Tell me what you have done!” Yonatan told him, and said, “I certainly did taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand; and behold, I must die.” 44Sha'ul said, “Elohim do so and more also; for you shall surely die, Yonatan.” 45The people said to Sha'ul, “Shall Yonatan die, who has worked this great salvation in Yisrael? Far from it! As YHWH lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has worked with Elohim today!” So the people rescued Yonatan, so he didn’t die. 46Then Sha'ul went up from following the Pelishtim; and the Pelishtim went to their own place. 47Now when Sha'ul had taken the kingdom over Yisrael, he fought against all his enemies on every side: against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Pelishtim. Wherever he turned himself, he defeated them. 48He did valiantly and struck the Amalekim, and delivered Yisrael out of the hands of those who plundered them. 49Now the sons of Sha'ul were Yonatan, Yishvi, and Malchishua; and the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn Merav, and the name of the younger Michal. 50The name of Sha'ul’s wife was Achino'am the daughter of Achima'atz. The name of the captain of his army was Avner the son of Ner, Sha'ul’s uncle. 51Kish was the father of Sha'ul, and Ner the father of Avner was the son of Avi'el. 52There was severe war against the Pelishtim all the days of Sha'ul; and when Sha'ul saw any mighty man or any valiant man, he took him into his service.

### Chapter 15

1Shmuel said to Sha'ul, “YHWH sent me to anoint you to be king over his people, over Yisrael. Now therefore listen to the voice of YHWH’s words. 2YHWH Tzeva'ot says, ‘I remember what Amalek did to Yisrael, how he set himself against him on the way when he came up out of Mitzrayim. 3Now go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and don’t spare them; but kill both man and woman, infant and nursing baby, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” 4Sha'ul summoned the people, and counted them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen and ten thousand men of Yehudah. 5Sha'ul came to the city of Amalek, and set an ambush in the valley. 6Sha'ul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from amongst the Amalekim, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the children of Yisrael when they came up out of Mitzrayim.” So the Kenites departed from amongst the Amalekim. 7Sha'ul struck the Amalekim, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is before Mitzrayim. 8He took Agag the king of the Amalekim alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9But Sha'ul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, of the cattle, of the fat calves, of the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to utterly destroy them; but everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. 10Then YHWH’s word came to Shmuel, saying, 11“It grieves me that I have set up Sha'ul to be king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my mitzvot.” Shmuel was angry; and he cried to YHWH all night. 12Shmuel rose early to meet Sha'ul in the morning; and Shmuel was told, saying, “Sha'ul came to Karmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, turned, passed on, and went down to Gilgal.” 13Shmuel came to Sha'ul; and Sha'ul said to him, “You are blessed by YHWH! I have performed the mitzvah of YHWH.” 14Shmuel said, “Then what does this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the cattle which I hear mean?” 15Sha'ul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekim; for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the cattle, to sacrifice to YHWH your Elohim. We have utterly destroyed the rest.” 16Then Shmuel said to Sha'ul, “Stay, and I will tell you what YHWH said to me last night.” He said to him, “Say on.” 17Shmuel said, “Though you were little in your own sight, weren’t you made the head of the tribes of Yisrael? YHWH anointed you king over Yisrael; 18and YHWH sent you on a journey, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekim, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19Why then didn’t you obey YHWH’s voice, but took the plunder, and did that which was evil in YHWH’s sight?” 20Sha'ul said to Shmuel, “But I have obeyed YHWH’s voice, and have gone the way which YHWH sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekim. 21But the people took of the plunder, sheep and cattle, the best of the devoted things, to sacrifice to YHWH your Elohim in Gilgal.” 22Shmuel said, “Has YHWH as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying YHWH’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected YHWH’s word, he has also rejected you from being king.” 24Sha'ul said to Shmuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the mitzvah of YHWH and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship YHWH.” 26Shmuel said to Sha'ul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected YHWH’s word, and YHWH has rejected you from being king over Yisrael.” 27As Shmuel turned around to go away, Sha'ul grabbed the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28Shmuel said to him, “YHWH has torn the kingdom of Yisrael from you today, and has given it to a neighbour of yours who is better than you. 29Also the Strength of Yisrael will not lie nor repent; for he is not a man, that he should repent.” 30Then he said, “I have sinned; yet please honour me now before the elders of my people and before Yisrael, and come back with me, that I may worship YHWH your Elohim.” 31So Shmuel went back with Sha'ul; and Sha'ul worshipped YHWH. 32Then Shmuel said, “Bring Agag the king of the Amalekim here to me!” Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” 33Shmuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless amongst women!” Then Shmuel cut Agag in pieces before YHWH in Gilgal. 34Then Shmuel went to Ramah; and Sha'ul went up to his house to Giv'ah of Sha'ul. 35Shmuel came no more to see Sha'ul until the day of his death, but Shmuel mourned for Sha'ul. YHWH grieved that he had made Sha'ul king over Yisrael.

