Termes clés · the divine name (YHWH)
1 Samuel
יהוה Hébreu · Strong’s H3068
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Pour l’instant, les notes sont en anglais.
Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and to offer sacrifice to the LORD of Armies at Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the LORD there.
But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, even though the LORD had closed her womb.
Her rival kept taunting her bitterly to upset her, because the LORD had closed her womb.
So it went on year after year. Every time Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, Peninnah provoked her, and she wept and would not eat.
Once, when the eating and drinking at Shiloh were over, Hannah got up. Eli the priest sat on his seat beside the doorpost of the LORD’s temple.
She was in deep anguish, and she prayed to the LORD, weeping without restraint.
She made a vow and said, “The LORD of Armies, if you will only look on the misery of your servant and remember me, if you will not forget your servant but will give your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD for his whole life, and no razor will ever touch his head.”
As she went on praying before the LORD, Eli was watching her mouth.
But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled in spirit. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD.
Early the next morning they worshiped before the LORD and then went back home to Ramah. Elkanah lay with his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her.
In due time Hannah became pregnant and bore a son. She called him Samuel, for she said,”I asked the LORD for him.”
Elkanah went up with his whole household to offer the LORD the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow.
But Hannah did not go. She told her husband, “Once the boy is weaned, I will bring him to appear before the LORD, and he will stay there for the rest of his life.”
Her husband Elkanah told her, “Do what seems best to you. Stay at home until you have weaned him. Only may the LORD make his word come true.” So the woman stayed home and nursed her son until she had weaned him.
Once she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with three bulls, about 20 quarts of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh. The boy was still young.
Hannah said, “Pardon me, my lord! As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who once stood beside you here, praying to the LORD.
I prayed for this boy, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him.
So I in turn give him to the LORD. All the days of his life he is given over to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there.
Then Hannah prayed, and she said: “My heart is glad in the LORD; in the LORD my horn is raised high. I boast loudly over my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.
No one is holy like the LORD; indeed, there is none but you, and no rock is like our God.
Do not keep talking so proudly, or let arrogant words leave your lips, for the LORD is a God who knows all things, and by him every action is weighed.
The LORD brings death and gives life; he sends down to Sheol and brings up again.
The LORD makes some poor and others rich; he humbles, and he also exalts.
He lifts the poor up out of the dust and raises those in need from the ash heap, to seat them with nobles and give them a throne of honor as their own. For the pillars of the earth belong to the LORD; on them he has set the world.
Those who oppose the LORD will be shattered; he will thunder against them from heaven. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will grant strength to his king and raise high the horn of his anointed.”
Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy stayed and served the LORD under Eli the priest.
Now Eli’s sons were worthless men; they did not know the LORD.
So the sin of these young men was very great in the sight of the LORD, for they treated the LORD’s offering with contempt.
Samuel, meanwhile, was serving before the LORD, a boy wearing a linen ephod.
Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the LORD give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she asked for and gave to the LORD.” Then they would go home.
And the LORD came to Hannah’s aid: she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And all the while the boy Samuel was growing up in the presence of the LORD.
No, my sons! The report I hear spreading among the LORD’s people is not good.
If one person sins against another, God can settle the matter; but if someone sins against the LORD, who can plead for that person?” But they would not listen to their father, because the LORD had decided to put them to death.
Meanwhile the boy Samuel went on growing up, and both the LORD and the people were pleased with him.
A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “The LORD says this: ‘Did I not plainly reveal myself to your ancestor’s family when they were in Egypt, subject to Pharaoh’s house?
Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: I did promise that your family and your ancestor’s family would walk before me forever. But now the LORD declares: That will never be! For I will honor those who honor me, and those who despise me will be treated as nothing.
The boy Samuel was serving the LORD under Eli. The word of the LORD was rare in those days, and visions were few.
and the lamp of God had not yet gone out. Samuel lay in the temple of the LORD, where God’s ark was,
and the LORD called Samuel. He answered, “Here I am.”
Again the LORD called Samuel. Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am. You called me.” “I did not call, my son,” Eli replied. “Go back and lie down.”
Samuel did not yet know the LORD: no word of the LORD had yet been revealed to him.
The LORD called Samuel a third time. He got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am. You called me.” Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy.
So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, then say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back and lay down in his place.
The LORD came and took his stand there, and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel replied, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
The LORD said to Samuel, “Look, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of all who hear of it tingle.
