The servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one that they sing about when they dance, saying, ‘Saul struck down his thousands, But David his tens of thousands’?”

But Saul found out the whereabouts of David and the men who were with him. ¹  Now Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree at an elevated location with his spear in hand and all his servants stationed around him.

Saul said to his servants who were stationed around him, “Listen up, you Benjaminites! Is Jesse’s son giving fields and vineyards to all of you? Or is he making all of you ¹  commanders and officers? ² 

But Doeg the Edomite, who had stationed himself with the servants of Saul, replied, “I saw this son of Jesse come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob.

Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and this son of Jesse? You gave ¹  him bread and a sword and inquired of God on his behalf, so that he opposes ²  me and waits in ambush, as is the case today!”

He came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave. Saul went into it to relieve himself. ¹  Now David and his men were sitting in the recesses of the cave.

David said to Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” Abishai replied, “I will go down with you.”

So David and Abishai approached the army at night and found Saul lying asleep in the entrenchment with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and the army were lying all around him.

So David took the spear and the jug of water by Saul’s head, and they got out of there. No one saw them or was aware of their presence or woke up. All of them were asleep, for the Lord had caused a deep sleep to fall on them.

Saul replied, “I have sinned. Come back, my son David. I won’t harm you, for you treated my life with value ¹  this day. I have behaved foolishly and have made a very terrible mistake!” ² 

Saul replied to David, “May you be rewarded, ¹  my son David! You will without question be successful!” ²  So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

So Saul instructed his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, ¹  so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants replied to him, “There is a woman who is a medium in Endor.”

So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing and left, accompanied by two of his men. They came to the woman at night and said, “Use your ritual pit to conjure up for me the one I tell you.” ¹ 

But the woman said to him, “Look, you are aware of what Saul has done; he has removed ¹  the mediums and magicians ²  from the land! Why are you trapping me ³  so you can put me to death?”

He said to her, “What about his appearance?” She said, “An old man is coming up! He is wrapped in a robe!” Then Saul realized it was Samuel, and he bowed his face toward the ground and kneeled down.

Saul quickly fell full length on the ground and was very afraid because of Samuel’s words. He was completely drained of energy, ¹  not having eaten anything ²  all that day and night.

When the woman came to Saul and saw how terrified he was, she said to him, “Your servant has done what you asked. ¹  I took my life into my own hands and did what you told me. ² 

When the men of Israel who were in the valley and across the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled. The Philistines came and occupied them.

all their warriors set out and traveled throughout the night. They took Saul’s corpse and the corpses of his sons from the city wall of Beth Shan and went ¹  to Jabesh, where they burned them.

But the army said to Saul, “Should Jonathan, who won this great victory in Israel, die? May it never be! As surely as the Lord lives, not a single hair of his head will fall to the ground! For it is with the help of God that he has acted today.” So the army rescued Jonathan from death. ¹