### Chapter 16

1YHWH said to Shmuel, “How long will you mourn for Sha'ul, since I have rejected him from being king over Yisrael? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Yishai the Beit Lechemi, for I have provided a king for myself amongst his sons.” 2Shmuel said, “How can I go? If Sha'ul hears it, he will kill me.” YHWH said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to YHWH.’ 3Call Yishai to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. You shall anoint to me him whom I name to you.” 4Shmuel did that which YHWH spoke, and came to Beit Lechem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to YHWH. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” He sanctified Yishai and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. 6When they had come, he looked at Eliav, and said, “Surely YHWH’s anointed is before him.” 7But YHWH said to Shmuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but YHWH looks at the heart.” 8Then Yishai called Avinadav, and made him pass before Shmuel. He said, “YHWH has not chosen this one, either.” 9Then Yishai made Shamah to pass by. He said, “YHWH has not chosen this one, either.” 10Yishai made seven of his sons to pass before Shmuel. Shmuel said to Yishai, “YHWH has not chosen these.” 11Shmuel said to Yishai, “Are all your children here?” He said, “There remains yet the youngest. Behold, he is keeping the sheep.” Shmuel said to Yishai, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.” 12He sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with a handsome face and good appearance. YHWH said, “Arise! Anoint him, for this is he.” 13Then Shmuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the middle of his brothers. Then YHWH’s Ruach came mightily on David from that day forward. So Shmuel rose up and went to Ramah. 14Now YHWH’s Ruach departed from Sha'ul, and an evil spirit from YHWH troubled him. 15Sha'ul’s servants said to him, “See now, an evil spirit from Elohim troubles you. 16Let our adonai now command your servants who are in front of you to seek out a man who is a skilful player on the harp. Then when the evil spirit from Elohim is on you, he will play with his hand, and you will be well.” 17Sha'ul said to his servants, “Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.” 18Then one of the young men answered and said, “Behold, I have seen a son of Yishai the Beit Lechemi who is skilful in playing, a mighty man of valour, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and YHWH is with him.” 19Therefore Sha'ul sent messengers to Yishai, and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.” 20Yishai took a donkey loaded with bread, a container of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by David his son to Sha'ul. 21David came to Sha'ul and stood before him. He loved him greatly; and he became his armour bearer. 22Sha'ul sent to Yishai, saying, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favour in my sight.” 23When the spirit from Elohim was on Sha'ul, David took the harp and played with his hand; so Sha'ul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

### Chapter 17

1Now the Pelishtim gathered together their armies to battle; and they were gathered together at Sokho, which belongs to Yehudah, and encamped between Sokho and Azekah in Ephesdammim. 2Sha'ul and the men of Yisrael were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Pelishtim. 3The Pelishtim stood on the mountain on the one side, and Yisrael stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them. 4A champion out of the camp of the Pelishtim named Golyat of Gat, whose height was six cubits and a span went out. 5He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he wore a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6He had bronze shin armour on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders. 7The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. His shield bearer went before him. 8He stood and cried to the armies of Yisrael, and said to them, “Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Pelishti, and you servants to Sha'ul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.” 10The Pelishti said, “I defy the armies of Yisrael today! Give me a man, that we may fight together!” 11When Sha'ul and all Yisrael heard those words of the Pelishti, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. 12Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Beit Lechem Yehudah, whose name was Yishai; and he had eight sons. The man was an elderly old man in the days of Sha'ul. 13The three oldest sons of Yishai had gone after Sha'ul to the battle; and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliav the firstborn, and next to him Avinadav, and the third Shamah. 14David was the youngest; and the three oldest followed Sha'ul. 15Now David went back and forth from Sha'ul to feed his father’s sheep at Beit Lechem. 16The Pelishti came near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. 17Yishai said to David his son, “Now take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; 18and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand; and see how your brothers are doing, and bring back news.” 19Now Sha'ul, and they, and all the men of Yisrael were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Pelishtim. 20David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper, and took the provisions and went, as Yishai had commanded him. He came to the place of the wagons as the army which was going out to the fight shouted for the battle. 21Yisrael and the Pelishtim put the battle in array, army against army. 22David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. 23As he talked with them, behold, the champion, the Pelishti of Gat, Golyat by name, came up out of the ranks of the Pelishtim, and said the same words; and David heard them. 24All the men of Yisrael, when they saw the man, fled from him and were terrified. 25The men of Yisrael said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? He has surely come up to defy Yisrael. The king will give great riches to the man who kills him, and will give him his daughter, and will make his father’s house tax-free in Yisrael.” 26David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done to the man who kills this Pelishti and takes away the reproach from Yisrael? For who is this uncircumcised Pelishti, that he should defy the armies of the living Elohim?” 27The people answered him in this way, saying, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.” 28Eliav his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliav’s anger burnt against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the evil of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle.” 29David said, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” 30He turned away from him towards another, and spoke like that again; and the people answered him again the same way. 31When the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed them before Sha'ul; and he sent for him. 32David said to Sha'ul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Pelishti.” 33Sha'ul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Pelishti to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” 34David said to Sha'ul, “Your servant was keeping his father’s sheep; and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, 35I went out after him, struck him, and rescued it out of his mouth. When he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, struck him, and killed him. 36Your servant struck both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Pelishti shall be as one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living Elohim.” 37David said, “YHWH, who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, will deliver me out of the hand of this Pelishti.” Sha'ul said to David, “Go! YHWH will be with you.” 38Sha'ul dressed David with his clothing. He put a helmet of bronze on his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail. 39David strapped his sword on his clothing and he tried to move, for he had not tested it. David said to Sha'ul, “I can’t go with these, for I have not tested them.” Then David took them off. 40He took his staff in his hand, and chose for himself five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag which he had. His sling was in his hand; and he came near to the Pelishti. 41The Pelishti walked and came near to David; and the man who bore the shield went before him. 42When the Pelishti looked around and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and had a good looking face. 43The Pelishti said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” The Pelishti cursed David by his gods. 44The Pelishti said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and to the animals of the field.” 45Then David said to the Pelishti, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin; but I come to you in the name of YHWH Tzeva'ot, the Elohim of the armies of Yisrael, whom you have defied. 46Today, YHWH will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you and take your head from off you. I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Pelishtim today to the birds of the sky and to the wild animals of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a Elohim in Yisrael, 47and that all this assembly may know that YHWH doesn’t save with sword and spear; for the battle is YHWH’s, and he will give you into our hand.” 48When the Pelishti arose, and walked and came near to meet David, David hurried and ran towards the army to meet the Pelishti. 49David put his hand in his bag, took a stone and slung it, and struck the Pelishti in his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50So David prevailed over the Pelishti with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Pelishti and killed him; but there was no sword in David’s hand. 51Then David ran, stood over the Pelishti, took his sword, drew it out of its sheath, killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Pelishtim saw that their champion was dead, they fled. 52The men of Yisrael and of Yehudah arose and shouted, and pursued the Pelishtim as far as Gai and to the gates of Ekron. The wounded of the Pelishtim fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even to Gat and to Ekron. 53The children of Yisrael returned from chasing after the Pelishtim, and they plundered their camp. 54David took the head of the Pelishti and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armour in his tent. 55When Sha'ul saw David go out against the Pelishti, he said to Avner, the captain of the army, “Avner, whose son is this youth?” Avner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I can’t tell.” 56The king said, “Enquire whose son the young man is!” 57As David returned from the slaughter of the Pelishti, Avner took him and brought him before Sha'ul with the head of the Pelishti in his hand. 58Sha'ul said to him, “Whose son are you, you young man?” David answered, “I am the son of your servant Yishai the Beit Lechemi.”

