 撒上:1.(1sm)[撒慕爾紀上]    [1 Samuel]   [共 31 章]    [思高版]
           前編　撒慕爾小史（1－12）
    
 撒上:1.1    [撒慕爾的父母]  從前在辣瑪有個厄弗辣因山地的族弗人，名叫厄耳卡納，是耶洛罕的兒子，──耶洛罕是厄里胡的兒子，厄里胡是托胡的兒子，托胡是厄弗辣因人族弗的兒子。──
 撒上:1.2    他有兩個妻子：一個名叫亞納，一個名叫培尼納；培尼納有孩子，亞納卻沒有。
 撒上:1.3    這人每年從本城上史羅去朝拜祭獻萬軍的上主 。那裏有厄里的兩個兒子曷弗尼和丕乃哈斯做上主的司祭。
 撒上:1.4    有一天，厄耳卡納獻祭後，就把祭品給了自己的妻子培尼納和她的兒女好分，
 撒上:1.5    只給了亞納一分；他雖喜愛亞納，無奈上主封閉了她的子宮；
 撒上:1.6    就因上主封閉了亞納的子宮，她的情敵便羞辱刺激她，使她憤怒。
 撒上:1.7    年年都是這樣：每次她上上主的聖殿時，總是這樣刺激亞納。──亞納傷心痛哭，不肯吃飯。
 撒上:1.8    她的丈夫厄耳卡納對她說：「亞納，你為什麼哭，不肯用飯﹖為什麼傷心﹖難道我對你不比十個兒子還好嗎﹖」
 撒上:1.9    在史羅吃喝完了，亞納就起來走到上主面前；那時司祭厄里正對著上主聖殿門口，坐在椅子上。
 撒上:1.10   她心靈愁苦，哀求上主，不斷痛哭流淚；
 撒上:1.11   且許願說：「萬軍的上主，若你垂顧你婢女的痛苦，記念我，不忘你的婢女，賜你婢女生一個男孩，我就將他一生獻於上主，一輩子不給他剃頭。」
 撒上:1.12   亞納在上主面前祈禱很久，厄里曾注意到她的嘴唇；
 撒上:1.13   亞納只是心內訴說，嘴唇微動，卻聽不到她的聲音，厄里卻以為她喝醉了，
 撒上:1.14   就對她說：「你要醉到幾時﹖消消你身上的酒氣罷! 」
 撒上:1.15   亞納答說：「我主! 你想錯了；我是個遭遇不幸的女人，清酒烈酒總不沾唇；我是在上主面前傾吐我的心意。
 撒上:1.16   望你不要以為你的婢女是個壞人，因為我由於極度的痛苦悲傷，纔一直傾訴到現在。」
 撒上:1.17   厄里回答她說：「你平安的去罷! 願以色列的天主賜給你求他的事。」
 撒上:1.18   她答說：「願你的婢女在你眼內蒙恩。」 [撒慕爾誕生]  這女人就回了旅舍，吃完飯，不再愁容滿面。
 撒上:1.19   次日早，他們起來，朝拜了上主，就回了辣瑪本家。厄耳卡納認識了妻子亞納，上主也記念了她，
 撒上:1.20   亞納就懷了孕，生了一個兒子，給他起名叫撒慕爾，說：「因為是我向上主求得了他。」約過了一年，
 撒上:1.21   她的丈夫厄耳卡納和全家上史羅去，向上主奉獻年祭，並還所許的願，
 撒上:1.22   亞納卻沒有上去，因她對丈夫說：「等孩子斷了乳，我要帶他去，將他奉獻給上主，以後他永住在那裏。」
 撒上:1.23   她的丈夫厄耳卡納對她說：「就照你的意思辦罷! 等他斷了乳再說；惟願上主實現你的話! 」於是他的妻子留在家裏，乳養孩子，直到斷了乳。
 撒上:1.24   [獻撒慕爾於上主]  斷乳後，她便帶著小孩和一頭三歲的牛，一「厄法」麵和一皮囊酒，來到史羅上主的聖殿；孩子還很小。
 撒上:1.25   他們祭殺了牛以後，孩子的母親來到厄里前，
 撒上:1.26   對他說：「我主，請聽：我主，就如你活著那樣真實，我就是曾在你旁邊祈求上主的那個婦人，
 撒上:1.27   那時我為得到這孩子祈禱，上主就賞賜了我所懇求的，
 撒上:1.28   所以我現在把他獻於上主，他一生是屬於上主的。」亞納便把他留在上主那裏。
    
 撒上:2.1    [亞納的頌謝詞]  亞納祈禱說：「我從心裏喜樂於上主，我的頭因上主而高仰；我可開口嘲笑我的敵人，因為我喜樂於你的救助。
 撒上:2.2    沒有聖者，相似上主；除了你以外，沒有另一位；沒有磐石，相似我們的天主。
 撒上:2.3    你們別再三說誑言，別口出豪語；上主是全知的天主，人的行為由他衡量。
 撒上:2.4    壯士的弓已被折斷，衰弱者反而力量倍增。
 撒上:2.5    曾享飽飫的，今傭工求食；曾受饑餓的，今無須勞役；不妊的今生了七子，多產者反而生育停頓。
 撒上:2.6    上主使人死，也使人活；使人降入陰府，也將人由陰府提出；
 撒上:2.7    上主使人窮，也使人富；貶抑人，也舉揚人；
 撒上:2.8    上主由塵埃中提拔卑賤者，從糞土中高舉貧窮者，使他與王侯同席，承受光榮座位；大地的支柱原屬上主，支柱上奠定了世界。
 撒上:2.9    他保護虔誠者的腳步，使惡人在黑暗中滅亡，因為人決不能憑己力獲勝，
 撒上:2.10   那與上主敵對的必被粉碎。至高者在天主鳴雷，上主要裁判地極，賜予自己的君王能力，高舉受傅者的冠冕。」
 撒上:2.11   以後厄耳卡納回了辣瑪本家。幼童卻留在厄里大司祭前，奉事上主。
 撒上:2.12   [厄里兒子的褻聖罪過]　厄里的兩個兒子原是無惡不做的人，不懷念上主，
 撒上:2.13   也不關心司祭對人民的義務；若有人來殺牲獻祭，到煮祭肉時，司祭的僮僕便來，手持三齒叉，
 撒上:2.14   插入鼎裏，鍋裏，甑裏或鑊裏，凡叉上來的，司祭就拿去自用；他們常這樣對待所有到史羅來的以色列人。
 撒上:2.15   甚或在焚化油脂以前，司祭的僮僕來對獻祭的人說：「把肉給司祭去烤罷! 他不向你要熟肉，他要生肉。」
 撒上:2.16   如果人答應說：「先得將油脂焚化，然後你可隨意拿去。」他必答說：「不，應立刻給我；不然，我就來搶。」
 撒上:2.17   [這兩個少年人在上主前犯的罪極重，因為輕視了獻於上主的祭品]。  撒慕爾的母親　
 撒上:2.18   撒慕爾幼童穿著細麻的「厄弗得，」在上主面前供職。
 撒上:2.19   他的母親每年給他做一件小外氅，當她同丈夫上來獻年祭時，就給他帶來。
 撒上:2.20   厄里祝福厄耳卡納和他的妻子說：「願上主由這婦人再賞你一個兒子，代替獻給上主的這一個! 」然後他們就回了本鄉。
 撒上:2.21   主看顧了亞納她懷孕生了三男二女。撒慕爾幼童在上主前漸漸長大。
 撒上:2.22   [厄里勸戒二子]  厄里已經很老。他聽說他的兩個兒子對眾以色列人所做的一切，和他們與社會幕門旁服役的婦女同睡的事，
 撒上:2.23   就對他們說：「你們為什麼作出像我由眾百姓那裏聽來的這些壞事﹖
 撒上:2.24   我兒，不要這樣! 我所聽見的風聲實在不好，你們竟使百姓遠離了上主!
 撒上:2.25   若得罪人，尚有天主審斷；人若得罪上主，有誰為他求情呢﹖」但是他們仍不聽父親的話，因為上主有意使他們喪亡。
 撒上:2.26   撒慕爾幼童漸漸長大，為上主和人所喜愛。
 撒上:2.27   [預言厄里惡運]  有一位天主的人來到厄里面前對他說：「上主這樣：當你祖先的家人還在埃及法郎家中當奴隸時，我不是再三顯現給他們嗎﹖
 撒上:2.28   我不是從以色列眾支派中，特選了他們作我的司祭，上我的祭壇焚香獻祭，穿「厄弗得」到我面前來，並將以色列子民的火祭祭品全賜給了你的父家嗎﹖
 撒上:2.29   那麼，你為什麼還要嫉視我所規定的犧牲和素祭呢﹖竟重視你的兒子在我以上，用我的人民以色列所獻的最好的一份，養肥了他們﹖
 撒上:2.30   因此，請聽上主以色列天主的斷語：我曾許下，你的家和你的父家要在我面前永遠往來，但是現在，──上主的斷語──決不能如此! 只有那光榮我的，我纔光榮他；那輕視我的，必受輕視。
 撒上:2.31   時日快到了，那時我要砍下你的臂膊和你父家的臂膊，使你家裏再沒有權威的長者。
 撒上:2.32   以後，你要嫉視我賜與以色列人的一切幸福，可是在你家裏永不會再有權威的長者；
 撒上:2.33   我也不願將你的人由我的祭壇上盡行消滅，致使你的眼目昏花，心神憂傷；但你家中大多數的人要死在人家的刀下。
 撒上:2.34   你的兩個兒子曷弗尼和丕乃哈斯所要遭遇的，為你就是個先兆：他們兩人要在同一天死掉。
 撒上:2.35   我要為我興起一位忠信的司祭，他要照我的心意行事，我要給他建立一個堅固的家庭，他一生要在我的受傅者前往來。
 撒上:2.36   那時，凡你家中所存留的人，必要叩拜他，為得到一點錢或一片餅說：求你容我參與任何一種司祭職務，使我可以糊口。」
    
 撒上:3.1    [撒慕爾蒙啟示]　小撒慕爾在厄里面前服事上主；那時，上主的話少有，異象也罕見。
 撒上:3.2    有一天，厄里睡在自己的房裏，他的眼睛漸漸昏花，已看不清了，
 撒上:3.3    天主的燈尚熄滅，撒慕爾睡在安放天主約櫃的上主的殿內。
 撒上:3.4    那時，上主召叫說：「撒慕爾! 撒慕爾! 」他回答說：「我在這裏! 」
 撒上:3.5    他就跑到厄里前說道：「你叫了我，我在這裏。」厄里說：「我沒有叫你，回去睡罷! 」他就回去睡了。
 撒上:3.6    上主又叫撒慕爾；撒慕爾起來，走到厄里那裏說道：「你叫了我，我在這裏。」厄里對他說：「我兒，我沒有叫你，回去睡罷! 」
 撒上:3.7    撒慕爾不知道是上主，因為上主的話尚未啟示給他。
 撒上:3.8    上主第三次又叫了撒慕爾；他起來，又走到厄里那裏說道：「你叫了我，我在這裏。」厄里於是明白，是上主叫了幼童，
 撒上:3.9    便對撒慕爾說：「去睡罷! 假使有人再叫你，你就回答說：請上主發言，你的僕人在此靜聽。」撒慕爾就回去，仍睡在原處。
 撒上:3.10   上主走近，像前幾次一樣召叫說：「撒慕爾，撒慕爾! 」撒慕爾便回答說：「請上主發言! 你的僕人在此靜聽。」
 撒上:3.11   上主遂對撒慕爾說：「看! 我要在以色列行一件事，凡聽見的人，他的兩耳必要嗡嗡作響。
 撒上:3.12   到那一天，我必對厄里從頭到尾實踐我論他的家族所說的一切。
 撒上:3.13   你傳報給他：我要處罰他的家族直到永遠，因為他原知道他的兩個兒子凌辱了天主，卻未責斥他們。
 撒上:3.14   因此，我對厄里的家族起誓：無論犧牲或供物，永不能抹去厄里一家的罪過。
 撒上:3.15   [撒慕爾被立為先知]  撒慕爾睡到早晨起來，開了上主聖殿的門；但害怕告訴厄里他所見的異象。
 撒上:3.16   厄里卻對撒慕爾說：「撒慕爾，我兒! 」他回答說：「我在這裏。」
 撒上:3.17   厄里問說：「上主給你說了什麼話，請不要隱瞞我! 你若把上主給你說的話，給我隱瞞了一句，願天主加倍懲罰你。」
 撒上:3.18   撒慕爾便把那些話全告訴了他，一句也沒有隱瞞。厄里說：「他是上主，他看著怎麼好，就怎樣行罷! 」
 撒上:3.19   撒慕爾漸漸長大；上主與他同在，使他說的一切話，沒有一句落空。
 撒上:3.20   於是全以色列從丹直到貝爾舍巴，都知道撒慕爾被立為上主的先知。
 撒上:3.21   自從上主在史羅對撒慕爾顯現後，繼續在史羅顯現於他。
    
 撒上:4.1    [以色列人慘敗、約櫃被奪]  撒慕爾的話傳遍了全以色列。當時厄里已很老了，他的兩個兒子的品行在上主面前，比以前更壞了。那時，培肋舍特人集合起來攻打以色列人，以色列人便出來還擊他們，在厄本厄則爾旁紮了營，當時培肋舍特人已在阿費克紮了營。
 撒上:4.2    培肋舍特人就擺列陣勢攻打以色列人，戰鬥十分激烈；以色列人為培肋舍特打敗，在平原陣地上被擊斃的約有四千人。
 撒上:4.3    軍隊回營後，以色列的長老說：「為什麼上主今天讓我們被培肋舍特人打敗﹖我們應從史羅把上主的約櫃抬來，讓約櫃來到我們中間，拯救我們擺脫敵人的壓迫。」
 撒上:4.4    於是軍隊就派人到史羅去，從那裏把坐於革魯賓上的萬軍之上主的約櫃抬來；厄里的兩個兒子曷弗尼和丕乃哈斯也跟天主的約櫃來了。
 撒上:4.5    當上主的約櫃來到營內的時候，全以色列民就大聲歡呼，大地也震動了。
 撒上:4.6    培肋舍特人一聽見這樣的呼聲，就說：「希伯來人在營中為什麼這樣大聲歡呼﹖」後來纔知道，是上主的約櫃來到了他們的營中。
 撒上:4.7    培肋舍特人大為震驚，遂說：「希伯來人的神來到了他們的營中! 」繼而喊說：「我們有禍了! 至今從未有過這樣的事!
 撒上:4.8    我們有禍了! 誰能從這大能的神手中救出我們呢﹖用各樣災禍在曠野中打擊了埃及人的，就是這個神啊!
 撒上:4.9    培肋舍特人哪﹖你們應加強，要英勇，免得你們做希伯來人的奴才，像他們做過你們的奴才一樣。你們要英勇，奮鬥作戰! 」
 撒上:4.10   培肋舍特人就開始進攻，以色列人中陣亡的步兵有三萬；
 撒上:4.11   天主的約櫃也被劫了去，厄里的兩個兒子曷弗尼和丕乃哈斯也同時陣亡了。
 撒上:4.12   [厄里與丕乃哈斯的妻子猝死]  有個本雅明人從陣地逃出，當天來到了史羅，衣服已撕破，頭上滿是灰塵。
 撒上:4.13   他來到時，見厄里在門旁坐在椅子上，向大道觀望，因為他為天主的約櫃很是放心不下。那人一來到，就在城內佈開這凶信，全城因此哀號起來；
 撒上:4.14   厄里一聽見哀號聲，就問說：「這樣喧嚷，是什麼事﹖」那人就趕快前來報告給厄里，──
 撒上:4.15   那時厄里已是九十八歲的人，眼睛雖然瞪著，卻什麼也看不見。──
 撒上:4.16   對厄里說：「我是從營中來的，今天剛從戰場上逃回來的。」厄里問說：「我兒，事情怎樣﹖」
 撒上:4.17   報信的答說：「以色列人在培肋舍特人面前大敗，人民傷亡極大，你的兩個兒子也死了，天主的約櫃也被劫去了。」
 撒上:4.18   他一提到天主的約櫃，厄里就從椅子上往後一仰，跌在門檻上，跌斷了頸項，死了，因為他已年老，且又肥胖。──他四十年之久做了以色列人的民長。
 撒上:4.19   他的兒媳，丕乃哈斯的妻子，已經懷孕，快要臨盆；一聽說天主的約櫃被劫去，他的公公和丈夫已死的消息，突然感到陣痛，就彎下身去生產了。
 撒上:4.20   她臨死時，侍立在旁的婦女向她說：「不必害怕，你生了一個兒子! 」她沒有答應，也沒有留意，
 撒上:4.21   只給孩子取名叫依加波得，說：「光榮已遠離了以色列。」這是指天主的約櫃，她的公公和丈夫都已被劫去，
 撒上:4.22   所以她說：「光榮已遠離了以色列，」因為天主的約櫃已被劫去。
    
 撒上:5.1    [約櫃加害培肋舍特人]  培肋舍特人劫走了天主的約櫃，從厄本厄則爾運到阿市多得，
 撒上:5.2    把天主的約櫃抬到達貢廟內，放在達貢近旁。
 撒上:5.3    第二天清早，阿市多得人起來，見達貢傾倒了，在上主的約櫃面前，俯伏在地；他們把達貢豎起安置在原處。
 撒上:5.4    但第二天清早人們起來，見達貢又傾倒了，仍在上主的約櫃面前，俯伏在地，達貢的頭和雙手都斷在門檻上，只留下了他的魚身。──
 撒上:5.5    因此，達貢的司祭和進達貢廟的人，都不敢踏阿市多得的廟的門檻，直到今天。
 撒上:5.6    上主的手重重地壓制了阿市多得人，威嚇他們，使阿市多得和附近的人都生了毒瘡。
 撒上:5.7    阿市多得人一見這樣，就說：「別讓以色列天主的約櫃留在我們這裏，因他的手重重地壓制了我們的神達貢。」
 撒上:5.8    遂打發人召集了培肋舍特人所有的酋長來到他們那裏，向他們說：「對以色列天主的約櫃我們該怎麼辦﹖」他們就回答說：「把以色列天主的約櫃送到加特去! 他們遂把以色列天主的約櫃送到加特去了。
 撒上:5.9    他們把約櫃送去以後，上主的手又壓制那座城，使他們發生了很大的恐慌，因為上主打擊了城中的人，無論老幼，都患了毒瘡。
 撒上:5.10   於是加特人又把天主的約櫃送到厄刻龍；天主的約櫃一到了厄刻龍，厄刻龍人就喊說：「人把以色列天主的約櫃送到我們這裏，是為殺害我們和我們的百姓! 」
 撒上:5.11   遂立刻派人召集培肋舍特所有的酋長來，向他們說，「你們把以色列天主的約櫃送走，送回原處，免得殺害我們和我們的百姓。」因為全城的人死的太多了，天主的手重重地壓制了那地方。
 撒上:5.12   凡沒有死的人，都患了毒瘡，因此城中哀號之聲，上達於天。
    
 撒上:6.1    [約櫃運往貝特舍默士]  上主的約櫃在培肋舍特地方七個月之久。
 撒上:6.2    培肋舍特人召集司祭和占卜者說：「我們對上主的約櫃該作什麼﹖請告訴我們，用什麼方法可將它送回原處﹖」
 撒上:6.3    他們回答說：「你們若將以色列天主的約櫃送回，不可空空的將它送回，必須奉上贖罪的禮品：這樣你們纔能痊癒，也會明瞭他的手為什麼沒有離開你們。」
 撒上:6.4    他們問說：「我們應奉上什麼贖罪的禮品﹖」他們回答說：「按照培肋舍特酋長的數目，奉上五個金毒瘡像和五個金鼠像，因為你們所有的人和你們的酋長，都遭遇同樣的災禍。
 撒上:6.5    所以你們應製造你們患的毒瘡像，和損壞你們地方的老鼠的像，應歸光榮於以色列的天主：這樣或許他會對你們，對你們的神和你們的地方放鬆他的手。
 撒上:6.6    你們為什麼像埃及人和法郎一樣心硬呢﹖不是上主玩弄了他們以後，埃及人纔放走了他們嗎﹖
 撒上:6.7    現今，趕快製造一輛新車，牽出兩頭正在哺乳，還沒有負過軛的母牛來，套上這輛新車，把小牛牽回棚裏去；
 撒上:6.8    然後把上主的約櫃裝在車上，把那奉上作為贖罪禮品的金器，都盛在一匣子內，放在約櫃旁邊，然後讓它去。
 撒上:6.9    但你們應留神：若是約櫃取道往自己的地方去，即往貝特舍默士去，那麼，這大災難，即是上主加給我們的；若不然，我們就知道，不是他的手打擊了我們，而我們所遭遇的是出於偶然。」
 撒上:6.10   人們就這樣作了；牽出兩頭正在哺乳的母牛來，套上那輛新車，將牛犢關在棚裏，
 撒上:6.11   把上主的約櫃，以及裝有金老鼠和毒瘡像的匣子，都放在車上。
 撒上:6.12   那對母牛直直奔向貝特舍默士的路上走去，一邊走，一邊叫，不偏左也不偏右；培肋舍特的酋長跟在後面，一直到了貝特舍默士的邊境。
 撒上:6.13   那時，貝特舍默士人正在谷中收割麥子，舉目一看，見是上主的約櫃，就前去歡迎。
 撒上:6.14   車來到貝特舍默士人約叔亞的莊田，就在那裏停住了。那裏有一塊大石頭，人就將車輛的木頭劈開，把母牛祭獻給上主作全燔祭。
 撒上:6.15   肋未人先把上主的約櫃和旁邊盛有金器的匣子搬下來，放在那塊大石上。貝特舍默士人當天給上主獻了全燔祭，宰殺了許多犧牲。
 撒上:6.16   培肋舍特的五位酋長見事已成，當天就回了厄刻龍。
 撒上:6.17   以下是培肋舍特人奉獻給上主作為贖罪禮品的金毒瘡像：阿市多得一個，迦薩一個，阿市刻隆一個，加特一個，厄刻龍一個。
 撒上:6.18   金老鼠也是依照培肋舍特五酋長的城市數目，包括有垣墻的城市和所有的村落。那曾安放過上主約櫃的大石，直到今日還在貝特舍默士人約叔亞的田內，作為見證。
 撒上:6.19   [約櫃在克黎雅特耶阿陵]  當貝特舍默士人看見上主的約櫃時，耶苛尼雅的子孫沒有與他們一起表示歡樂，所以上主擊殺了他們中七十人。百姓就難受，因為上主這樣嚴厲打擊了百姓。
 撒上:6.20   於是貝特舍默士人說：「在這神聖的天主上主面前，誰還能站得住﹖從我們這裏把它送到誰那裏去呢﹖」
 撒上:6.21   他們遂派使者到克黎雅特耶阿陵的居民那裏，對他們說：「培肋舍特人送回了上主的約櫃，你們下來，將它抬上去，放在你們那裏。」
    
 撒上:7.1    [以民棄邪歸正]  克黎雅特耶阿陵人遂下來，將上主的約櫃抬上去，送到住在丘嶺上的阿彼納達布家裏，並且祝聖他的兒子厄肋阿匝爾，看守上主的約櫃。
 撒上:7.2    自從約櫃停放在克黎雅特耶阿陵的那天起，過了很長的時間，大約二十年之久，以色列全家又歸向上主。
 撒上:7.3    那時撒慕爾對以色列全家說：「如果你們全心歸向上主，就該將外邦的神由你們中間剷除，一心歸向上主，惟獨事奉上主，他必由培肋舍特人手中解救你們。」
 撒上:7.4    以色列子民遂剷除了巴耳和阿市托勒特，唯獨事奉上主。
 撒上:7.5    於是撒慕爾說：「你們把全以色列聚集在米茲帕，我要為你們懇求上主。」
 撒上:7.6    他們便集在米茲帕，汲了水來，倒在上主面前，並且在那一天禁食說：「我們犯了罪，得罪了上主! 」從此撒慕爾在米茲帕治理以色列子民。
 撒上:7.7    [擊敗培肋舍特人]  培肋舍特人一聽說以色列子民聚集在米茲帕，培肋舍特的酋長就上來攻打以色列，以色列子民聽說培肋舍特人前來，大為震驚，
 撒上:7.8    對撒慕爾說：「你不要停止為我們哀求上主，我們的天主，好叫他救我們脫離培肋舍特人的威脅。」
 撒上:7.9    撒慕爾遂拿了一隻還在吃奶的羔羊獻給上主，作全燔祭，為以色列呼籲上主，上主應允了他。
 撒上:7.10   當撒慕爾正在奉獻全燔祭時，培肋舍特人前來，要與以色列交戰；但上主在那一天使雷聲向著培肋舍特人大作，恐嚇他們，他們就在以色列面前潰退了。
 撒上:7.11   以色列人遂從米茲帕出來追擊培肋舍特人，擊殺他們直到貝特加爾下邊。
 撒上:7.12   以後，撒慕爾取了一塊石頭，豎立在米茲帕與耶撒納中間，給那石起名叫厄本厄則爾，說：「直到這時上主救助了我們。」
 撒上:7.13   培肋舍特人受了這次挫折以後，不敢再來侵犯以色列的邊境；撒慕爾活著時，上主的手常壓制了培肋舍特人。
 撒上:7.14   培肋舍特人由以色列奪去的城市，自厄刻龍直到加特，都歸還了以色列人；以色列人由培肋舍特人手中收復了自己的領土；在那時以色列和阿摩黎人之間平安無事。
 撒上:7.15   [撒慕爾執行民長職]  撒慕爾一生做了以色列的民長。
 撒上:7.16   他每年去視察貝特耳、基耳加耳和米茲帕，在這些地方治理以色列人。
 撒上:7.17   以後他回到辣瑪，因為他的家在那裏，他也在那裏治理以色列人，並在那裏給上主建了一座祭壇。
    
 撒上:8.1    [立君王的要求]  撒慕爾年老的時候，立了他的兩個兒子作以色列的民長。
 撒上:8.2    長子名叫約厄耳，次子名叫阿彼雅，同在貝爾舍巴作民長。
 撒上:8.3    但是他這兩個兒子不走他所走的路，卻貪圖厚利，接受賄賂，歪曲正理。
 撒上:8.4    以色列眾長老便聯合起來，往辣瑪去見撒慕爾，
 撒上:8.5    對他說：「看，你已經老了，你的兒子們不走你所走的路。如今請你給我們立一位君王治理我們，如同各國一樣。」
 撒上:8.6    撒慕爾聽到他們要求說：「請給我們立一位君王治理我們，」大為不悅，便去祈求上主。
 撒上:8.7    上主對撒慕爾說：「凡民眾向你所說的話，你都要聽從，因為他們不是拋棄你，而是拋棄我作他們的君王。
 撒上:8.8    自從我領他們出離埃及直到今日，凡他們做的，無非是拋棄我而事奉別的神；他們現在也這樣來對待你。
 撒上:8.9    好罷! 你就聽從他們的要求，但必須清楚警告他們，要他們明瞭那統治他們的君王所享有的權利。」
 撒上:8.10   [君王的權利]  撒慕爾把上主的一切話，轉告給那向他要求君王的人民，
 撒上:8.11   說：「那要統治你們的君王所享有的權利是：他要徵用你們的兒子，去充當車夫馬夫，在他的車前奔走：
 撒上:8.12   委派他們做千夫長、百夫長、五十夫長；令他們耕種他的田地，收割他的莊稼，替他製造作戰的武器和戰車的用具；
 撒上:8.13   要徵用你們的女兒為他配製香料，烹調食物；
 撒上:8.14   要拿你們最好的莊田、葡萄園和橄欖林，賜給他的臣僕；
 撒上:8.15   徵收你們莊田和葡萄園出產的十分之一，賜給他的宦官和臣僕；
 撒上:8.16   使用你們的僕婢和你們最好的牛驢，替他作工；
 撒上:8.17   徵收你們的羊群十分之一；至於你們自己，還應作他的奴隸。
 撒上:8.18   到那一天，你們必要因你們所選的君王發出哀號；但那一天，上主也不理你們了。」
 撒上:8.19   [人民堅持所求]  但是，人民不願聽從撒慕爾的話卻對他說：「不! 我們非要一位君王管理我們不可。
 撒上:8.20   我們也要像一般異民一樣，有我們的君王來治理我們，率領我們出征作戰。」
 撒上:8.21   撒慕爾聽見百姓所說的這一切話，就轉告給上主聽。
 撒上:8.22   上主對撒慕爾說：「你聽從他們的話，給他們一位君王罷! 」撒慕爾就吩咐以色列人說：「你們各自暫回本城去。」
    
