The five leaders of the Philistines watched what was happening and then returned to Ekron on the same day.

Saul said, “God will punish me severely if Jonathan doesn’t die!” ¹ 

So David’s servants went on their way. When they had returned, they came and told David ¹  all these things.

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 

But the leaders of the Philistines became angry with him and said ¹  to him, “Send the man back! Let him return to the place that you assigned him! Don’t let him go down with us into the battle, for he might become ²  our adversary in the battle. What better way to please his lord than with the heads of these men? ³ 

When everyone who had known him previously saw him prophesying with the prophets, the people all asked one another, “What on earth has happened to the son of Kish? Does even Saul belong with the prophets?”

When Saul saw how very successful he was, he was afraid of him.

He said, ‘Permit me to go, ¹  for we are having a family sacrifice in the city, and my brother urged ²  me to be there. So now, if I have found favor with you, let me go ³  to see my brothers.’ For that reason he has not come to the king’s table.”

David said to the priest, “Certainly women have been kept away from us, just as on previous occasions when I have set out. The soldiers’ ¹  equipment is holy, even on an ordinary journey. How much more so will they be holy today, along with their equipment!”

The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle lines! Just today I fled from the battle lines!” Eli ¹  asked, “How did things go, my son?”

Here is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed ¹  Israel along the way when Israel ²  came up from Egypt.

Now the priests would always treat the people in the following way: ¹  Whenever anyone was making a sacrifice, while the meat was boiling, the priest’s attendant would come with a three-pronged fork ²  in his hand.

They replied, “Yes, straight ahead! But hurry now, for he came to the town today, and the people are making a sacrifice at the high place.

Now it was reported to Saul, “Look, the army is sinning against the Lord by eating even the blood.” He said, “All of you have broken the covenant! ¹  Roll a large stone over here to me.”

He even stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He lay there ¹  naked all that day and night. (For that reason it is asked, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”)

Saul and his men went to look for him. ¹  But David was informed and went down to the rock and stayed in the desert of Maon. When Saul heard about it, he pursued David in the desert of Maon.

The man’s name was Nabal, ¹  and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was both wise ²  and beautiful, but the man was harsh and his deeds were evil. He was a Calebite.

Her rival wife used to upset her and make her worry, ¹  for the Lord had not enabled her to have children.

Don’t consider your servant a wicked woman, ¹  for until now I have spoken from my deep pain and anguish.”

The sin of these young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they ¹  treated the Lord’s offering with contempt.