Then Saul stopped chasing the Philistines, and the Philistines went back home. ¹ 

Now David was the youngest. While the three oldest sons followed Saul,

But his sons did not follow ¹  his ways. Instead, they made money dishonestly, accepted bribes, and perverted justice. ² 

Jesse’s three oldest sons had followed Saul to war. The names of the ¹  three sons who went to war were Eliab, his firstborn, Abinadab, the second oldest, and Shammah, the third oldest.

They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons don’t follow your ways. So now appoint over us a king to lead ¹  us, just like all the other nations have.”

But all the evil and worthless men among those who had gone with David said, “Since they didn’t go with us, ¹  we won’t give them any of the loot we retrieved! They may take only their wives and children. Let them lead them away and be gone!”

Then the cows went directly on the road to Beth Shemesh. They went along, mooing as they went; they turned neither to the right nor to the left. The leaders of the Philistines were walking along behind them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.