### Chapter 18

1When he had finished speaking to Sha'ul, the soul of Yonatan was knit with the soul of David, and Yonatan loved him as his own soul. 2Sha'ul took him that day, and wouldn’t let him go home to his father’s house any more. 3Then Yonatan and David made a Brit, because he loved him as his own soul. 4Yonatan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David with his clothing, even including his sword, his bow, and his sash. 5David went out wherever Sha'ul sent him, and behaved himself wisely; and Sha'ul set him over the men of war. It was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Sha'ul’s servants. 6As they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Pelishti, the women came out of all the cities of Yisrael, singing and dancing, to meet King Sha'ul with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music. 7The women sang to one another as they played, and said, “Sha'ul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” 8Sha'ul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have credited David with ten thousands, and they have only credited me with thousands. What can he have more but the kingdom?” 9Sha'ul watched David from that day and forward. 10On the next day, an evil spirit from Elohim came mightily on Sha'ul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. David played with his hand, as he did day by day. Sha'ul had his spear in his hand; 11and Sha'ul threw the spear, for he said, “I will pin David to the wall!” David escaped from his presence twice. 12Sha'ul was afraid of David, because YHWH was with him, and had departed from Sha'ul. 13Therefore Sha'ul removed him from his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. 14David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and YHWH was with him. 15When Sha'ul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood in awe of him. 16But all Yisrael and Yehudah loved David; for he went out and came in before them. 17Sha'ul said to David, “Behold, my elder daughter Merav. I will give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight YHWH’s battles.” For Sha'ul said, “Don’t let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Pelishtim be on him.” 18David said to Sha'ul, “Who am I, and what is my life, or my father’s family in Yisrael, that I should be son-in-law to the king?” 19But at the time when Merav, Sha'ul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Mecholati as wife. 20Michal, Sha'ul’s daughter, loved David; and they told Sha'ul, and the thing pleased him. 21Sha'ul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the Pelishtim may be against him. Therefore Sha'ul said to David a second time, “You shall today be my son-in-law.” 22Sha'ul commanded his servants, “Talk with David secretly, and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore be the king’s son-in-law.’” 23Sha'ul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man and little known?” 24The servants of Sha'ul told him, saying, “David spoke like this.” 25Sha'ul said, “Tell David, ‘The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Pelishtim, to be avenged of the king’s enemies.’” Now Sha'ul thought he would make David fall by the hand of the Pelishtim. 26When his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. Before the deadline, 27David arose and went, he and his men, and killed two hundred men of the Pelishtim. Then David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king’s son-in-law. Then Sha'ul gave him Michal his daughter as wife. 28Sha'ul saw and knew that YHWH was with David; and Michal, Sha'ul’s daughter, loved him. 29Sha'ul was even more afraid of David; and Sha'ul was David’s enemy continually. 30Then the princes of the Pelishtim went out; and as often as they went out, David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Sha'ul, so that his name was highly esteemed.

### Chapter 19

1Sha'ul spoke to Yonatan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Yonatan, Sha'ul’s son, greatly delighted in David. 2Yonatan told David, saying, “Sha'ul my father seeks to kill you. Now therefore, please take care of yourself in the morning, live in a secret place, and hide yourself. 3I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will talk with my father about you; and if I see anything, I will tell you.” 4Yonatan spoke good of David to Sha'ul his father, and said to him, “Don’t let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good towards you; 5for he put his life in his hand and struck the Pelishti, and YHWH worked a great victory for all Yisrael. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?” 6Sha'ul listened to the voice of Yonatan; and Sha'ul swore, “As YHWH lives, he shall not be put to death.” 7Yonatan called David, and Yonatan showed him all those things. Then Yonatan brought David to Sha'ul, and he was in his presence as before. 8There was war again. David went out and fought with the Pelishtim, and killed them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him. 9An evil spirit from YHWH was on Sha'ul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing music with his hand. 10Sha'ul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Sha'ul’s presence; and he stuck the spear into the wall. David fled and escaped that night. 11Sha'ul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you don’t save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12So Michal let David down through the window. He went away, fled, and escaped. 13Michal took the teraphim and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with clothes. 14When Sha'ul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” 15Sha'ul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16When the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head. 17Sha'ul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” Michal answered Sha'ul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’” 18Now David fled and escaped, and came to Shmuel at Ramah, and told him all that Sha'ul had done to him. He and Shmuel went and lived in Naioth. 19Sha'ul was told, saying, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” 20Sha'ul sent messengers to seize David; and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Shmuel standing as head over them, Elohim’s Ruach came on Sha'ul’s messengers, and they also prophesied. 21When Sha'ul was told, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Sha'ul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. 22Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked, “Where are Shmuel and David?” One said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.” 23He went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then Elohim’s Ruach came on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24He also stripped off his clothes. He also prophesied before Shmuel and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Sha'ul also amongst the prophets?”

