When Saul counted them at Bezek, the Israelites were 300,000<n id="1" /> strong and the men of Judah numbered 30,000.<n id="2" />p>

Saul and the Israelite army<n id="1" /> assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against<n id="2" /> the Philistines.

One of his attendants replied,<n id="1" /> &#8220;I have seen a son of Jesse in Bethlehem<n id="2" /> who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave warrior<n id="3" /> and is articulate<n id="4" /> and handsome,<n id="5" /> for the <sc>Lordsc> is with him.&#8221;p>

Any one of you that I do not cut off from my altar, I will cause your<n id="1" /> eyes to fail<n id="2" /> and will cause you grief.<n id="3" /> All of those born to your family<n id="4" /> will die in the prime of life.<n id="5" />

The men of Israel realized they had a problem because their army was hard pressed. So the army hid in caves, thickets, cliffs, strongholds,<n id="1" /> and cisterns.

<t /><p class="bodytext">There was a man in Maon whose business was in Carmel. This man was very wealthy;<n id="1" /> he owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At that time he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

<t /><p class="bodytext">Now the men of Israel were hard pressed that day, for Saul had made the army agree to this oath: &#8220;Cursed be the man who eats food before evening! I will get my vengeance on my enemies!&#8221; So no one in the army ate anything.p>

Then Saul said, &#8220;Scatter out among the army and say to them, &#8216;Each of you bring to me your ox and sheep and slaughter them in this spot and eat. But don&#8217;t sin against the <sc>Lordsc> by eating the blood.&#8221; So that night each one brought his ox and slaughtered it there.<n id="1" />

<v id="(21:2)" /> David went to Ahimelech the priest in Nob. Ahimelech was shaking with fear when he met<n id="1" /> David, and said to him, &#8220;Why are you by yourself with no one accompanying you?&#8221;

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.