 撒上:9.1    [撒烏耳尋驢遇撒慕爾]  本雅明支派有個人名叫克士，他是阿彼耳的兒子，阿彼耳是責洛爾的兒子，責洛爾是貝苛辣特的兒子，貝苛辣特是阿非亞的兒子；這本雅明人是個英勇的戰士。
 撒上:9.2    他有個兒子名叫撒烏耳，魁梧英俊，在以色列人中沒有比他更俊美的，比所有的人高出一肩。
 撒上:9.3    撒烏耳的父親克士有幾匹母驢，走迷了路，克士遂對兒子撒烏耳說：「你帶一個僕人，起身去尋找那些驢。」
 撒上:9.4    他們走過了厄弗辣因山地和沙里地方，卻沒有找著；又過了沙阿林地方，也沒有找到；最後經過耶米尼地方，也不見蹤影。
 撒上:9.5    當他們來到族弗地方時，撒烏耳對跟隨自己的僕人說：「我們回去罷! 免得我父親不掛念驢，反而掛慮我們。」
 撒上:9.6    僕人回答他說：「請看，這城裏有一位天主的人，很受敬重；凡他說的，必定應驗；現在我們往那裏去，或許他會告訴我們應走的路。」
 撒上:9.7    撒烏耳回答僕人說：「好! 我們可以去，但是給那人送什麼呢﹖我們袋裏的乾糧已經用盡，沒有禮物可送給天主的人了。我們還有什麼呢﹖」
 撒上:9.8    僕人回答撒烏耳說：「看，我手裏還有四分之一「協刻耳」銀子，你可把它送給天主的人，請他把我們當走的路告訴我們。」
 撒上:9.9    過去在以色列，如果有人去求問天主，常說：「來，我們到先見者那裏去! 」現今所稱的「先知，」就是從前稱的「先見者。」──
 撒上:9.10   撒烏耳對他的僕人說：「你說的對，來，我們去罷! 」他們就往天主的人所住的城裏去了。
 撒上:9.11   當他們上那城的山坡時，遇見一些少女出來打水，就問她們說：「先見者在這裏嗎﹖」──
 撒上:9.12   她們回答說：「是。看，先見者就在你們前面，剛剛進了城，因為今天百姓要在高丘上舉行祭獻。
 撒上:9.13   你們進了城，在他上到高丘進食以前，一定會遇見他，因為人民在他來以前，不先吃什麼，因他要祝福犧牲，然後賓客纔進食。你們現在上去，立刻會遇見他。」
 撒上:9.14   他們於是上到那城，剛進城門，看，撒慕爾就朝著他們出來，要上高丘去。
 撒上:9.15   [撒慕爾優待撒烏耳]  在撒烏耳來的前一日，上主曾啟示給撒慕爾說：「
 撒上:9.16   明日大約這時，我打發一個本雅明地方的人到你這裏來，你要給他傅油，立他當我民以色列的首領，他要從培肋舍特人手中拯救我的百姓，因我已看到我百姓的痛苦，他們的哀號已上達於我。」
 撒上:9.17   撒慕爾一看見撒烏耳，上主就提醒他說：「看，這就是我曾對你提及的那人，他要統治我的百姓。」
 撒上:9.18   撒烏耳走到撒慕爾跟前，在城門洞中問他說：「請你告訴我，先見者的家在那裏﹖」
 撒上:9.19   撒慕爾回答撒烏耳說：「我就是先見者；請你在我以前上高丘去；你們今天要同我一起吃飯，明天早晨我打發你去，你心中所懷念的事，我會全告訴你。
 撒上:9.20   至於三天以前你所失的母驢，不必擔心，都已找著了。此外，以色列所有的至寶是誰的呢﹖豈不是你和你父親全家的嗎! 」
 撒上:9.21   撒烏耳回答說：「我豈不是一個本雅明人，屬於以色列最小的一支派嗎﹖我的家族在本雅明家族中，不也是最小的嗎﹖你怎能向我說出這樣的話﹖」
 撒上:9.22   以後撒慕爾將撒烏耳和他的僕人領到餐廳內，叫他們坐在賓客的首位上，賓客約有三十人。
 撒上:9.23   撒慕爾對廚師說：「將我交給你的那份，即對你說：暫且留下的那一份，給我拿來。」
 撒上:9.24   廚師遂把後腿和肥尾端上來，放在撒烏耳面前。撒慕爾對他說：「看，擺在你面前的，是預先特意保留的一份，請吃罷! 因為特意為你保留下的，叫你好同賓客一起吃。」撒烏耳那天就同撒慕爾一起吃了飯。
 撒上:9.25   他們從高丘下到城裏，有人在露台上給撒烏耳舖好了臥榻，
 撒上:9.26   撒烏耳就睡在那裏。天一亮，撒慕爾就叫醒在露台上的撒烏耳，對他說：「起來，讓我送你走。」撒烏耳起來，他們二人，即他和撒慕爾，就往城外走；
 撒上:9.27   當他們下到城邊時，撒慕爾對撒烏耳說：「你吩咐僕人，叫他在我們前面先走，你暫且停留一會，我要把天主話告訴你。」
    
 撒上:10.1   [傅油與預兆]  撒慕爾拿出油具，把油倒在他頭上，口吻他說：「不是上主給你傅油，立你作他百姓以色列的首領嗎﹖是你要統治上主的百姓，從四周的仇人手中解救百姓。這是上主給你傅油立你為自己產業首領的先兆：
 撒上:10.2   今天你離開我以後，在本雅明邊境辣黑耳的墓旁，正午你會遇見兩個人，他們要對你說：你去找的那些母驢，已找到了。為母驢的事，你父親早已忘懷，現在他卻為你們著急說：為我的兒子我該怎麼辦﹖
 撒上:10.3   你從那裏再往前走，來到德波辣的橡樹旁時，要遇見三個上貝特耳去敬禮天主的人：一人牽著三隻小山羊，一人拿著三張餅，一人帶著一皮囊酒。
 撒上:10.4   他們要向你請安，給你兩張餅，你要從他們手中接過來。
 撒上:10.5   此後，你要往天主的基貝亞去，──在那裏駐有培肋舍特人的官吏，──你一進城，就會遇見一群正從高丘下來的先知，在他們前面有彈弦的、有打鼓的、有吹笛的、有彈琴的、他們正在出神說妙語。
 撒上:10.6   這時，上主的神會突然降在你身上，你也要同他們一起出神說妙語；你要變成另一個人。
 撒上:10.7   當你遇見這些現象時，你應見機行事，因為天主必與你同在。
 撒上:10.8   你要在我以先下到基耳加去；我要下到你那裏去奉獻全燔祭，宰殺和平祭犧牲。你要等候七天，直到我到了你那裏，告訴你當作的事。」
 撒上:10.9   [撒烏耳受先知靈感]  當他轉身離開撒慕爾時，天主就改變了他的心，那一切先兆在當天都實現了。
 撒上:10.10  他從那裏來到基貝亞時，果然有一群先知迎面而來，天主的神突然降在他身上，他就在他們中間出神說起妙語來。
 撒上:10.11  凡先前認識他的人，見他同先知們一起出神說妙語，就彼此說：「克士的兒子遭遇了什麼事﹖怎麼，連撒烏耳也列在先知之中﹖」
 撒上:10.12  他們中有人回答說：「他們的父親是誰﹖」因此有一句俗話說：「怎麼，連撒烏耳也列在先知中嗎﹖」
 撒上:10.13  他說完妙語後，就回了家。
 撒上:10.14  撒烏耳的一個叔父問他和他的僕人說：「你們往那裏去了﹖」撒烏耳回答說：「找母驢去了；我們看沒找著，就到了撒慕爾那裏。」
 撒上:10.15  撒烏耳的叔父向他說：「請你告訴我，撒慕爾給你說了些什麼﹖」
 撒上:10.16  撒烏耳回答他叔父說：「他告訴我們，母驢的確已經找到了。」但撒慕爾所說有關立君王的話，撒烏耳卻沒有告訴他。
 撒上:10.17  [撒烏耳被選為王]  撒慕爾召集人民來到米茲帕上主面前。
 撒上:10.18  對以色列子民說：「上主以色列的天主這樣說：是我領以色列出離了埃及，從埃及人和一切壓迫你們的國家中拯救了你們。
 撒上:10.19  然而今天你們拋棄了你們的天主，雖然他從你們一切災難和壓迫中解救了你們，你們卻說：不，你該給我們立一位君王! 現今你們要按照你們的支派和家族到上主面前來。」
 撒上:10.20  撒慕爾就叫以色列眾支派上前來，本雅明支派中了籤；
 撒上:10.21  他叫本雅明支派按照家族上前來，瑪特黎家族中了籤；他叫瑪特黎家族各個男子上前來，克士的兒子撒烏耳中了籤，大家便尋找他，卻沒有找著。
 撒上:10.22  他們再求問上主說：「這人到這裏來了沒有﹖」上主回答說：「看，他隱藏在行李中。」
 撒上:10.23  人們就趕快去將他從那裏請出來，他站在百姓當中，高出眾人一肩。
 撒上:10.24  撒慕爾就向民眾說：「你們看了上主所揀選的嗎﹖在全人民中，沒有一人可與他相比。」眾百姓就歡呼說：「君王萬歲! 」
 撒上:10.25  撒慕爾向民眾說明了君王的權利，並寫在書卷上，放在上主面前。然後撒慕爾打發民眾各自回了家。
 撒上:10.26  撒烏耳也回基貝亞本家去了；有些為天主所感動的勇士也跟他去了， 27.但有些無賴漢卻說：「這人怎能拯救我們﹖」就看不起他，也未給他送禮。
 撒上:10.27  但有些無賴漢卻說：「這人怎能拯救我們﹖」就看不起他，也未給他送禮。
    
 撒上:11.1   [撒烏耳得勝阿孟人]  大約過了一個月，阿孟人納哈士上來圍困基肋阿得的雅貝士，雅貝士所有的居民對納哈士說：「你與我們立約，我們就服事你。」
 撒上:11.2   阿孟人納哈士回答他們說：「在這條件下，我纔與你們立約：就是剜出你們各人的右眼，我要藉此羞辱全以色列。」
 撒上:11.3   雅貝士的長老回答他說：「請讓我們休戰七天，我們派人到以色列全境去，如果沒有人來救我們，我們就向你投降。
 撒上:11.4   使者到了撒烏耳的基貝亞，就把這事講給民眾聽，民眾遂放聲大哭。
 撒上:11.5   那時撒烏耳正跟著牛從田間回來，便問說：「民眾有什麼事，如此號淘大哭﹖」人們就把雅貝士人的話講給他聽。
 撒上:11.6   撒烏耳一聽說這些話，上主的神便降在他身上，遂勃然大怒，
 撒上:11.7   立即牽了一對牛來，剖分成塊，託使者分送到以色列全境說：「凡不隨從撒烏耳如撒慕爾出征的，也必這樣對待他的牛! 上主的驚嚇降在民眾身上，因而他們好像一個人一齊出征。
 撒上:11.8   撒烏耳在貝則克檢閱了他們；以色列人共三十萬，猶大人三萬。
 撒上:11.9   撒烏耳對來的使者說：「你們這樣對基肋阿得的雅貝士人說：明天太陽正熱時，救援就必達到你們那裏。」使者便回去，向雅貝士人報告，他們都很喜歡。
 撒上:11.10  雅貝士人遂對阿孟人說：「明天我們向你們投降，你們看著怎樣好，就怎樣對待我們罷!
 撒上:11.11  第二天撒烏耳把民眾分作三隊，在黎明以前衝入了阿孟人營中，擊殺他們一直到日中最熱的時候；剩下的人都逃散了，以至沒有兩人在一起。
 撒上:11.12  [撒烏耳登極為王]  民眾於是對撒慕爾說：「誰曾說過：撒烏耳豈能作我們的君王﹖把這些人交出來，讓我們處死他們! 」
 撒上:11.13  撒烏耳回答說：「今天不可處死任何人，因為今天上主在以色列中施行了救恩。」
 撒上:11.14  撒慕爾以後對民眾說：「來，我們到基耳加耳去，在那裏重新建立王國。」
 撒上:11.15  民眾便都去了基耳加耳，在那裏於上主面前立撒烏耳為王，並給上主奉獻了和平祭；撒烏耳同全體以色列人舉行了盛大的盛會。
    
 撒上:12.1   [撒慕爾告別的訓話]  撒慕爾對全以色列人說：「看，我全聽從了你們向我所說的話，立了一位君王管理你們。
 撒上:12.2   從此以後，有君王領導你們。至於我，我已老了，頭髮也白了；不過我的兒子還同你們在一起。我從小直到今天，常在你們面往來。
 撒上:12.3   看，我在這裏，請你們在上主面前，在他受傅者面前答覆我：我奪過誰的牛，或奪過誰的驢﹖我壓迫過誰，或虐待過誰﹖從誰手裏接受過掩人耳目的賄賂﹖若有，我必歸還你們。」
 撒上:12.4   他們答說：「你總沒有壓迫或虐待過我們，也沒有從任何人手裏接受過什麼。」
 撒上:12.5   他又對他們說：「上主給你們作證，受傅者今日也作證：你們在我手中沒有找出什麼。」他們答說：「可以作證。」
 撒上:12.6   撒慕爾又對百姓說：「作見證的，是興起梅瑟和亞郎，並領你們祖先從埃及地上來的上主。
 撒上:12.7   現今你們要前來，我要在上主面前使你們認清，上主向你們和你們祖先所施行的一切恩惠：
 撒上:12.8   當雅各伯和他的兒子來到埃及時，埃及人壓迫他們，你們的祖先就向上主哀號，上主遂派遣梅瑟和亞郎領你們的祖先離開了埃及，使他們住在這個地方。
 撒上:12.9   但他們忘卻了上主他們的天主，他就將他們交在哈祚爾的元帥息色辣手中、培肋舍特人手中和摩阿布王手中，使這些人攻打他們。
 撒上:12.10  他們就呼求上主說：我們犯了罪，離棄了上主，事奉了巴耳和阿市托勒特諸神；如今求你救我們脫離我們敵人的手，我們願事奉你。
 撒上:12.11  上主就派耶魯巴耳、巴辣克、依弗大和三松，從你們四圍敵人的手中拯救了你們，你們纔得安居。
 撒上:12.12  當你們看見阿孟子民的君王納哈王來攻打你們時，曾對我說：不，我們要有一位君王來管理我們，──雖然上主你們的天主原是你們的君王。
 撒上:12.13  現今，看，你們所揀選，所要求的君王；看，上主立了一位君王管理你們。
 撒上:12.14  若是你們敬畏上主，事奉上主，聽從他的話，不背叛上主的命令；若是你們和管理你們的君王，隨從上主你們的天主，便可生存。
 撒上:12.15  倘若你們不聽從上主的話，背叛上主的命令，上主的手必要與你們和你們的君王作對。
 撒上:12.16  現今你們前來，看上主在你們眼前要作的這偉大的奇事。
 撒上:12.17  現今不是收割麥子的季節嗎﹖但是我要呼求上主打雷下雨，使你們明白，也看出：你們要求一位君王，是行了上主眼中多麼可惡的事。」
 撒上:12.18  撒慕爾呼籲了上主，上主就在那天打雷下雨；全民眾對上主和撒慕爾很是害怕，
 撒上:12.19  都對撒慕爾說：「你為你的僕人們轉求上主你的天主，別使我們死了，因為在我們一切罪惡之上，又加了一個為我們要求君王的罪過。」
 撒上:12.20  撒慕爾對民眾說：「你們不必害怕；你們固然犯了這一切罪過，但決不要遠離上主，反而要全心事奉上主。
 撒上:12.21  你們不要追求不能援助，也不能施救的虛無邪神，因為他們只是「虛無」而已。
 撒上:12.22  上主為了自己的大名，決不拋棄自己的百姓，因為上主喜歡你們作他的百姓。
 撒上:12.23  我也決不願得罪上主，停止為你們祈禱，或停止教訓你們行善道，走正路。
 撒上:12.24  你們只該敬畏上主，全心忠誠事奉上主，因為你們看見了，他為你們作的，是何等偉大的事。
 撒上:12.25  假使你們仍固執於惡，你們和你們的君王都必要喪亡。」
    
           中編　撒烏耳君王史（撒上13-撒下1）
    
 撒上:13.1   [以色列叛變攻打肋舍特]  撒烏耳三十歲登極，作以色列王四十年。
 撒上:13.2   撒烏耳從以色列人中挑選了三千人：兩千在米革瑪斯和貝特耳山地與撒烏耳在一起；一千在本雅明的革巴隨著約納堂；剩下的人，撒烏耳遺散他們各回本帳幕。
 撒上:13.3   約納堂擊殺了駐紮在基貝亞的培肋舍特人的官吏，培肋舍特人遂知道希伯人已經叛變。撒烏耳在全國吹了警號，
 撒上:13.4   全以色列人都聽說：撒烏耳擊殺了培肋舍特人的一個官吏，所以以色列為培肋舍特人所仇恨；於是人民便跟隨撒烏耳聚集在基耳加耳。
 撒上:13.5   培肋舍特人已調齊來攻打以色列人；他們有戰車三千，騎兵六千，民兵多得如同海邊的沙，都上來在貝特阿文東方的米革瑪斯紮了營。
 撒上:13.6   以色列人一見大難臨頭，敵人壓境，就有人藏在山洞裏，土窟內，岩石下，地窖內和旱井裏，
 撒上:13.7   另有許多人渡過約但河往加得和基肋阿得去了；但撒烏耳卻還在基耳加耳，跟隨他的人都戰慄害怕。
 撒上:13.8   [撒烏耳獻祭受擯斥]  撒烏耳照撒慕爾約定的日期等了七天，但是撒慕爾卻沒有到基耳加耳來，因此軍民離開撒烏耳四散逃跑了。
 撒上:13.9   撒烏耳於是吩咐說：「把全燔祭品與和平祭品送到我這裏來! 」他遂獻了全燔祭。
 撒上:13.10  他剛獻完全燔祭，撒慕爾來了，撒烏耳便去迎接他，向他致敬。
 撒上:13.11  撒慕爾問道：「你作了什麼事﹖」撒烏耳答說：「我看見軍民離開我四散逃跑了，你又沒有照定期來，同時培肋舍特人已集合在米革瑪斯，
 撒上:13.12  所以我想現在培肋舍特人就要下到基耳加耳來攻打我，我還沒向上主求援，所以我迫不得已，奉獻了全燔祭。」
 撒上:13.13  撒慕爾對撒烏耳說：「你作的真糊塗! 假使你遵守了上主你的天主吩咐的命令，上主必鞏固你在以色列的王位直到永遠。
 撒上:13.14  但現在你的王位已立不住了；上主已另找了一位隨他心意的人，立他為百姓的首領，因為你沒有遵守上主吩咐你的命令。」
 撒上:13.15  撒慕爾就起身離開基耳加耳走了。剩下的人跟隨撒烏耳從基耳加耳上到了本雅明的革巴，與那裏的軍隊會合；撒烏耳統計了隨從他的部隊，約有六百人。
 撒上:13.16  [雙方備戰]  撒烏耳和他的兒子約納堂，並一切隨從他們的人駐紮在本雅明的革巴；同時培肋舍特人已在米革瑪斯安了營。
 撒上:13.17  那時從培肋舍特營中有三個突擊隊出發：一隊取道敖斐辣，開往叔阿耳地方；
 撒上:13.18  一隊開往貝特曷龍；另一隊開往革巴，此地俯瞰往曠野去的袋狼山谷。
 撒上:13.19  [以色列人沒有武器]  那時，在以色列全境內沒有鐵匠，原來培肋舍特人說過：「免得希伯來人製造刀鎗。」
 撒上:13.20  因此，以色列人為磨快犁、鋤、斧、鐮，都要下到培肋舍特人那裏。
 撒上:13.21  磨快犁和鋤的價錢是三分之二「協刻耳，」磨快鐮刀或裝製刺針是三分之一「協刻耳。」
 撒上:13.22  所以在米革瑪斯到了開戰的那一天，隨從撒烏耳和約納堂的人手中都沒有刀鎗，祇是撒烏耳和他的兒子約納堂有刀鎗。
 撒上:13.23  那時培肋舍特人的前哨向米革瑪斯關口推進。
    
 撒上:14.1   [約納堂襲敵營]  有一天，撒烏耳的兒子約納堂對他執戟的侍衛說：「來，我們到對面，到培肋舍特人的前哨那裏去。」但他沒有通知他父親。
 撒上:14.2   當時撒烏耳正在革巴邊界，坐在禾場旁的石榴樹下，隨從他的部隊約有六百人。
 撒上:14.3   阿希突的兒子阿希雅帶著「厄弗得。」──阿希突布是丕乃哈斯的兒子，依加波得的兄弟，丕乃哈斯是在史羅作上主司祭的厄里的兒子。──人都不知道約納堂走了。
 撒上:14.4   約納堂打算由隘口過到培肋舍特人的前哨那裏去，在隘口兩面各有一座石峰：一名叫波責茲，一名叫色乃；
 撒上:14.5   一座朝北，與米革瑪斯相對，一座朝南，與革巴相對。
 撒上:14.6   約納堂於是對他執戟的侍衛說：「來，我們往這些未受割損者的前哨去，也許上主會幫助我們；上主要叫人得勝，並不在手人數多少。
 撒上:14.7   那給他執戟的人答說：「你儘可隨意行事，我只跟著你，隨你心意而行。」
 撒上:14.8   約納堂說：「來，我們到那裏去，讓他們看見我們。
 撒上:14.9   假使他們對我們說：住下! 等我們到你們那裏去。我們就站在我們所在的地方，不再上他們那裏去；
 撒上:14.10  如果他們說：你們上我們這裏來罷! 我們就上去，因為上主已把他們交在我們手中了：這為我們是個先兆。」
 撒上:14.11  兩人就突然出現在培肋舍特人的前哨處，培肋舍特人說：「看，這些希伯來人從他們隱藏的山洞中出來了。」
 撒上:14.12  前哨的哨兵就對約納堂和給他執戟的人說：「你們上到我們這裏來罷! 我們有事要告訴你們。」約納堂就對給他執戟的人說：「你跟我上來，因為上主已將他們交在以色列人手中了。」
 撒上:14.13  約納堂遂用手用腳往上爬，給他執戟的跟在他後面。培肋舍特人忽在約納堂前轉身要走，他就向前擊殺他們，他的執戟者也隨著擊殺。
 撒上:14.14  約納堂和他的執戟者第一次殺死了約有二十人，陳屍於半畝田間。
 撒上:14.15  當時在營中和陣地上都起了恐慌，全軍──前哨與突擊隊都大為震驚；地也起了震動，到處籠罩著無限的恐怖。
 撒上:14.16  [培肋舍特人失敗]  撒烏耳的哨兵從本雅明的革巴眺望，看見敵營大亂；
 撒上:14.17  撒烏耳就對隨從他的人說：「檢查一下，看我們中有誰去了。」他們檢查後，見   約納堂和給他執戟的人不在了。
 撒上:14.18  撒烏耳隊對阿希雅說：「拿天主的「厄弗得」來! 」因為那時正是他在以色列子民前帶著天主的「厄弗得。」
 撒上:14.19  撒烏耳還同司祭說話時，培肋舍特人營中的混亂愈來愈大，撒烏耳就對司祭 說：「收回你的手去! 」
 撒上:14.20  撒烏耳和跟隨他的軍民遂集合起來，衝入戰場；看，培肋舍特人竟自相殘殺，陷入混亂。
 撒上:14.21  以前服事培肋舍特人，與他們齊來參戰的希伯來人，忽然反正來協助撒烏耳和約納堂一起的以色列人。 4
 撒上:14.22  那藏在厄弗辣因山地的以色列人，聽說培肋舍特人潰敗了，也都出來參 戰，乘勢追趕。
 撒上:14.23  這樣上主在那一天拯救了以色列人；戰爭一直蔓延到貝特曷龍。【跟隨撒烏耳的人約有一萬，戰事蔓延到厄弗辣因整個山地。】
 撒上:14.24  [約納堂誤犯禁令]  以色列人那天很是疲乏，因為撒烏耳在那天做了一件糊塗事，要軍民發誓說：「誰直到晚上，在我向敵人復仇以前，吃了什麼東西，是可咒罵的。」所以全軍民都沒有嘗過食物。
 撒上:14.25  那地方到處有蜂巢，地面上到處有蜜。
 撒上:14.26  軍民到了蜂巢旁，見有蜜流出，但卻沒有人敢用手取一點放在嘴裏，因為軍民都怕違犯所起的誓。
 撒上:14.27  可是約納堂沒有聽見他父親要軍民起的誓，所以把他手中所持的棍尖，插入蜂巢內，用手送到自己的嘴裏，他的眼立即明亮了。
 撒上:14.28  軍民中有一個向他說：「你父親要軍民起誓說：今天誰嘗了食物，他是可咒罵的。──雖然軍民很是疲乏。」
 撒上:14.29  約納堂答說：「我父親使國家受了害；你們看，嘗了一點蜜，我的眼睛是多麼明亮!
 撒上:14.30  的確，假使今天人能吃飽由敵人奪來的東西，培肋舍特人吃的敗仗，豈不更大嗎﹖」
 撒上:14.31  [士兵吃帶血的肉]  那一天他們擊殺培肋舍特人，從米革瑪斯直到阿雅隆，軍民都很疲乏。
 撒上:14.32  所以人民就急忙搶掠財物，奪取牛羊、牛犢，隨地宰殺，吃了帶血的肉。
 撒上:14.33  有人告訴撒烏耳說：「看，人民吃了帶血的肉，得罪了上主。」撒烏耳一聽這消息便說：「你們把一塊大石頭滾到我這邊來。」
 撒上:14.34  又說：「你們散在百姓中，對他們說：你們各人把自己得的牛或羊，牽到我這裏來，在這裏宰殺分食，不要吃帶血的肉，得罪上主。」於是人們當夜將自己得的牛羊牽來，在那裏祭殺了。
 撒上:14.35  撒烏耳給上主建築了一座祭壇，這是他給上主建立的第一座祭壇。
 撒上:14.36  [士兵救約納堂不死]　以後撒烏耳說：「我們今夜下去追擊培肋舍特人，劫掠他們直到天明，不給他們留下一人。」軍民回答說：「你看著怎樣好，就怎樣作罷! 司祭卻說：「我們先得去天主那裏。」
 撒上:14.37  撒烏耳遂求問天主說：「我可下去追擊培肋舍特人嗎﹖你將他們交在以色列手中嗎﹖」但是天主那天沒有回答他。
 撒上:14.38  撒烏耳說：「軍民的將領，你們上前來，查看一下，今天是誰犯了罪﹖
 撒上:14.39  我指拯救以色列的上主起誓，即是罪在我的兒子約納堂 ，他也該死。」軍民中沒有一人敢回答。
 撒上:14.40  於是他對全以色列說：「你們 站在一邊，我與我兒子約納堂站在一邊。」全軍民對撒烏耳說：「你看怎樣好，就怎樣作罷! 」
 撒上:14.41  撒烏耳說：「上主，以色列的天主! 為什麼今天你不答覆你的僕人﹖若是這罪過在我或我兒子約納堂身上，上主，以色列的天主，求你賜給『烏陵；』若是罪過在你百姓以色列身上，求你賜給『突明』。」撒烏耳和約納堂中了，軍民清白無過。
 撒上:14.42  撒烏耳下命說：「為我和我的兒子約納堂拈鬮。」約納堂中了。
 撒上:14.43  撒烏耳於是對約納堂說：「告訴我，你作了什麼﹖」約納堂就告訴他說：「我不過用手持的棍尖，蘸了一點蜂蜜吃；我在這裏，我該死。」
 撒上:14.44  撒烏耳回答說：「約納堂，你必須死，不 然，願天主罰我該死。」
 撒上:14.45  軍民卻對撒烏耳說：「約納堂在以色列中得了這樣偉大的勝利，豈該死嗎﹖萬萬不能! 我們指著上主起誓：他頭上的一根頭髮，也不應落在地上，因為他今天是倚賴天主行事。」這樣軍民救了約納堂不死，
 撒上:14.46  撒烏耳遂上去，不再追趕培肋舍特人；培肋舍特人也回了本地 。
 撒上:14.47  [撒烏耳國王的概況]  撒烏耳取得了以色列的王權後，便向四周所有的敵人進攻：他攻打了摩阿布、阿孟子民、厄東、貝特勒曷、祚巴的君王和培肋舍特人。他不論走   到那裏，常獲得勝利。
 撒上:14.48  他很英勇，擊敗了阿瑪肋克，拯救以色列人脫離 來搶掠的人。
 撒上:14.49  撒烏耳的兒子是：約納堂、依市偉和瑪耳基叔亞；他有兩個女兒：長女名叫默辣布，次女名叫米加耳。
 撒上:14.50  撒烏耳的妻子名叫阿希諾罕，是阿希瑪茲的女兒。他的元帥名叫阿貝乃爾，是撒烏耳的叔父乃爾的兒 子。
 撒上:14.51  撒烏耳的父親克士和阿貝乃爾的父親乃爾是阿彼耳的兒子。
 撒上:14.52  撒烏耳一生同培肋舍特人常發生激烈戰爭，撒烏耳見到任何勇敢善戰的人，就叫他來跟隨自己。
    