### Chapter 20

1David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said to Yonatan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?” 2He said to him, “Far from it; you will not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me. Why would my father hide this thing from me? It is not so.” 3David swore moreover, and said, “Your father knows well that I have found favour in your eyes; and he says, ‘Don’t let Yonatan know this, lest he be grieved;’ but truly as YHWH lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.” 4Then Yonatan said to David, “Whatever your soul desires, I will even do it for you.” 5David said to Yonatan, “Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to dine with the king; but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening. 6If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Beit Lechem, his city; for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’ 7If he says, ‘It is well,’ your servant shall have peace; but if he is angry, then know that evil is determined by him. 8Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a Brit of YHWH with you; but if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?” 9Yonatan said, “Far be it from you; for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come on you, then wouldn’t I tell you that?” 10Then David said to Yonatan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you roughly?” 11Yonatan said to David, “Come! Let’s go out into the field.” They both went out into the field. 12Yonatan said to David, “By YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, when I have sounded out my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if there is good towards David, won’t I then send to you and disclose it to you? 13YHWH do so to Yonatan and more also, should it please my father to do you evil, if I don’t disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in peace. May YHWH be with you as he has been with my father. 14You shall not only show me the chesed of YHWH while I still live, that I not die; 15but you shall also not cut off your kindness from my house forever, no, not when YHWH has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the surface of the earth.” 16So Yonatan made a Brit with David’s house, saying, “YHWH will require it at the hand of David’s enemies.” 17Yonatan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had for him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul. 18Then Yonatan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19When you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself when this started, and remain by the stone Ezel. 20I will shoot three arrows on its side, as though I shot at a mark. 21Behold, I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ If I tell the boy, ‘Behold, the arrows are on this side of you. Take them;’ then come, for there is peace to you and no danger, as YHWH lives. 22But if I say this to the boy, ‘Behold, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go your way, for YHWH has sent you away. 23Concerning the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, YHWH is between you and me forever.” 24So David hid himself in the field. When the new moon had come, the king sat himself down to eat food. 25The king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat by the wall; and Yonatan stood up, and Avner sat by Sha'ul’s side, but David’s place was empty. 26Nevertheless Sha'ul didn’t say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean.” 27On the next day after the new moon, the second day, David’s place was empty. Sha'ul said to Yonatan his son, “Why didn’t the son of Yishai come to eat, either yesterday, or today?” 28Yonatan answered Sha'ul, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Beit Lechem. 29He said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city. My brother has commanded me to be there. Now, if I have found favour in your eyes, please let me go away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.” 30Then Sha'ul’s anger burnt against Yonatan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse rebellious woman, don’t I know that you have chosen the son of Yishai to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? 31For as long as the son of Yishai lives on the earth, you will not be established, nor will your kingdom. Therefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die!” 32Yonatan answered Sha'ul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” 33Sha'ul cast his spear at him to strike him. By this Yonatan knew that his father was determined to put David to death. 34So Yonatan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month; for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully. 35In the morning, Yonatan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy with him. 36He said to his boy, “Run, find now the arrows which I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37When the boy had come to the place of the arrow which Yonatan had shot, Yonatan cried after the boy, and said, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” 38Yonatan cried after the boy, “Go fast! Hurry! Don’t delay!” Yonatan’s boy gathered up the arrows, and came to his master. 39But the boy didn’t know anything. Only Yonatan and David knew the matter. 40Yonatan gave his weapons to his boy, and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.” 41As soon as the boy was gone, David arose out of the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. They kissed one another and wept with one another, and David wept the most. 42Yonatan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have both sworn in YHWH’s name, saying, ‘YHWH is between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever.’” He arose and departed; and Yonatan went into the city.

### Chapter 21

1Then David came to Nob to Achimelech the priest. Achimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no man with you?” 2David said to Achimelech the priest, “The king has commanded me to do something, and has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you. I have sent the young men to a certain place.’ 3Now therefore what is under your hand? Please give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever is available.” 4The priest answered David, and said, “I have no common bread, but there is kodesh bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.” 5David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us as usual these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were kodesh, though it was only a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be kodesh?” 6So the priest gave him kodesh bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread that was taken from before YHWH, to be replaced with hot bread in the day when it was taken away. 7Now a certain man of the servants of Sha'ul was there that day, detained before YHWH; and his name was Do'eg the Edomi, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Sha'ul. 8David said to Achimelech, “Isn’t there here under your hand spear or sword? For I haven’t brought my sword or my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.” 9The priest said, “Behold, the sword of Golyat the Pelishti, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you would like to take that, take it, for there is no other except that here.” David said, “There is none like that. Give it to me.” 10David arose and fled that day for fear of Sha'ul, and went to Achish the king of Gat. 11The servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David the king of the land? Didn’t they sing to one another about him in dances, saying, ‘Sha'ul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?” 12David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gat. 13He changed his behaviour before them and pretended to be insane in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard. 14Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is insane. Why then have you brought him to me? 15Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Should this fellow come into my house?”

