The residents of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark ¹  go up from here?”

Then Jonathan said, “My father has caused trouble for the land. See how my eyes gleamed ¹  when I tasted just a little of this honey.

Jesse said to his son David, “Take your brothers this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread; go quickly ¹  to the camp to your brothers.

Isn’t this David, of whom they sang as they danced, ¹  ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, but David his tens of thousands’?”

Achish said to his servants, “Look at this madman! Why did you bring him to me?

So Jesse had him brought in. ¹  Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!”

(Now the servant did not understand any of this. Only Jonathan and David knew what was going on.) ¹ 

David said to him, “Can you take us down to this raiding party?” He said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to this raiding party.”

David took all the flocks and herds and drove them in front of the rest of the animals. People were saying, “This is David’s plunder!”

The soldiers ¹  told him what had been promised, saying, ²  “This is what will be done for the man who can strike him down.”

Then David said to Abigail, “Praised ¹  be the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you this day to meet me!

But some wicked men ¹  said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and did not even bring him a gift. But Saul said nothing about it. ² 

The Philistines were scared because they thought that gods had come to the camp. ¹  They said, “Too bad for ²  us! We’ve never seen anything like this!

This very day the Lord will deliver you into my hand! I will strike you down and cut off your head. This day I will give the corpses of the Philistine army to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the land. Then all the land will realize that Israel has a God

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!

Praised be your good judgment! May you yourself be rewarded ¹  for having prevented me this day from shedding blood and taking matters into my own hands!

Your servant has struck down both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be just like one of them. ¹  For he has defied the armies of the living God!”

In the same way that I valued your life this day, ¹  may the Lord value my life ²  and deliver me from all danger.”

When all the men of Israel saw this man, they retreated ¹  from his presence and were very afraid.

Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. When they told Saul about this, it ¹  pleased him.