 撒上:15.1   [對阿瑪肋克人聖戰] 有一天，撒慕爾對撒烏耳說：「上主曾打發我給你傅油，作他人民以色列的君王，如今你應聽上主的話!
 撒上:15.2   萬軍的上主這樣說：我要懲罰阿瑪肋克對以色列所行的事，因為當以色列從埃及上來時，攔截了去路。
 撒上:15.3   如今你去攻打阿瑪肋克，毀滅他們和他們所有的一切，絲毫不可顧惜，要將男女、孩童、嬰兒、牛羊、駱駝和驢，一律殺掉。」
 撒上:15.4   撒烏耳調集了軍人，在特冷檢閱了他們，計步兵二十萬，猶大人一萬。
 撒上:15.5   撒烏耳來到阿瑪肋克城時，在山谷裏設下了埋伏。
 撒上:15.6   撒烏耳對刻尼人說：「你們起來快走，離開阿瑪肋克人，免得我把你們同他們一起消滅，因為以色列子民由埃及上來時，你們善待了他們。」刻尼人便離開阿瑪肋克人走了。
 撒上:15.7   撒烏耳擊殺哈瑪肋克人，從哈威拉一直殺到埃及東面的叔爾，
 撒上:15.8   活捉了阿瑪肋克王阿加格，用刀殺盡了其餘的人民。
 撒上:15.9   但撒烏耳和軍民卻憐惜阿加格和最好的牛羊，肥美的家畜和羔羊；凡是美好的，他們都不願毀滅，只把一切不值錢，不要的牲畜毀滅了。
 撒上:15.10  [撒烏耳背命受斥責]  那時有上主的話傳於撒慕爾說：
 撒上:15.11  「我後悔立了撒烏耳為王，因為他背離了我，沒有遵從我的命令。」撒慕爾感到不安，整夜哀求上主。
 撒上:15.12  撒慕爾清晨起來去見撒烏耳；有人告訴他說：「撒烏耳去了加爾默耳，在那裏立了紀念碑，然後回來經過這裏，又去了基耳加耳。」
 撒上:15.13  撒慕爾來到撒烏耳那裏，撒烏耳就對他說：「願天主祝福你! 我履行了上主的命令。」
 撒上:15.14  撒慕爾就問說：「怎麼我耳中聽見有羊叫，有牛嗎﹖」
 撒上:15.15  撒烏耳回答說：「那是從阿瑪肋克帶回來的，因為人民愛惜那些最好的牛羊，好獻給上主你的天主；至於其餘的，我們都毀滅了。」
 撒上:15.16  撒慕爾對撒烏耳說：「住口!讓我告訴你，上主昨夜對我說過的話。」撒烏耳答說：「請說罷! 」
 撒上:15.17  撒慕爾說：「雖然你自以為是最微小的，你豈不是已成了以色列眾支派的首領﹖上主不是曾給你傅油，立你作以色列的君王嗎﹖
 撒上:15.18  上主派你去打仗，曾吩咐你說：去剿滅那些犯罪的阿瑪肋克人，攻打他們，直至將他們完全消滅。
 撒上:15.19  為什麼你沒有順聽上主的命令，只顧急忙搶掠財物，行了上主不喜歡的事﹖」
 撒上:15.20  撒烏耳回答撒慕爾說：「我的確聽從了上主的命令，走了上主指給我的路，擒獲了阿瑪肋克王阿加格，毀滅了阿瑪肋克人。
 撒上:15.21  但是軍民由當毀滅的勝利品中，選出了最好的牛羊，要在基耳加耳祭獻上主，你的天主。」
 撒上:15.22  撒慕爾回答說：「上主豈能喜歡全燔祭和犧牲，勝過聽從上主的命令﹖聽命勝於祭獻，服從勝過綿羊的肥油脂。
 撒上:15.23  背命等於行卜，頑抗與敬拜偶像無異。因為你拒絕了上主的命令，上主也拒絕了你作王。」
 撒上:15.24  撒烏耳對撒慕爾說：「我犯了罪，違背了上主的命令和你的話，因我害怕人民，纔聽從了他們的呼聲。
 撒上:15.25  現在，請你寬赦我的罪過，同我一起回去；讓我朝拜上主。」
 撒上:15.26  撒慕爾卻對撒烏耳說：「我不同你回去；既然你拒絕了上主的命令，上主也拒絕你，不要你作以色列王。」
 撒上:15.27  撒慕爾轉身就走，撒烏耳用力抓住他外氅的衣邊，撕下了一塊。
 撒上:15.28  撒慕爾於是對他說：「上主今日從你身上撕下了你的王位，給了一個比你更好的人。
 撒上:15.29  並且以色列的光榮絕不發虛言，也不會懊悔，因為他不像人，可以懊悔。」
 撒上:15.30  撒烏耳遂說：「我固然犯了罪，但如今請你在我民族的長老和以色列前，仍尊重我，同我一起回去，好讓我朝拜上主，你的天主。」
 撒上:15.31  撒慕爾便隨同撒烏耳一起回去，撒烏耳朝拜了上主。
 撒上:15.32  [撒慕爾殺阿加格王]  以後撒慕爾說：「將阿瑪肋克王阿加格給我解來! 」阿加格到了他那裏，很是高興，阿加格心想：「死亡的苦的確過去了。」
 撒上:15.33  撒慕爾對他說：「你的劍怎樣使眾多婦女喪子，你的母親在婦女中也要怎樣喪子。」撒慕爾就在基耳加耳上主面前殺了阿加格。
 撒上:15.34  以後撒慕爾去了辣瑪，撒烏耳也回了撒烏耳的基貝亞本家。
 撒上:15.35  撒慕爾至死再沒有見撒烏耳。撒慕爾為了撒烏耳很是傷心，因為上主後悔立了撒烏耳作以色列的君王。
    
 撒上:16.1   [達味受傅]  上主對撒慕爾說：「我既然廢棄廢棄了撒烏耳，不要他作以色列的君王，你為他要悲傷到幾時呢﹖把你的角盛滿油，我派你到白冷人葉瑟那裏去，因為在他的兒子中，我已為我選定了一位君王」。
 撒上:16.2   撒慕爾回答說：「怎能去﹖撒烏耳聽說了，必要殺我」。上主回答說：「你手裏牽一頭小母牛說：我為祭獻上主而來。
 撒上:16.3   你請葉瑟參與祭獻，我要告訴你當作的事，你要為我指要你的人傅油」。
 撒上:16.4   撒慕爾遂依照上主吩咐他的作了。及至到白冷，城內的長老都戰憟前來迎接他說：「你駕臨這裏平安嗎﹖」
 撒上:16.5   他回答說：「平安，我是為祭獻上主而來的，你們應聖潔自己，來同我一同獻祭」。他聖潔了葉瑟和他的兒子，請他們來參與祭獻。
 撒上:16.6   他們一來到，他見了厄里雅布，心裏想：這一定是立在上主前的受傅者。
 撒上:16.7   但上主對撒慕爾說：「你不要注意他的容貌和他高大的身材，我拒絕要他，因為天主的看法人不同：人看外貌，上主卻看人心。
 撒上:16.8   葉瑟叫阿彼納達布來，領他到撒慕爾面前；但是他說：「這也不是不是上主所揀選的」。
 撒上:16.9   葉瑟就叫沙瑪來，他又說：「這也不是不是上主所揀選的」。
 撒上:16.10  葉瑟就叫他的七個兒子都到撒慕爾面前來，旦2對葉瑟說：「上主沒有揀選這些人」。
 撒上:16.11  撒慕爾於是問葉瑟說：「孩子們全到了嗎﹖」他回答說：「還有一個最小的，他正在放羊」。撒慕爾葉瑟說：「快派人帶他來，因為他不來，我們決不入席」。
 撒上:16.12  於是派人把他帶來，他是一個有血色，眉清目秀，外貌英的少年。上主說：「起來，給他傅油，就是這一位」。
 撒上:16.13  撒慕爾拿起油角來，在他兄弟們中給他傅了油。從那天起，上主的神便降臨於達味。事後，撒慕爾起身回了辣瑪。
 撒上:16.14  [達味被召入營]  上主的神離棄了撒烏耳，便有惡神從上主那裏騷擾他。
 撒上:16.15  撒烏耳的臣僕對他說：「看，由天主那裏來的惡神來騷擾你。
 撒上:16.16  只要我主吩咐一聲，你跟前的臣僕便會去找一個善於彈琴的人來，當惡神由天主那裏手到你身上時，叫他彈奏，你必感到舒服」。
 撒上:16.17  撒烏耳就對他的臣僕說：「好，你們給我找一個彈於彈奏的人，引來見我」。
 撒上:16.18  有個僕人立刻提議，說：「我見過白冷人葉瑟的一個兒子會彈奏，這人又驍勇善戰，擅於辭令，身材英俊，上主又與他同在」。
 撒上:16.19  撒烏耳遂派使者到葉瑟那裏說：「將你『那放羊』的兒子達味送到這裏來! 」
 撒上:16.20  葉瑟便了十個餅，一皮囊酒，一隻小山羊，叫他的兒子達味送給撒烏耳。
 撒上:16.21  達味於是來到撒烏耳前，侍立在他左右；撒烏耳很愛他，叫他作自己的持戟侍衛。
 撒上:16.22  撒烏耳於是派人到葉瑟那裏說：「讓達味侍立在我左右，因為他得了我的歡心」。
 撒上:16.23  每當惡神由天主降到撒烏耳身上時，達味就拿起琴來彈奏，撒烏耳就覺得爽快舒服，惡神也就離開了他。
    
 撒上:17.1   [哥肋雅挑戰] 培肋舍特人調集了軍隊，準備作戰，集合在猶大，在索苛與阿則卡之間的厄斐斯達明紮了營。
 撒上:17.2   撒烏耳和以色列人齊集起來，在厄拉谷紮了營，擺陣準備迎擊培肋舍特人。
 撒上:17.3   培肋舍特人站在這邊一座山上，以色列人站在那邊一座山上，中間隔著山谷。
 撒上:17.4   從培肋舍特人陣地中走出一個挑戰的人，名叫哥肋雅，是加特人，身高六肘又一柞，
 撒上:17.5   頭帶銅盔，身穿鎧衣，鎧衣的重銅重五千「協刻爾」，
 撒上:17.6   腿裹銅葉，肩插銅槍。
 撒上:17.7   矛桿像織布機的大軸，矛頭重六百「協刻爾」；有個持盾的人給他開道。
 撒上:17.8   他站在以色列人的陣地前，喊說：「你們為什麼出來擺陣作戰﹖我不是培肋舍特人嗎﹖你們不是撒烏耳的奴才嗎﹖你們挑選一人，下來同我對敵!
 撒上:17.9   假使他能同我決鬥，殺了我，我們就作你們的奴隸；但是，如果我得勝，殺了他，你們就應服事我們，作我們的奴隸」。
 撒上:17.10  那培肋舍特人還說：「今天我向以色列罵陣，你們給我個人來，讓我們彼此決鬥」。
 撒上:17.11  撒烏耳和全以色列聽見那培肋舍特說的這些話，都非常驚慌害怕。
 撒上:17.12  [達味來到營內]  達味是猶大白冷的一個厄弗辣大人的兒子，那人名叫葉瑟，他有八個兒子。此人在撒烏耳時，已經老了。
 撒上:17.13  葉瑟的三個大兒已跟撒烏耳出征作戰；從軍的三個兒子：長子叫厄里雅布，次子名叫阿彼納達布，三子名叫沙瑪。
 撒上:17.14  達味最小，三個年長的已跟撒烏耳出征。
 撒上:17.15  達味有時服侍撒烏耳，有時離開，回白冷放父親的羊。
 撒上:17.16  那培肋舍特人早晨晚上常出來挑戰，一連四十天之久。
 撒上:17.17  葉瑟對他的兒子達味說：「你給你哥哥們帶去這一「厄法」炒麥和十個餅，快往營裏給你哥哥們送去。
 撒上:17.18  將這十塊奶餅送給千夫長．然後看望你的哥哥們是否平安，並把他們的薪俸帶回來。
 撒上:17.19  他們與撒烏耳和全以色列人都在厄拉谷，同培肋舍特人作戰」。
 撒上:17.20  達味清早起來，把羊群托給一個看羊的人，就照他父親葉瑟吩咐的起身去了。他來到營中時，軍隊正出來擺陣，喊著衝鋒的口號。
 撒上:17.21  以色列人和培肋舍特人列陣相對。
 撒上:17.22  達味把自己的行囊交給一個看守輜重兵的手內，跑入陣內，向他的哥哥們問安。
 撒上:17.23  當他和他們談話時，名叫哥肋雅的挑戰者，──加特的培肋舍特人──從培肋舍特人的陣裏上來，說了以所述的話，達味聽見了。
 撒上:17.24  所有的以色列人一看見那人，都非常害怕，便由他面前逃避了。
 撒上:17.25  那時有個以色列人宣佈說：「你們看見了上來的這人嗎﹖這人上來是辱罵以色列。若有人把他殺死，君王要賜給他許多財富，將自己是女兒嫁給他為妻，並使他的父家在以色列內豁免繳稅」。
 撒上:17.26  達味問站在他旁邊的人說：「殺死這培肋舍特人，給以色列雪恥的人得什麼賞﹖這未受割損培肋舍特人是誰﹖他竟敢辱罵永生天主的軍旅! 」
 撒上:17.27  人就把上邊那些話告訴他說：「殺死這人的，要得這樣這樣的報酬」。
 撒上:17.28  他的大哥厄里雅布一聽見達味對那些人所說的話，便對達味大發憤怒說：「你為什麼下來﹖你在曠野中放的那幾隻羊，託給了誰﹖我知道你驕傲，心中不懷好意；你下來只是要看作戰」。
 撒上:17.29  達味回答說：「我究竟作的什麼不對﹖連句話也不能說嗎﹖」
 撒上:17.30  達味就離開那裏，到了另一處，又問了同樣的事，人回答的話也和先前一樣。
 撒上:17.31  [達味自薦與巨人交戰]  有人聽見了達味說的話，就去報告給撒烏耳；撒烏耳就命他前來。
 撒上:17.32  達味對撒烏耳說：「請我主不必為那人而沮喪，你僕人要去同這培肋舍特人決鬥」。
 撒上:17.33  撒烏耳對達味說：「你不能去對抗這培肋舍特人，同他決鬥，因為你還年輕，而他自幼便是習於戰鬥的人」。
 撒上:17.34  達味回答撒烏耳說：「你的僕人是為他父親牧羊的人，幾時有獅子或狗熊闖來，由羊群中奪去一隻羊，
 撒上:17.35  我就追上去，打死牠，從牠口中救出那隻來；假使獅子起來撲我，我就抓住牠的鬚，將牠打死。
 撒上:17.36  你的你的僕人連獅子帶狗熊都打死了，這未受割損的培肋舍特人也不過像其中的一個，因為他竟敢辱罵永生天主的軍旅」。
 撒上:17.37  達味又接著說：「由獅子和狗熊中拯救我的上主，也必從這培肋舍特人手中拯救我」。撒烏耳對達味說：「去吧! 望上主與你同在! 」
 撒上:17.38  撒烏耳給達味穿上自己的武裝，給他頭上帶上銅盔，身上穿上鎧甲，
 撒上:17.39  又在鎧甲上偑上自己的刀。達味試走了兩步，因他沒有穿慣，遂對撒烏耳說：「穿戴這些東西，不能行動，因為先前總沒有穿過」。所以他又將盔甲從身上脫下。
 撒上:17.40  [達味殺哥肋雅]  達味手裏拿著自己的棍子，在河裏揀了五塊很光滑的石頭，放在牧童隨身所帶的袋子內，即裝石囊內，手內拿著投石器，向那培肋舍特人走去。
 撒上:17.41  那培肋舍特人也大搖大擺走近了達味，給他持盾的走在他開路。
 撒上:17.42  那培肋舍特人瞪眼一看，見了達味，遂看不起他，因達味還很年輕，面色紅潤，眉清目秀。
 撒上:17.43  那培肋舍特人對達味說：「莫非我是隻狗，你竟拿棍子來對付我﹖」達味回答說：「你比一隻狗還不如! 」那培肋舍特人就指著自己的神詛咒達味，
 撒上:17.44  且對達味說：「你到我這裏來，我要把你的肉，給空中的飛鳥和田野的走獸吃」。
 撒上:17.45  達味回答那培肋舍特說：「你仗著刀槍箭戟來對付我，但我是仗著你所淩辱的萬軍的上主，以色列的天主的聖名來對付你。
 撒上:17.46  今天上主定把你交在我手中，我必打死你割下你的頭來；今天我要把你的屍體和培肋舍特軍人的屍體，給空中的飛鳥和田野的走獸吃：這樣：全地都要知道在以色列有天主。
 撒上:17.47  在埸的眾人也要知道，上主不賴刀槍賜人勝利，戰爭勝負只屬於上主，祂已把你們交我們手中了」。
 撒上:17.48  正當那培肋舍特人起身，大搖大擺向達味走來時，達味趕快由陣中跑出來，迎那培肋舍特人；
 撒上:17.49  同時伸手，由囊中取出一塊石頭，套在投石器上打過去，正打在那培肋舍特人的額上，石頭穿入額內，那人就跌倒在地上。
 撒上:17.50  如此，達味用投石器和石頭，得勝了那培肋舍特人，打中了他，將他殺死，雖然手無寸鐵。
 撒上:17.51  達味遂跑過去，站在培肋舍特人身上，拿起他的刀，從鞘內拔出，殺了他，砍下他的頭。所有培肋舍特人看見他們的英雄死了，就囡散奔逃。
 撒上:17.52  以色列人和猶大人就起來吶喊，追擊培肋舍特人直到加特關，直到厄刻龍城門。沿沙阿辣因的路上，直到加特和厄刻龍，遍地是培肋舍特人的屍首。
 撒上:17.53  以色列人追殺培肋舍特人回來，又搶劫了他們的幕。
 撒上:17.54  以後，達味取了那培肋舍特人的頭，送到耶路撒冷；至於那人的武器，卻放在會幕內。
 撒上:17.55  [撒烏耳查達味身世]  當撒烏耳看見達味去和那培肋舍特人迎戰時，就問統帥阿貝乃爾說：「阿貝乃爾，這少年人是誰的兒子﹖」阿貝乃爾回答說：「大王萬歲，我不知道」。
 撒上:17.56  君王說：「你查一下，這少年人是誰的兒子﹖」
 撒上:17.57  達味殺死那培肋舍特人回來時，阿貝乃爾帶他去見撒烏耳，他手中還拿著那培肋舍特人的頭。
 撒上:17.58  撒烏耳問他說：「少年人你是誰的兒子﹖」達味答說：「我是你僕白冷人葉瑟的兒子」。
    
 撒上:18.1   [約納堂與達味為友] 達味同撒烏耳說完了話，約納堂的心和達味的心很相契；約納堂愛他如愛自己一樣。
 撒上:18.2   那天，撒烏耳把達味留下，不讓他回父家去。
 撒上:18.3   約納堂同達味結為盟友，愛他如愛自己一樣。
 撒上:18.4   約納堂脫下自己穿的外氅，連軍裝，帶刀劍，甚至弓和腰帶，都給了達味。
 撒上:18.5   [達味初遭嫉視]  撒烏耳派達味出去無論作什麼事，沒有不成功的；故此撒烏耳派他作軍隊的將領；軍民和撒烏耳的臣僕都非常喜愛他。
 撒上:18.6   當達味殺死那培肋舍特人後，班師回來時，婦女們從城中出來，唱歌跳舞，打鼓彈琴，興高采烈地前來歡迎撒烏耳君王。
 撒上:18.7   婦女們邊唱邊跳說：「撒烏耳殺了一千，達味殺了一萬」。
 撒上:18.8   撒烏耳因此很是憤怒，這話使他很不高興，遂說：「給了根一萬，只給我一千；他所少的只有王位了!」
 撒上:18.9   從那一天起，撒烏耳常嫉視達味。
 撒上:18.10  第二天，惡神由天主那裏降到撒烏耳身上；使他在屋中發狂。達味一如往日手中彈著琴，撒烏耳手中卻拿著一根長槍，
 撒上:18.11  撒烏耳舉起槍來，想把達味釘在牆上；達味已由他面前逃脫了兩次。
 撒上:18.12  撒烏耳害怕達味，因為上主與達味同在，而離開了撒烏耳。
 撒上:18.13  因此，撒烏耳叫他離開自己，派他作千夫長，達味便在軍民前往來出入。
 撒上:18.14  達味在所行的一切事上，無不順利，因為天主與他同在。
 撒上:18.15  撒烏耳見他辦事順利，就更疑懼他。
 撒上:18.16  但全以色列和猶大人卻愛達味，因為他在他們前往來出入。
 撒上:18.17  [達味的婚事]  撒烏耳對達味說：「看；我要把我的長女默辣布嫁給你為妻，只要你為我勇敢服務，為上主作戰」。──撒烏耳心中想：我不親手害他，讓培肋舍特人加害他。
 撒上:18.18  達味回答撒烏耳說：「我是誰，我父在以色列又算得什麼，我怎配作君王的女婿﹖」
 撒上:18.19  但是撒烏耳的女兒默辣布正要嫁給達味的時候，卻嫁給了默曷拉人阿德黎耳為妻。
 撒上:18.20  當時撒烏耳的女兒米加耳很愛達味；有人告訴了撒烏耳，他看這事好，
 撒上:18.21  心想：「我把她嫁給達味，叫她成為他的羅網，藉培肋舍特人害他」。所以撒烏耳再次對達味說：「今天你要作我的女婿了! 」
 撒上:18.22  撒烏耳吩咐他的臣僕說：「你們暗暗地告訴達味說：看，君王多麼喜愛你，如今你要作君王的女婿了! 」
 撒上:18.23  撒烏耳的臣僕將這些話告訴了達味；達味反答說：「你們以為作君王的女婿軟碟件小事嗎﹖我不過是個貧窮賤卑賤的人」。
 撒上:18.24  撒烏耳的臣僕回報王說：「達味如此如此說了」。
 撒上:18.25  撒烏耳答說：「你們要這樣對達味說：君王不要什麼聘禮，只要一百培培肋舍特人的包皮，為報復君王的仇敵」。撒烏耳有意使達味落在培肋舍特人手中。
 撒上:18.26  他的臣僕將這些話轉告給達味，達味看這事為作君王的女婿也對，所限的日期尚未過去，
 撒上:18.27  達味就和他的人起身去殺死了一百培肋舍特人，將他們的包皮帶回，足數交給君王，為作君王的女婿；撒烏耳就將女兒米加耳嫁給他為妻。
 撒上:18.28  撒烏耳看出了上主與達味同在，全以色列也都愛他，
 撒上:18.29  從此更疑懼達味，終身與他為敵。
 撒上:18.30  培肋舍特人的首領仍不斷出征；但每遇他們出征，達味所行的常比撒烏耳所有的臣僕成就更大，為此他更受人景仰。
    
 撒上:19.1   [約納堂代達味求情]  撒烏耳曾對兒子約納堂和臣僕提過，他願殺達味；但撒烏耳的兒子約納堂很愛達味，
 撒上:19.2   就警告達味說：「我父親想殺害你，現今請你明晨多加小心，躲藏在一個隱密的地方。
 撒上:19.3   我去陪我到你所在的田間，向我父親向你說情，看情形怎樣，然後告訴你」。
 撒上:19.4   於是約納堂向他父親提及達味的長處，對他說：「君王不要得罪的僕人達味，因為他沒有得罪你，並且他所行的，都是對你很有利的事。
 撒上:19.5   他冒著性命的危險，去殺了那培肋舍特人；上主藉他使以色列獲得了這樣大的勝利，你親自看見了，也很喜歡；為什麼你要犯罪，流無辜者的血，無緣無故殺害達味﹖」
 撒上:19.6   撒烏耳就聽了約納堂的話，並且發誓說：「上主永在，他必不死! 」
 撒上:19.7   約納堂便叫回達味，告訴他這一切話，並且領他到撒烏耳前；就如和先前一樣，侍立在君王左右。
 撒上:19.8   [米加耳救達味]  再次爆發了戰爭，達味又出征攻打培肋舍特人，打得他們大敗，他們都從他面前逃散了。
 撒上:19.9   惡神由上主那裏又降在撒烏耳身上；有一天，君王在家中坐著，手中拿槍，同時達味正在彈琴。
 撒上:19.10  撒烏耳想用槍把達味釘在牆上，但達味立刻由撒烏耳面前躲開，君王把槍釘在牆上，達味就逃跑了，沒有喪命。
 撒上:19.11  那一夜，撒烏耳派差役去看守達味的家，要在早晨殺死他。他的妻子米加耳警告他說：「今夜你不逃命，明日你就沒有命了」。
 撒上:19.12  米加耳把達味從窗口縋下去，他便逃跑了，救了命。
 撒上:19.13  米加耳隨即把神像放在床上，用毛毯把頭蓋上，又蓋上一件衣服。
 撒上:19.14  當撒烏耳派差役去捉拿達味時，米加耳說：「達味病了」。
 撒上:19.15  撒烏耳再派差役去看達味說：「將達味連床帶到這裏來，我要殺死他」。
 撒上:19.16  差役進去，見是「神像」躺在床上，有張毛毯蓋著頭。
 撒上:19.17  因此，撒烏耳對米加耳說：「妳為什麼這樣欺騙我﹖放走了我的仇人，叫他逃命」。米加耳回答撒烏耳說：「他對我說：放我走，不然我要殺妳! 」
 撒上:19.18  [撒烏耳逮捕達味未成]  達味死裏逃生，到了辣瑪，去見撒慕爾，向他報告了撒烏耳對他所行的一切；然後他便和撒慕爾去了納約特，住在那裏。
 撒上:19.19  有人告訴撒烏耳說：「看，達味住在辣瑪的納約特」。
 撒上:19.20  撒烏耳又派差役去捉拿達味，但是他們看見一大群先知正在出神說妙語，撒慕爾站在他們面前作領導；這些天主的神也降在撒烏耳的差役身上，他們也出神說起妙語來。
 撒上:19.21  有人將此事撒烏耳，他又打發別的差役去，他們也出神說開了妙語。撒烏耳第三次又打發差役去，他們也出神說開了妙語。
 撒上:19.22  撒烏耳大發憤怒，便親自去了辣瑪；當他到了色雇的大井那裏，就問說：「撒慕爾和達味在哪裏﹖」有人答說：「在辣瑪的納約特」。
 撒上:19.23  他就從那裏起身往辣瑪納約特去；那時天主的神也降到他身上，所以他一邊走，一邊說妙語，一直到了辣瑪納約特。
 撒上:19.24  並且他還脫去衣服，在撒慕爾面前出神說起妙語來，赤裸裸地一天一夜躺在地上：因此有句俗語說：「不是撒烏耳也列在先知中嗎﹖」
    
 撒上:20.1   [達味向約納堂求助] 達味由辣瑪納逃走，去見約納堂說：「我作了什麼，有什麼過錯，哪裏得了你父親，他竟要害我的性命﹖」
 撒上:20.2   約納堂回答他說：「決沒有這回事，你決死不了。看，我父親無論作什麼大事小事，沒有不告訴我的；為什麼我父親偏要對我隱瞞這事呢﹖決不會的! 」
 撒上:20.3   達味卻對他說：「你父親明知我在你眼裏得寵，所以他想：不要要約納堂知道這事，免得他悲傷。總之，我指著永生的上主敢在你面前發誓：我與死之間只差一步! 」
 撒上:20.4   約納堂對達味說：「你願意我為你作什麼﹖」
 撒上:20.5   達味回答約納堂說：「看，明天是月朔，我原該和君王同席吃飯，但你讓我走，藏在田野間，直到第三丌晚上。
 撒上:20.6   如果你父親發覺我不在，你應說：達味懇求我，讓他逃回白冷本城，因為在那裏全族舉行年祭。
 撒上:20.7   他若說：好! 你的僕人就平安無事；他若勃然大怒，你就該知道：他已決意行惡。
 撒上:20.8   望你仁慈對待你僕人! 因你使你因上主的名與你訂了盟約；假若我有罪惡，你可殺我，為何偏要將我交給你父親呢﹖」
 撒上:20.9   約納堂答說：「千萬別這樣想! 如果我確實知道，我父親決意要加害你，豈有不告訴你的嗎﹖」
 撒上:20.10  達味就問約納堂說：「若你父親嚴厲答覆你，誰來通知我﹖」
 撒上:20.11  約納堂對達味說：「來，我們往田間去」。二人就往田間去了。
 撒上:20.12  約納堂對達味說：「上主，以色列的天主作證：明天或天這時候，我探得了我父親的意思，對達味有或否，我必派人來告訴你。
 撒上:20.13  倘若我父親願意加害你，我若不通知你，不放你走，使你平安離去，願上主這樣這樣加倍罰我約納堂! 願上主與你同在，有如曾與我父親同在一樣!
 撒上:20.14  若我那時尚在人世，願你對我表示上主的仁慈；設若我死了，
 撒上:20.15  願你不要由我家永遠撤消你的仁慈! 連當上主由地面上一一剷除達味的敵人時；
 撒上:20.16  若約納堂的名字被達味家族消滅了，願上主藉達味的仇人的手追究此案! 」
 撒上:20.17  約納堂由於愛達味，再向他起了誓，因為他愛達味如愛自己的性命。
 撒上:20.18  約納堂又對他說：「明日是月朔，因為占座位空著，人必注意你不在，
 撒上:20.19  到第三天，人必更注意你不在；那麼，你要到你曾出事那日藏身的地方去，坐在那石堆旁邊。
 撒上:20.20  到第三天，我要向石堆射箭，仿佛射靶。
 撒上:20.21  看，我必打發一童僕去找箭，假如我我對童說：看，箭在你後面，拾回來吧!你就可以出來，我指著永生的上主起誓：你必平安無事。
 撒上:20.22  倘若我對童僕自己說：看，箭在你前面。你就走吧! 因為上主打發你走。
 撒上:20.23  至於我和你現今所說的這話，有上主在我和你中間，永遠作證」。
 撒上:20.24  [撒烏耳表明殺意]  於是達味就去藏在田野間；到了月朔，君王入席吃飯。
 撒上:20.25  君王照例靠著牆坐在自己的位上，約納堂坐在他對面，阿貝乃爾坐在撒烏耳旁邊，達味的地方空著。
 撒上:20.26  撒烏耳那天沒有說什麼，因為他想事情出於偶然，或許他染了不潔，還沒有自潔。
 撒上:20.27  日，即初二日，達味的座位仍空著，撒烏耳就對兒子約納堂說：「為什麼葉瑟的兒子昨日沒有來赴宴，今日又沒有來﹖」
 撒上:20.28  約納堂答覆撒烏耳說：「達味懇求我許他往白冷去。
 撒上:20.29  他說：求你讓我去，因為在城裏我們要舉行族祭，我的兄弟定要我去；所以，假若我在你眼中獲寵，求你讓我去，容我得見我的兄弟；為此，他沒有來赴君王的筳席」。
 撒上:20.30  撒烏耳對約納堂勃然大怒，對他說：「娼婦的兒子! 難道我不知道你同葉瑟的兒子一夥，甚至羞辱你自己，又我羞辱你母親的私處嗎﹖
 撒上:20.31  你要知道，葉瑟的兒子活在世上一天，你連你的王位都不得穩當! 如今你差人去，把他給我抓來，因為他是該死的人」。
 撒上:20.32  約納堂回答他父親撒烏耳說：「為什麼他該死﹖他作了什麼事﹖」
 撒上:20.33  撒烏耳就舉起槍來要刺死他，約納堂便明白他父親已決意要殺達味。
 撒上:20.34  約納堂就起來，氣憤憤地離開了筳席；初二那天，也沒有吃飯，因為他為達味擔憂，又因為他父親辱罵了自己。
 撒上:20.35  [約納堂與達味泣別]  次日清晨，約納堂按照他與達味的約會，往田間去了；有個童僕跟隨著他。
 撒上:20.36  他對那童僕說：「跑去，找所放的箭! 」童僕往前跑時，他又向前放了一箭。
 撒上:20.37  當僮僕來到約納堂所射到的地方，約納堂就在僮後面喊說：「箭不是在你前面嗎﹖」
 撒上:20.38  約納堂又在僮僕後面喊說：「趕快跑去，不要站住! 」約納堂的僮僕就拾了箭，給主人拿來。
 撒上:20.39  那僮僕卻不知道是意思，只有約納堂和達味知道。
 撒上:20.40  然後約納堂把自己的武器交給他的僕僮，向他說：「帶回城去吧! 」
 撒上:20.41  僮僕走後，達味就為不堆旁起來，俯伏在地，拜了三拜；以後他們彼此相吻，二人相抱對泣，達味哭得更甚o
 撒上:20.42  最後，約納堂對達味說：「你平安去吧! 照我們兩人以上主的名所起的誓：願上主永遠在我和你之間，在我的後代與你的後代之間! 」
    