### Chapter 22

1David therefore departed from there and escaped to Adullam’s cave. When his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2Everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered themselves to him; and he became captain over them. There were with him about four hundred men. 3David went from there to Mitzpeh of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come out to you, until I know what Elohim will do for me.” 4He brought them before the king of Moab; and they lived with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. 5The prophet Gad said to David, “Don’t stay in the stronghold. Depart, and go into the land of Yehudah.” Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth. 6Sha'ul heard that David was discovered, with the men who were with him. Now Sha'ul was sitting in Giv'ah, under the tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him. 7Sha'ul said to his servants who stood around him, “Hear now, you Binyaminim! Will the son of Yishai give everyone of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? 8Is that why all of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who discloses to me when my son makes a treaty with the son of Yishai, and there is none of you who is sorry for me, or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as it is today?” 9Then Do'eg the Edomi, who stood by the servants of Sha'ul, answered and said, “I saw the son of Yishai coming to Nob, to Achimelech the son of Achituv. 10He enquired of YHWH for him, gave him food, and gave him the sword of Golyat the Pelishti.” 11Then the king sent to call Achimelech the priest, the son of Achituv, and all his father’s house, the priests who were in Nob; and they all came to the king. 12Sha'ul said, “Hear now, you son of Achituv.” He answered, “Here I am, my adonai.” 13Sha'ul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Yishai, in that you have given him bread, and a sword, and have enquired of Elohim for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is today?” 14Then Achimelech answered the king, and said, “Who amongst all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, captain of your body guard, and honoured in your house? 15Have I today begun to enquire of Elohim for him? Be it far from me! Don’t let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for your servant knew nothing of all this, less or more.” 16The king said, “You shall surely die, Achimelech, you and all your father’s house.” 17The king said to the guard who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of YHWH, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled and didn’t disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king wouldn’t put out their hand to fall on the priests of YHWH. 18The king said to Do'eg, “Turn and attack the priests!” Do'eg the Edomi turned, and he attacked the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five people who wore a linen ephod. 19He struck Nob, the city of the priests, with the edge of the sword—both men and women, children and nursing babies, and cattle, donkeys, and sheep, with the edge of the sword. 20One of the sons of Achimelech the son of Achituv, named Evyatar, escaped and fled after David. 21Evyatar told David that Sha'ul had slain YHWH’s priests. 22David said to Evyatar, “I knew on that day, when Do'eg the Edomi was there, that he would surely tell Sha'ul. I am responsible for the death of all the persons of your father’s house. 23Stay with me. Don’t be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. You will be safe with me.”

### Chapter 23

1David was told, “Behold, the Pelishtim are fighting against Ke'ilah, and are robbing the threshing floors.” 2Therefore David enquired of YHWH, saying, “Shall I go and strike these Pelishtim?” YHWH said to David, “Go strike the Pelishtim, and save Ke'ilah.” 3David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Yehudah. How much more then if we go to Ke'ilah against the armies of the Pelishtim?” 4Then David enquired of YHWH yet again. YHWH answered him, and said, “Arise, go down to Ke'ilah; for I will deliver the Pelishtim into your hand.” 5David and his men went to Ke'ilah and fought with the Pelishtim, and brought away their livestock, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Ke'ilah. 6When Evyatar the son of Achimelech fled to David to Ke'ilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand. 7Sha'ul was told that David had come to Ke'ilah. Sha'ul said, “Elohim has delivered him into my hand, for he is shut in by entering into a town that has gates and bars.” 8Sha'ul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Ke'ilah to besiege David and his men. 9David knew that Sha'ul was devising mischief against him. He said to Evyatar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” 10Then David said, “O YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, your servant has surely heard that Sha'ul seeks to come to Ke'ilah to destroy the city for my sake. 11Will the men of Ke'ilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Sha'ul come down, as your servant has heard? YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, I beg you, tell your servant.” YHWH said, “He will come down.” 12Then David said, “Will the men of Ke'ilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Sha'ul?” YHWH said, “They will deliver you up.” 13Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Ke'ilah and went wherever they could go. Sha'ul was told that David had escaped from Ke'ilah; and he gave up going there. 14David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Zif. Sha'ul sought him every day, but Elohim didn’t deliver him into his hand. 15David saw that Sha'ul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Zif in the woods. 16Yonatan, Sha'ul’s son, arose and went to David into the woods, and strengthened his hand in Elohim. 17He said to him, “Don’t be afraid, for the hand of Sha'ul my father won’t find you; and you will be king over Yisrael, and I will be next to you; and Sha'ul my father knows that also.” 18They both made a Brit before YHWH. Then David stayed in the woods and Yonatan went to his house. 19Then the Zifim came up to Sha'ul to Giv'ah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert? 20Now therefore, O king, come down. According to all the desire of your soul to come down; and our part will be to deliver him up into the king’s hand.” 21Sha'ul said, “You are blessed by YHWH, for you have had compassion on me. 22Please go make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who has seen him there; for I have been told that he is very cunning. 23See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself; and come again to me with certainty, and I will go with you. It shall happen, if he is in the land, that I will search him out amongst all the thousands of Yehudah.” 24They arose, and went to Zif before Sha'ul; but David and his men were in the wilderness of Ma'on, in the Arava on the south of the desert. 25Sha'ul and his men went to seek him. When David was told, he went down to the rock, and stayed in the wilderness of Ma'on. When Sha'ul heard that, he pursued David in the wilderness of Ma'on. 26Sha'ul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain; and David hurried to get away for fear of Sha'ul, for Sha'ul and his men surrounded David and his men to take them. 27But a messenger came to Sha'ul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Pelishtim have made a raid on the land!” 28So Sha'ul returned from pursuing David, and went against the Pelishtim. Therefore they called that place Sela Hammahlekoth. 29David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.

