Study Desk

Then Abigail told her servants, "Go on. I'll follow you." But she did not tell her husband.

David was saying, "I protected Nabal's property in the desert. I made sure not one of his sheep was missing. I did all that for nothing. I was good to him, but he was rude to me.

If someone chases you to kill you, the Lord your God will save your life. But he will throw away your enemies like a stone from a sling.

As surely as the Lord , the God of Israel, lives, if you hadn't come quickly to meet me, not one man in Nabal's family would have lived until tomorrow morning. But the Lord prevented me from hurting you."

David was also married to Saul's daughter Michal, but Saul had taken her away from him and had given her to a man named Palti, son of Laish. Palti was from the town named Gallim.

But David said to Abishai, "Don't kill Saul! Anyone who hurts the Lord 's chosen king must be punished.

But I pray that the Lord never lets me hurt the Lord 's chosen king. Now pick up the spear and water jug by Saul's head and let's go."

My lord the king, listen to me. If the Lord caused you to be angry with me, let him accept an offering. But if men caused you to be angry with me, I ask the Lord to curse them because they forced me to leave the land that the Lord gave me and told me to go serve other gods.

The Lord pays every man for what he does—he rewards him if he does right, and he punishes him if he does wrong. The Lord gave you to me today, but I wouldn't harm the Lord 's chosen king.

But David thought to himself, "Saul will catch me some day. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up looking for me in Israel. That way I will escape from Saul."

David defeated the people in that area. He took all their sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothes and brought them back to Achish. But David didn't let any of those people live.

He prayed to the Lord , but the Lord did not answer him. God did not talk to Saul in dreams. God did not use the Urim to give him an answer, and God did not use prophets to speak to Saul.

But the woman said to him, "You know that Saul forced all the mediums and fortunetellers to leave the land of Israel. You are trying to trap me and kill me."

The Lord was angry with the Amalekites and told you to destroy them. But you did not obey him. That's why the Lord is doing this to you today.

But Saul refused. He said, "I won't eat." Saul's officers joined the woman and begged him to eat. Finally, Saul listened to them. He got up from the ground and sat on the bed.

The Philistine captains asked, "What are these Hebrews doing here?" Achish told the Philistine captains, "This is David. He was one of Saul's officers, but he has been with me for a long time. I found nothing wrong in David since the time he left Saul and came to me."

But the Philistine captains were angry with Achish. They said, "Send him back. Let him go back to the city you gave him, but he can't go into battle with us. As long as he is here, we have an enemy in our own camp. He would make his king happy by killing our men.

Isn't David the one the Israelites sing about? They dance and sing this song: ‘Saul has killed thousands of enemies, but David has killed tens of thousands.'"

Achish answered, "I believe that you are a good man. You are like an angel from God. But the Philistine captains still say, ‘David can't go with us into battle.'

Early in the morning, you and your men should go back to the city I gave you. Don't pay attention to the bad things the captains say about you. You are a good man, but you must leave as soon as there is enough light in the morning."