 撒上:21.1   [達味在諾布求餅]  達味就動身走了，約納堂也回到城裏﹖
 撒上:21.2   達味去諾布，到了阿希肋客那裏；阿希默肋客戰戰兢兢出來迎接達味，問他說：「為什麼你一個人來，沒有人隨從你﹖」
 撒上:21.3   達味回答阿希默肋客說：「君王今天吩咐我一件事，曾對說：我派你，吩咐你去作的事，別叫任何人知道。我已經和我的僮僕約定了某處見面。
 撒上:21.4   現今，你手中若有五個餅，請給我，或給我別的什麼東西」。
 撒上:21.5   司祭回答達味說：「我手中沒有普通餅，只有聖餅；但是你的僮僕們戒了女色沒有﹖」
 撒上:21.6   達味回答司祭說：「當然，我們戒絕了女色；我出征時，僮僕們常是身潔的；這次上路雖為了俗務，但今天他們仍是身潔的」。
 撒上:21.7   於是司祭就將聖餅給了他，因為那天在沒有別的餅，只有供餅；即由上主面前撤下來，為另換上新的供餅。
 撒上:21.8   那一天，在那裏正有撒烏耳的一個臣僕留在上主面前，名叫多厄格，厄東人，是撒烏耳的侍衛長。──
 撒上:21.9   達味又對阿希默肋客說：「你手邊有沒有一支槍或一把刀﹖我的刀和我的武器，沒有帶在手邊，因為君王的事很緊急」。
 撒上:21.10  司祭答說：「有你在厄拉谷中所殺的那培肋舍特人哥肋雅的刀。看，用外衣包著，放在「厄弗得」後面；假使你願意拿去，就拿去吧! 因為在這裏沒有別的」。達味答說：「沒有像這把刀更好的了! 就請你給我吧! 」
 撒上:21.11  [達味在加特佯狂]  那一天，達味起身，逃避了撒烏耳的面，到了加特王阿基士前。
 撒上:21.12  阿基士的臣僕對王說：「這不是國王達味嗎﹖在歌舞中所歌頌的：撒烏耳殺了一千，達味殺了一萬，不就是他嗎﹖」
 撒上:21.13  達味細想這些話，在加特王阿基士前感到十分恐懼。
 撒上:21.14  於是便在他們面前裝作傻子，在他們中佯作瘋子，亂敲門戶，鬍鬚上流著唾沬。
 撒上:21.15  阿基士對臣僕說：「他們看，這是個瘋子，為什麼送他到我這裏來﹖
 撒上:21.16  難道我缺乏瘋子，你們竟領他到這裏來，向我發瘋。這樣的人豈能進入我的宮室﹖」
    
 撒上:22.1   [達味避居阿杜藍]  達味離開，逃到了阿杜藍山洞；他的兄弟和父親全家聽說這事，都來到他。
 撒上:22.2   凡受迫害、負債。心中憂苦的人，都投奔到他，他便成了他們的首領；此時隨從他的約有四百人。
 撒上:22.3   達味從那裏來到摩阿布的米茲帕，對摩阿布王說：「求你讓我父母來你這裏，直到我明白天主對我有什麼計劃為止」。
 撒上:22.4   達味把他們留在王那裏：達味在山裏住了多久，他們也住了多久。
 撒上:22.5   加得先知對達味說：「你不要在這山塞裏，你要到猶大地方去! 」達味就去了，來到赫勒達樹林。
 撒上:22.6   [諾布的司祭遭屠殺]  一日，撒烏耳正坐在基貝亞高處的一棵檉柳下，手裏著槍，他的臣僕都侍立左右，聽說達味和跟隨他的人已聯合起來，
 撒上:22.7   遂對侍立他左右的人說：「本雅明的子孫，你們聽：難道若瑟的兒子也要賜給你們每人莊田和葡萄園，或把你們者立為千夫長或百夫長，
 撒上:22.8   好使你們都同謀來陷害我﹖我的兒子和葉的兒子結盟，誰也沒有告訴我；我的兒子煽動我的臣僕來反對我，仇視我，像今日一像，你們中沒有一個人憐恤 ，來通知我! 」
 撒上:22.9   作撒烏耳臣僕之長的厄東厄格就答說：「我看見葉瑟的兒子到過諾布，去阿希突布的兒子阿希默肋客。
 撒上:22.10  他為達味求問了上主，給了他食物，也把尸人哥肋雅的刀給了他」。
 撒上:22.11  君王遂派人去叫阿希突布的兒子，大司祭阿希默肋客和父親全家，即諾布所有的司祭；他們來到君王面前，
 撒上:22.12  撒烏耳說：「阿希突布是兒子，你聽! 」他答說：「是，我主! 」
 撒上:22.13  撒烏耳對他說：「你為什麼和葉瑟的兒子同謀陷害我，給他食物和刀劍，為他求問天主，使他起來反對我，仇視我，像今一樣﹖」
 撒上:22.14  阿希默肋客答覆君王說：「在你的臣僕中，有誰如達味那樣忠實可靠呢﹖他是大王的女婿，又是護衛長，在你朝庭中是最受重視的人。
 撒上:22.15  難道我是今天才開始為他求問天主嗎﹖決不是! 請大王不要加害自己的僕人和我父全家，因為你僕人一點也王知道這事。
 撒上:22.16  王說：「阿希默肋客，你和你父親全家都得死!」
 撒上:22.17  王遂吩咐立在他左右的侍衛說：「你們過去，殺死上主的司祭! 因為他們與達味攜手，知道他逃跑，卻不來告訴我」。但是君王的臣僕不敢下手殺上主的司祭。
 撒上:22.18  王遂對多厄格說：「你過去殺死司祭! 」厄東人多厄格就過去殺死了司祭。那一天他殺死了八十五位身穿細麻「厄弗得」的人。
 撒上:22.19  至於那座諾布司祭城，無論男女、幼童或乳兒，甚至連的牛、驢、羊都用利劍殺盡。
 撒上:22.20  [厄貝雅塔爾投奔達味]  阿希突布之子阿希默肋客的一個兒子，名叫厄貝雅塔爾的，脫險跑到了達味那裏。
 撒上:22.21  厄貝雅塔爾告訴達味，撒烏耳殺了上主的司祭。
 撒上:22.22  達味對厄貝雅塔爾說：「那一天我已知道，因為厄東人多厄格在那裏，他必要向撒烏耳報告；你父全家的性命，我全負責。
 撒上:22.23  你住在我這裏，不要害怕；誰想謀害你，就是謀害我；你同我一起必得安全」。
    
 撒上:23.1   [達味往救刻依拉]  有人告訴達味說：「看，培肋舍特人在攻打刻依拉，搶劫禾場」。
 撒上:23.2   達味就求問上主說：「我是否該去攻打這些培肋舍特人﹖」上主回答達味說：「去攻打培肋舍特人，解救刻依拉! 」
 撒上:23.3   隨從達味的人對他說：「看，我們在猶大這裏，已惴惴不安；如果到刻依拉去攻打培肋舍特軍隊，更將如何﹖」
 撒上:23.4   達味又求問了上主，上主回答他說：「動身下到刻依拉去，因為已將培肋舍特人交在你手中了! 」
 撒上:23.5   達味就和跟隨他的人到刻依拉，攻打培肋舍特人，奪得了他們的牲口，打得他們慘敗，營救了刻依拉的居民。
 撒上:23.6   那時阿希默肋客的兒子厄貝雅塔爾逃到達味那裏，也下到了刻依拉，手中拿著「厄弗得」
 撒上:23.7   有人報告撒烏耳說：「達味到了刻依拉」。撒烏耳便說：「天主真將他交在我手中了，因為他將自己封鎖在一座有門有閂的城裏」。
 撒上:23.8   撒烏耳就調集了人民出征，下到刻依拉，要包圍達味和他的部隊。
 撒上:23.9   達味一知道撒烏耳要陷害他，就給厄貝雅塔爾說：「拿「厄弗得」來! 」
 撒上:23.10  然後達味說：「上主，以色列的天主! 你僕人聽說撒烏耳正在籌劃到刻依拉來，為了我的緣故，要毀滅這座城。
 撒上:23.11  刻依拉居民會將我交在他們手中嗎﹖撒烏耳是否會像你僕人所聽到的下來﹖請上主，以色列的天主，通知你的僕人! 」上主回答說：「他要下來! 」
 撒上:23.12  達味又問說：「刻依拉的居民，會把我和隨從我的的人，交在撒烏耳手中嗎﹖」上主答說：「他們會把你們交出」。
 撒上:23.13  達味就動身率領士兵，約有六百人，離開了刻依拉，到處漂流。有人告訴撒烏耳說：「達味從刻依拉逃走了」。撒烏耳遂停止出動。
 撒上:23.14  [約納堂訪達味]  達味住在曠野的深山裏，有時住在齊弗曠野的山中。撒烏耳每日找他，天主沒有將達味交在他手中。
 撒上:23.15  達味很是害怕，因為撒烏耳出來，不斷搜索他，當時達味住在齊弗曠野的曷勒士。
 撒上:23.16  撒烏耳的兒子約納堂動身，到了曷勒士，去見達味，他以天主的名鼓勵達味說：
 撒上:23.17  「不必害怕! 我父撒烏耳的手決拿不住你! 你必要作以色列王，我要在你以下居第二位，連我父撒烏耳也知道這事」。
 撒上:23.18  他們二人在上主面前訂了盟約。以後達味仍留在曷勒士，約納堂回了家。
 撒上:23.19  [達味避居瑪紅曠野]  有些齊弗人上了基貝亞見撒烏耳，說：「達味不是在我們當中，在曷勒士隱藏著嗎﹖
 撒上:23.20  大王! 現在你隨意下到我們這裏，我們必將他交在大王手中」。
 撒上:23.21  撒烏耳答說：「望上主祝福你們，因為你們同情了我。
 撒上:23.22  你們再去查看清楚，看他的腳步急速往哪裏去，因為有人給我說，他非常狡滑。
 撒上:23.23  所以你們去觀察清楚，他藏身的一切地方，確定後，回來見我，我必同一起去，只要他在這地方，我必在猶大各鄉村中搜捕他」。
 撒上:23.24  他們就在撒烏耳以先動身往齊弗去了；達味和他的人那時住在瑪紅曠野，即在曠野南方的荒野原中。
 撒上:23.25  撒烏耳率領士兵去尋找達味。有人將這事告訴了達味，他就下到轟立瑪紅曠野的山崖間；撒烏耳一聽說，便到瑪紅曠野去追趕達味。
 撒上:23.26  撒烏耳帶領士兵走在山這面，達味帶領他的士兵走在山那邊；達味正在急速逃避撒烏耳時，撒烏耳率領著他的士兵追蹤達味和他的士兵，幾乎要把他們捉住，
 撒上:23.27  就在這時，有一個使者來見撒烏耳說：「快回去，因為培肋舍特已侵入邊境! 」
 撒上:23.28  撒烏耳遂立即收兵，不再追趕達味，而去迎擊培肋舍特人；因此，人給那地方起名叫「隔離岩」。
    
 撒上:24.1   [達味放撒烏耳]  達味為那裏上去，住在恩革狄的山寨中。
 撒上:24.2   撒烏耳追擊培肋舍特人回來，有人告訴他說：「達味現今藏在因革狄曠野」。
 撒上:24.3   撒烏耳就由全以色列民中，選拔了三千壯丁，到「野山羊巖」間去，搜捕達味和跟隨他的人。
 撒上:24.4   撒烏耳走到路旁的羊圈前，那裏有一個山洞，他就進去便溺，那時，達味和他的人正藏在山洞深處。
 撒上:24.5   達味的人對他說：「今天是上主對你所說的那一天：看，我要將你的敵人交在你手中，任憑你處置他」。達味就起來，悄悄割下一塊撒烏耳所披外氅的衣邊。
 撒上:24.6   事後達味為了割去撒烏耳外氅上的衣邊，心中感覺不安。
 撒上:24.7   就對自己的人說：「為了上主，我決不能這樣作。我對我主，對上主的受傅者，決不能伸手加害，因為他是上主的受傅者」。
 撒上:24.8   達味說這話，是為阻止他的人起來殺害撒烏耳。以後，撒烏耳起來，走出山洞，上了原路。
 撒上:24.9   [達味向君王表白]  達味在他後面喊說：「我主，大王! 」撒烏耳回頭向後看，見達味俯首至地，叩拜他。
 撒上:24.10  達味對撒烏耳說：「你為什麼聽信人言，說：達味設計害你﹖
 撒上:24.11  今天你親眼見到，上主如何在山洞裏，把你交在手中；但是我不願殺你，我憐恤了你，我說：我不應伸手加害我主，因為他是上主的受傅者。
 撒上:24.12  看，你外氅的一塊衣邊在我手內! 我只割下你外氅的衣邊，沒有殺你，從此你可知道：在我手中沒有邪惡，也沒有罪過。我原沒有得罪你，你卻千方百計地要我的命。
 撒上:24.13  願上主在我與你之間施行審判!只願上主替我報復你，我的手卻不願加害你。
 撒上:24.14  就如古老的格言說說：『邪惡出惡人。』可是我的手決不加害你。
 撒上:24.15  以色列的君王出來追捕誰呢﹖豈不是追捕一隻死狗，一隻跳蚤!
 撒上:24.16  望上主做判官，在我與你之間施行裁判! 望祂受理，替我伸冤，救我脫離你的手」。
 撒上:24.17  [撒烏耳稱頌達味]  達味對撒烏耳說完這些話，撒烏耳就說：「我兒達味，這是你的聲音嗎﹖」
 撒上:24.18  撒烏耳便放聲大哭，然後對達味說：「你比我正義．因為你以善對我，我竟以惡報你!
 撒上:24.19  你今日對我行了一件極大的善事，因為上主原把我交在你手中，你卻沒有殺我。
 撒上:24.20  人若遇見了自己的仇人，豈能讓他平安回去﹖願上主報答你，你今日對我所行的善事!
 撒上:24.21  現今我知道你必要作王，以色列的王國在你手中必愈趨穩定。
 撒上:24.22  如今求你指著上主對我起誓：不要消滅我的後代子孫，也不要由我父家塗去我的名字」。
 撒上:24.23  達味於是對撒烏耳發了誓。撒烏耳轉身回家，達味和跟隨他的人仍回了山寨。
    
 撒上:25.1   [納巴耳拒絕達味的要求]  撒烏耳死後，全以色列人集會，舉喪哀悼他，把他埋葬在他的故鄉辣瑪。以後，達味起身，下到瑪紅曠野。
 撒上:25.2   在瑪紅有個人，他的產業都在加爾默耳，是個很富的人，有綿羊三千，山羊一千。那時他正在爾默耳剪羊毛。
 撒上:25.3   這人名叫納巴耳，他的妻子名叫阿彼蓋耳；妻子聰慧美麗，丈夫卻是粗暴，行為惡劣，是加肋布族人。
 撒上:25.4   達味在曠野裏聽說納巴耳正在剪羊毛，
 撒上:25.5   就打發十五個少年人去，向他們說：「你們上加爾默耳去，去見納巴耳，代我向他請安，
 撒上:25.6   對他這樣說：你好! 望你平安，望你全家平安，也望你所有的一切平安!
 撒上:25.7   現今我聽說你正剪羊毛；你的牧童和我們在一起時，我們沒有難為過他們，他們住在加爾默耳的時候，從來沒有失落過什麼。
 撒上:25.8   你可問你的僕人，他們入會告訴你。為此，希望這些子年人在你眼蒙恩，因為我們正逢節日來到你這裏，請你把手中能給的東西，賜給你的僕人和你兒子達味」。
 撒上:25.9   達味的少年人就到了納巴耳那裏，代達味把上述的話都給納巴耳說了，等待答覆。
 撒上:25.10  納巴耳卻回答達味的少年人說：「達味是誰﹖葉瑟的兒子是什麼人﹖今天逃避主人的奴隸太多了!
 撒上:25.11  難道要我把我的餅和水，為剪毛的人所預備的肉，拿來給那些我不知道是從哪裏來的人嗎﹖」
 撒上:25.12  達味的少年人就原路回去，把這些話都給達味回報了。
 撒上:25.13  達味就吩咐他的人說：「每人佩上刀! 」各人就佩上刀；約有四百人，跟達味上去，留下二百人看守輜重。
 撒上:25.14  [納巴耳妻迎接達味]  有個納巴耳的僕人告訴納巴耳的妻子阿彼蓋耳說：「達味從曠野派來了使者向我們主人請安，他竟侮辱他們。
 撒上:25.15  那些人原來待我們很好，總沒有騷擾過我們；當我們在田野間同他們在一起時，總沒有失落過什麼。
 撒上:25.16  我們同他們一起放羊的時期內，不分畫夜，他們常作我們的護衛。
 撒上:25.17  現今，請妳恩量一下，看妳應作什麼，因為達味已決定要加害我們的主人和他的全家，而主人又脾氣暴燥，無法同他交談」。
 撒上:25.18  阿彼蓋耳急忙拿了二百個餅，兩皮囊酒，五隻宰好的羊，五「色阿」炒過的麥子，一百串乾葡萄，二百無無花果糕餅，放在幾匹驢上，
 撒上:25.19  對僕人說：「你們走在我前面，跟著你們去」。她並沒有將這事告訴她丈夫納巴耳。
 撒上:25.20  她騎著驢，由山嶺後面上來，同時達味帶著他的人也向著她走來，與她相遇。
 撒上:25.21  達味正思量說：「我白白地在曠野中保護了這些人的一切，使他所有的一點也未受損失，他竟對我以惡報德。
 撒上:25.22  若我把這人的一切和所有的男人還存留到天亮，就望上主這樣懲罰我達味! 」
 撒上:25.23  阿彼蓋耳一看見達味，急速由驢上跳下，俯伏在達味前，屈膝下拜，
 撒上:25.24  跪在達味足前說：「我主! 這過錯全歸於我，讓你的婢女向你進一言，請你垂聽你婢女的話。
 撒上:25.25  請我主別將這人的事放在心上! 他脾氣急燥，是個糊塗人，他名叫「納巴耳」，真名實相符，他的確昏愚。至於我，你婢女卻沒有見我主派來的少年。
 撒上:25.26  我主，我現今指著永生的上主和你起誓：是上主防止了你，不使你流人的血，也不使你親手報仇。從此，願你的仇敵和想加害我主人的人，都像納巴耳一樣!
 撒上:25.27  現今，請你把你婢女給我主帶來的禮物，賞給隨從我主的僕人。
 撒上:25.28  請你原諒你婢女的過錯! 的確，上主要給我主建立一堅固的王朝，因為我主打是上主的仗，並且，你一生也沒有什麼過錯。
 撒上:25.29  縱然有人起來迫害你的性命，但我主的生命是保存在上主，你的天主的錦囊中；至於你敵人的性命，上主卻用投石器將他們拋掉。
 撒上:25.30  當上主對我主作了祂所說的一切好事，立你作以色列的元首時，
 撒上:25.31  我主不將不會流了無辜者的向，或因親手雪恨，而感到心中不安，良心有愧。當上主恩待我主時，望你不要忘了你的婢女」。
 撒上:25.32  達味向阿彼蓋耳說：「上主，以色列的天主，是可讚頌的! 感謝祂今天派妳來迎接我。
 撒上:25.33  妳的聰慧是可讚美的，妳也是可讚美的，因為妳阻止了我傾流人血，親手復仇。
 撒上:25.34  我指著那阻止我加害妳的上主，以色列的永生天主起誓：假使妳沒有急速來迎接我，明天天亮，一個男子也不會給納巴耳留下」。
 撒上:25.35  達味從她手中接過她所帶來一切，向她說：「現在，妳可平安回到妳家裏去。看，我聽從了妳的勸告，顧全了妳的面子」。
 撒上:25.36  [達味娶阿彼蓋耳]  阿彼蓋耳回到納巴耳那裏，他正在家中設了像君王的盛宴。納巴耳心中非常快活，吃得大醉，直到早晨天亮，阿彼蓋耳一點也沒有將這事告訴他。
 撒上:25.37  第二天早晨，納巴耳酒醒了，他的妻子便將發生的事告訴了他；他一聽這話，嚇得魂不附體，呆如頑石。
 撒上:25.38  大約過了十天，上主攻擊了納巴耳，他就死了。
 撒上:25.39  達味聽說納巴耳死了，就說道：「上主應受讚美，因為祂給我伸了冤，洗淨了我由納巴耳所受淩辱，防止了祂的僕人行惡；上主把納巴耳的罪惡歸在他自己頭上」。以後，達味派人對阿彼蓋耳說要娶她為妻。
 撒上:25.40  達味的僕人到了加爾默耳，來見阿彼蓋耳，對她說：「達味派我們到妳這裏來，為迎娶妳做他的妻子」。
 撒上:25.41  她就起來，俯伏在地，下拜說：「你的婢女情願作奴隸，給我主人的僕人洗腳」。
 撒上:25.42  阿彼蓋耳遂急速起來，騎上驢，帶了她的五個婢女作陪，跟隨達味的使者去，作了他的妻子。
 撒上:25.43  那時達味已娶了依次勒耳人阿希諾罕為妻；她們二戈同作達味的妻子。
 撒上:25.44  那時，撒烏耳已把他的女身兒，達味的妻子米加耳，嫁給了加林人拉依士的兒子帕耳提。
    
 撒上:26.1   [達味二次放撒烏耳]  齊弗人來到基貝亞見撒烏耳說：「達味藏在曠野邊緣哈基拉山中。
 撒上:26.2   撒烏耳遂動身下到齊弗曠野，同他去的約有三千以色列精兵，在齊弗曠野搜捕達味。
 撒上:26.3   撒烏耳在曠野邊綠哈拉基山上，靠路旁紮了營。當時達味住在曠野裏，他得知撒烏耳來到曠野搜捕自己，
 撒上:26.4   遂派出偵探，因而得知撒烏耳確已來到。
 撒上:26.5   達味遂起身來到撒烏耳紮營的地方，察看撒烏耳和他的統帥乃爾的兒子阿貝厏爾睡覺的地方：撒烏耳睡在行營中心，他的部隊駐紮在他的四周。
 撒上:26.6   達味就問赫得人阿希默肋客和責魯雅的兒子約阿布的兄弟阿彼瑟說：「誰同我下到撒烏耳的營中去﹖」阿彼瑟答說：「我同你下去」。
 撒上:26.7   達味和阿彼瑟便在夜間深入敵營，見撒烏耳睡臥在行營中心，他的槍插在頭旁地上，阿貝乃爾和部隊環繞他睡在四周。
 撒上:26.8   阿彼瑟對達味說：「今天天主將你的仇人交在你手裏了! 如今讓我用他的槍，把他釘在地上，只一下，不需要給他第二下」。
 撒上:26.9   達味卻對阿彼瑟說：「不可殺他! 因為誰敢插手加害上主的受傅者，而能無罪呢﹖」
 撒上:26.10  達味又說：「我指著永生的上主起誓：只有上主可打擊他，或到了他的日子；終於死去，或下到戰場陣亡。
 撒上:26.11  在上主散，我決不頊插手加害上主的受傅者。現今，你快拿去他頭旁的槍和水壺，我們就離去」。
 撒上:26.12  達味遂就撒烏耳頭旁拿了槍和水壺，二人就走了。誰也沒有看見，誰也沒有理會，誰也沒有醒來，都沈睡了，因為上主使他們沉入睡夢中。
 撒上:26.13  [達味與撒烏耳談話]  達味走到對面，遠遠站在山頭上，他們彼此相隔很遠，
 撒上:26.14  達味於是向軍隊和乃爾的兒子阿貝乃爾喊說：「阿貝乃爾! 你不答應嗎﹖」阿貝乃爾答說：「你是誰﹖竟敢吵醒君王! 」
 撒上:26.15  達味對阿貝乃爾說：「你不是個好漢嗎﹖以色列中有誰能與你相比﹖民間來了一個要殺害你的主上君王的，你為什麼沒有好好護守你的主上君王﹖
 撒上:26.16  這事你實在做的不對! 我指著永生的上主起誓：你們都該死，因為你們沒有好好護守你們的主子，上主的受傳者。現今你去看一看君王的槍在哪裏﹖他頭旁的水壺又在哪裏﹖」
 撒上:26.17  撒烏耳認出是達味的聲音，就說：「我兒達味，這不是你的聲音嗎﹖」達味答說：「我主大王，是我的聲音」。
 撒上:26.18  遂接著說：「我主為什麼迫害他的僕人﹖我究竟作了什麼惡事﹖
 撒上:26.19  如今請我主大王聽他僕人一句話：如果是上主感動你來害我，願祂收納這個祭獻；但是；若是人煽惑你，他們在上主面前是該詛咒的，因為他們今日將我驅逐，不容我分享上主的產業，無異是說：你去，事奉外邦的神吧!
 撒上:26.20  現今，願我的血不流在很遠的地方，因為以色列的君王出來獵取我的性命，就如人在山上獵取鷓鴣! 」
 撒上:26.21  撒烏耳說：「我兒達味，我犯了罪，你回去吧! 我再不加害你了! 因為你今天實在珍惜了我的性命。哎! 我太昏愚，實在錯了! 」
 撒上:26.22  達味答說：「這裏有大王的槍，叫一個僕人來去。
 撒上:26.23  願上主報答各人的正義和忠誠! 因為今天上主把你交在我手裏，我卻不願加害上主的受傅者。
 撒上:26.24  請看! 我今天怎樣看重了你的性命，也願上主怎樣看重我的性命，從一切憂患中拯救我! 」
 撒上:26.25  撒烏耳對達味說：「我兒達味，你實在是可讚美的，你必有所作為，也必有成就」。然後達味走了，撒烏耳也回了家。
    
 撒上:27.1   [達味投奔基士] 達味心裏想：「終有一天我會落在撒烏耳手中，倒不如逃到培肋舍特 中2去，使撒烏耳絕望，再不在全以色列境內找我，我方能擺脫他的毒手」。
 撒上:27.2   達味遂帶了他那六百人，動身往加特王瑪敖客的兒子阿基士那裏去。
 撒上:27.3   達味和他的兩個妻子：依次勒耳人阿希諾罕與曾作加爾默耳人納巴耳妻子的阿彼蓋耳，他的部隊，以及他們的眷屬，同阿基士一起住在加特。
 撒上:27.4   有人告訴撒烏耳，達味逃到加特去了，撒烏耳就再不去搜他。
 撒上:27.5   達味向阿基士說：「假使我在你眼中獲得寵幸，請在鄉間城鎮裏給 戈一塊地方，叫我住在；為什麼你的僕人要同你一起住在京城內呢﹖」
 撒上:27.6   那一天，阿基士就將漆刻拉格賜他；因此漆刻拉格直到今天還屬猶大王。
 撒上:27.7   達味住在培肋舍特人地方，共計一年零四個月。
 撒上:27.8   [達味征討鄰邦]  達味帶著他的人上去，襲擊了革叔爾人、基爾齊人和阿瑪肋克人。這些民族所住的地方，是從特郎經叔爾直到埃及地。
 撒上:27.9   當達味攻擊那地方時，沒有讓那裏的男女生存，只把牛、羊、驢、駱馲和衣服搶來，帶回交給阿基士王。
 撒上:27.10  每當阿基士間說：「今天你們襲擊了什麼地方﹖」時，達味總是答說：「襲擊了猶大的南方，刻尼人的南方」。
 撒上:27.11  達味沒有讓那裏的男女活著帶回加特來，因為達味想：「怕他們對我們不利的宣傳說：達味這樣對待了我們」。這是他住在培肋舍特地方整個時期內的作風。
 撒上:27.12  阿基士相信了達味，心中想：「他在自己民族以色列人中，已留下臭名，他要永久作我的奴隸了」。
    