Samuel lay there until morning, and then he opened the doors of the LORD’s house. But he was afraid to tell Eli about the vision.
So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Eli said, “He is the LORD. Let him do what he sees is good.”
Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him; he did not let any of his words fall to the ground.
All Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was a proven prophet of the LORD.
The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, because there at Shiloh he revealed himself to Samuel through the word of the LORD.
When the troops came back to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD struck us down before the Philistines today? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh. Then it will be among us and will save us from the power of our enemies.”
So the people sent word to Shiloh, and from there they carried away the ark of the covenant of the LORD of Armies, who sits enthroned on the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, accompanied the ark of the covenant of God.
As the ark of the covenant of the LORD reached the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook.
When the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they asked, “What is this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” Then they found out that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp.
When the people of Ashdod got up early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen face down on the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place.
Early the following morning they rose, and there was Dagon, fallen face down on the ground before the ark of the LORD. Dagon’s head and both his hands lay cut off on the threshold; only his body was left.
Then the hand of the LORD weighed heavily on the people of Ashdod. He brought ruin on them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and the land around it.
But after they had moved it, the hand of the LORD was against that city and threw it into a great panic. He struck the people of the city, young and old, and tumors broke out on them.
The ark of the LORD was in the land of the Philistines for seven months.
Then the Philistines summoned the priests and the diviners and said, “What should we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us what we should send with it when we send it back to its place.”
Take the ark of the LORD and set it on the cart, and put the gold objects that you are returning to him as a guilt offering in a box beside it. Then send it off and let it go its way.
They set the ark of the LORD on the cart, along with the box, the gold rats and the images of their tumors.
The cart reached the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there, where there was a large stone. The people split up the cart’s wood and sacrificed the cows to the LORD as a burnt offering.
The Levites had taken down the ark of the LORD and the box with it that held the gold objects, and had set them on the large stone. On that day the men of Beth-shemesh brought burnt offerings and other sacrifices to the LORD.
These are the gold tumors that the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath and one for Ekron.
The gold rats matched the number of all the Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers, from fortified cities to country villages, as far as the large stone on which they set the ark of the LORD. That stone is still there to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.
But he struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh for looking into the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men among the people, 50,000 men. The people mourned because the LORD had struck them with such a heavy blow.
Then the men of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom should he go up from here, away from us?”
So they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim to say, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the LORD. Come down and carry it up to your town.”
So the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the LORD. They brought it to the hilltop house of Abinadab, and they consecrated Eleazar his son to keep watch over the ark of the LORD.
From the day the ark came to stay in Kiriath-jearim, a long time went by, twenty years in all, and the whole house of Israel mourned and longed for the LORD.
Then Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, “If you are coming back to the LORD with all your heart, get rid of the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth that are among you. Set your hearts firmly on the LORD and serve him alone, and he will rescue you from the power of the Philistines.”
So the Israelites got rid of the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the LORD alone.
Then Samuel said, “Bring all Israel together at Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.”
After gathering at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out in the presence of the LORD. They fasted that day and confessed there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” It was at Mizpah that Samuel judged the Israelites.
The Israelites said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out for us to the LORD our God, so that he will save us from the power of the Philistines.”
Then Samuel took a young lamb that was still nursing and offered it whole as a burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him.
Samuel was in the middle of offering up the burnt offering when the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But that day the LORD thundered against the Philistines with a mighty roar and threw them into panic, and they were beaten before Israel.
Then Samuel took a single stone and placed it between Mizpah and Shen. He called it Ebenezer and said, “To this point the LORD has helped us.”
So the Philistines were brought low, and they did not invade Israel’s territory again. The hand of the LORD was against the Philistines throughout the days of Samuel.
Then he would go back to Ramah, since his home was there, and he judged Israel there as well. And he built an altar there to the LORD.
But Samuel was displeased when they said, “Give us a king to judge us,” and he prayed to the LORD.
The LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the people in everything they are saying to you. It is not you they have rejected; it is me they have rejected as their king.
So Samuel told the people who were asking him for a king all that the LORD had said.
When that day comes, you will cry out because of the king you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you then.”
When Samuel had heard all that the people said, he repeated it to the LORD.
The LORD said to Samuel, “Do as they ask, and give them a king.” Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Go back, each of you, to your own town.”
Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed this to Samuel,
As soon as Samuel caught sight of Saul, the LORD said to him, “There is the man I spoke to you about. He is the one who will govern my people.”
