Study Desk

Am I supposed to take my bread, my water and my meat that I slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men coming from who knows where?"

They served as a wall protecting us day and night all the time we were with them caring for the sheep.

So now decide what you are going to do, for clearly harm is on its way to our master and all his household, but he's so mean that no one can tell him anything."

David had said, "What a waste it has been guarding everything this fellow has in the desert, so that nothing of his was missing! He has repaid me bad for good!"

And please forgive the offense your servant has caused; because Adonai will certainly establish my lord's dynasty, for my lord fights Adonai 's battles, and nothing bad has been found in you all your life long.

Even if someone comes along searching for you and seeking your life, your life will be bound in the bundle of life with Adonai your God. But the lives of your enemies he will fling away as if from the pouch of a slingshot.

what happens here will not have become an obstacle to you or a cause for remorse to my lord, neither that you shed blood without cause nor that my lord took vengeance into his own hands. Finally, when Adonai has dealt well with my lord, then remember your servant."

and blessed be your tactfulness, and blessed be yourself for having kept me today from the guilt of shedding blood and taking vengeance into my own hands.

For as Adonai the God of Isra'el, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you hadn't rushed to meet me, not even one male would have been left to Naval by morning!"

Avigayil came to Naval; there he was in his house, holding a feast fit for a king. He was in high spirits, because he was very drunk. So she told him nothing whatever until the next morning.

When David heard that Naval was dead, he said, "Blessed be Adonai for having taken my side in the matter of Naval's insult and for having prevented his servant from doing anything bad. On the contrary, Adonai has caused Naval's bad deeds to return on his own head." Then David sent a message that he wanted to make Avigayil his own wife.

Then Sha'ul set out and went down to the Zif Desert with three thousand men chosen from Isra'el, to search for David in the Zif Desert.

David then added, "As Adonai lives, Adonai will strike him down, or the day will come for him to die, or he will go down to battle and be swept away.

But David said to himself, "One day Sha'ul will sweep me away. The best thing for me to do is to escape into the territory of the P'lishtim. Then Sha'ul will give up trying to find me here or there in Isra'el's territory, and at last I'll be free of him."

Sha'ul was told that David had escaped to Gat, whereupon he stopped searching for him.

After David had been living in the country of the P'lishtim for a year and four months,

The reason David spared neither men nor women to be brought to Gat is that he thought, "We don't want them telling on us, saying, ‘David did so-and-so.'" That's how he conducted his raids for as long as he lived in the country of the P'lishtim.

In due time the P'lishtim assembled their armies for war against Isra'el. Akhish told David, "You know, of course, that you and your men will join me and the army in battle."

David answered Akhish, "I see that you already know what your servant will do." Akhish said to David, "For that answer, I am making you my personal bodyguard for life."

But Sha'ul swore to her by Adonai , "As Adonai lives, you will not be punished for doing this."