### Chapter 24

1When Sha'ul had returned from following the Pelishtim, he was told, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.” 2Then Sha'ul took three thousand chosen men out of all Yisrael, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats. 3He came to the sheep pens by the way, where there was a cave; and Sha'ul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were staying in the innermost parts of the cave. 4David’s men said to him, “Behold, the day of which YHWH said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose and cut off the skirt of Sha'ul’s robe secretly. 5Afterward, David’s heart struck him because he had cut off Sha'ul’s skirt. 6He said to his men, “YHWH forbid that I should do this thing to my adonai, YHWH’s anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is YHWH’s anointed.” 7So David checked his men with these words, and didn’t allow them to rise against Sha'ul. Sha'ul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way. 8David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave and cried after Sha'ul, saying, “My Adonai the king!” When Sha'ul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and showed respect. 9David said to Sha'ul, “Why do you listen to men’s words, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks to harm you’? 10Behold, today your eyes have seen how YHWH had delivered you today into my hand in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not stretch out my hand against my adonai, for he is YHWH’s anointed.’ 11Moreover, my father, behold, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe and didn’t kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor disobedience in my hand. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt for my life to take it. 12May YHWH judge between me and you, and may YHWH avenge me of you; but my hand will not be on you. 13As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes wickedness;’ but my hand will not be on you. 14Against whom has the king of Yisrael come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea? 15May YHWH therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.” 16It came to pass, when David had finished speaking these words to Sha'ul, that Sha'ul said, “Is that your voice, my son David?” Sha'ul lifted up his voice and wept. 17He said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for you have done good to me, whereas I have done evil to you. 18You have declared today how you have dealt well with me, because when YHWH had delivered me up into your hand, you didn’t kill me. 19For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away unharmed? Therefore may YHWH reward you good for that which you have done to me today. 20Now, behold, I know that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Yisrael will be established in your hand. 21Swear now therefore to me by YHWH that you will not cut off my offspring after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s house.” 22David swore to Sha'ul. Sha'ul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

### Chapter 25

1Shmuel died; and all Yisrael gathered themselves together and mourned for him, and buried him at his house at Ramah. Then David arose and went down to the wilderness of Paran. 2There was a man in Ma'on whose possessions were in Karmel; and the man was very great. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his sheep in Karmel. 3Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Avigayil. This woman was intelligent and had a beautiful face; but the man was surly and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Calev. 4David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5David sent ten young men; and David said to the young men, “Go up to Karmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. 6Tell him, ‘Long life to you! Peace be to you! Peace be to your house! Peace be to all that you have! 7Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have now been with us, and we didn’t harm them. Nothing was missing from them all the time they were in Karmel. 8Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let the young men find favour in your eyes, for we come on a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David.’” 9When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal all those words in the name of David, and waited. 10Nabal answered David’s servants and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Yishai? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days. 11Shall I then take my bread, my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who I don’t know where they come from?” 12So David’s young men turned on their way and went back, and came and told him all these words. 13David said to his men, “Every man put on his sword!” Every man put on his sword. David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David, and two hundred stayed by the baggage. 14But one of the young men told Avigayil, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to greet our master; and he insulted them. 15But the men were very good to us, and we were not harmed, and we didn’t miss anything as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields. 16They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master and against all his house, for he is such a worthless fellow that one can’t speak to him.” 18Then Avigayil hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two containers of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five seahs of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. 19She said to her young men, “Go on before me. Behold, I am coming after you.” But she didn’t tell her husband, Nabal. 20As she rode on her donkey, and came down hidden by the mountain, behold, David and his men came down towards her, and she met them. 21Now David had said, “Surely in vain I have kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good. 22Elohim do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.” 23When Avigayil saw David, she hurried and got off her donkey, and fell before David on her face and bowed herself to the ground. 24She fell at his feet and said, “On me, my adonai, on me be the blame! Please let your servant speak in your ears. Hear the words of your servant. 25Please don’t let my adonai pay attention to this worthless fellow, Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your servant, didn’t see my adonai’s young men whom you sent. 26Now therefore, my adonai, as YHWH lives and as your soul lives, since YHWH has withheld you from blood guiltiness and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies and those who seek evil to my adonai be as Nabal. 27Now this present which your servant has brought to my adonai, let it be given to the young men who follow my adonai. 28Please forgive the trespass of your servant. For YHWH will certainly make my adonai a sure house, because my adonai fights YHWH’s battles. Evil will not be found in you all your days. 29Though men may rise up to pursue you and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my adonai will be bound in the bundle of life with YHWH your Elohim. He will sling out the souls of your enemies as from a sling’s pocket. 30It will come to pass, when YHWH has done to my adonai according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you prince over Yisrael, 31that this shall be no grief to you, nor offence of heart to my adonai, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my adonai has avenged himself. When YHWH has dealt well with my adonai, then remember your servant.” 32David said to Avigayil, “Blessed is YHWH, the Elohim of Yisrael, who sent you today to meet me! 33Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, who have kept me today from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand. 34For indeed, as YHWH the Elohim of Yisrael lives, who has withheld me from harming you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn’t have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.” 35So David received from her hand that which she had brought him. Then he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. Behold, I have listened to your voice and have granted your request.” 36Avigayil came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light. 37In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things; and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38About ten days later, YHWH struck Nabal, so that he died. 39When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed is YHWH, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. YHWH has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” David sent and spoke concerning Avigayil, to take her to himself as wife. 40When David’s servants had come to Avigayil to Karmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife.” 41She arose and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, “Behold, your servant is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my adonai.” 42Avigayil hurriedly arose and rode on a donkey with her five maids who followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife. 43David also took Achino'am of Yizre'el; and they both became his wives. 44Now Sha'ul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