Then Samuel took the flask of oil and poured it on Saul’s head. He kissed him and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you to be ruler over his own inheritance?
The Spirit of the LORD will rush on you, and you will prophesy with them and be changed into a different man.
Samuel summoned the people to the LORD at Mizpah.
He said to the Israelites, “The LORD, the God of Israel, says this: ‘I brought Israel up out of Egypt. I rescued you from the power of the Egyptians and of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’
But today you have rejected your God, the one who saves you from all your troubles and distress. You have told him, ‘Set a king over us instead.’ So now present yourselves before the LORD tribe by tribe and clan by clan.”
So they inquired again of the LORD, “Has the man come here yet?” The LORD answered, “There he is, hiding among the baggage.”
Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the LORD has chosen? Among all the people there is no one like him.” Then all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of the kingship. He wrote them in a scroll and placed it before the LORD. Then Samuel sent all the people home.
He took a yoke of oxen and cut them up, and he sent the pieces by the messengers through all the territory of Israel with this message: “Anyone who does not come out behind Saul and Samuel will have the same done to his oxen.” Then the dread of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out as one man.
But Saul said, “No one will be put to death today, for today the LORD has brought deliverance to Israel.”
So all the people went to Gilgal, and there, in the presence of the LORD at Gilgal, they made Saul king. They offered peace offerings there before the LORD, and Saul and all the men of Israel celebrated with great joy.
Here I am. Bring your charges against me before the LORD and before his anointed. Whose ox did I take? Whose donkey? Whom did I cheat? Whom did I treat harshly? From whom did I take a bribe to make me look the other way? If I have, I will pay it back to you.”
Samuel said to them, “Today the LORD is witness against you, and so is his anointed: you have found nothing in my hand.” “He is witness,” they said.
Samuel said to the people, “It is the LORD who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your ancestors up from the land of Egypt.
So now take your stand, and I will put the case to you before the LORD, recounting all the righteous acts that the LORD has done for you and for your ancestors.
After Jacob went to Egypt, your ancestors cried out to the LORD, and the LORD sent Moses and Aaron. They brought your ancestors out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
But they forgot the LORD their God, so he sold them into the power of Sisera, who was commander of the army of Hazor, and into the power of the Philistines and the king of Moab, and these fought against them.
Then they cried out to the LORD, saying, ‘We have sinned. We have abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. But now rescue us from the power of our enemies, and we will serve you.’
Then the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah and Samuel, and he rescued you from the power of the enemies around you, and you lived in safety.
But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was coming against you, you said to me, ‘No! A king must reign over us,’ though the LORD your God was your king.
Now here is the king you have chosen, the one you asked for. See, the LORD has set a king over you.
If you fear the LORD, serve him, obey his voice and do not rebel against the LORD’s command, then both you and the king who reigns over you will be followers of the LORD your God.
But if you do not obey the voice of the LORD and you rebel against the LORD’s command, then the LORD’s hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors.
Now then, take your stand and watch this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes.
Is this not the time of the wheat harvest? I will call on the LORD, and he will send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see how great is the evil you have done in the sight of the LORD by asking for a king for yourselves.”
So Samuel called on the LORD, and that same day the LORD sent thunder and rain. All the people were filled with fear of the LORD and of Samuel.
All the people said to Samuel, “Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, or we will die! To all our other sins we have added this evil: we asked for a king for ourselves.”
Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid. You have done all this evil, yes; but do not turn away from following the LORD. Serve the LORD with all your heart.
For his great name’s sake the LORD will not forsake his people, because the LORD has been pleased to make you his own people.
As for me, far be it from me to sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. I will go on teaching you the way that is good and right.
Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Think of the great things he has done for you.
I thought, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not yet sought the LORD’s favor.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.”
Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly. You have not kept the commandment the LORD your God gave you. Had you kept it, the LORD would now have made your kingdom over Israel secure for all time.
But now your kingdom will not last. The LORD has looked for a man after his own heart, and the LORD has appointed him ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”
Ahijah son of Ahitub was there, wearing an ephod. Ahitub was the brother of Ichabod son of Phinehas son of Eli, the priest of the LORD at Shiloh. The troops did not know that Jonathan had gone.
Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us cross to the post held by these uncircumcised men. It may be that the LORD will act for us. Nothing can keep the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.”
But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ then we will go up, because the LORD has given them into our power. That will be our sign.”
