Saul said, &#8220;God will punish me severely if Jonathan doesn&#8217;t die!&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

The soldiers<n id="1" /> told him what had been promised, saying,<n id="2" /> &#8220;This is what will be done for the man who can strike him down.&#8221;p>

But if I say to the boy, &#8220;Look, the arrows are on the other side of you,&#8217;<n id="1" /> get away. For in that case the <sc>Lordsc> has sent you away.

Then you will say to my brother,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Peace to you and your house! Peace to all that is yours!

(Now it used to be in Israel that whenever someone went to inquire of God he would say, &#8220;Come on, let&#8217;s go to the seer.&#8221; For today&#8217;s prophet used to be called a seer.)

If they say to us, &#8216;Stay put until we approach you,&#8217; we will stay<n id="1" /> right there and not go up to them.

But if they say, &#8216;Come up against us,&#8217; we will go up. For in that case the <sc>Lordsc> has given them into our hand &#8211; it will be a sign to us.&#8221;p>

Here is what the <sc>Lordsc> of hosts says: &#8216;I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed<n id="1" /> Israel along the way when Israel<n id="2" /> came up from Egypt.

If he should then say, &#8216;That&#8217;s fine,&#8217;<n id="1" /> then your servant is safe. But if he becomes very angry, be assured that he has decided to harm me.<n id="2" />

God will severely punish David,<n id="1" /> if I leave alive until morning even one male<n id="2" /> from all those who belong to him!&#8221;p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">A man of God came to Eli and said to him, &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says: &#8216;Did I not plainly<n id="1" /> reveal myself to your ancestor&#8217;s<n id="2" /> house when they were in Egypt in the house of Pharaoh?

Eli<n id="1" /> said, &#8220;What message did he speak to you? Don&#8217;t conceal it from me. God will judge you severely<n id="2" /> if you conceal from me anything that he said to you!&#8221;p>

He said to the Israelites, &#8220;This is what the <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel says, &#8216;I brought Israel up from Egypt and I delivered you from the power<n id="1" /> of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.

He took a pair<n id="1" /> of oxen and cut them up. Then he sent the pieces throughout the territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, who said, &#8220;Whoever does not go out after Saul and after Samuel should expect this to be done to his oxen!&#8221; Then the terror of the <sc>Lordsc> fell on the people, and they went out as one army.<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">They said to the messengers who had come, &#8220;Here&#8217;s what you should say to the men of Jabesh Gilead: &#8216;Tomorrow deliverance will come to you when the sun is fully up.&#8217;&#8221; When the messengers went and told the men of Jabesh Gilead, they were happy.

Saul replied, &#8220;Here is what you should say to David: &#8216;There is nothing that the king wants as a price for the bride except a hundred Philistine foreskins, so that he can be avenged of his<n id="1" /> enemies.&#8217;&#8221; (Now Saul was thinking that he could kill David by the hand of the Philistines.)p>

But if my father intends to do you harm, may the <sc>Lordsc> do all this and more to Jonathan, if I don&#8217;t let you know<n id="1" /> and send word to you so you can go safely on your way.<n id="2" /> May the <sc>Lordsc> be with you, as he was with my father.

Neither man nor woman would David leave alive so as to bring them back to Gath. He was thinking, &#8220;This way they can&#8217;t tell on us, saying, &#8216;This is what David did.&#8217;&#8221; Such was his practice the entire time<n id="1" /> that he lived in the country of the Philistines.