But the army took from the plunder some of the sheep and cattle – the best of what was to be slaughtered – to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

But after it had been moved the Lord attacked ¹  that city as well, causing a great deal of panic. He struck all the people of that city ²  with sores. ³ 

But if you continue to do evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”

But the Lord ¹  struck down some of the people of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; he struck down 50,070 ²  of the men. The people grieved because the Lord had struck the people with a hard blow.

Saul said, “They were brought ¹  from the Amalekites; the army spared the best of the flocks and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord our God. But everything else we slaughtered.”

Then Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed ¹  the Lord! I went on the campaign ²  the Lord sent me on. I brought back King Agag of the Amalekites after exterminating the Amalekites.

He captured King Agag of the Amalekites alive, but he executed all Agag’s people ¹  with the sword.

So they assembled ¹  all the leaders of the Philistines and said, “Get the ark of the God of Israel out of here! Let it go back to its own place so that it won’t kill us ²  and our ³  people!” The terror ⁴  of death was throughout the entire city; God was attacking them very severely there. ⁵ 

So the Philistines fought. Israel was defeated; they all ran home. ¹  The slaughter was very great; thirty thousand foot soldiers fell in battle.

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 

Certainly if the army had eaten some of the enemies’ provisions that they came across today, would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been even greater?”

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

So when David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. He still had the head of the Philistine in his hand.

Now once again there was war. So David went out to fight the Philistines. He defeated them thoroughly ¹  and they ran away from him.

Don’t ever cut off your loyalty to my family, not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth

So David and his men went to Keilah and fought the Philistines. He took away their cattle and thoroughly defeated them. ¹  David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah.

Then David said, “O Lord God of Israel, your servant has clearly heard that Saul is planning ¹  to come to Keilah to destroy the city because of me.

David went on to say, “As the Lord lives, the Lord himself will strike him down. Either his day will come and he will die, or he will go down into battle and be swept away.

The messenger replied, “Israel has fled from ¹  the Philistines! The army has suffered a great defeat! Your two sons, Hophni and Phineas, are dead! The ark of God has been captured!”

But if you don’t obey ¹  the Lord and rebel against what the Lord says, the hand of the Lord will be against both you and your king. ²