The men at the outpost shouted to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, “Come up here to us, and we will teach you a lesson!” Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Climb up behind me, for the LORD has given them into Israel’s power.”
So the LORD saved Israel on that day, and the fighting moved on past Beth-aven.
Saul was told, “Look, the troops are sinning against the LORD. They are eating meat with the blood in it.” He said, “You have broken faith! Roll a large stone over to me at once.”
Then Saul said, “Go out among the troops and tell them, ‘Each of you bring me your ox or your sheep. Slaughter them here and eat. Do not sin against the LORD by eating meat that still has its blood.’” So that night all the troops brought their oxen with them and slaughtered them there.
Saul built an altar to the LORD. It was the first altar he built to the LORD.
As surely as the LORD lives, who saves Israel, even if the guilt lies with my son Jonathan, he must die!” Yet no one among the troops answered him.
Then Saul said to the LORD, the God of Israel, “Show the right answer.” Jonathan and Saul were taken by the lot, and the troops were cleared.
But the troops said to Saul, “Should Jonathan die, when he has brought about this great deliverance in Israel? Never! As surely as the LORD lives, not one hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he has done this today with God’s help.” So the troops ransomed Jonathan, and he did not die.
Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the LORD sent to anoint you king over his people Israel. So now, listen to what the LORD is saying.
The LORD of Armies says this: I have taken note of what Amalek did to Israel, how they opposed Israel on the road as Israel came up out of Egypt.
Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel:
“I regret that I made Saul king, because he has turned back from following me and has failed to carry out my commands.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the LORD all night long.
When Samuel reached Saul, Saul greeted him, “May the LORD bless you! I have carried out the command of the LORD.”
Saul answered, “They brought them from the Amalekites. The troops kept back the best of the sheep and cattle as sacrifices for the LORD your God, and everything else we devoted to destruction.”
“Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the LORD told me during the night.” “Go on,” Saul answered.
Samuel said, “Even if you were small in your own eyes, are you not head over the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you as Israel’s king.
The LORD sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go and devote to destruction those sinners, the Amalekites. Fight against them until you have wiped them out.’
Why did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?”
Saul said to Samuel, “But I did obey the voice of the LORD! I went on the mission the LORD sent me on. I brought back Agag king of Amalek, and I devoted the Amalekites to destruction.
From the plunder the troops took sheep and cattle, the choicest of what was devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”
Samuel said, “Is the LORD as pleased with burnt offerings and sacrifices as with obeying the voice of the LORD? See, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to pay heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as sinful as divination, and arrogance is like wickedness and household gods. You have rejected the word of the LORD, so he has rejected you as king.”
Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I have broken the command of the LORD and your instructions, because I was afraid of the troops and gave in to what they said.
Now please forgive my sin, and come back with me so that I may worship the LORD.”
But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you as king over Israel.”
Then Samuel told him, “Today the LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you and has given it to one of your neighbors, one better than you.
Saul said, “I have sinned. But please honor me now in front of the elders of my people and in front of Israel. Return with me, and let me worship the LORD your God.”
So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.
But Samuel said, “Just as your sword has robbed women of their children, so your mother will be robbed of her child among women.” And Samuel cut Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.
Samuel did not go to see Saul again until the day he died, though Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD regretted having made Saul king over Israel.
The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you go on mourning for Saul, now that I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and set out. I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, because I have chosen one of his sons to be king for me.”
Samuel said, “How can I go? Saul will hear of it and kill me.” The LORD said, “Take a young cow with you and say, ‘I have come to offer a sacrifice to the LORD.’
Samuel did what the LORD had said and went to Bethlehem. The elders of the town came out trembling to meet him and asked, “Have you come in peace?”
He said, “In peace. I have come to offer a sacrifice to the LORD. Make yourselves holy and come with me to the sacrifice.” He made Jesse and his sons holy and invited them to the sacrifice.
When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely here before the LORD stands his anointed!”
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Pay no attention to his looks or to how tall he is, because I have rejected him. The LORD does not see in the way a person sees. A person looks at what is there for the eyes, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him walk past Samuel. But Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.”
Next Jesse had Shammah walk past. But Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.”
Jesse had seven of his sons walk past Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen any of these.”
So Jesse sent for him and had him brought in. He had a healthy, glowing look, with fine eyes, and he was handsome. Then the LORD said, “Get up and anoint him. He is the one.”
So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him there among his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD rushed on David from that day on. Then Samuel set out and went back to Ramah.