### Chapter 26

1The Zifim came to Sha'ul to Giv'ah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert?” 2Then Sha'ul arose and went down to the wilderness of Zif, having three thousand chosen men of Yisrael with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Zif. 3Sha'ul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert, by the way. But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw that Sha'ul came after him into the wilderness. 4David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Sha'ul had certainly come. 5Then David arose and came to the place where Sha'ul had encamped; and David saw the place where Sha'ul lay, with Avner the son of Ner, the captain of his army. Sha'ul lay within the place of the wagons, and the people were encamped around him. 6Then David answered and said to Achimelech the Chitti, and to Avishai the son of Tzeruyah, brother of Yoav, saying, “Who will go down with me to Sha'ul to the camp?” Avishai said, “I will go down with you.” 7So David and Avishai came to the people by night; and, behold, Sha'ul lay sleeping within the place of the wagons, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Avner and the people lay around him. 8Then Avishai said to David, “Elohim has delivered up your enemy into your hand today. Now therefore please let me strike him with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time.” 9David said to Avishai, “Don’t destroy him, for who can stretch out his hand against YHWH’s anointed, and be guiltless?” 10David said, “As YHWH lives, YHWH will strike him; or his day shall come to die, or he shall go down into battle and perish. 11YHWH forbid that I should stretch out my hand against YHWH’s anointed; but now please take the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let’s go.” 12So David took the spear and the jar of water from Sha'ul’s head, and they went away. No man saw it, or knew it, nor did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from YHWH had fallen on them. 13Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of the mountain far away, a great space being between them; 14and David cried to the people, and to Avner the son of Ner, saying, “Don’t you answer, Avner?” Then Avner answered, “Who are you who calls to the king?” 15David said to Avner, “Aren’t you a man? Who is like you in Yisrael? Why then have you not kept watch over your adonai the king? For one of the people came in to destroy your adonai the king. 16This thing isn’t good that you have done. As YHWH lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your adonai, YHWH’s anointed. Now see where the king’s spear is, and the jar of water that was at his head.” 17Sha'ul recognised David’s voice, and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” David said, “It is my voice, my adonai, O king.” 18He said, “Why does my adonai pursue his servant? For what have I done? What evil is in my hand? 19Now therefore, please let my adonai the king hear the words of his servant. If it is so that YHWH has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, they are cursed before YHWH; for they have driven me out today that I shouldn’t cling to YHWH’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods!’ 20Now therefore, don’t let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of YHWH; for the king of Yisrael has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.” 21Then Sha'ul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David; for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes today. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.” 22David answered, “Behold the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and get it. 23YHWH will give to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness; because YHWH delivered you into my hand today, and I wouldn’t stretch out my hand against YHWH’s anointed. 24Behold, as your life was respected today in my eyes, so let my life be respected in YHWH’s eyes, and let him deliver me out of all oppression.” 25Then Sha'ul said to David, “You are blessed, my son David. You will both do mightily, and will surely prevail.” So David went his way, and Sha'ul returned to his place.

### Chapter 27

1David said in his heart, “I will now perish one day by the hand of Sha'ul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Pelishtim; and Sha'ul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Yisrael. So I will 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 Gat. 3David lived with Achish at Gat, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Achino'am the Yizre'elit and Avigayil the Karmelit, Nabal’s wife. 4Sha'ul was told that David had fled to Gat, so he stopped looking for him. 5David said to Achish, “If now I have found favour 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: therefore Ziklag belongs to the kings of Yehudah to this day. 7The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Pelishtim was a full year and four months. 8David and his men went up and raided the Geshuri, the Girzites, and the Amalekim; for those were the inhabitants of the land who were of old, on the way to Shur, even to the land of Mitzrayim. 9David struck the land, and saved no man or woman alive, and took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned, and came to Achish. 10Achish said, “Against whom have you made a raid today?” David said, “Against the South of Yehudah, against the South of the Yerachme'elim, and against the South of the Kenites.” 11David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring them to Gat, saying, “Lest they should tell about us, saying, ‘David did this, and this has been his way all the time he has lived in the country of the Pelishtim.’” 12Achish believed David, saying, “He has made his people Yisrael utterly to abhor him. Therefore he will be my servant forever.”

