Micah said to him, &#8220;Where do you come from?&#8221; He replied, &#8220;I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am looking for a new place to live.&#8221;<n id="1" />

The Danites said to him, &#8220;Don&#8217;t say another word to us, or some very angry men<n id="1" /> will attack you, and you and your family will die.&#8221;<n id="2" />

But his master said to him, &#8220;We should not stop at a foreign city where non-Israelites live.<n id="1" /> We will travel on to Gibeah.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Ruth<n id="1" /> knelt before him with her forehead to the ground<n id="2" /> and said to him, &#8220;Why are you so kind<n id="3" /> and so attentive to me,<n id="4" /> even though<n id="5" /> I am a foreigner?&#8221;<n id="6" />

They said to him, &#8220;Look, you are old, and your sons don&#8217;t follow your ways. So now appoint over us a king to lead<n id="1" /> us, just like all the other nations have.&#8221;p>

<p class="bodytext">Saul&#8217;s uncle asked him and his servant, &#8220;Where did you go?&#8221; Saul<n id="1" /> replied, &#8220;To look for the donkeys. But when we realized they were lost,<n id="2" /> we went to Samuel.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">There was fierce war with the Philistines all the days of Saul. So whenever Saul saw anyone who was a warrior or a brave individual, he would conscript him.p>

Samuel said to him, &#8220;The <sc>Lordsc> has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to one of your colleagues who is better than you!

<t /><p class="bodytext">Then Samuel said, &#8220;Bring me King Agag of the Amalekites.&#8221; So Agag came to him trembling,<n id="1" /> thinking to himself,<n id="2" /> &#8220;Surely death is bitter!&#8221;<n id="3" />

Saul said to him, &#8220;Whose son are you, young man?&#8221; David replied, &#8220;I am the son of your servant Jesse in Bethlehem.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">So David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father&#8217;s family<n id="1" /> learned about it, they went down there to him.

<p class="bodytext">But David&#8217;s men said to him, &#8220;We are afraid while we are still here in Judah! What will it be like if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?&#8221;

Now be aware of this, and see what you can do. For disaster has been planned for our lord and his entire household.<n id="1" /> He is such a wicked person<n id="2" /> that no one tells him anything!&#8221;p>

David said to him, &#8220;Your blood be on your own head! Your own mouth has testified against you, saying &#8216;I have put the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s anointed to death.&#8217;&#8221;p>

Her husband went along behind her, weeping all the way to Bahurim. Finally Abner said to him, &#8220;Go back!&#8221;<n id="1" /> So he returned home.p>

So David was no longer willing to bring the ark of the <sc>Lordsc> to be with him in the City of David. David left it in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.

<p class="bodytext">Now there was a servant from Saul&#8217;s house named Ziba, so he was summoned to David. The king asked him, &#8220;Are you Ziba?&#8221; He replied, &#8220;At your service.&#8221;<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul&#8217;s attendant, and said to him, &#8220;Everything that belonged to Saul and to his entire house I hereby give to your master&#8217;s grandson.

<p class="bodytext">When Joab saw that the battle would be fought on two fronts, he chose some of Israel&#8217;s best men and deployed them against the Arameans.<n id="1" />

<p class="bodytext">David sent some messengers to get her.<n id="1" /> She came to him and he had sexual relations with her.<n id="2" /> (Now at that time she was in the process of purifying herself from her menstrual uncleanness.)<n id="3" /> Then she returned to her home.