 撒上:28.1   [垃肋舍特人進攻] 那時培肋舍特人調集軍隊要進攻以色列人，阿基士對達味說：「你該知道你和你的人應協助我作戰」。
 撒上:28.2   達味回答阿基士說：「好! 你就要知道你的僕人要作什麼」。阿基士對達味說：「那麼，我就立你常作我的護衛」。
 撒上:28.3   那時撒慕已死，全以色列人舉喪哀悼他．把他葬在他的故鄉辣瑪。撒烏耳也早已將招魂的和行巫術的人驅逐出境。
 撒上:28.4   培肋舍特人調齊以後，來到叔能紮營。
 撒上:28.5   [求問招魂的女巫]  撒烏耳看見培肋舍特人的軍營就害怕起來，心中非常恐慌，
 撒上:28.6   遂去求問上主，但上主沒有藉夢境，也沒有藉「烏陵」，也沒有藉先知答覆他。
 撒上:28.7   撒烏耳便對臣僕說：「你們給我找個召魂的女巫，我頊到她那裏去求問」。他的臣僕回答他說：「現今在恩多爾有個招魂的女巫」。
 撒上:28.8   撒烏耳就改裝易服，帶了兩個人作伴，夜間來見那女人，對她說：「求妳用招魂的法術給我占卜，將向妳指出的人給我招上來」。
 撒上:28.9   那女人回答說：「啊!你知道撒慕爾作了什麼，他已經將國內招魂和行巫術的人剷除，為什麼你來陷陷阱害我的性命，叫我死呢﹖。
 撒上:28.10  撒烏耳就指著上主對她發誓說：「上主永在! 為這事妳決不會受害」。
 撒上:28.11  那女人問說：「要我給你招誰上來﹖」他答說：「妳給我招撒烏耳上來」。
 撒上:28.12  那女人一看見撒慕爾就大喊一聲，對撒烏耳說：「你為什麼哄騙我﹖你就是撒烏耳! 」
 撒上:28.13  王對她說：「不要怕! 妳究竟看見了什麼﹖」那女人回答撒烏耳說：「我看見神由地中上來」。
 撒上:28.14  撒烏耳問說：「什麼形狀﹖」她答說：「上來了一位老人，身披外氅」。撒烏耳便知道這是撒慕爾，遂俯首至地下拜。
 撒上:28.15  撒慕爾對撒烏耳說：「為什麼你擾亂我，叫我上來﹖」撒烏耳答說：「我很是苦痛。培肋舍特人攻擊我，上主已遠離我，又不藉先知，也不藉夢境答覆我，所以我招你上來，指教我該作什麼」。
 撒上:28.16  撒慕爾說：「上主既已離開了你，你為什麼還來問我﹖
 撒上:28.17  上主對你實踐了祂藉我所說的話：上主已由你手中奪去王權，賜給了你的近人達味；
 撒上:28.18  因為你沒有聽從上主的話，沒有執行祂對阿瑪肋克所懷的盛怒，為此，上主今天這樣對待了你。
 撒上:28.19  上主還要把以色列和你一起交在培肋舍特人手中；明日你和你的兒子要同我在一起；並且上主也要把以色列軍隊交在培肋舍特人手中」。
 撒上:28.20  撒烏耳一聽撒慕爾的話，非常恐懼，忽然跌倒在地；又因他一日一夜沒有吃喝，一點力氣也沒有了。
 撒上:28.21  那女人就走到撒烏耳跟前，看見他很是驚慌，就對他說：「看，你的婢女聽了你的話，不顧性命，聽從了你給我說的話。
 撒上:28.22  現今你也該聽從你婢女的話：我給你拿點食物來，你吃了，好有力氣走路」。
 撒上:28.23  他卻拒絕說：「我不吃」。但是他的臣僕和那女人都勉強他，他才聽從了他們的話，從地上起來，坐在床上。
 撒上:28.24  那女人在家裏有頭肥牛，急忙宰了，又把麵調好，烤成無酵餅，
 撒上:28.25  擺在撒烏耳和他臣僕面前；他們吃了以後，當夜就起身走了。
    
 撒上:29.1   [將領不信任達味] 培肋舍特人將軍隊全調集在阿費克，同時以色列人在依次勒耳附近的泉旁紮營。
 撒上:29.2   培肋舍特的莤長，有領一百人的，也有領一千人的，列陣在前；達味帶領自己的人同阿基士列陣在後。
 撒上:29.3   培肋舍特人的將領說：「這些希伯來人作什麼﹖」阿基士回答培肋舍特人的將領說：「他不是以色列王撒烏耳的臣僕達味嗎﹖他已同我在一起有一二年了，從他歸順我那一天起，他已在他身上從未發現什麼過錯」。
 撒上:29.4   培肋舍特將領向他大發憤怒說：「把這人打發回去，回到你給他指定的地方去，不要讓他同我們一起下去打仗，免得他他在戰爭中作出賣我們的細，他不借用我們這些人的頭，怎能獲得他主人的歡心﹖
 撒上:29.5   人在舞蹈時歌詠說：「『撒烏耳殺了一千，達味殺了一萬』，不就是這達味嗎﹖」
 撒上:29.6   [基士打發達味回去]  阿基士就將艮召來，向他說：「願永生的天作證：你是可靠的人，你同我在軍中出入，我很滿意，因為自你投奔我那一天起，我在你身上並沒有發現什麼可指摘之事；但是莤長們不喜歡你。
 撒上:29.7   現今你回去，平安去吧! 免得培肋舍特人的茜長們厭惡」。
 撒上:29.8   達味回答阿基士說：「我作了什麼不對﹖或是自我來服你那一天起，直到今日，你在你僕人人身上發現了什麼不對，竟不肯讓我同我大王的敵人交戰﹖」
 撒上:29.9   阿基士回答達味說：「我知道你在我眼中，好像一位天主的使者，但培肋舍特的將領說：不許他同我們一起作!
 撒上:29.10  明早起來，你同你一起來的你主人的僕人，都往我給你指定的地方去，心中不要抱怨，我是喜歡你的，所以明天，天一亮，你們就動身回去吧! 」
 撒上:29.11  於是達味和他的人清早就起身，回培肋舍特地方去了。培肋舍特人上了依次勒耳。
    
 撒上:30.1   [刻拉格被洗劫] 當達味和他的人第三天來到漆刻拉格時，阿瑪肋克人已侵入乃革布和漆刻拉格，將漆刻拉格洗劫，放火燒了，
 撒上:30.2   將城中的婦女，以及所有的幼，都據了去；但沒有殺人，只將他們據走，回返原路。
 撒上:30.3   達味和他的人來到城 旁，見城已被火燒毀，他們的妻子兒女盡被據去，
 撒上:30.4   遂放聲大哭，直哭得聲嘶力竭。
 撒上:30.5   達味的兩個妻子：依次勒耳人阿希諾罕和曾作加爾默耳人納巴耳妻子的阿彼蓋耳也被據去了。
 撒上:30.6   達味陷入窘境，因為人民各為自己的兒女非常痛心，都說要用石頭打死他；但是達味更加堅固倚靠上主，他的天主。
 撒上:30.7   [達味追回一切]　達味對阿希默肋客的兒子厄貝雅塔爾司祭說：「請你將「厄弗得」給我拿來 ! 」厄貝雅塔爾就將厄弗得」給達味拿了來。
 撒上:30.8   達味求問上主說：「我該追趕這些土匪嗎﹖我追得上嗎﹖」上主答說：「你去追趕，必能追上，能救回 一切」。
 撒上:30.9   達味和隨從他的六百人於是立即出發，到了貝索爾河。
 撒上:30.10  艮帶著四百人仍向追趕，其餘二百人因為過於疲倦，不能過貝索爾河，就住下了 。
 撒上:30.11  有人在田間遇見了一個埃及人，把他領到達味前，給他飯吃，給他水喝，
 撒上:30.12  又給他一個無花果餅，兩串乾葡萄；他吃了後，精神就恢復了， 因為他已三天三夜沒有吃飯喝水了。
 撒上:30.13  達味問他說：「你是誰的人，你是哪裏的﹖」他答說：「我是個埃及少年，為一個阿瑪肋克人做奴隸，因為我 害病，我主人拋棄我已三天了。
 撒上:30.14  我們侵擊了革肋提人的南部，猶太的南   部和加肋布的南部，放火燒了漆刻拉格」。
 撒上:30.15  達味問他說：「你能領我下到這群土匪那裏去嗎﹖」他答說：「你要指著天主給我起誓：不殺我，也不將我交在我主人手裏，那麼我就領你下到這群土那裏去」。艮對他起了誓，
 撒上:30.16  他便領他下去了。看，土匪都散在各處，正在吃喝，慶祝他們從培肋舍特和猶大地方搶來的大批勝利品。
 撒上:30.17  達味從天亮直到晚上，擊殺他們，消滅他們，除四百駱馲騎逃走的兵士外，一個也沒有逃脫。
 撒上:30.18  凡阿瑪肋克人所據去的，達味都救了回來，也救回了他的兩個妻子。
 撒上:30.19  凡被據去的，不論老幼，不論子女，不論什麼財物，一個也不缺，達味全都奪了回來。
 撒上:30.20  他們奪回了所有牛羊，牽到達味前說：「這的達味的戰利品」。
 撒上:30.21  [達味善待後方士兵]　達味回到那二百人那裏，他們因為走路疲乏，不能跟著去，達味就叫他們留在貝索爾河旁，──這些人就前來歡迎跟隨他的軍人也上去向廿請安。
 撒上:30.22  達味前去的人中，有些不良份子無賴之徒高聲嚷說：「他們既然沒有與我們同去，我們所救回來的財物，什麼也不要分給他們，只他們各自帶自己的妻子和兒女4 回去。
 撒上:30.23  達味就說：「兄弟們，上主既然這樣恩待我們，保護我們， 把這群前來攻擊我們的土匪，父在我們手裏，你們決不能這樣做。
 撒上:30.24  在這件事上，誰能依從你們呢﹖那下去打仗的得多少；大家應當平分! 」
 撒上:30.25  從那天起，達味給以色列立定了這項至今有效的規律和法律。
 撒上:30.26  [給猶大各城送禮]  達味回到漆 刻拉格，照猶大所有的城邑，從勝利品中拿了些給他們的長說：「請看! 這是由上主敵人的財物中，給你們分送的禮物」。
 撒上:30.27  就是給了那些在貝突耳 的，在辣瑪南方的，在雅提爾的，
 撒上:30.28  在阿息辣辣的，在息弗摩特的，在厄市特摩的，
 撒上:30.29  在加 爾默耳的，在耶辣默耳人城中的，在刻尼人城中的，
 撒上:30.30  在曷爾瑪的，在波爾阿商的，在阿塔客的，
 撒上:30.31  在赫貝龍的長老，也給了在達味和其他人民曾經漂流過的地方的人。

 撒上:31.1   [撒烏耳陣亡] 培肋舍特人攻打以色列人，以色列人由培肋舍特面前逃走，在基 耳波亞山上陣亡的人很多。
 撒上:31.2   培肋舍特隨後追擊撒烏爾和他的兒子約納堂、   阿彼納達和瑪耳基叔亞；
 撒上:31.3   以後，集中攻打撒烏耳，弓手射中了他，傷勢很 重。
 撒上:31.4   當時撒烏耳對自己的執戟者說：「拔出你的劍來，將我刺死，免得那些未受割損的人來刺死我，侮辱我! 」但是執戟者非常害怕，不肯作這事。於是撒烏耳拔出劍來，伏劍自刎。
 撒上:31.5   執戟者見撒烏耳已死，也伏劍自刎，和他同死了。
 撒上:31.6   這樣，撒烏耳和他的三個兒子，都在一天一同陣亡了。
 撒上:31.7   住在平原和住在約旦河那邊的以色列人，沝以色列人逃散了，撒烏耳和他的兒子們   陣亡了，就都棄城逃走；培肋舍特人遂來住在那裏。
 撒上:31.8   次日，培肋舍特前來 剝取陣亡者的衣服時，發現撒烏耳和他的三個兒子也陣亡在基爾波亞山上。
 撒上:31.9   他們就砍下撒烏耳的頭，取去他的武器，送到培肋舍特各地，向他們的神 和人民傳報這喜信：
 撒上:31.10  把他的武器放在阿斯托勒特廟內，將他的屍首懸在 貝特商城牆上。
 撒上:31.11  [撒烏耳與其子的安葬]  基肋阿得雅士的居民，一聽說培肋舍特人對撒烏耳所行的一切，
 撒上:31.12  所有的勇士就動身，走了一夜，從貝特特商城牆上取下撒烏耳   和他兒子們的屍體，帶回雅貝士，在那裏埋了。
 撒上:31.13  然後將他們的骨骸收斂起來，埋在雅貝士檉柳下，禁食七天。[撒慕爾上完篇]

 1sm:1.      [1 Samuel]   31 chapters   [撒慕爾記上]   [英文版]
   
 1sm:1.1     There was a certain man from Rama-thaim, Elkanah by name, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim. He was the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
 1sm:1.2     He had two wives, one named Hannah, the other Peninnah; Peninnah had children, but Hannah was childless.
 1sm:1.3     This man regularly went on pilgrimage from his city to worship the LORD of hosts and to sacrifice to him at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were ministering as priests of the LORD.
 1sm:1.4     When the day came for Elkanah to offer sacrifice, he used to give a portion each to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters,
 1sm:1.5     but a double portion to Hannah because he loved her, though the LORD had made her barren.
 1sm:1.6     Her rival, to upset her, turned it into a constant reproach to her that the LORD had left her barren.
 1sm:1.7     This went on year after year; each time they made their pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the LORD, Peninnah would approach her, and Hannah would weep and refuse to eat.
 1sm:1.8     Her husband Elkanah used to ask her: "Hannah, why do you weep, and why do you refuse to eat? Why do you grieve? Am I not more to you than ten sons?"
 1sm:1.9     Hannah rose after one such meal at Shiloh, and presented herself before the LORD; at the time, Eli the priest was sitting on a chair near the doorpost of the LORD'S temple.
 1sm:1.10    In her bitterness she prayed to the LORD, weeping copiously,
 1sm:1.11    and she made a vow, promising: "O LORD of hosts, if you look with pity on the misery of your handmaid, if you remember me and do not forget me, if you give your handmaid a male child, I will give him to the LORD for as long as he lives; neither wine nor liquor shall he drink, and no razor shall ever touch his head."
 1sm:1.12    As she remained long at prayer before the LORD, Eli watched her mouth,
 1sm:1.13    for Hannah was praying silently; though her lips were moving, her voice could not be heard. Eli, thinking her drunk,
 1sm:1.14    said to her, "How long will you make a drunken show of yourself? Sober up from your wine!"
 1sm:1.15    "It isn't that, my lord," Hannah answered. "I am an unhappy woman. I have had neither wine nor liquor; I was only pouring out my troubles to the LORD.
 1sm:1.16    Do not think your handmaid a ne'er-do-well; my prayer has been prompted by my deep sorrow and misery."
 1sm:1.17    Eli said, "Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him."
 1sm:1.18    She replied, "Think kindly of your maidservant," and left. She went to her quarters, ate and drank with her husband, and no longer appeared downcast.
 1sm:1.19    Early the next morning they worshiped before the LORD, and then returned to their home in Ramah. When Elkanah had relations with his wife Hannah, the LORD remembered her.
 1sm:1.20    She conceived, and at the end of her term bore a son whom she called Samuel, since she had asked the LORD for him.
 1sm:1.21    The next time her husband Elkanah was going up with the rest of his household to offer the customary sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vows,
 1sm:1.22    Hannah did not go, explaining to her husband, "Once the child is weaned, I will take him to appear before the LORD and to remain there forever; I will offer him as a perpetual nazirite."
 1sm:1.23    Her husband Elkanah answered her: "Do what you think best; wait until you have weaned him. Only, may the LORD bring your resolve to fulfillment!" And so she remained at home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
 1sm:1.24    Once he was weaned, she brought him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and presented him at the temple of the LORD in Shiloh.
 1sm:1.25    After the boy's father had sacrificed the young bull, Hannah, his mother, approached Eli
 1sm:1.26    and said: "Pardon, my lord! As you live my lord, I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD.
 1sm:1.27    I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request.
 1sm:1.28    Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the LORD." She left him there;
   
 1sm:2.1     and as she worshiped the LORD, she said: "My heart exults in the LORD, my horn is exalted in my God.I have swallowed up my enemies; I rejoice in my victory.
 1sm:2.2     There is no Holy One like the LORD; there in no Rock like our God.
 1sm:2.3     "Speak boastfully no longer, nor let arrogance issue from your mouths.For an all-knowing God is the LORD, a God who judges deeds.
 1sm:2.4     The bows of the mighty are broken, while the tottering gird on strength.
 1sm:2.5     the well-fed hire themselves out for bread, while the hungry batten on spoil. The barren wife bears seven sons, while the mother of many languishes.
 1sm:2.6     "The LORD puts to death and gives life; he casts down to the nether world; he raises up again.
 1sm:2.7     The LORD makes poor and makes rich, he humbles, he also exalts.
 1sm:2.8     He raises the needy from the dust; from the ash heap he lifts up the poor, To seat them with nobles and make a glorious throne their heritage. He gives to the vower his vow, and blesses the sleep of the just. "For the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and he has set the world upon them.
 1sm:2.9     He will guard the footsteps of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall perish in the darkness. For not by strength does man prevail;
 1sm:2.10    the LORD'S foes shall be shattered. The Most High in heaven thunders; The LORD judges the ends of the earth, Now may he give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed!"
 1sm:2.11    When Elkanah returned home to Ramah, the child remained in the service of the LORD under the priest Eli.
 1sm:2.12    Now the sons of Eli were wicked; they had respect neither for the LORD
 1sm:2.13    nor for the priests' duties toward the people. When someone offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged fork, while the meat was still boiling,
 1sm:2.14    and would thrust it into the basin, kettle, caldron, or pot. Whatever the fork brought up, the priest would keep. That is how all the Israelites were treated who came to the sanctuary at Shiloh.
 1sm:2.15    In fact, even before the fat was burned, the priest's servant would come and say to the man offering the sacrifice, "Give me some meat to roast for the priest. He will not accept boiled meat from you, only raw meat."
 1sm:2.16    And if the man protested to him, "Let the fat be burned first as is the custom, then take whatever you wish," he would reply, "No, give it to me now, or else I will take it by force."
 1sm:2.17    Thus the young men sinned grievously in the presence of the LORD; they treated the offerings to the LORD with disdain.
 1sm:2.18    Meanwhile the boy Samuel, girt with a linen apron, was serving in the presence of the LORD.
 1sm:2.19    His mother used to make a little garment for him, which she would bring him each time she went up with her husband to offer the customary sacrifice.
 1sm:2.20    And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, as they were leaving for home. He would say, "May the LORD repay you with children from this woman for the gift she has made to the LORD!"
 1sm:2.21    The LORD favored Hannah so that she conceived and gave birth to three more sons and two daughters, while young Samuel grew up in the service of the LORD.
 1sm:2.22    When Eli was very old, he heard repeatedly how his sons were treating all Israel (and that they were having relations with the women serving at the entry of the meeting tent).
 1sm:2.23    So he said to them: "Why are you doing such things?
 1sm:2.24    No, my sons, you must not do these things! It is not a good report that I hear the people of the LORD spreading about you.
 1sm:2.25    If a man sins against another man, one can intercede for him with the LORD; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they disregarded their father's warning, since the LORD had decided on their death.
 1sm:2.26    Meanwhile, young Samuel was growing in stature and in worth in the estimation of the LORD and of men.
 1sm:2.27    A man of God came to Eli and said to him: "This is what the LORD says: 'I went so far as to reveal myself to your father's family when they were in Egypt as slaves to the house of Pharaoh.
 1sm:2.28    I chose them out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priests, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear the ephod before me; and I assigned all the oblations of the Israelites to your father's family.
 1sm:2.29    Why do you keep a greedy eye on my sacrifices and on the offerings which I have prescribed? And why do you honor your sons in preference to me, fattening yourselves with the choicest part of every offering of my people Israel?'
 1sm:2.30    This, therefore, is the oracle of the LORD, the God of Israel: 'I said in the past that your family and your father's family should minister in my presence forever. But now,' the LORD declares, 'away with this! for I will honor those who honor me, but those who spurn me shall be accursed.
 1sm:2.31    Yes, the time is coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father's family, so that no man in your family shall reach old age.
 1sm:2.32    You shall witness as a disappointed rival all the benefits enjoyed by Israel, but there shall never be an old man in your family.
 1sm:2.33    I will permit some of your family to remain at my altar, to wear out their eyes in consuming greed; but the rest of the men of your family shall die by the sword.
 1sm:2.34    You shall have a sign in what will happen to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: both shall die on the same day.
 1sm:2.35    I will choose a faithful priest who shall do what I have in heart and mind. I will establish a lasting house for him which shall function in the presence of my anointed forever.
 1sm:2.36    Then whoever is left of your family will come to grovel before him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread, and will say: Appoint me, I beg you, to a priestly function, that I may have a morsel of bread to eat.'"
   
 1sm:3.1     During the time young Samuel was minister to the LORD under Eli, a revelation of the LORD was uncommon and vision infrequent.
 1sm:3.2     One day Eli was asleep in his usual place. His eyes had lately grown so weak that he could not see.
 1sm:3.3     The lamp of God was not yet extinguished, and Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD where the ark of God was.
 1sm:3.4     The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, "Here I am."
 1sm:3.5     He ran to Eli and said, "Here I am. You called me." "I did not call you," Eli said. "Go back to sleep." So he went back to sleep.
 1sm:3.6     Again the LORD called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli. "Here I am," he said. "You called me." But he answered, "I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep."
 1sm:3.7     At that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD, because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet.
 1sm:3.8     The LORD called Samuel again, for the third time. Getting up and going to Eli, he said, "Here I am. You called me." Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth.
 1sm:3.9     So he said to Samuel, "Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, 'Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.'" When Samuel went to sleep in his place,
 1sm:3.10    the LORD came and revealed his presence, calling out as before, "Samuel, Samuel!" Samuel answered, "Speak, for your servant is listening."
 1sm:3.11    The LORD said to Samuel: "I am about to do something in Israel that will cause the ears of everyone who hears it to ring.
 1sm:3.12    On that day I will carry out in full against Eli everything I threatened against his family.
 1sm:3.13    I announce to him that I am condemning his family once and for all, because of this crime: though he knew his sons were blaspheming God, he did not reprove them.
 1sm:3.14    Therefore, I swear to the family of Eli that no sacrifice or offering will ever expiate its crime."
 1sm:3.15    Samuel then slept until morning, when he got up early and opened the doors of the temple of the LORD. He feared to tell Eli the vision,
 1sm:3.16    but Eli called to him, "Samuel, my son!" He replied, "Here I am."
 1sm:3.17    Then Eli asked, "What did he say to you? Hide nothing from me! May God do thus and so to you if you hide a single thing he told you."
 1sm:3.18    So Samuel told him everything, and held nothing back. Eli answered, "He is the LORD. He will do what he judges best."
 1sm:3.19    Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him, not permitting any word of his to be without effect.
 1sm:3.20    Thus all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba came to know that Samuel was an accredited prophet of the LORD.
 1sm:3.21    The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh; he manifested himself to Samuel at Shiloh through his word, and Samuel spoke to all Israel.
   
 1sm:4.1     At that time, the Philistines gathered for an attack on Israel. Israel went out to engage them in battle and camped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped at Aphek.
 1sm:4.2     The Philistines then drew up in battle formation against Israel. After a fierce struggle Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who slew about four thousand men on the battlefield.
 1sm:4.3     When the troops retired to the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why has the LORD permitted us to be defeated today by the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the LORD from Shiloh that it may go into battle among us and save us from the grasp of our enemies."
 1sm:4.4     So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned upon the cherubim. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the ark of God.
 1sm:4.5     When the ark of the LORD arrived in the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth resounded.
 1sm:4.6     The Philistines, hearing the noise of shouting, asked, "What can this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?" On learning that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp,
 1sm:4.7     the Philistines were frightened. They said, "Gods have come to their camp." They said also, "Woe to us! This has never happened before.
 1sm:4.8     Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods that struck the Egyptians with various plagues and with pestilence.
 1sm:4.9     Take courage and be manly, Philistines; otherwise you will become slaves to the Hebrews, as they were your slaves. So fight manfully!"
 1sm:4.10    The Philistines fought and Israel was defeated; every man fled to his own tent. It was a disastrous defeat, in which Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers.
 1sm:4.11    The ark of God was captured, and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were among the dead.
 1sm:4.12    A Benjaminite fled from the battlefield and reached Shiloh that same day, with his clothes torn and his head covered with dirt.
 1sm:4.13    When he arrived, Eli was sitting in his chair beside the gate, watching the road, for he was troubled at heart about the ark of God. The man, however, went into the city to divulge his news, which put the whole city in an uproar.
 1sm:4.14    Hearing the outcry of the men standing near him, Eli inquired, "What does this commotion mean?"
 1sm:4.15    (Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes would not focus, so that he could not see.)
 1sm:4.16    The man quickly came up to Eli and said, "It is I who have come from the battlefield; I fled from there today." He asked, "What happened, my son?"
 1sm:4.17    And the messenger answered: "Israel fled from the Philistines; in fact, the troops suffered heavy losses. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are among the dead, and the ark of God has been captured."
 1sm:4.18    At this mention of the ark of God, Eli fell backward from his chair into the gateway; since he was an old man and heavy, he died of a broken neck. He had judged Israel for forty years.
 1sm:4.19    His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was with child and at the point of giving birth. When she heard the news concerning the capture of the ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she was seized with the pangs of labor, and gave birth.
 1sm:4.20    She was about to die when the women standing around her said to her, "Never fear! You have given birth to a son." Yet she neither answered nor paid any attention.
 1sm:4.21    (She named the child Ichabod, saying, "Gone is the glory from Israel," with reference to the capture of the ark of God and to her father-in-law and her husband.)
 1sm:4.22    She said, "Gone is the glory from Israel," because the ark of God had been captured.
   
 1sm:5.1     The Philistines, having captured the ark of God, transferred it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
 1sm:5.2     They then took the ark of God and brought it into the temple of Dagon, placing it beside Dagon.
 1sm:5.3     When the people of Ashdod rose early the next morning, Dagon was lying prone on the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they picked Dagon up and replaced him.
 1sm:5.4     But the next morning early, when they arose, Dagon lay prone on the ground before the ark of the LORD, his head and hands broken off and lying on the threshold, his trunk alone intact.
 1sm:5.5     For this reason, neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter the temple of Dagon tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this very day; they always step over it.
 1sm:5.6     Now the LORD dealt severely with the people of Ashdod. He ravaged and afflicted the city and its vicinity with hemorrhoids; he brought upon the city a great and deadly plague of mice that swarmed in their ships and overran their fields.
 1sm:5.7     On seeing how matters stood, the men of Ashdod decided, "The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for he is handling us and our god Dagon severely."
 1sm:5.8     So they summoned all the Philistine lords and inquired of them, "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" The men of Gath replied, "Let them move the ark of the God of Israel on to us."
 1sm:5.9     So they moved the ark of the God of Israel to Gath! But after it had been brought there, the LORD threw the city into utter turmoil: he afflicted its inhabitants, young and old, and hemorrhoids broke out on them.
 1sm:5.10    The ark of God was next sent to Ekron; but as it entered that city, the people there cried out, "Why have they brought the ark of the God of Israel here to kill us and our kindred?"
 1sm:5.11    Then they, too, sent a summons to all the Philistine lords and pleaded: "Send away the ark of the God of Israel. Let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our kindred." A deadly panic had seized the whole city, since the hand of God had been very heavy upon it.
 1sm:5.12    Those who escaped death were afflicted with hemorrhoids, and the outcry from the city went up to the heavens.
   
 1sm:6.1     The ark of the LORD had been in the land of the Philistines seven months
 1sm:6.2     when they summoned priests and fortune-tellers to ask, "What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us what we should send back with it."
 1sm:6.3     They replied: "If you intend to send away the ark of the God of Israel, you must not send it alone, but must, by all means, make amends to him through a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and will learn why he continues to afflict you."
 1sm:6.4     When asked further, "What guilt offering should be our amends to him?", they replied: "Five golden hemorrhoids and five golden mice to correspond to the number of Philistine lords, since the same plague has struck all of you and your lords.
 1sm:6.5     Therefore, make images of the hemorrhoids and of the mice that are infesting your land and give them as a tribute to the God of Israel. Perhaps then he will cease to afflict you, your gods, and your land.
 1sm:6.6     Why should you become stubborn, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh were stubborn? Was it not after he had dealt ruthlessly with them that the Israelites were released and departed?
 1sm:6.7     So now set to work and make a new cart. Then take two milch cows that have not borne the yoke; hitch them to the cart, but drive their calves indoors away from them.
 1sm:6.8     You shall next take the ark of the LORD and place it on the cart, putting in a box beside it the golden articles that you are offering, as amends for your guilt. Start it on its way, and let it go.
 1sm:6.9     Then watch! If it goes to Beth-shemesh along the route to his own territory, he has brought this great calamity upon us; if not, we will know it was not he who struck us, but that an accident happened to us."
 1sm:6.10    They acted upon this advice. Taking two milch cows, they hitched them to the cart but shut up their calves indoors.
 1sm:6.11    Then they placed the ark of the LORD on the cart, along with the box containing the golden mice and the images of the hemorrhoids.
 1sm:6.12    The cows went straight for the route to Beth-shemesh and continued along this road, mooing as they went, without turning right or left. The Philistine lords followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.
 1sm:6.13    The people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting the wheat in the valley. When they looked up and spied the ark, they greeted it with rejoicing.
 1sm:6.14    The cart came to the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and stopped there. At a large stone in the field, the wood of the cart was split up and the cows were offered as a holocaust to the LORD.
 1sm:6.15    The Levites, meanwhile, had taken down the ark of God and the box beside it, in which the golden articles were, and had placed them on the great stone. The men of Beth-shemesh also offered other holocausts and sacrifices to the LORD that day.
 1sm:6.16    After witnessing this, the five Philistine lords returned to Ekron the same day.
 1sm:6.17    The golden hemorrhoids the Philistines sent back as a guilt offering to the LORD were as follows: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron.
 1sm:6.18    The golden mice, however, corresponded to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, including fortified cities and open villages. The large stone on which the ark of the LORD was placed is still in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite at the present time.
 1sm:6.19    The descendants of Jeconiah did not join in the celebration with the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh when they greeted the ark of the LORD, and seventy of them were struck down. The people went into mourning at this great calamity with which the LORD had afflicted them.
 1sm:6.20    The men of Beth-shemesh asked, "Who can stand in the presence of this Holy One? To whom shall he go from us?"
 1sm:6.21    They then sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, "The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD; come down and get it."
   