### Chapter 28

1In those days, the Pelishtim gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Yisrael. Achish said to David, “Know assuredly that you will go out with me in the army, you and your men.” 2David said to Achish, “Therefore you will know what your servant can do.” Achish said to David, “Therefore I will make you my bodyguard forever.” 3Now Shmuel was dead, and all Yisrael had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. Sha'ul had sent away those who had familiar spirits and the wizards out of the land. 4The Pelishtim gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem; and Sha'ul gathered all Yisrael together, and they encamped in Gilboa. 5When Sha'ul saw the army of the Pelishtim, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6When Sha'ul enquired of YHWH, YHWH didn’t answer him by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets. 7Then Sha'ul said to his servants, “Seek for me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her and enquire of her.” His servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at Ein-Dor.” 8Sha'ul disguised himself and put on other clothing, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. Then he said, “Please consult for me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I shall name to you.” 9The woman said to him, “Behold, you know what Sha'ul 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?” 10Sha'ul swore to her by YHWH, saying, “As YHWH lives, no punishment will happen to you for this thing.” 11Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up to you?” He said, “Bring Shmuel up for me.” 12When the woman saw Shmuel, she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Sha'ul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Sha'ul!” 13The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What do you see?” The woman said to Sha'ul, “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.” Sha'ul perceived that it was Shmuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and showed respect. 15Shmuel said to Sha'ul, “Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up?” Sha'ul answered, “I am very distressed; for the Pelishtim make war against me, and Elohim has departed from me, and answers me no more, by prophets, or by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I shall do.” 16Shmuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since YHWH has departed from you and has become your adversary? 17YHWH has done to you as he spoke by me. YHWH has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbour, even to David. 18Because you didn’t obey YHWH’s voice, and didn’t execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore YHWH has done this thing to you today. 19Moreover YHWH will deliver Yisrael also with you into the hand of the Pelishtim; and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. YHWH will deliver the army of Yisrael also into the hand of the Pelishtim.” 20Then Sha'ul fell immediately his full length on the earth, and was terrified, because of Shmuel’s words. There was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all day long or all night long. 21The woman came to Sha'ul and saw that he was very troubled, and said to him, “Behold, your servant 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 servant, and let me set a morsel of bread before you. 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 Sha'ul and before his servants, and they ate. Then they rose up and went away that night.

### Chapter 29

1Now the Pelishtim gathered together all their armies to Aphek; and the B'nei Yisrael encamped by the spring which is in Yizre'el. 2The lords of the Pelishtim passed on by hundreds and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rear with Achish. 3Then the princes of the Pelishtim said, “What about these Ivrim?” Achish said to the princes of the Pelishtim, “Isn’t this David, the servant of Sha'ul the king of Yisrael, who has been with me these days, or rather these years? I have found no fault in him since he fell away until today.” 4But the princes of the Pelishtim were angry with him; and the princes of the Pelishtim 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 Adonai? Should it not be with the heads of these men? 5Isn’t this David, of whom people sang to one another in dances, saying, ‘Sha'ul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?” 6Then Achish called David and said to him, “As YHWH 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 don’t favour you. 7Therefore now return, and go in peace, that you not displease the lords of the Pelishtim.” 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 adonai the king?” 9Achish answered David, “I know that you are good in my sight, as an malak of Elohim. Notwithstanding, the princes of the Pelishtim 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 adonai 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 Pelishtim; and the Pelishtim went up to Yizre'el.

### Chapter 30

1When David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekim had made a raid on the South and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag and burnt it with fire, 2and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They didn’t kill any, but carried them off and went their way. 3When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burnt with fire; and their wives, 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, Achino'am the Yizre'elit, and Avigayil the wife of Nabal the Karmeli. 6David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the souls of all the people were grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters; but David strengthened himself in YHWH his Elohim. 7David said to Evyatar the priest, the son of Achimelech, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” Evyatar brought the ephod to David. 8David enquired of YHWH, saying, “If I pursue after this troop, will I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and will 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 Mitzri 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, and drank no water for 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 Mitzrayim, servant to an Amaleki; and my master left me, because three days ago I got sick. 14We made a raid on the South of the Kereti, and on that which belongs to Yehudah, and on the South of Calev; and we burnt Ziklag with fire.” 15David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this troop?” He said, “Swear to me by Elohim that you will not kill me and not 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 plunder that they had taken out of the land of the Pelishtim, and out of the land of Yehudah. 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 Amalekim had taken, and David rescued his two wives. 19There was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither plunder, nor anything that they had taken. David brought them all back. 20David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s plunder.” 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 out 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 worthless fellows of those who went with David answered and said, “Because they didn’t go with us, we will not give them anything of the plunder that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that he may lead them away and depart.” 23Then David said, “Do not do so, my brothers, with that which YHWH 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 stays with the baggage. They shall share alike.” 25It was so from that day forward that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Yisrael to this day. 26When David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Yehudah, even to his friends, saying, “Behold, a present for you from the plunder of YHWH’s enemies.” 27He sent it to those who were in Beit El, to those who were in Ramot of the South, to those who were in Yatir, 28to those who were in Aro'er, to those who were in Siphmoth, to those who were in Eshtemoa, 29to those who were in Racal, to those who were in the cities of the Yerachme'elim, to those who were in the cities of the Kenites, 30to those who were in Chormah, to those who were in Borashan, to those who were in Athach, 31to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men used to stay.

### Chapter 31

1Now the Pelishtim fought against Yisrael; and the men of Yisrael fled from before the Pelishtim, and fell down slain on Har Gilboa. 2The Pelishtim overtook Sha'ul and his sons; and the Pelishtim killed Yonatan, Avinadav, and Malchishua, the sons of Sha'ul. 3The battle went hard against Sha'ul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers. 4Then Sha'ul said to his armour bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and abuse me!” But his armour bearer would not, for he was terrified. Therefore Sha'ul took his sword and fell on it. 5When his armour bearer saw that Sha'ul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword, and died with him. 6So Sha'ul died with his three sons, his armour bearer, and all his men that same day together. 7When the men of Yisrael who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Yisrael fled and that Sha'ul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; and the Pelishtim came and lived in them. 8On the next day, when the Pelishtim came to strip the slain, they found Sha'ul and his three sons fallen on Har Gilboa. 9They cut off his head, stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Pelishtim all around, to carry the news to the house of their idols and to the people. 10They put his armour in the house of the Ashtarot, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beit She'an. 11When the inhabitants of Yavesh Gilead heard what the Pelishtim had done to Sha'ul, 12all the valiant men arose, went all night, and took the body of Sha'ul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beit She'an; and they came to Yavesh and burnt them there. 13They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Yavesh, and fasted seven days.

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