When Abigail saw David, she got down quickly from the donkey, threw herself down before David, and bowed to the ground.

Then David crossed to the other side and stood on the top of the hill some distance away; there was a considerable distance between them.

David replied, “Here is the king’s spear! Let one of your servants cross over and get it.

When Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he did not mount a new search for him.

The length of time ¹  that David lived in the Philistine countryside was a year ²  and four months.

David’s two wives had been taken captive – Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the Carmelite, Nabal’s widow.

From that time onward it was a binding ordinance ¹  for Israel, right up to the present time.

Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the Lord so that he makes it thunder and rain. Realize and see what a great sin you have committed before the Lord by asking for a king for yourselves.”

Look, my father, and see the edge of your robe in my hand! When I cut off the edge of your robe, I didn’t kill you. So realize and understand that I am not planning ¹  evil or rebellion. Even though I have not sinned against you, you are waiting in ambush to take my life.

So Achish summoned David and said to him, “As surely as the Lord lives, you are an honest man, and I am glad to have you ¹  serving ²  with me in the army. ³  I have found no fault with you from the day that you first came to me until the present time. But in the opinion ⁴  of the leaders, you are not reliable. ⁵ 

After some time Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, thinking, “I asked the Lord for him. ¹ 

This will be a confirming sign for you that will be fulfilled through your two sons, ¹  Hophni and Phinehas: in a single day they both will die!

The Lord attacked ¹  the residents of Ashdod severely, bringing devastation on them. He struck the people of ²  both Ashdod and the surrounding area with sores. ³ 

These are the gold sores that the Philistines brought as a guilt offering to the Lord – one for each of the following cities: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.

A man who was from there replied, “And who is their father?” Therefore this became a proverb: “Is even Saul among the prophets?”

Then the people said to Samuel, “Who were the ones asking, ‘Will Saul reign over us?’ Hand over those men so we may execute them!”

He waited for seven days, the time period indicated by Samuel. ¹  But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the army began to abandon Saul. ² 

Saul, his son Jonathan, and the army that remained with them stayed in Gibeah in the territory of Benjamin, while the Philistines camped in Micmash. ¹ 

The Lord sent you on a campaign ¹  saying, ‘Go and exterminate those sinful Amalekites! Fight against them until you ²  have destroyed them.’

The king sat down in his usual place by the wall, with Jonathan opposite him ¹  and Abner at his side. ²  But David’s place was vacant.