 1sm:7.1     So the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim came for the ark of the LORD and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, appointing his son Eleazar as guardian of the ark of the LORD.
 1sm:7.2     From the day the ark came to rest in Kiriath-jearim a long time-twenty years-elapsed, and the whole Israelite population turned to the LORD.
 1sm:7.3     Samuel said to them: "If you wish with your whole heart to return to the LORD, put away your foreign gods and your Ashtaroth, devote yourselves to the LORD, and worship him alone. Then he will deliver you from the power of the Philistines."
 1sm:7.4     So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtaroth, and worshiped the LORD alone.
 1sm:7.5     Samuel then gave orders, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah, that I may pray to the LORD for you."
 1sm:7.6     When they were gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out on the ground before the LORD, and they fasted that day, confessing, "We have sinned against the LORD." It was at Mizpah that Samuel began to judge the Israelites.
 1sm:7.7     When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, their lords went up against Israel. Hearing this, the Israelites became afraid of the Philistines
 1sm:7.8     and said to Samuel, "Implore the LORD our God unceasingly for us, to save us from the clutches of the Philistines."
 1sm:7.9     Samuel therefore took an unweaned lamb and offered it entire as a holocaust to the LORD. He implored the LORD for Israel, and the LORD heard him.
 1sm:7.10    While Samuel was offering the holocaust, the Philistines advanced to join battle with Israel. That day, however, the LORD thundered loudly against the Philistines, and threw them into such confusion that they were defeated by Israel.
 1sm:7.11    Thereupon the Israelites sallied forth from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, harrying them down beyond Beth-car.
 1sm:7.12    Samuel then took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Jeshanah; he named it Ebenezer, explaining, "To this point the LORD helped us."
 1sm:7.13    Thus were the Philistines subdued, never again to enter the territory of Israel, for the LORD was severe with them as long as Samuel lived.
 1sm:7.14    The cities from Ekron to Gath which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to them. Israel also freed the territory of these cities from the dominion of the Philistines. Moreover there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
 1sm:7.15    Samuel judged Israel as long as he lived.
 1sm:7.16    He made a yearly journey, passing through Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah and judging Israel at each of these sanctuaries.
 1sm:7.17    Then he used to return to Ramah, for that was his home. There, too, he judged Israel and built an altar to the LORD.
   
 1sm:8.1     In his old age Samuel appointed his sons judges over Israel.
 1sm:8.2     His first-born was named Joel, his second son, Abijah; they judged at Beer-sheba.
 1sm:8.3     His sons did not follow his example but sought illicit gain and accepted bribes, perverting justice.
 1sm:8.4     Therefore all the elders of Israel came in a body to Samuel at Ramah
 1sm:8.5     and said to him, "Now that you are old, and your sons do not follow your example, appoint a king over us, as other nations have, to judge us."
 1sm:8.6     Samuel was displeased when they asked for a king to judge them. He prayed to the LORD, however,
 1sm:8.7     who said in answer: "Grant the people's every request. It is not you they reject, they are rejecting me as their king.
 1sm:8.8     As they have treated me constantly from the day I brought them up from Egypt to this day, deserting me and worshiping strange gods, so do they treat you too.
 1sm:8.9     Now grant their request; but at the same time, warn them solemnly and inform them of the rights of the king who will rule them."
 1sm:8.10    Samuel delivered the message of the LORD in full to those who were asking him for a king.
 1sm:8.11    He told them: "The rights of the king who will rule you will be as follows: He will take your sons and assign them to his chariots and horses, and they will run before his chariot.
 1sm:8.12    He will also appoint from among them his commanders of groups of a thousand and of a hundred soldiers. He will set them to do his plowing and his harvesting, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.
 1sm:8.13    He will use your daughters as ointment-makers, as cooks, and as bakers.
 1sm:8.14    He will take the best of your fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his officials.
 1sm:8.15    He will tithe your crops and your vineyards, and give the revenue to his eunuchs and his slaves.
 1sm:8.16    He will take your male and female servants, as well as your best oxen and your asses, and use them to do his work.
 1sm:8.17    He will tithe your flocks and you yourselves will become his slaves.
 1sm:8.18    When this takes place, you will complain against the king whom you have chosen, but on that day the LORD will not answer you."
 1sm:8.19    The people, however, refused to listen to Samuel's warning and said, "Not so! There must be a king over us.
 1sm:8.20    We too must be like other nations, with a king to rule us and to lead us in warfare and fight our battles."
 1sm:8.21    When Samuel had listened to all the people had to say, he repeated it to the LORD,
 1sm:8.22    who then said to him, "Grant their request and appoint a king to rule them." Samuel thereupon said to the men of Israel, "Each of you go to his own city."
   
 1sm:9.1     There was a stalwart man from Benjamin named Kish, who was the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite.
 1sm:9.2     He had a son named Saul, who was a handsome young man. There was no other Israelite handsomer than Saul; he stood head and shoulders above the people.
 1sm:9.3     Now the asses of Saul's father, Kish, had wandered off. Kish said to his son Saul, "Take one of the servants with you and go out and hunt for the asses."
 1sm:9.4     Accordingly they went through the hill country of Ephraim, and through the land of Shalishah. Not finding them there, they continued through the land of Shaalim without success. They also went through the land of Benjamin, but they failed to find the animals.
 1sm:9.5     When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, "Come, let us turn back, lest my father forget about the asses and become anxious about us."
 1sm:9.6     The servant replied, "Listen! There is a man of God in this city, a man held in high esteem; all that he says is sure to come true. Let us go there now! Perhaps he can tell us how to accomplish our errand."
 1sm:9.7     But Saul said to his servant, "If we go, what can we offer the man? There is no bread in our bags, and we have no present to give the man of God. What have we?"
 1sm:9.8     Again the servant answered Saul, "I have a quarter of a silver shekel. If I give that to the man of God, he will tell us our way."
 1sm:9.9  (At that time a profit was called a seer, an so whenever someopne wanted to ask God a question, he would say, "Let's go to the seer>"
 1sm:9.10     Saul then said to his servant, "Well said! Come on, let us go!" And they went to the city where the man of God lived.
 1sm:9.11    As they were going up the ascent to the city, they met some girls coming out to draw water and inquired of them, "Is the seer in town?" (In former times in Israel, anyone who went to consult God used to say, "Come, let us go to the seer." For he who is now called prophet was formerly called seer.)
 1sm:9.12    The girls answered, "Yes, there--straight ahead. Hurry now; just today he came to the city, because the people have a sacrifice today on the high place.
 1sm:9.13    When you enter the city, you may reach him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not eat until he arrives; only after he blesses the sacrifice will the invited guests eat. Go up immediately, for you should find him right now."
 1sm:9.14    So they went up to the city. As they entered it, Samuel was coming toward them on his way to the high place.
 1sm:9.15    The day before Saul's arrival, the LORD had given Samuel the revelation:
 1sm:9.16    "At this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin whom you are to anoint as commander of my people Israel. He shall save my people from the clutches of the Philistines, for I have witnessed their misery and accepted their cry for help."
 1sm:9.17    When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the LORD assured him, "This is the man of whom I told you; he is to govern my people."
 1sm:9.18    Saul met Samuel in the gateway and said, "Please tell me where the seer lives."
 1sm:9.19    Samuel answered Saul: "I am the seer. Go up ahead of me to the high place and eat with me today. In the morning, before dismissing you, I will tell you whatever you wish.
 1sm:9.20    As for the asses you lost three days ago, do not worry about them, for they have been found. Whom does Israel desire ardently if not you and your father's family?"
 1sm:9.21    Saul replied: "Am I not a Benjaminite, of one of the smallest tribes of Israel, and is not my clan the least among the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why say such things to me?"
 1sm:9.22    Samuel then took Saul and his servant and brought them to the room, where he placed them at the head of the guests, of whom there were about thirty.
 1sm:9.23    He said to the cook, "Bring the portion I gave you and told you to put aside."
 1sm:9.24    So the cook took up the leg and what went with it, and placed it before Saul. Samuel said: "This is a reserved portion that has been set before you. Eat, for it was kept for you until your arrival; I explained that I was inviting some guests." Thus Saul dined with Samuel that day.
 1sm:9.25    When they came down from the high place into the city, a mattress was spread for Saul on the roof,
 1sm:9.26    and he slept there. At daybreak Samuel called to Saul on the roof, "Get up, and I will start you on your journey." Saul rose, and he and Samuel went outside the city together.
 1sm:9.27    As they were approaching the edge of the town, Samuel said to Saul, "Tell the servant to go on ahead of us, but stay here yourself for the moment, that I may give you a message from God."
   
 1sm:10.1    Then, from a flask he had with him, Samuel poured oil on Saul's head; he also kissed him, saying: "The LORD anoints you commander over his heritage. You are to govern the LORD'S people Israel, and to save them from the grasp of their enemies round about. "This will be the sign for you that the LORD has anointed you commander over his heritage:
 1sm:10.2   When you leave me today, you will meet two men near Rachel's tomb at Zelzah in the territory of Benjamin, who will say to you, 'The asses you went to look for have been found. Your father is no longer worried about the asses, but is anxious about you and says, What shall I do about my son?'
 1sm:10.3    Farther on, when you arrive at the terebinth of Tabor, you will be met by three men going up to God at Bethel; one will be bringing three kids, another three loaves of bread, and the third a skin of wine.
 1sm:10.4    They will greet you and offer you two wave offerings of bread, which you will take from them.
 1sm:10.5    After that you will come to Gibeath-elohim, where there is a garrison of the Philistines. As you enter that city, you will meet a band of prophets, in a prophetic state, coming down from the high place preceded by lyres, tambourines, flutes and harps.
 1sm:10.6    The spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will join them in their prophetic state and will be changed into another man.
 1sm:10.7    When you see these signs fulfilled, do whatever you judge feasible, because God is with you.
 1sm:10.8    Now go down ahead of me to Gilgal, for I shall come down to you, to offer holocausts and to sacrifice peace offerings. Wait seven days until I come to you; I shall then tell you what you must do."
 1sm:10.9    As Saul turned to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. That very day all these signs came to pass. . . .
   
 1sm:10.10   When they were going from there to Gibeah, a band of prophets met him, and the spirit of God rushed upon him, so that he joined them in their prophetic state.
 1sm:10.11   When all who had known him previously saw him in a prophetic state among the prophets, they said to one another, "What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?"
 1sm:10.12   And someone from that district added, "And who is their father?" Thus the proverb arose, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"
 1sm:10.13   When he came out of the prophetic state, he went home.
 1sm:10.14   Saul's uncle inquired of him and his servant, "Where have you been?" Saul replied, "To look for the asses. When we could not find them, we went to Samuel."
 1sm:10.15   Then Saul's uncle said, "Tell me, then, what Samuel said to you."
 1sm:10.16   Saul said to his uncle, "He assured us that the asses had been found." But he mentioned nothing to him of what Samuel had said about the kingship.
 1sm:10.17   Samuel called the people together to the LORD at Mizpah
 1sm:10.18   and addressed the Israelites: "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'It was I who brought Israel up from Egypt and delivered you from the power of the Egyptians and from the power of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.'
 1sm:10.19   But today you have rejected your God, who delivers you from all your evils and calamities, by saying to him, 'Not so, but you must appoint a king over us.' Now, therefore, take your stand before the LORD according to tribes and families."
 1sm:10.20   So Samuel had all the tribes of Israel come forward, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen.
 1sm:10.21   Next he had the tribe of Benjamin come forward in clans, and the clan of Matri was chosen, and finally Saul, son of Kish, was chosen. But they looked for him in vain.
 1sm:10.22   Again they consulted the LORD, "Has he come here?" The LORD answered, "He is hiding among the baggage."
 1sm:10.23   They ran to bring him from there; and when he stood among the people, he was head and shoulders above all the crowd.
 1sm:10.24   Samuel said to all the people, "Do you see the man whom the LORD has chosen? There is none like him among all the people!" Then all the people shouted, "Long live the king!"
 1sm:10.25   Samuel next explained to the people the law of royalty and wrote it in a book, which he placed in the presence of the LORD. This done, Samuel dismissed the people, each to his own place.
 1sm:10.26   Saul also went home to Gibeah, accompanied by warriors whose hearts the LORD had touched.
 1sm:10.27   But certain worthless men said, "How can this fellow save us?" They despised him and brought him no present.
   
 1sm:11.1.   About a month later, Nahash the Ammonite went up and laid siege to Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh begged Nahash, "Make a treaty with us, and we will be your subjects."
 1sm:11.2.   But Nahash the Ammonite replied, "This is my condition for a treaty with you: I must gouge out every man's right eye, that I may thus bring ignominy on all Israel."
 1sm:11.3.   The elders of Jabesh said to him: "Give us seven days to send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. If no one rescues us, we will surrender to you."
 1sm:11.4.   When the messengers arrived at Gibeah of Saul, they related the news to the people, all of whom wept aloud.
 1sm:11.5.   Just then Saul came in from the field, behind his oxen. "Why are the people weeping?" he asked. The message of the inhabitants of Jabesh was repeated to him.
 1sm:11.6.   As he listened to this report, the spirit of God rushed upon him and he became very angry.
 1sm:11.7.   Taking a yoke of oxen, he cut them into pieces, which he sent throughout the territory of Israel by couriers with the message, "If anyone does not come out to follow Saul (and Samuel), the same as this will be done to his oxen!" In dread of the LORD, the people turned out to a man.
 1sm:11.8.   When he reviewed them in Bezek, there were three hundred thousand Israelites and seventy thousand Judahites.
 1sm:11.9.   To the messengers who had come he said, "Tell the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead that tomorrow, while the sun is hot, they will be rescued." The messengers came and reported this to the inhabitants of Jabesh, who were jubilant,
 1sm:11.10   and said to Nahash, "Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you may do whatever you please with us."
 1sm:11.11   On the appointed day, Saul arranged his troops in three companies and invaded the camp during the dawn watch. They slaughtered Ammonites until the heat of the day; by then the survivors were so scattered that no two were left together.
 1sm:11.12   The people then said to Samuel: "Who questioned whether Saul should rule over us? Hand over the men and we will put them to death."
 1sm:11.13   But Saul broke in to say, "No man is to be put to death this day, for today the LORD has saved Israel."
 1sm:11.14   Samuel said to the people, "Come, let us go to Gilgal to inaugurate the kingdom there."
 1sm:11.15   So all the people went to Gilgal, where, in the presence of the LORD, they made Saul king. They also sacrificed peace offerings there before the LORD, and Saul and all the Israelites celebrated the occasion with great joy.
   
 1sm:12.1    Samuel addressed all Israel: "I have granted your request in every respect," he said. "I have set a king over you
 1sm:12.2    and now the king is your leader. As for me, I am old and gray, and have sons among you. I have lived with you from my youth to the present day.
 1sm:12.3    Here I stand! Answer me in the presence of the LORD and of his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose ass have I taken? Whom have I cheated? Whom have I oppressed? From whom have I accepted a bribe and overlooked his guilt? I will make restitution to you."
 1sm:12.4    They replied, "You have neither cheated us, nor oppressed us, nor accepted anything from anyone."
 1sm:12.5    So he said to them, "The LORD is witness against you this day, and his anointed as well, that you have found nothing in my possession." "He is witness," they agreed.
 1sm:12.6    Continuing, Samuel said to the people: "The LORD is witness, who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt.
 1sm:12.7    Now, therefore, take your stand, and I shall arraign you before the LORD, and shall recount for you all the acts of mercy the LORD has done for you and your fathers.
 1sm:12.8    When Jacob and his sons went to Egypt and the Egyptians oppressed them, your fathers appealed to the LORD, who sent Moses and Aaron to bring them out of Egypt, and he gave them this place to live in.
 1sm:12.9    But they forgot the LORD their God; and he allowed them to fall into the clutches of Sisera, the captain of the army of Jabin, king of Hazor, into the grasp of the Philistines, and into the grip of the king of Moab, who made war against them.
 1sm:12.10   Each time they appealed to the LORD and said, 'We have sinned in forsaking the LORD and worshiping Baals and Ashtaroth; but deliver us now from the power of our enemies, and we will worship you.'
 1sm:12.11   Accordingly, the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel; he delivered you from the power of your enemies on every side, so that you were able to live in security.
 1sm:12.12   Yet, when you saw Nahash, king of the Ammonites, advancing against you, you said to me, 'Not so, but a king must rule us,' even though the LORD your God is your king.
 1sm:12.13   "Now you have the king you want, a king the LORD has given you.
 1sm:12.14   If you fear the LORD and worship him, if you are obedient to him and do not rebel against the LORD'S command, if both you and the king who rules you follow the LORD your God--well and good.
 1sm:12.15   But if you do not obey the LORD and if you rebel against his command, the LORD will deal severely with you and your king, and destroy you.
 1sm:12.16   Now then, stand ready to witness the great marvel the LORD is about to accomplish before your eyes.
 1sm:12.17   Are we not in the harvest time for wheat? Yet I shall call to the LORD, and he will send thunder and rain. Thus you will see and understand how greatly the LORD is displeased that you have asked for a king."
 1sm:12.18   Samuel then called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day. As a result, all the people dreaded the LORD and Samuel.
 1sm:12.19   They said to Samuel, "Pray to the LORD your God for us, your servants, that we may not die for having added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king."
 1sm:12.20   "Do not fear," Samuel answered them. "It is true you have committed all this evil; still, you must not turn from the LORD, but must worship him with your whole heart.
 1sm:12.21   Do not turn to meaningless idols which can neither profit nor save; they are nothing.
 1sm:12.22   For the sake of his own great name the LORD will not abandon his people, since the LORD himself chose to make you his people.
 1sm:12.23   As for me, far be it from me to sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you and to teach you the good and right way.
 1sm:12.24   But you must fear the LORD and worship him faithfully with your whole heart; keep in mind the great things he has done among you.
 1sm:12.25   If instead you continue to do evil, both you and your king shall perish."
   
 1sm:13.1    (Saul was. . . years old when he became king and he reigned. . . (two) years over Israel.)
 1sm:13.2    Saul chose three thousand men of Israel, of whom two thousand remained with him in Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and one thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. He sent the rest of the people back to their tents.
 1sm:13.3    Now Jonathan overcame the Philistine garrison which was in Gibeah, and the Philistines got word of it. Then Saul sounded the horn throughout the land, with a proclamation, "Let the Hebrews hear!"
 1sm:13.4    Thus all Israel learned that Saul had overcome the garrison of the Philistines and that Israel had brought disgrace upon the Philistines; and the soldiers were called up to Saul in Gilgal.
 1sm:13.5    The Philistines also assembled for battle, with three thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and foot soldiers as numerous as the sands of the seashore. Moving up against Israel, they encamped in Michmash, east of Beth-aven.
 1sm:13.6    Some Israelites, aware of the danger and of the difficult situation, hid themselves in caves, in thickets, among rocks, in caverns, and in cisterns,
 1sm:13.7    and other Hebrews passed over the Jordan into the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul, however, held out at Gilgal, although all his followers were seized with fear.
 1sm:13.8    He waited seven days--the time Samuel had determined. When Samuel did not arrive at Gilgal, the men began to slip away from Saul.
 1sm:13.9    He then said, "Bring me the holocaust and peace offerings," and he offered up the holocaust.
 1sm:13.10   He had just finished this offering when Samuel arrived. Saul went out to greet him,
 1sm:13.11   and Samuel asked him, "What have you done?" Saul replied: "When I saw that the men were slipping away from me, since you had not come by the specified time, and with the Philistines assembled at Michmash,
 1sm:13.12   I said to myself, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not yet sought the LORD'S blessing.' So in my anxiety I offered up the holocaust."
 1sm:13.13   Samuel's response was: "You have been foolish! Had you kept the command the LORD your God gave you, the LORD would now establish your kingship in Israel as lasting;
 1sm:13.14   but as things are, your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart and has appointed him commander of his people, because you broke the LORD'S command."
 1sm:13.15   Then Samuel set out from Gilgal and went his own way; but the rest of the people went up after Saul to meet the soldiers, going from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. Saul then numbered the soldiers he had with him, who were about six hundred.
 1sm:13.16   Saul, his son Jonathan, and the soldiers they had with them were now occupying Geba of Benjamin, and the Philistines were encamped at Michmash.
 1sm:13.17   Meanwhile, raiders left the camp of the Philistines in three bands. One band took the Ophrah road toward the district of Shual;
 1sm:13.18   another turned in the direction of Beth-horon; and the third took the road for Geba that overlooks the Valley of the Hyenas toward the desert.
 1sm:13.19   Not a single smith was to be found in the whole land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, "Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears."
 1sm:13.20   All Israel, therefore, had to go down to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, mattocks, axes, and sickles.
 1sm:13.21   The price for the plowshares and mattocks was two-thirds of a shekel, and a third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the ox-goads.
 1sm:13.22   And so on the day of battle neither sword nor spear could be found in the possession of any of the soldiers with Saul or Jonathan. Only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.
 1sm:13.23   An outpost of the Philistines had pushed forward to the pass of Michmash.
   
 1sm:14.1    One day Jonathan, son of Saul, said to his armor-bearer, "Come let us go over to the Philistine outpost on the other side." But he did not inform his father.
 1sm:14.2    (Saul's command post was under the pomegranate tree near the threshing floor on the outskirts of Geba; those with him numbered about six hundred men.
 1sm:14.3    Ahijah, son of Ahitub, brother of Ichabod, who was the son of Phinehas, son of Eli, the priest of the LORD at Shiloh, was wearing the ephod.) Nor did the soldiers know that Jonathan had gone.
 1sm:14.4    Flanking the ravine through which Jonathan intended to get over to the Philistine outpost there was a rocky crag on each side, one called Bozez, the other Seneh.
 1sm:14.5    One crag was to the north, toward Michmash, the other to the south, toward Geba.
 1sm:14.6    Jonathan said to his armor-bearer: "Come let us go over to that outpost of the uncircumcised. Perhaps the LORD will help us, because it is no more difficult for the LORD to grant victory through a few than through many."
 1sm:14.7    His armor-bearer replied, "Do whatever you are inclined to do; I will match your resolve."
 1sm:14.8    Jonathan continued: "We shall go over to those men and show ourselves to them.
 1sm:14.9    If they say to us, 'Stay there until we can come to you,' we shall stop where we are; we shall not go up to them.
 1sm:14.10   But if they say, 'Come up to us,' we shall go up, because the LORD has delivered them into our grasp. That will be our sign."
 1sm:14.11   Accordingly, the two of them appeared before the outpost of the Philistines, who said, "Look, some Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have been hiding."
 1sm:14.12   The men of the outpost called to Jonathan and his armor-bearer. "Come up here," they said, "and we will teach you a lesson." So Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, "Climb up after me, for the LORD has delivered them into the grasp of Israel."
 1sm:14.13   Jonathan clambered up with his armor-bearer behind him; as the Philistines turned to flee him, he cut them down, and his armor-bearer followed him and finished them off.
 1sm:14.14   In this first exploit Jonathan and his armor-bearer slew about twenty men within half a furlong.
 1sm:14.15   Then panic spread to the army and to the countryside, and all the soldiers, including the outpost and the raiding parties, were terror-stricken. The earth also shook, so that the panic was beyond human endurance.
 1sm:14.16   The lookouts of Saul in Geba of Benjamin saw that the enemy camp had scattered and were running about in all directions.
 1sm:14.17   Saul said to those around him, "Count the troops and find out if any of us are missing." When they had investigated, they found Jonathan and his armor-bearer missing.
 1sm:14.18   Saul then said to Ahijah, "Bring the ephod here." (Ahijah was wearing the ephod in front of the Israelites at that time.)
 1sm:14.19   While Saul was speaking to the priest, the tumult in the Philistine camp kept increasing. So he said to the priest, "Withdraw your hand."
 1sm:14.20   And Saul and all his men shouted and rushed into the fight, where the Philistines, wholly confused, were thrusting swords at one another.
 1sm:14.21   In addition, the Hebrews who had previously sided with the Philistines and had gone up with them to the camp, turned to join the Israelites under Saul and Jonathan.
 1sm:14.22   Likewise, all the Israelites who were hiding in the hill country of Ephraim, on hearing that the Philistines were fleeing, pursued them in the rout.
 1sm:14.23   Thus the LORD saved Israel that day. The battle continued past Beth-horon;
 1sm:14.24   the whole people, about ten thousand combatants, were with Saul, and there was scattered fighting in every town in the hill country of Ephraim. And Saul swore a very rash oath that day, putting the people under this ban: "Cursed be the man who takes food before evening, before I am able to avenge myself on my enemies." So none of the people tasted food.
 1sm:14.25   Indeed, there was a honeycomb lying on the ground,
 1sm:14.26   and when the soldiers came to the comb the swarm had left it; yet no one would raise a hand to his mouth from it, because the people feared the oath.
 1sm:14.27   Jonathan, who had not heard that his father had put the people under oath, thrust out the end of the staff he was holding and dipped in into the honey. Then he raised it to his mouth and his eyes lit up.
 1sm:14.28   At this one of the soldiers spoke up: "Your father put the people under a strict oath, saying, 'Cursed be the man who takes food this day!' As a result the people are weak."
 1sm:14.29   Jonathan replied: "My father brings trouble to the land. Look how bright my eyes are from this small taste of honey I have had.
 1sm:14.30   What is more, if the people had eaten freely today of their enemy's booty when they came across it, would not the slaughter of the Philistines by now have been the greater for it?"
 1sm:14.31   After the Philistines were routed that day from Michmash to Aijalon, the people were completely exhausted.
 1sm:14.32   So they pounced upon the spoil and took sheep, oxen and calves, slaughtering them on the ground and eating the flesh with blood.
 1sm:14.33   Informed that the people were sinning against the LORD by eating the flesh with blood, Saul said: "You have broken faith. Roll a large stone here for me."
 1sm:14.34   He continued: "Mingle with the people and tell each of them to bring his ox or his sheep to me. Slaughter it here and then eat, but you must not sin against the LORD by eating the flesh with blood." So everyone brought to the LORD whatever ox he had seized, and they slaughtered them there;
 1sm:14.35   and Saul built an altar to the LORD--this was the first time he built an altar to the LORD.
 1sm:14.36   Then Saul said, "Let us go down in pursuit of the Philistines by night, to plunder among them until daybreak and to kill them all off." They replied, "Do what you think best." But the priest said, "Let us consult God."
 1sm:14.37   So Saul inquired of God: "Shall I go down in pursuit of the Philistines? Will you deliver them into the power of Israel?" But he received no answer on this occasion.
 1sm:14.38   Saul then said, "Come here, all officers of the army. We must investigate and find out how this sin was committed today.
 1sm:14.39   As the LORD lives who has given victory to Israel, even if my son Jonathan has committed it, he shall surely die!" But none of the people answered him.
 1sm:14.40   So he said to all Israel, "Stand on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will stand on the other." The people responded, "Do what you think best."
 1sm:14.41   And Saul said to the LORD, the God of Israel: "Why did you not answer your servant this time? If the blame for this resides in me or my son Jonathan, LORD, God of Israel, respond with Urim; but if this guilt is in your people Israel, respond with Thummim." Jonathan and Saul were designated, and the people went free.
 1sm:14.42   Saul then said, "Cast lots between me and my son Jonathan." And Jonathan was designated.
 1sm:14.43   Saul said to Jonathan, "Tell me what you have done." Jonathan replied, "I only tasted a little honey from the end of the staff I was holding. Am I to die for this?"
 1sm:14.44   Saul said, "May God do thus and so to me if you do not indeed die, Jonathan!"
 1sm:14.45   But the army said to Saul: "Is Jonathan to die, though it was he who brought Israel this great victory? This must not be! As the LORD lives, not a single hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for God was with him in what he did today!" Thus the soldiers were able to rescue Jonathan from death.
 1sm:14.46   After that Saul gave up the pursuit of the Philistines, who returned to their own territory.
 1sm:14.47   After taking over the kingship of Israel, Saul waged war on all their surrounding enemies--Moab, the Ammonites, Aram, Beth-rehob, the king of Zobah, and the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he was successful
 1sm:14.48   and fought bravely. He defeated Amalek and delivered Israel from the hands of those who were plundering them.
 1sm:14.49   The sons of Saul were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchishua; his two daughters were named, the elder, Merob, and the younger, Michal.
 1sm:14.50   Saul's wife, who was named Ahinoam, was the daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of his general was Abner, son of Saul's uncle, Ner;
 1sm:14.51   Kish, Saul's father, and Ner, Abner's father, were sons of Abiel.
 1sm:14.52   An unremitting war was waged against the Philistines during Saul's lifetime. When Saul saw any strong or brave man, he took him into his service.
   
