David

The people from Zif went to Sha'ul in Giv'ah and said, "David is hiding himself on Hakhilah Hill, across from Yeshimon."

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.

Sha'ul pitched camp on Hakhilah Hill, across from Yeshimon, near the road. David was staying in the desert, and he saw that Sha'ul was coming into the desert after him.

So David dispatched spies and determined that Sha'ul had definitely come.

David set out and went to where Sha'ul had pitched his camp. He saw where Sha'ul and Avner the son of Ner, the commander of his army, were sleeping. Sha'ul was lying inside the barricade with the troops asleep all around him.

David said to Achimelekh the Hitti and Avishai the son of Tz'ruyah, Yo'av's brother, "Who will go down with me to Sha'ul in the camp?" Avishai said, "I will go down with you."

So David and Avishai went to the soldiers by night. Sha'ul was lying there asleep inside the barricade. His spear was stuck in the ground next to his head, with Avner and the troops asleep all around him.

Avishai said to David, "God has handed your enemy over to you today; so now, please, let me pin him to the ground with just one stroke of the spear. I won't strike him a second time."

But David said to Avishai, "Don't destroy him! Nobody can raise his hand against ADONAI's anointed without becoming guilty!"

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.

So David took the spear and the water jug from Sha'ul's head and got away. Nobody saw or knew about it, and no one awoke, because they were all asleep - a deep sleep from ADONAI had fallen over them.

David crossed to the other side and climbed to the top of the distant ridge, leaving a considerable space between them.

Then David called out to the troops and to Avner the son of Ner. "Avner! Aren't you going to answer?" Avner answered, "Who are you, calling to the king?"

David said to Avner, "Aren't you the brave one! Who is there in Isra'el to compare with you? So why haven't you kept watch over your lord the king? Someone came in to kill the king, your lord!

Sha'ul recognized David's voice and said, "Is that your voice, my son David?"David said, "It is my voice, my lord king!"

Then Sha'ul said, "I have sinned. Come back, my son David. I won't harm you any longer, because you regarded my life as precious today. Yes, I have behaved like a fool. I was altogether in the wrong."

David answered, "Here is the king's spear. Send one of the men over to bring it back.

Sha'ul answered David, "Blessings on you, my son David! No question that you will accomplish everything you set out to do!" So David went on his way, and Sha'ul returned to his place.

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."

So David set out with his six hundred men and passed on to Akhish the son of Ma'okh, king of Gat.

David lived with Akhish, he and his men, each man with his household - including David with his two wives Achino'am from Yizre'el and Avigayil from Karmel, Naval's widow.

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

David said to Akhish, "If you are now favorably disposed toward me, let me have a place to live in one of the cities in the countryside. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?"

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

he and his men began going up and raiding the G'shuri, the Gizri and the 'Amaleki (from ancient times these people had lived in the land in the direction of Shur, all the way to Egypt).