Now the Spirit of the LORD had left Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.
One of the young men replied, “I have seen a son of Jesse in Bethlehem who is a skilled player. He is also a strong warrior and a fighting man. He speaks well, he is handsome, and the LORD is with him.”
David went on, “The LORD rescued me from the power of the lion and of the bear, and he will rescue me from the power of this Philistine.” Then Saul said to David, “Go. May the LORD be with you.”
David said to the Philistine, “You have come out against me with a sword, a spear and a javelin. I have come out against you in the name of the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel’s ranks, the one you have defied.
Today the LORD will hand you over to me. I will strike you down and cut off your head, and this very day I will give the dead bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth. Then the whole world will know that Israel has a God,
and everyone gathered here will know that the LORD does not save by sword or spear. The battle belongs to the LORD, and he will hand you over to us.”
Saul feared David, because the LORD was with David and had turned away from Saul.
David succeeded in everything he did, for the LORD was with him.
Saul said to David, “My older daughter Merab is here. I will give her to you in marriage. Only be a brave warrior for me and fight the battles of the LORD.” For Saul thought, “I will not raise my hand against him. Let the Philistines do that.”
Saul saw and understood that the LORD was with David, and that his own daughter Michal loved him.
He took his life in his hands and struck down the Philistine, and the LORD won a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and were glad. So why would you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death for no reason?”
Saul listened to Jonathan and swore, “As surely as the LORD lives, he will not be put to death.”
Then an evil spirit from the LORD came on Saul. He was sitting in his house, spear in hand, while David played the lyre.
But David answered him with an oath: “Your father knows very well that you think well of me, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this, or it will grieve him.’ But as surely as the LORD lives and as surely as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”
So show faithful love to your servant, because you brought your servant into a covenant with you before the LORD. But if I am guilty, kill me yourself. Why hand me over to your father?”
Then Jonathan said to David, “The LORD, the God of Israel, is my witness! By this time tomorrow, or the day after, I will sound out my father. If he is well disposed toward David, I will certainly send word and let you know.
But if my father means to do you harm, may the LORD deal with me, Jonathan, ever so severely if I do not let you know and send you away to go in safety. May the LORD be with you as he has been with my father.
And if I am still alive then, will you not show me the faithful love of the LORD, so that I do not die?
And never cut off your faithful love from my family, not even when the LORD has cut off David’s enemies, every one of them, from the face of the earth.”
So Jonathan made a covenant with David’s house, and said, “May the LORD call David’s enemies to account.”
Then I will send the boy and tell him, ‘Go and find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; pick them up,’ then come, because as surely as the LORD lives, you are safe and there is no danger.
But if what I tell the young man is, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, because the LORD is sending you away.
As for what you and I have agreed, the LORD is witness between you and me forever.”
Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace. We two have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD will be witness between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants, forever.’”
So the priest gave him the holy bread, because there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which had been taken from before the LORD so that warm bread could be put in its place on the day it was removed.
Now one of Saul’s officials was there that day, held back before the LORD. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.
He asked the LORD for guidance for him, and he gave him food and the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
Then the king said to the guards who stood around him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too have sided with David. They knew he was running away, and they did not tell me.” But the king’s officials refused to lift a hand to strike down the priests of the LORD.
Abiathar reported to David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.
So David inquired of the LORD, “Am I to go and attack these Philistines?” The LORD answered David, “Go, attack the Philistines, and rescue Keilah.”
David inquired of the LORD once more, and the LORD answered him, “Set out and go down to Keilah, for I am handing the Philistines over to you.”
Then David said, “LORD, God of Israel, your servant has heard for certain that Saul intends to come to Keilah and destroy the town because of me.
Will the leaders of Keilah hand me over to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? LORD, God of Israel, please tell your servant.” The LORD answered, “He will come down.”
David asked again, “Will the leaders of Keilah hand me and my men over to Saul?” The LORD answered, “They will hand you over.”
The two of them made a covenant in the presence of the LORD. Then David stayed on at Horesh, while Jonathan went home.
Saul said, “May the LORD bless you, for you have shown me compassion.
David’s men said to him, “This is the day the LORD spoke of when he told you, ‘I am going to give your enemy into your hand, and you may do to him whatever you think best.’” Then David got up and quietly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.
He told his men, “The LORD forbid that I do this to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, and raise my hand against him! He is the LORD’s anointed.”