 1sm:15.1    Samuel said to Saul: "It was I the LORD sent to anoint you king over his people Israel. Now, therefore, listen to the message of the LORD.
 1sm:15.2    This is what the LORD of hosts has to say: 'I will punish what Amalek did to Israel when he barred his way as he was coming up from Egypt.
 1sm:15.3    Go, now, attack Amalek, and deal with him and all that he has under the ban. Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and asses.'"
 1sm:15.4    Saul alerted the soldiers, and at Telaim reviewed two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah.
 1sm:15.5    Saul went to the city of Amalek, and after setting an ambush in the wadi,
 1sm:15.6    warned the Kenites: "Come! Leave Amalek and withdraw, that I may not have to destroy you with them, for you were kind to the Israelites when they came up from Egypt." After the Kenites left,
 1sm:15.7    Saul routed Amalek from Havilah to the approaches of Shur, on the frontier of Egypt.
 1sm:15.8    He took Agag, king of Amalek, alive, but on the rest of the people he put into effect the ban of destruction by the sword.
 1sm:15.9    He and his troops spared Agag and the best of the fat sheep and oxen, and the lambs. They refused to carry out the doom on anything that was worthwhile, dooming only what was worthless and of no account.
 1sm:15.10   Then the LORD spoke to Samuel:
 1sm:15.11   "I regret having made Saul king, for he has turned from me and has not kept my command." At this Samuel grew angry and cried out to the LORD all night.
 1sm:15.12   Early in the morning he went to meet Saul, but was informed that Saul had gone to Carmel, where he erected a trophy in his own honor, and that on his return he had passed on and gone down to Gilgal.
 1sm:15.13   When Samuel came to him, Saul greeted him: "The LORD bless you! I have kept the command of the LORD."
 1sm:15.14   But Samuel asked, "What, then, is the meaning of this bleating of sheep that comes to my ears, and the lowing of oxen that I hear?"
 1sm:15.15   Saul replied: "They were brought from Amalek. The men spared the best sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the LORD, your God; but we have carried out the ban on the rest."
 1sm:15.16   Samuel said to Saul: "Stop! Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." "Speak!" he replied.
 1sm:15.17   Samuel then said: "Though little in your own esteem, are you not leader of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king of Israel
 1sm:15.18   and sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go and put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction. Fight against them until you have exterminated them.'
 1sm:15.19   Why then have you disobeyed the LORD? You have pounced on the spoil, thus displeasing the LORD."
 1sm:15.20   Saul answered Samuel: "I did indeed obey the LORD and fulfill the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought back Agag, and I have destroyed Amalek under the ban.
 1sm:15.21   But from the spoil the men took sheep and oxen, the best of what had been banned, to sacrifice to the LORD their God in Gilgal."
 1sm:15.22   But Samuel said: "Does the LORD so delight in holocausts and sacrifices as in obedience to the command of the LORD? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams.
 1sm:15.23   For a sin like divination is rebellion, and presumption is the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected the command of the LORD, he, too, has rejected you as ruler."
 1sm:15.24   Saul replied to Samuel: "I have sinned, for I have disobeyed the command of the LORD and your instructions. In my fear of the people, I did what they said.
 1sm:15.25   Now forgive my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the LORD."
 1sm:15.26   But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you, because you rejected the command of the LORD and the LORD rejects you as king of Israel."
 1sm:15.27   As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized a loose end of his mantle, and it tore off.
 1sm:15.28   So Samuel said to him: "The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.
 1sm:15.29   The Glory of Israel neither retracts nor repents, for he is not man that he should repent."
 1sm:15.30   But he answered: "I have sinned, yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Return with me that I may worship the LORD your God."
 1sm:15.31   And so Samuel returned with him, and Saul worshiped the LORD.
 1sm:15.32   Afterward Samuel commanded, "Bring Agag, king of Amalek, to me." Agag came to him struggling and saying, "So it is bitter death!"
 1sm:15.33   And Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women." Then he cut Agag down before the LORD in Gilgal.
 1sm:15.34   Samuel departed for Ramah, while Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.
 1sm:15.35   Never again, as long as he lived, did Samuel see Saul. Yet he grieved over Saul, because the LORD regretted having made him king of Israel.
   
 1sm:16.1    The LORD said to Samuel: "How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected as king of Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen my king from among his sons."
 1sm:16.2    But Samuel replied: "How can I go? Saul will hear of it and kill me." To this the LORD answered: "Take a heifer along and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.'
 1sm:16.3    Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I myself will tell you what to do; you are to anoint for me the one I point out to you."
 1sm:16.4    Samuel did as the LORD had commanded him. When he entered Bethlehem, the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and inquired, "Is your visit peaceful, O seer?"
 1sm:16.5    He replied: "Yes! I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. So cleanse yourselves and join me today for the banquet." He also had Jesse and his sons cleanse themselves and invited them to the sacrifice.
 1sm:16.6    As they came, he looked at Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD'S anointed is here before him."
 1sm:16.7    But the LORD said to Samuel: "Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart."
 1sm:16.8    Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him before Samuel, who said, "The Lord has not chosen him."
 1sm:16.9    Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, "The LORD has not chosen this one either."
 1sm:16.10   In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen any one of these."
 1sm:16.11   Then Samuel asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?" Jesse replied, "There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep." Samuel said to Jesse, "Send for him; we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here."
 1sm:16.12   Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them. He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold and making a splendid appearance. The LORD said, "There-anoint him, for this is he!"
 1sm:16.13   Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and from that day on, the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David. When Samuel took his leave, he went to Ramah.
 1sm:16.14   The spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and he was tormented by an evil spirit sent by the LORD.
 1sm:16.15   So the servants of Saul said to him: "Please! An evil spirit from God is tormenting you.
 1sm:16.16   If your lordship will order it, we, your servants here in attendance on you, will look for a man skilled in playing the harp. When the evil spirit from God comes over you, he will play and you will feel better."
 1sm:16.17   Saul then told his servants, "Find me a skillful harpist and bring him to me."
 1sm:16.18   A servant spoke up to say: "I have observed that one of the sons of Jesse of Bethlehem is a skillful harpist. He is also a stalwart soldier, besides being an able speaker, and handsome. Moreover, the LORD is with him."
 1sm:16.19   Accordingly, Saul dispatched messengers to ask Jesse to send him his son David, who was with the flock.
 1sm:16.20   Then Jesse took five loaves of bread, a skin of wine, and a kid, and sent them to Saul by his son David.
 1sm:16.21   Thus David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul became very fond of him, made him his armor-bearer,
 1sm:16.22   and sent Jesse the message, "Allow David to remain in my service, for he meets with my approval."
 1sm:16.23   Whenever the spirit from God seized Saul, David would take the harp and play, and Saul would be relieved and feel better, for the evil spirit would leave him.
   
 1sm:17.1    The Philistines rallied their forces for battle at Socoh in Judah and camped between Socoh and Azekah at Ephes-dammim.
 1sm:17.2    Saul and the Israelites also gathered and camped in the Vale of the Terebinth, drawing up their battle line to meet the Philistines.
 1sm:17.3    The Philistines were stationed on one hill and the Israelites on an opposite hill, with a valley between them.
 1sm:17.4    A champion named Goliath of Gath came out from the Philistine camp; he was six and a half feet tall.
 1sm:17.5    He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a bronze corselet of scale armor weighing five thousand shekels,
 1sm:17.6    and bronze greaves, and had a bronze scimitar slung from a baldric.
 1sm:17.7    The shaft of his javelin was like a weaver's heddle-bar, and its iron head weighed six hundred shekels. His shield-bearer went before him.
 1sm:17.8    He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel: "Why come out in battle formation? I am a Philistine, and you are Saul's servants. Choose one of your men, and have him come down to me.
 1sm:17.9    If he beats me in combat and kills me, we will be your vassals; but if I beat him and kill him, you shall be our vassals and serve us."
 1sm:17.10   The Philistine continued: "I defy the ranks of Israel today. Give me a man and let us fight together."
 1sm:17.11   Saul and all the men of Israel, when they heard this challenge of the Philistine, were dismayed and terror-stricken.
 1sm:17.12   (David was the son of an Ephrathite named Jesse, who was from Bethlehem in Judah. He had eight sons, and in the days of Saul was old and well on in years.
 1sm:17.13   The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to war; these three sons who had gone off to war were named, the first-born Eliab, the second son Abinadab, and the third Shammah.
 1sm:17.14   David was the youngest. While the three oldest had joined Saul,
 1sm:17.15   David would go and come from Saul to tend his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
 1sm:17.16   (Meanwhile the Philistine came forward and took his stand morning and evening for forty days.
 1sm:17.17   (Now Jesse said to his son David: "Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves for your brothers, and bring them quickly to your brothers in the camp.
 1sm:17.18   Also take these ten cheeses for the field officer. Greet your brothers and bring home some token from them.
 1sm:17.19   Saul, and they, and all Israel are fighting against the Philistines in the Vale of the Terebinth."
 1sm:17.20   Early the next morning, having left the flock with a shepherd, David set out on his errand, as Jesse had commanded him. He reached the barricade of the camp just as the army, on their way to the battleground, were shouting their battle cry.
 1sm:17.21   The Israelites and the Philistines drew up opposite each other in battle array.
 1sm:17.22   David entrusted what he had brought to the keeper of the baggage and hastened to the battle line, where he greeted his brothers.
 1sm:17.23   While he was talking with them, the Philistine champion, by name Goliath of Gath, came up from the ranks of the Philistines and spoke as before, and David listened.
 1sm:17.24   When the Israelites saw the man, they all retreated before him, very much afraid.
 1sm:17.25   The Israelites had been saying: "Do you see this man coming up? He comes up to insult Israel. If anyone should kill him, the king would give him great wealth, and his daughter as well, and would grant exemption to his father's family in Israel."
 1sm:17.26   David now said to the men standing by: "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and frees Israel of the disgrace? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine in any case, that he should insult the armies of the living God?"
 1sm:17.27   They repeated the same words to him and said, "That is how the man who kills him will be rewarded."
 1sm:17.28   When Eliab, his oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he grew angry with David and said: "Why did you come down? With whom have you left those sheep in the desert meanwhile? I know your arrogance and your evil intent. You came down to enjoy the battle!"
 1sm:17.29   David replied, "What have I done now?--I was only talking."
 1sm:17.30   Yet he turned from him to another and asked the same question; and everyone gave him the same answer as before.
 1sm:17.31   The words that David had spoken were overheard and reported to Saul, who sent for him.)
 1sm:17.32   Then David spoke to Saul: "Let your majesty not lose courage. I am at your service to go and fight this Philistine."
 1sm:17.33   But Saul answered David, "You cannot go up against this Philistine and fight with him, for you are only a youth, while he has been a warrior from his youth."
 1sm:17.34   Then David told Saul: "Your servant used to tend his father's sheep, and whenever a lion or bear came to carry off a sheep from the flock,
 1sm:17.35   I would go after it and attack it and rescue the prey from its mouth. If it attacked me, I would seize it by the jaw, strike it, and kill it.
 1sm:17.36   Your servant has killed both a lion and a bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be as one of them, because he has insulted the armies of the living God."
 1sm:17.37   David continued: "The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will also keep me safe from the clutches of this Philistine." Saul answered David, "Go! the LORD will be with you."
 1sm:17.38   Then Saul clothed David in his own tunic, putting a bronze helmet on his head and arming him with a coat of mail.
 1sm:17.39   David also girded himself with Saul's sword over the tunic. He walked with difficulty, however, since he had never tried armor before. He said to Saul, "I cannot go in these, because I have never tried them before." So he took them off.
 1sm:17.40   Then, staff in hand, David selected five smooth stones from the wadi and put them in the pocket of his shepherd's bag. With his sling also ready to hand, he approached the Philistine.
 1sm:17.41   With his shield-bearer marching before him, the Philistine also advanced closer and closer to David.
 1sm:17.42   When he had sized David up, and seen that he was youthful, and ruddy, and handsome in appearance, he held him in contempt.
 1sm:17.43   The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog that you come against me with a staff?" Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods
 1sm:17.44   and said to him, "Come here to me, and I will leave your flesh for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field."
 1sm:17.45   David answered him: "You come against me with sword and spear and scimitar, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have insulted.
 1sm:17.46   Today the LORD shall deliver you into my hand; I will strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will leave your corpse and the corpses of the Philistine army for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field; thus the whole land shall learn that Israel has a God.
 1sm:17.47   All this multitude, too, shall learn that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves. For the battle is the LORD'S, and he shall deliver you into our hands."
 1sm:17.48   The Philistine then moved to meet David at close quarters, while David ran quickly toward the battle line in the direction of the Philistine.
 1sm:17.49   David put his hand into the bag and took out a stone, hurled it with the sling, and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone embedded itself in his brow, and he fell prostrate on the ground.
 1sm:17.50   (Thus David overcame the Philistine with sling and stone; he struck the Philistine mortally, and did it without a sword.)
 1sm:17.51   Then David ran and stood over him; with the Philistine's own sword (which he drew from its sheath) he dispatched him and cut off his head.When they saw that their hero was dead, the Philistines took to flight.
 1sm:17.52   Then the men of Israel and Judah, with loud shouts, went in pursuit of the Philistines to the approaches of Gath and to the gates of Ekron, and Philistines fell wounded along the road from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.
 1sm:17.53   On their return from the pursuit of the Philistines, the Israelites looted their camp.
 1sm:17.54   David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; but he kept Goliath's armor in his own tent.
 1sm:17.55   (When Saul saw David go out to meet the Philistine, he asked his general Abner, "Abner, whose son is that youth?" Abner replied, "As truly as your majesty is alive, I have no idea."
 1sm:17.56   And the king said, "Find out whose son the lad is."
 1sm:17.57   So when David returned from slaying the Philistine, Abner took him and presented him to Saul. David was still holding the Philistine's head.
 1sm:17.58   Saul then asked him, "Whose son are you, young man?" David replied, "I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem."
   
 1sm:18.1    (By the time David finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan had become as fond of David as if his life depended on him; he loved him as he loved himself.
 1sm:18.2    Saul laid claim to David that day and did not allow him to return to his father's house.
 1sm:18.3    And Jonathan entered into a bond with David, because he loved him as himself.
 1sm:18.4    Jonathan divested himself of the mantle he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his military dress, and his sword, his bow and his belt.
 1sm:18.5    David then carried out successfully every mission on which Saul sent him. So Saul put him in charge of his soldiers, and this was agreeable to the whole army, even to Saul's own officers.)
 1sm:18.6    At the approach of Saul and David (on David's return after slaying the Philistine), women came out from each of the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing, with tambourines, joyful songs, and sistrums.
 1sm:18.7    The women played and sang: "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands."
 1sm:18.8    Saul was very angry and resentful of the song, for he thought: "They give David ten thousands, but only thousands to me. All that remains for him is the kingship."
 1sm:18.9    (And from that day on, Saul was jealous of David.
 1sm:18.10   (The next day an evil spirit from God came over Saul, and he raged in his house. David was in attendance, playing the harp as at other times, while Saul was holding his spear.
 1sm:18.11   Saul poised the spear, thinking to nail David to the wall, but twice David escaped him.)
 1sm:18.12   Saul then began to fear David, (because the LORD was with him, but had departed from Saul himself.)
 1sm:18.13   Accordingly, Saul removed him from his presence by appointing him a field officer. So David led the people on their military expeditions,
 1sm:18.14   and prospered in all his enterprises, for the LORD was with him.
 1sm:18.15   Seeing how successful he was, Saul conceived a fear of David:
 1sm:18.16   on the other hand, all Israel and Judah loved him, since he led them on their expeditions.
 1sm:18.17   (Saul said to David, "There is my older daughter, Merob, whom I will give you in marriage if you become my champion and fight the battles of the LORD." Saul had in mind, "I shall not touch him; let the Philistines strike him."
 1sm:18.18   But David answered Saul: "Who am I? And who are my kin or my father's clan in Israel that I should become the king's son-in-law?"
 1sm:18.19   However, when it was time for Saul's daughter Merob to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel the Meholathite instead.)
 1sm:18.20   Now Saul's daughter Michal loved David, and it was reported to Saul, who was pleased at this,
 1sm:18.21   for he thought, "I will offer her to him to become a snare for him, so that the Philistines may strike him." (Thus for the second time Saul said to David, "You shall become my son-in-law today.")
 1sm:18.22   Saul then ordered his servants to speak to David privately and to say: "The king is fond of you, and all his officers love you. You should become the king's son-in-law."
 1sm:18.23   But when Saul's servants mentioned this to David, he said: "Do you think it easy to become the king's son-in-law? I am poor and insignificant."
 1sm:18.24   When his servants reported to him the nature of David's answer,
 1sm:18.25   Saul commanded them to say this to David: "The king desires no other price for the bride than the foreskins of one hundred Philistines, that he may thus take vengeance on his enemies." Saul intended in this way to bring about David's death through the Philistines.
 1sm:18.26   When the servants reported this offer to David, he was pleased with the prospect of becoming the king's son-in-law. (Before the year was up,)
 1sm:18.27   David made preparations and sallied forth with his men and slew two hundred Philistines. He brought back their foreskins and counted them out before the king, that he might thus become the king's son-in-law. So Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
 1sm:18.28   Saul thus came to recognize that the LORD was with David; besides, his own daughter Michal loved David.
 1sm:18.29   Therefore Saul feared David all the more (and was his enemy ever after).
 1sm:18.30   (The Philistine chiefs continued to make forays, but each time they took the field, David was more successful against them than any other of Saul's officers, and as a result acquired great fame.)
   
 1sm:19.1    Saul discussed his intention of killing David with his son Jonathan and with all his servants. But Saul's son Jonathan, who was very fond of David,
 1sm:19.2    told him: "My father Saul is trying to kill you. Therefore, please be on your guard tomorrow morning; get out of sight and remain in hiding.
 1sm:19.3    I, however, will go out and stand beside my father in the countryside where you are, and will speak to him about you. If I learn anything, I will let you know."
 1sm:19.4    Jonathan then spoke well of David to his father Saul, saying to him: "Let not your majesty sin against his servant David, for he has committed no offense against you, but has helped you very much by his deeds.
 1sm:19.5    When he took his life in his hands and slew the Philistine, and the LORD brought about a great victory for all Israel through him, you were glad to see it. Why, then, should you become guilty of shedding innocent blood by killing David without cause?"
 1sm:19.6    Saul heeded Jonathan's plea and swore, "As the LORD lives, he shall not be killed."
 1sm:19.7    So Jonathan summoned David and repeated the whole conversation to him. Jonathan then brought David to Saul, and David served him as before.
 1sm:19.8    When war broke out again, David went out to fight against the Philistines and inflicted a great defeat upon them, putting them to flight.
 1sm:19.9    Then an evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with spear in hand and David was playing the harp nearby.
 1sm:19.10   Saul tried to nail David to the wall with the spear, but David eluded Saul, so that the spear struck only the wall, and David got away safe.
 1sm:19.11   The same night, Saul sent messengers to David's house to guard it, that he might kill him in the morning. David's wife Michal informed him, "Unless you save yourself tonight, tomorrow you will be killed."
 1sm:19.12   Then Michal let David down through a window, and he made his escape in safety.
 1sm:19.13   Michal took the household idol and laid it in the bed, putting a net of goat's hair at its head and covering it with a spread.
 1sm:19.14   When Saul sent messengers to arrest David, she said, "He is sick."
 1sm:19.15   Saul, however, sent the messengers back to see David and commanded them, "Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him."
 1sm:19.16   But when the messengers entered, they found the household idol in the bed, with the net of goat's hair at its head.
 1sm:19.17   Saul therefore asked Michal: "Why did you play this trick on me? You have helped my enemy to get away!" Michal answered Saul: "He threatened me, 'Let me go or I will kill you.'"
 1sm:19.18   Thus David got safely away; he went to Samuel in Ramah, informing him of all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to stay in the sheds.
 1sm:19.19   When Saul was told that David was in the sheds near Ramah,
 1sm:19.20   he sent messengers to arrest David. But when they saw the band of prophets, presided over by Samuel, in a prophetic frenzy, they too fell into the prophetic state.
 1sm:19.21   Informed of this, Saul sent other messengers, who also fell into the prophetic state. For the third time Saul sent messengers, but they too fell into the prophetic state.
 1sm:19.22   Saul then went to Ramah himself. Arriving at the cistern of the threshing floor on the bare hilltop, he inquired, "Where are Samuel and David?", and was told, "At the sheds near Ramah."
 1sm:19.23   As he set out from the hilltop toward the sheds, the spirit of God came upon him also, and he continued on in a prophetic condition until he reached the spot. At the sheds near Ramah
 1sm:19.24   he, too, stripped himself of his garments and he, too, remained in the prophetic state in the presence of Samuel; all that day and night he lay naked. That is why they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"
   
 1sm:20.1    David fled from the sheds near Ramah, and went to Jonathan. "What have I done?" he asked him. "What crime or what offense does your father hold against me that he seeks my life?"
 1sm:20.2    Jonathan answered him: "Heaven forbid that you should die! My father does nothing, great or small, without disclosing it to me. Why, then, should my father conceal this from me? This cannot be so!"
 1sm:20.3    But David replied: "Your father is well aware that I am favored with your friendship, so he has decided, 'Jonathan must not know of this lest he be grieved.' Nevertheless, as the LORD lives and as you live, there is but a step between me and death."
 1sm:20.4    Jonathan then said to David, "I will do whatever you wish."
 1sm:20.5    David answered: "Tomorrow is the new moon, when I should in fact dine with the king. Let me go and hide in the open country until evening.
 1sm:20.6    If it turns out that your father misses me, say, 'David urged me to let him go on short notice to his city Bethlehem, because his whole clan is holding its seasonal sacrifice there.'
 1sm:20.7    If he says, 'Very well,' your servant is safe. But if he becomes quite angry, you can be sure he has planned some harm.
 1sm:20.8    Do this kindness for your servant because of the LORD'S bond between us, into which you brought me: if I am guilty, kill me yourself! Why should you give me up to your father?"
 1sm:20.9    But Jonathan answered: "Not I! If ever I find out that my father is determined to inflict injury upon you, I will certainly let you know."
 1sm:20.10   David then asked Jonathan, "Who will tell me if your father gives you a harsh answer?"
 1sm:20.11   (Jonathan replied to David, "Come, let us go out into the field." When they were out in the open country together,
 1sm:20.12   Jonathan said to David: "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, I will sound out my father about this time tomorrow. Whether he is well disposed toward David or not, I will send you the information.
 1sm:20.13   Should it please my father to bring any injury upon you, may the LORD do thus and so to Jonathan if I do not apprise you of it and send you on your way in peace. May the LORD be with you even as he was with my father.
 1sm:20.14   Only this: if I am still alive, may you show me the kindness of the LORD. But if I die,
 1sm:20.15   never withdraw your kindness from my house. And when the LORD exterminates all the enemies of David from the surface of the earth,
 1sm:20.16   the name of Jonathan must never be allowed by the family of David to die out from among you, or the LORD will make you answer for it."
 1sm:20.17   And in his love for David, Jonathan renewed his oath to him, because he loved him as his very self.)
 1sm:20.18   Jonathan then said to him: "Tomorrow is the new moon; and you will be missed, since your place will be vacant.
 1sm:20.19   On the following day you will be missed all the more. Go to the spot where you hid on the other occasion and wait near the mound there.
 1sm:20.20   On the third day of the month I will shoot arrows, as though aiming at a target.
 1sm:20.21   I will then send my attendant to go and recover the arrows. If in fact I say to him, 'Look, the arrow is this side of you; pick it up,' come, for you are safe. As the LORD lives, there will be nothing to fear.
 1sm:20.22   But if I say to the boy, 'Look, the arrow is beyond you,' go, for the LORD sends you away.
 1sm:20.23   However, in the matter which you and I have discussed, the LORD shall be between you and me forever."
 1sm:20.24   So David hid in the open country. On the day of the new moon, when the king sat at table to dine,
 1sm:20.25   taking his usual place against the wall, Jonathan sat facing him, while Abner sat at the king's side, and David's place was vacant.
 1sm:20.26   Saul, however, said nothing that day, for he thought, "He must have become unclean by accident, and not yet have been cleansed."
 1sm:20.27   On the next day, the second day of the month, David's place was vacant. Saul inquired of his son Jonathan, "Why has the son of Jesse not come to table yesterday or today?"
 1sm:20.28   Jonathan answered Saul: "David urgently asked me to let him go to his city, Bethlehem.
 1sm:20.29   'Please let me go,' he begged, 'for we are to have a clan sacrifice in our city, and my brothers insist on my presence. Now, therefore, if you think well of me, give me leave to visit my brothers.' That is why he has not come to the king's table."
 1sm:20.30   But Saul was extremely angry with Jonathan and said to him: "Son of a rebellious woman, do I not know that, to your own shame and to the disclosure of your mother's shame, you are the companion of Jesse's son?
 1sm:20.31   Why, as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the earth, you cannot make good your claim to the kingship! So send for him, and bring him to me, for he is doomed."
 1sm:20.32   But Jonathan asked his father Saul: "Why should he die? What has he done?"
 1sm:20.33   At this Saul brandished his spear to strike him, and thus Jonathan learned that his father was resolved to kill David.
 1sm:20.34   Jonathan sprang up from the table in great anger and took no food that second day of the month, for he was grieved on David's account, since his father had railed against him.
 1sm:20.35   The next morning Jonathan went out into the field with a little boy for his appointment with David.
 1sm:20.36   There he said to the boy, "Run and fetch the arrow." And as the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him in the direction of the city.
 1sm:20.37   When the boy made for the spot where Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan called after him, "The arrow is farther on!"
 1sm:20.38   Again he called to his lad, "Hurry, be quick, don't delay!" Jonathan's boy picked up the arrow and brought it to his master.
 1sm:20.39   The boy knew nothing; only Jonathan and David knew what was meant.
 1sm:20.40   Then Jonathan gave his weapons to this boy of his and said to him, "Go, take them to the city."
 1sm:20.41   When the boy had left, David rose from beside the mound and prostrated himself on the ground three times before Jonathan in homage. They kissed each other and wept aloud together.
 1sm:20.42   At length Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, in keeping with what we two have sworn by the name of the LORD: 'The LORD shall be between you and me, and between your posterity and mine forever.'"
   
 1sm:21.1    Then David departed on his way, while Jonathan went back into the city.
 1sm:21.2    David went to Ahimelech, the priest of Nob, who came trembling to meet him and asked, "Why are you alone? Is there no one with you?"
 1sm:21.3    David answered the priest: "The king gave me a commission and told me to let no one know anything about the business on which he sent me or the commission he gave me. For that reason I have arranged a meeting place with my men.
 1sm:21.4    Now what have you on hand? Give me five loaves, or whatever you can find."
 1sm:21.5    But the priest replied to David, "I have no ordinary bread on hand, only holy bread; if the men have abstained from women, you may eat some of that."
 1sm:21.6    David answered the priest: "We have indeed been segregated from women as on previous occasions. Whenever I go on a journey, all the young men are consecrated--even for a secular journey. All the more so today, when they are consecrated at arms!"
 1sm:21.7    So the priest gave him holy bread, for no other bread was on hand except the showbread which had been removed from the LORD'S presence and replaced by fresh bread when it was taken away.
 1sm:21.8    One of Saul's servants was there that day, detained before the LORD; his name was Doeg the Edomite, and he was Saul's chief henchman.
 1sm:21.9    David then asked Ahimelech: "Do you have a spear or a sword on hand? I brought along neither my sword nor my weapons, because the king's business was urgent."
 1sm:21.10   The priest replied: "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Vale of the Terebinth, is here (wrapped in a mantle) behind an ephod. If you wish to take that, take it; there is no sword here except that one." David said: "There is none to match it. Give it to me!"
 1sm:21.11   That same day David took to flight from Saul, going to Achish, king of Gath.
 1sm:21.12   But the servants of Achish said, "Is this not David, the king of the land? During their dances do they not sing, 'Saul has slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands'?"
 1sm:21.13   David took note of these remarks and became very much afraid of Achish, king of Gath.
 1sm:21.14   So, as they watched, he feigned insanity and acted like a madman in their hands, drumming on the doors of the gate and drooling onto his beard.
 1sm:21.15   Finally Achish said to his servants: "You see the man is mad. Why did you bring him to me?
 1sm:21.16   Do I not have enough madmen, that you bring in this one to carry on in my presence? Should this fellow come into my house?"
   
