Be strong and act like men, you Philistines, or else you will wind up serving the Hebrews the way they have served you! Act like men and fight!”p>

<p class="bodytext">When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, &#8220;Come on, let&#8217;s head back before my father quits worrying about the donkeys and becomes anxious about us!&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">A blacksmith could not be found in all the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, &#8220;This will prevent the Hebrews from making swords and spears.&#8221;

Saul said to the Kenites, &#8220;Go on and leave! Go down from among the Amalekites! Otherwise I will sweep you away<n id="1" /> with them! After all, you were kind to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt.&#8221; So the Kenites withdrew from among the Amalekites.p>

<p class="bodytext">Taking an oath, David again<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;Your father is very much aware of the fact<n id="2" /> that I have found favor with you, and he has thought,<n id="3" /> &#8216;Don&#8217;t let Jonathan know about this, or he will be upset.&#8217; But as surely as the <sc>Lordsc> lives and you live, there is about one step between me and death!&#8221;

Neither man nor woman would David leave alive so as to bring them back to Gath. He was thinking, &#8220;This way they can&#8217;t tell on us, saying, &#8216;This is what David did.&#8217;&#8221; Such was his practice the entire time<n id="1" /> that he lived in the country of the Philistines.

<p class="bodytext">Saul said to his armor bearer, &#8220;Draw your sword and stab me with it! Otherwise these uncircumcised people will come, stab me, and torture me.&#8221; But his armor bearer refused to do it, because he was very afraid. So Saul took his sword and fell on it.