Today you have seen with your own eyes how the LORD put you into my hands in the cave. I was urged to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not raise my hand against my lord, because he is the LORD’s anointed.’
May the LORD judge between us, and may the LORD avenge the wrong you have done me. But I will not lift my hand against you.
May the LORD be the judge and decide between you and me. May he see this, take up my case and rescue me from your power by giving me justice.”
Today you have shown how well you have treated me: the LORD handed me over to you, and you did not kill me.
Who ever finds an enemy and lets him go away unharmed? May the LORD reward you well for the way you have treated me today.
Now then, give me your oath by the LORD that you will not wipe out my descendants after me or destroy my name from my father’s family.”
Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and as surely as you live, it is the LORD who has kept you from shedding blood and from taking revenge with your own hand. So now, may your enemies and all who want to harm my lord be like Nabal.
Please forgive your servant’s offense. The LORD will certainly make my lord a house that lasts, because my lord fights the battles of the LORD, and no wrong will be found in you as long as you live.
If anyone rises up to pursue you and to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound safe in the bundle of the living in the care of the LORD your God. But the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling.
When the LORD has done for my lord every good thing he has promised you, and has made you ruler over Israel,
my lord will not have this on his mind, no troubled conscience for having shed blood without cause or for having taken revenge himself. And when the LORD has dealt well with my lord, remember your servant.”
David answered Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you out to meet me today.
But as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who held me back from doing you harm, if you had not hurried out to meet me, not a single male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.”
About ten days later the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.
When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has taken up my case against Nabal for the insult he gave me, and has kept his servant from doing evil. The LORD has brought Nabal’s evil back on his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife.
But David said to Abishai, “Do not kill him. Who could raise his hand against the LORD’s anointed and not be held guilty?”
David went on, “As surely as the LORD lives, it is the LORD who will strike him down. Either his time will come and he will die, or he will go out to battle and be cut down.
May the LORD keep me from ever raising my hand against the LORD’s anointed! Now pick up the spear beside his head and the water jug, and let us be on our way.”
So David took the spear and the water jug from beside Saul’s head, and the two of them left. No one saw them, no one knew, and no one woke up. They were all asleep, because the LORD had sent a deep sleep on them.
You have not done well at all. As surely as the LORD lives, you all deserve to die, because you did not guard your lord, the LORD’s anointed. Now look around. Where is the king’s spear, and the water jug that was by his head?”
Now please, my lord the king, listen to the words of your servant. If it is the LORD who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering. But if it is human beings, may they be cursed before the LORD! For they have driven me out today from my share in the LORD’s inheritance, as if to say, ‘Go, serve other gods.’
So now, do not let my blood be spilled on the ground far from the presence of the LORD. The king of Israel has come out to hunt for a single flea, the way someone chases a partridge through the hills.”
The LORD repays each person for his righteousness and his faithfulness. Today the LORD put you in my power, but I would not raise my hand against the LORD’s anointed.
Just as your life mattered greatly to me today, so may my life matter greatly to the LORD, and may he rescue me from every trouble.”
Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him, whether by dreams or by the Urim or by prophets.
Saul gave her his oath by the LORD: “As surely as the LORD lives, no punishment will come on you for this.”
Samuel said, “Why do you ask me, then, when the LORD has turned away from you and become your enemy?
The LORD has done for himself exactly what he said through me. The LORD has torn the kingdom from your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David.
Because you did not obey the LORD and did not carry out his fierce anger against Amalek, the LORD has done this to you today.
The LORD will also hand Israel over to the Philistines along with you. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will hand the army of Israel over to the Philistines as well.”
So Achish called David and said to him, “As surely as the LORD lives, you have been honest, and I would be glad to have you march out and come back with me in the army. I have found nothing wrong in you from the day you came to me until today. But the rulers do not approve of you.
David was in deep distress, because the troops were talking about stoning him. Each of them was bitter over his sons and daughters. Yet David drew strength from the LORD his God.
Then David inquired of the LORD, “Should I go after this raiding party? Will I catch up with them?” The LORD answered him, “Go after them. You will certainly catch up with them, and you will certainly rescue the captives.”
But David said, “My brothers, you must not act this way with what the LORD has given us. He has kept us safe and has handed over to us the raiding party that came against us.
Back in Ziklag, David sent part of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, with the words, “Here is a gift for you, taken from the plunder of the LORD’s enemies.”