 1sm:22.1    David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his family heard about it, they came down to him there.
 1sm:22.2    He was joined by all those who were in difficulties or in debt, or who were embittered, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.
 1sm:22.3    From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab and said to the king of Moab, "Let my father and mother stay with you, until I learn what God will do for me."
 1sm:22.4    He left them with the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David remained in the refuge.
 1sm:22.5    But the prophet Gad said to David: "Do not remain in the refuge. Leave, and go to the land of Judah." And so David left and went to the forest of Hereth.
 1sm:22.6    Now Saul heard that David and his men had been located. At the time he was sitting in Gibeah under a tamarisk tree on the high place, holding his spear, while all his servants were standing by.
 1sm:22.7    So he said to them: "Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make each of you an officer over a thousand or a hundred men,
 1sm:22.8    that you have all conspired against me and no one tells me that my son has made an agreement with the son of Jesse? None of you shows sympathy for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant to be an enemy against me, as is the case today."
 1sm:22.9    Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing with the officers of Saul, spoke up: "I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, in Nob.
 1sm:22.10   He consulted the LORD for him and gave him supplies, and the sword of Goliath the Philistine as well."
 1sm:22.11   At this the king sent a summons to Ahimelech the priest, son of Ahitub, and to all his family who were priests in Nob; and they all came to the king.
 1sm:22.12   Then Saul said, "Listen, son of Ahitub!" He replied, "Yes, my lord."
 1sm:22.13   Saul asked him, "Why did you conspire against me with the son of Jesse by giving him food and a sword and by consulting God for him, that he might rebel against me and become my enemy, as is the case today?"
 1sm:22.14   Ahimelech answered the king: "And who among all your servants is as loyal as David, the king's son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard, and honored in your own house?
 1sm:22.15   Is this the first time I have consulted God for him? No indeed! Let not the king accuse his servant or anyone in my family of such a thing. Your servant knows nothing at all, great or small, about the whole matter."
 1sm:22.16   But the king said, "You shall die, Ahimelech, with all your family."
 1sm:22.17   The king then commanded his henchmen standing by: "Make the rounds and kill the priests of the LORD, for they assisted David. They knew he was a fugitive and yet failed to inform me." But the king's servants refused to lift a hand to strike the priests of the LORD.
 1sm:22.18   The king therefore commanded Doeg, "You make the rounds and kill the priests!" So Doeg the Edomite went from one to the next and killed the priests himself, slaying on that day eighty-five who wore the linen ephod.
 1sm:22.19   Saul also put the priestly city of Nob to the sword, including men and women, children and infants, and oxen, asses and sheep.
 1sm:22.20   One son of Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled to David.
 1sm:22.21   When Abiathar told David that Saul had slain the priests of the LORD,
 1sm:22.22   David said to him: "I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of all your family.
 1sm:22.23   Stay with me. Fear nothing; he that seeks your life must seek my life also. You are under my protection."
   
 1sm:23.1    David received information that the Philistines were attacking Keilah and plundering the threshing floors.
 1sm:23.2    So he consulted the LORD, inquiring, "Shall I go and defeat these Philistines?" The LORD answered, "Go, for you will defeat the Philistines and rescue Keilah."
 1sm:23.3    But David's men said to him: "We are afraid here in Judah. How much more so if we go to Keilah against the forces of the Philistines!"
 1sm:23.4    Again David consulted the LORD, who answered, "Go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into your power."
 1sm:23.5    David then went with his men to Keilah and fought with the Philistines. He drove off their cattle and inflicted a severe defeat on them, and thus rescued the inhabitants of Keilah.
 1sm:23.6    Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, who had fled to David, went down with David to Keilah, taking the ephod with him.
 1sm:23.7    When Saul was told that David had entered Keilah, he said: "God has put him in my grip. Now he has shut himself in, for he has entered a city with gates and bars."
 1sm:23.8    Saul then called all the people to war, in order to go down to Keilah and besiege David and his men.
 1sm:23.9    When David found out that Saul was planning to harm him, he said to the priest Abiathar, "Bring forward the ephod."
 1sm:23.10   David then said: "O LORD God of Israel, your servant has heard a report that Saul plans to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account.
 1sm:23.11   Will they hand me over? And now: will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, tell your servant." The LORD answered, "He will come down."
 1sm:23.12   David then asked, "Will the citizens of Keilah deliver me and my men into the grasp of Saul?" And the LORD answered, "Yes."
 1sm:23.13   So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and wandered from place to place. When Saul was informed that David had escaped from Keilah, he abandoned the expedition.
 1sm:23.14   David now lived in the refuges in the desert, or in the barren hill country near Ziph. Though Saul sought him continually, the LORD did not deliver David into his grasp.
 1sm:23.15   David was apprehensive because Saul had come out to seek his life; but while he was at Horesh in the barrens near Ziph,
 1sm:23.16   Saul's son, Jonathan, came down there to David and strengthened his resolve in the LORD.
 1sm:23.17   He said to him: "Have no fear, my father Saul shall not lay a hand to you. You shall be king of Israel and I shall be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this."
 1sm:23.18   They made a joint agreement before the LORD in Horesh, where David remained, while Jonathan returned to his home.
 1sm:23.19   Some of the Ziphites went up to Saul in Gibeah and said, "David is hiding among us, now in the refuges, and again at Horesh, or on the hill of Hachilah, south of the wasteland.
 1sm:23.20   Therefore, whenever the king wishes to come down, let him do so. It will be our task to deliver him into the king's grasp."
 1sm:23.21   Saul replied: "The LORD bless you for your sympathy toward me.
 1sm:23.22   Go now and make sure once more! Take note of the place where he sets foot" (for he thought, perhaps they are playing some trick on me).
 1sm:23.23   "Look around and learn in which of all the various hiding places he is holding out. Then come back to me with sure information, and I will go with you. If he is in the region, I will search him out among all the families of Judah."
 1sm:23.24   So they went off to Ziph ahead of Saul. At this time David and his men were in the desert below Maon, in the Arabah south of the wasteland.
 1sm:23.25   When Saul and his men came looking for him, David got word of it and went down to the gorge in the desert below Maon. Saul heard of this and pursued David into the desert below Maon.
 1sm:23.26   As Saul moved along one rim of the gorge, David and his men took to the other. David was in anxious flight to escape Saul, and Saul and his men were attempting to outflank David and his men in order to capture them,
 1sm:23.27   when a messenger came to Saul, saying, "Come quickly, because the Philistines have invaded the land."
 1sm:23.28   Saul interrupted his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. This is how that place came to be called the Gorge of Divisions.
   
 1sm:24.1    David then went up from there and stayed in the refuges behind Engedi.
 1sm:24.2    And when Saul returned from the pursuit of the Philistines, he was told that David was in the desert near Engedi.
 1sm:24.3    So Saul took three thousand picked men from all Israel and went in search of David and his men in the direction of the wild goat crags.
 1sm:24.4    When he came to the sheepfolds along the way, he found a cave, which he entered to ease nature. David and his men were occupying the inmost recesses of the cave.
 1sm:24.5    David's servants said to him, "This is the day of which the LORD said to you, 'I will deliver your enemy into your grasp; do with him as you see fit.'" So David moved up and stealthily cut off an end of Saul's mantle.
 1sm:24.6    Afterward, however, David regretted that he had cut off an end of Saul's mantle.
 1sm:24.7    He said to his men, "The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD'S anointed, as to lay a hand on him, for he is the Lord's anointed."
 1sm:24.8    With these words David restrained his men and would not permit them to attack Saul. Saul then left the cave and went on his way.
 1sm:24.9    David also stepped out of the cave, calling to Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked back, David bowed to the ground in homage
 1sm:24.10   and asked Saul: "Why do you listen to those who say, 'David is trying to harm you'?
 1sm:24.11   You see for yourself today that the LORD just now delivered you into my grasp in the cave. I had some thought of killing you, but I took pity on you instead. I decided, 'I will not raise a hand against my lord, for he is the LORD'S anointed and a father to me.'
 1sm:24.12   Look here at this end of your mantle which I hold. Since I cut off an end of your mantle and did not kill you, see and be convinced that I plan no harm and no rebellion. I have done you no wrong, though you are hunting me down to take my life.
 1sm:24.13   The LORD will judge between me and you, and the LORD will exact justice from you in my case. I shall not touch you.
 1sm:24.14   The old proverb says, 'From the wicked comes forth wickedness.' So I will take no action against you.
 1sm:24.15   Against whom are you on campaign, O king of Israel? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog, or a single flea!
 1sm:24.16   The LORD will be the judge; he will decide between me and you. May he see this, and take my part, and grant me justice beyond your reach!"
 1sm:24.17   When David finished saying these things to Saul, Saul answered, "Is that your voice, my son David?" And he wept aloud.
 1sm:24.18   Saul then said to David: "You are in the right rather than I; you have treated me generously, while I have done you harm.
 1sm:24.19   Great is the generosity you showed me today, when the LORD delivered me into your grasp and you did not kill me.
 1sm:24.20   For if a man meets his enemy, does he send him away unharmed? May the LORD reward you generously for what you have done this day.
 1sm:24.21   And now, since I know that you shall surely be king and that sovereignty over Israel shall come into your possession,
 1sm:24.22   swear to me by the LORD that you will not destroy my descendants and that you will not blot out my name and family."
 1sm:24.23   David gave Saul his oath and Saul returned home, while David and his men went up to the refuge.
   
 1sm:25.1    Samuel died, and all Israel gathered to mourn him; they buried him at his home in Ramah.Then David went down to the desert of Maon.
 1sm:25.2    There was a man of Maon who had property in Carmel; he was very wealthy, owning three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At this time he was present for the shearing of his flock in Carmel.
 1sm:25.3    The man was named Nabal, his wife, Abigail. The woman was intelligent and attractive, but Nabal himself, a Calebite, was harsh and ungenerous in his behavior.
 1sm:25.4    When David heard in the desert that Nabal was shearing his flock,
 1sm:25.5    he sent ten young men, instructing them: "Go up to Carmel. Pay Nabal a visit and greet him in my name.
 1sm:25.6    Say to him, 'Peace be with you, my brother, and with your family, and with all who belong to you.
 1sm:25.7    I have just heard that shearers are with you. Now, when your shepherds were with us, we did them no injury, neither did they miss anything all the while they were in Carmel.
 1sm:25.8    Ask your servants and they will tell you so. Look kindly on these young men, since we come at a festival time. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can manage.'"
 1sm:25.9    When David's young men arrived, they delivered this message fully to Nabal in David's name, and then waited.
 1sm:25.10   But Nabal answered the servants of David: "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? Nowadays there are many servants who run away from their masters.
 1sm:25.11   Must I take my bread, my wine, my meat that I have slaughtered for my own shearers, and give them to men who come from I know not where?"
 1sm:25.12   So David's young men retraced their steps and on their return reported to him all that had been said.
 1sm:25.13   Thereupon David said to his men, "Let everyone gird on his sword." And so everyone, David included, girded on his sword. About four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage.
 1sm:25.14   But Nabal's wife Abigail was informed of this by one of the servants, who said: "David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but he flew at them screaming.
 1sm:25.15   Yet these men were very good to us. We were done no injury, neither did we miss anything all the while we were living among them during our stay in the open country.
 1sm:25.16   For us they were like a rampart night and day the whole time we were pasturing the sheep near them.
 1sm:25.17   Now, see what you can do, for you must realize that otherwise evil is in store for our master and for his whole family. He is so mean that no one can talk to him."
 1sm:25.18   Abigail quickly got together two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five dressed sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred cakes of pressed raisins, and two hundred cakes of pressed figs, and loaded them on asses.
 1sm:25.19   She then said to her servants, "Go on ahead; I will follow you." But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
 1sm:25.20   As she came down through a mountain defile riding on an ass, David and his men were also coming down from the opposite direction. When she met them,
 1sm:25.21   David had just been saying: "Indeed, it was in vain that I guarded all this man's possessions in the desert, so that he missed nothing. He has repaid good with evil.
 1sm:25.22   May God do thus and so to David, if by morning I leave a single male alive among all those who belong to him."
 1sm:25.23   As soon as Abigail saw David, she dismounted quickly from the ass and, falling prostrate on the ground before David, did him homage.
 1sm:25.24   As she fell at his feet she said: "My lord, let the blame be mine. Please let your handmaid speak to you, and listen to the words of your handmaid.
 1sm:25.25   Let not my lord pay attention to that worthless man Nabal, for he is just like his name. Fool is his name, and he acts the fool. I, your handmaid, did not see the young men whom my lord sent.
 1sm:25.26   Now, therefore, my lord, as the LORD lives, and as you live, it is the LORD who has kept you from shedding blood and from avenging yourself personally. May your enemies and those who seek to harm my lord become as Nabal!
 1sm:25.27   Accept this present, then, which your maidservant has brought for my lord, and let it be given to the young men who follow my lord.
 1sm:25.28   Please forgive the transgression of your handmaid, for the LORD shall certainly establish a lasting dynasty for my lord, because your lordship is fighting the battles of the LORD, and there is no evil to be found in you your whole life long.
 1sm:25.29   If anyone rises to pursue you and to seek your life, may the life of my lord be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the LORD your God; but may he hurl out the lives of your enemies as from the hollow of a sling.
 1sm:25.30   And when the LORD carries out for my lord the promise of success he has made concerning you, and appoints you as commander over Israel,
 1sm:25.31   you shall not have this as a qualm or burden on your conscience, my lord, for having shed innocent blood or for having avenged yourself personally. When the LORD confers this benefit on your lordship, remember your handmaid."
 1sm:25.32   David said to Abigail: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today.
 1sm:25.33   Blessed be your good judgment and blessed be you yourself, who this day have prevented me from shedding blood and from avenging myself personally.
 1sm:25.34   Otherwise, as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come so promptly to meet me, by dawn Nabal would not have had a single man or boy left alive."
 1sm:25.35   David then took from her what she had brought him and said to her: "Go up to your home in peace! See, I have granted your request as a personal favor."
 1sm:25.36   When Abigail came to Nabal, there was a drinking party in his house like that of a king, and Nabal was merry because he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all before daybreak the next morning.
 1sm:25.37   But then, when Nabal had become sober, his wife told him what had happened. At this his courage died within him, and he became like a stone.
 1sm:25.38   About ten days later the LORD struck him and he died.
 1sm:25.39   On hearing that Nabal was dead, David said: "Blessed be the LORD, who has requited the insult I received at the hand of Nabal, and who restrained his servant from doing evil, but has punished Nabal for his own evil deeds." David then sent a proposal of marriage to Abigail.
 1sm:25.40   When David's servants came to Abigail in Carmel, they said to her, "David has sent us to you that he may take you as his wife."
 1sm:25.41   Rising and bowing to the ground, she answered, "Your handmaid would become a slave to wash the feet of my lord's servants."
 1sm:25.42   She got up immediately, mounted an ass, and followed David's messengers, with her five maids following in attendance upon her. She became his wife,
 1sm:25.43   and David also married Ahinoam of Jezreel. Thus both of them were his wives;
 1sm:25.44   but Saul gave David's wife Michal, Saul's own daughter, to Palti, son of Laish, who was from Gallim.
   
 1sm:26.1    Men from Ziph came to Saul in Gibeah, reporting that David was hiding on the hill of Hachilah at the edge of the wasteland.
 1sm:26.2    So Saul went off down to the desert of Ziph with three thousand picked men of Israel, to search for David in the desert of Ziph.
 1sm:26.3    Saul camped beside the road on the hill of Hachilah, at the edge of the wasteland. David, who was living in the desert, saw that Saul had come into the desert after him
 1sm:26.4    and sent out scouts, who confirmed Saul's arrival.
 1sm:26.5    David himself then went to the place where Saul was encamped and examined the spot where Saul and Abner, son of Ner, the general, had their sleeping quarters. Saul's were within the barricade, and all his soldiers were camped around him.
 1sm:26.6    David asked Ahimelech the Hittite, and Abishai, son of Zeruiah and brother of Joab, "Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?" Abishai replied, "I will."
 1sm:26.7    So David and Abishai went among Saul's soldiers by night and found Saul lying asleep within the barricade, with his spear thrust into the ground at his head and Abner and his men sleeping around him.
 1sm:26.8    Abishai whispered to David: "God has delivered your enemy into your grasp this day. Let me nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I will not need a second thrust!"
 1sm:26.9    But David said to Abishai, "Do not harm him, for who can lay hands on the LORD'S anointed and remain unpunished?
 1sm:26.10   As the LORD lives," David continued, "it must be the LORD himself who will strike him, whether the time comes for him to die, or he goes out and perishes in battle.
 1sm:26.11   But the LORD forbid that I touch his anointed! Now take the spear which is at his head and the water jug, and let us be on our way."
 1sm:26.12   So David took the spear and the water jug from their place at Saul's head, and they got away without anyone's seeing or knowing or awakening. All remained asleep, because the LORD had put them into a deep slumber.
 1sm:26.13   Going across to an opposite slope, David stood on a remote hilltop at a great distance from Abner, son of Ner, and the troops.
 1sm:26.14   He then shouted, "Will you not answer, Abner?" And Abner answered, "Who is it that calls me?"
 1sm:26.15   David said to Abner: "Are you not a man whose like does not exist in Israel? Why, then, have you not guarded your lord the king when one of his subjects went to kill the king, your lord?
 1sm:26.16   This is no creditable service you have performed. As the LORD lives, you people deserve death because you have not guarded your lord, the LORD'S anointed. Go, look: where are the king's spear and the water jug that was at his head?"
 1sm:26.17   Saul recognized David's voice and asked, "Is that your voice, my son David?" David answered, "Yes, my lord the king."
 1sm:26.18   He continued: "Why does my lord pursue his servant? What have I done? What evil do I plan?
 1sm:26.19   Please, now, let my lord the king listen to the words of his servant. If the LORD has incited you against me, let an offering appease him; but if men, may they be cursed before the LORD, because they have exiled me so that this day I have no share in the LORD'S inheritance, but am told: 'Go serve other gods!'
 1sm:26.20   Do not let my blood flow to the ground far from the presence of the LORD. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea as if he were hunting partridge in the mountains."
 1sm:26.21   Then Saul said: "I have done wrong. Come back, my son David, I will not harm you again, because you have held my life precious today. Indeed, I have been a fool and have made a serious mistake."
 1sm:26.22   But David answered: "Here is the king's spear. Let an attendant come over to get it.
 1sm:26.23   The LORD will reward each man for his justice and faithfulness. Today, though the LORD delivered you into my grasp, I would not harm the LORD'S anointed.
 1sm:26.24   As I valued your life highly today, so may the LORD value my life highly and deliver me from all difficulties."
 1sm:26.25   Then Saul said to David: "Blessed are you, my son David! You shall certainly succeed in whatever you undertake." David went his way, and Saul returned to his home.
   
 1sm:27.1    But David said to himself: "I shall perish some day at the hand of Saul. I have no choice but to escape to the land of the Philistines; then Saul will give up his continual search for me throughout the land of Israel, and I shall be out of his reach."
 1sm:27.2    Accordingly, David departed with his six hundred men and went over to Achish, son of Maoch, king of Gath.
 1sm:27.3    David and his men lived in Gath with Achish; each one had his family, and David had his two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel.
 1sm:27.4    When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.
 1sm:27.5    David said to Achish: "If I meet with your approval, let me have a place to live in one of the country towns. Why should your servant live with you in the royal city?"
 1sm:27.6    That same day Achish gave him Ziklag, which has, therefore, belonged to the kings of Judah up to the present time.
 1sm:27.7    In all, David lived a year and four months in the country of the Philistines.
 1sm:27.8    David and his men went up and made raids on the Geshurites, Girzites, and Amalekites-peoples living in the land between Telam, on the approach to Shur, and the land of Egypt.
 1sm:27.9    In attacking the land David would not leave a man or woman alive, but would carry off sheep, oxen, asses, camels, and clothes. On his return he brought these to Achish,
 1sm:27.10   who asked, "Whom did you raid this time?" And David answered, "The Negeb of Judah," or "The Negeb of Jerahmeel," or "The Negeb of the Kenites."
 1sm:27.11   But David would not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, fearing that they would betray him by saying, "This is what David did." This was his custom as long as he lived in the country of the Philistines.
 1sm:27.12   And Achish trusted David, thinking, "He must certainly be detested by his people Israel. I shall have him as my vassal forever."
   
 1sm:28.1    In those days the Philistines mustered their military forces to fight against Israel. So Achish said to David, "You realize, of course, that you and your men must go out on campaign with me to Jezreel."
 1sm:28.2    David answered Achish, "Good! Now you shall learn what your servant can do." Then Achish said to David, "I shall appoint you my permanent bodyguard."
 1sm:28.3    Now Samuel had died and, after being mourned by all Israel, was buried in his city, Ramah. Meanwhile Saul had driven mediums and fortune-tellers out of the land.
 1sm:28.4    The Philistine levies advanced to Shunem and encamped. Saul, too, mustered all Israel; they camped on Gilboa.
 1sm:28.5    When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was dismayed and lost heart completely.
 1sm:28.6    He therefore consulted the LORD; but the LORD gave no answer, whether in dreams or by the Urim or through prophets.
 1sm:28.7    Then Saul said to his servants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, to whom I can go to seek counsel through her." His servants answered him, "There is a woman in Endor who is a medium."
 1sm:28.8    So he disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and set out with two companions. They came to the woman by night, and Saul said to her, "Tell my fortune through a ghost; conjure up for me the one I ask you to."
 1sm:28.9    But the woman answered him, "You are surely aware of what Saul has done, in driving the mediums and fortune-tellers out of the land. Why, then, are you laying snares for my life, to have me killed?"
 1sm:28.10   But Saul swore to her by the LORD, "As the LORD lives, you shall incur no blame for this."
 1sm:28.11   Then the woman asked him, "Whom do you want me to conjure up?" and he answered, "Samuel."
 1sm:28.12   When the woman saw Samuel, she shrieked at the top of her voice and said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!"
 1sm:28.13   But the king said to her, "Have no fear. What do you see?" The woman answered Saul, "I see a preternatural being rising from the earth."
 1sm:28.14   "What does he look like?" asked Saul. And she replied, "It is an old man who is rising, clothed in a mantle." Saul knew that it was Samuel, and so he bowed face to the ground in homage.
 1sm:28.15   Samuel then said to Saul, "Why do you disturb me by conjuring me up?" Saul replied: "I am in great straits, for the Philistines are waging war against me and God has abandoned me. Since he no longer answers me through prophets or in dreams, I have called you to tell me what I should do."
 1sm:28.16   To this Samuel said: "But why do you ask me, if the LORD has abandoned you and is with your neighbor?
 1sm:28.17   The LORD has done to you what he foretold through me: he has torn the kingdom from your grasp and has given it to your neighbor David.
 1sm:28.18   "Because you disobeyed the LORD'S directive and would not carry out his fierce anger against Amalek, the LORD has done this to you today.
 1sm:28.19   Moreover, the LORD will deliver Israel, and you as well, into the clutches of the Philistines. By tomorrow you and your sons will be with me, and the LORD will have delivered the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines."
 1sm:28.20   Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, for he was badly shaken by Samuel's message. Moreover, he had no bodily strength left, since he had eaten nothing all that day and night.
 1sm:28.21   Then the woman came to Saul, and seeing that he was quite terror-stricken, said to him: "Remember, your maidservant obeyed you: I took my life in my hands and fulfilled the request you made of me.
 1sm:28.22   Now you, in turn, please listen to your maidservant. Let me set something before you to eat, so that you may have strength when you go on your way."
 1sm:28.23   But he refused, saying, "I will not eat." However, when his servants joined the woman in urging him, he listened to their entreaties, got up from the ground, and sat on a couch.
 1sm:28.24   The woman had a stall-fed calf in the house, which she now quickly slaughtered. Then taking flour, she kneaded it and baked unleavened bread.
 1sm:28.25   She set the meal before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they stood up and left the same night.
   
 1sm:29.1    Now the Philistines had mustered all their forces in Aphek, and the Israelites were encamped at the spring of Harod near Jezreel.
 1sm:29.2    As the Philistine lords were marching their groups of a hundred and a thousand, David and his men were marching in the rear guard with Achish.
 1sm:29.3    The Philistine chiefs asked, "What are those Hebrews doing here?" And Achish answered them: "Why, that is David, the officer of Saul, king of Israel. He has been with me now for a year or two, and I have no fault to find with him from the day he came over to me until the present."
 1sm:29.4    But the Philistine chiefs were angered at this and said to him: "Send that man back! Let him return to the place you picked out for him. He must not go down into battle with us, lest during the battle he become our enemy. For how else can he win back his master's favor, if not with the heads of these men of ours?
 1sm:29.5    Is this not the David of whom they sing during their dances, 'Saul has slain his thousands, but David his ten thousands'?"
 1sm:29.6    So Achish summoned David and said to him: "As the LORD lives, you are honest, and I should be pleased to have you active with me in the camp, for I have found nothing wrong with you from the day of your arrival to this day. But you are not welcome to the lords.
 1sm:29.7    Withdraw peaceably, now, and do nothing that might displease the Philistine lords."
 1sm:29.8    But David said to Achish: "What have I done? Or what have you against your servant from the first day I have been with you to this day, that I cannot go to fight against the enemies of my lord the king?"
 1sm:29.9    "You know," Achish answered David, "that you are acceptable to me. But the Philistine chiefs have determined you are not to go up with us to battle.
 1sm:29.10   So the first thing tomorrow, you and your lord's servants who came with you, go to the place I picked out for you. Do not decide to take umbrage at this; you are as acceptable to me as an angel of God. But make an early morning start, as soon as it grows light, and be on your way."
 1sm:29.11   So David and his men left early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. The Philistines, however, went on up to Jezreel.
   
 1sm:30.1    Before David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had raided the Negeb and Ziklag, had stormed the city, and had set it on fire.
 1sm:30.2    They had taken captive the women and all who were in the city, young and old, killing no one; they had carried them off when they left.
 1sm:30.3    David and his men arrived at the city to find it burned to the ground and their wives, sons and daughters taken captive.
 1sm:30.4    Then David and those who were with him wept aloud until they could weep no more.
 1sm:30.5    David's two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel, had also been carried off with the rest.
 1sm:30.6    Now David found himself in great difficulty, for the men spoke of stoning him, so bitter were they over the fate of their sons and daughters. But with renewed trust in the LORD his God,
 1sm:30.7    David said to Abiathar, the priest, son of Ahimelech, "Bring me the ephod!" When Abiathar brought him the ephod,
 1sm:30.8    David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I pursue these raiders? Can I overtake them?" The LORD answered him, "Go in pursuit, for you shall surely overtake them and effect a rescue."
 1sm:30.9    So David went off with his six hundred men and came as far as the Wadi Besor, where those who were to remain behind halted.
 1sm:30.10   David continued the pursuit with four hundred men, but two hundred were too exhausted to cross the Wadi Besor and remained behind.
 1sm:30.11   An Egyptian was found in the open country and brought to David. He was provided with food, which he ate, and given water to drink;
 1sm:30.12   a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of pressed raisins were also offered to him. When he had eaten, he revived; he had not taken food nor drunk water for three days and three nights.
 1sm:30.13   Then David asked him, "To whom do you belong, and where do you come from?" He replied: "I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me because I fell sick three days ago today.
 1sm:30.14   We raided the Negeb of the Cherethites, the territory of Judah, and the Negeb of Caleb; and we set Ziklag on fire."
 1sm:30.15   David then asked him, "Will you lead me down to this raiding party?" He answered, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me to my master, and I will lead you to the raiding party."
 1sm:30.16   He did lead them, and there were the Amalekites scattered all over the ground, eating, drinking, and in a festive mood because of all the rich booty they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
 1sm:30.17   From dawn to sundown David attacked them, putting them under the ban so that none escaped except four hundred young men, who mounted their camels and fled.
 1sm:30.18   David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives.
 1sm:30.19   Nothing was missing, small or great, booty or sons or daughters, of all that the Amalekites had taken. David brought back everything.
 1sm:30.20   Moreover, David took all the sheep and oxen, and as they drove these before him, they shouted, "This is David's spoil!"
 1sm:30.21   When David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him, and whom he had left behind at the Wadi Besor, they came out to meet David and the men with him. On nearing them David greeted them.
 1sm:30.22   But all the stingy and worthless men among those who had accompanied David spoke up to say, "Since they did not accompany us, we will not give them anything from the booty, except to each man his wife and children. Let them take those along and be on their way."
 1sm:30.23   But David said: "You must not do this, my brothers, after what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our grip the band that came against us.
 1sm:30.24   Who could agree with this proposal of yours? Rather, the share of the one who goes down to battle and that of the one who remains with the baggage shall be the same; they shall share alike."
 1sm:30.25   And from that day forward he made it a law and a custom in Israel, as it still is today.
 1sm:30.26   When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to the elders of Judah, city by city, saying, "This is a gift to you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD":
 1sm:30.27   to those in Bethel, to those in Ramoth-negeb, to those in Jattir,
 1sm:30.28   to those in Aroer, to those in Siphmoth, to those in Eshtemoa,
 1sm:30.29   to those in Racal, to those in the Jerahmeelite cities, to those in the Kenite cities,
 1sm:30.30   to those in Hormah, to those in Borashan, to those in Athach,
 1sm:30.31   to those in Hebron, and to all the places frequented by David and his men.

 1sm:31.1    As they pressed their attack on Israel, with the Israelites fleeing before them and falling mortally wounded on Mount Gilboa,
 1sm:31.2    the Philistines pursued Saul and his sons closely, and slew Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, sons of Saul.
 1sm:31.3    The battle raged around Saul, and the archers hit him; he was pierced through the abdomen.
 1sm:31.4    Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, "Draw your sword and run me through, lest these uncircumcised come and make sport of me." But his armor-bearer, badly frightened, refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell upon it.
 1sm:31.5    When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell upon his sword and died with him.
 1sm:31.6    Thus Saul, his three sons, and his armor-bearer died together on that same day.
 1sm:31.7    When the Israelites on the slope of the valley and those along the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they too abandoned their cities and fled. Then the Philistines came and lived in those cities.
 1sm:31.8    The day after the battle the Philistines came to strip the slain, and found Saul and his three sons lying on Mount Gilboa.
 1sm:31.9    They cut off Saul's head and stripped him of his armor, and then sent the good news throughout the land of the Philistines to their idols and to the people.
 1sm:31.10   They put his armor in the temple of Astarte, but impaled his body on the wall of Bethshan.
 1sm:31.11   When the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,
 1sm:31.12   all their warriors set out, and after marching throughout the night, removed the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and brought them to Jabesh, where they cremated them.
 1sm:31.13   Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days. [end of 1 Samuel]

