28 In those days the Philistines gatheredz their forces to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, “You must understand that you and your men will accompany me in the army.”

2 David said, “Then you will see for yourself what your servant can do.”

Achish replied, “Very well, I will make you my bodyguarda for life.”

Saul and the Medium at Endor

3 Now Samuel was dead,b and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah.c Saul had expelledd the mediums and spiritistse from the land.

4 The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem,f while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa.g 5 When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terrorh filled his heart. 6 He inquiredi of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreamsj or Urimk or prophets.l 7 Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium,m so I may go and inquire of her.”

“There is one in Endor,n” they said.

8 So Saul disguisedo himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consultp a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.”

9 But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut offq the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why have you set a trapr for my life to bring about my death?”

10 Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not be punished for this.”

11 Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?”

“Bring up Samuel,” he said.

12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me?s You are Saul!”

13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?”

The woman said, “I see a ghostly figurea coming up out of the earth.”t

14 “What does he look like?” he asked.

“An old man wearing a robeu is coming up,” she said.

Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.

15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”

“I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has departedv from me. He no longer answersw me, either by prophets or by dreams.x So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”

16 Samuel said, “Why do you consult me, now that the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy? 17 The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torny the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors—to David. 18 Because you did not obeyz the Lord or carry out his fierce wratha against the Amalekites,b the Lord has done this to you today. 19 The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sonsc will be with me. The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.”

20 Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, filled with fear because of Samuel’s words. His strength was gone, for he had eaten nothing all that day and all that night.

21 When the woman came to Saul and saw that he was greatly shaken, she said, “Look, your servant has obeyed you. I took my lifed in my hands and did what you told me to do. 22 Now please listen to your servant and let me give you some food so you may eat and have the strength to go on your way.”

23 He refusede and said, “I will not eat.”

But his men joined the woman in urging him, and he listened to them. He got up from the ground and sat on the couch.

24 The woman had a fattened calff at the house, which she butchered at once. She took some flour, kneaded it and baked bread without yeast. 25 Then she set it before Saul and his men, and they ate. That same night they got up and left.

Achish Sends David Back to Ziklag

29 The Philistines gatheredg all their forces at Aphek,h and Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel.i 2 As the Philistine rulers marched with their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men were marching at the rearj with Achish. 3 The commanders of the Philistines asked, “What about these Hebrews?”

Achish replied, “Is this not David,k who was an officer of Saul king of Israel? He has already been with me for over a year,l and from the day he left Saul until now, I have found no fault in him.”

4 But the Philistine commanders were angry with Achish and said, “Sendm the man back, that he may return to the place you assigned him. He must not go with us into battle, or he will turnn against us during the fighting. How better could he regain his master’s favor than by taking the heads of our own men? 5 Isn’t this the David they sang about in their dances:

“ ‘Saul has slain his thousands,

and David his tens of thousands’?”o

6 So Achish called David and said to him, “As surely as the Lord lives, you have been reliable, and I would be pleased to have you serve with me in the army. From the dayp you came to me until today, I have found no fault in you, but the rulersq don’t approve of you. 7 Now turn back and go in peace; do nothing to displease the Philistine rulers.”

8 “But what have I done?” asked David. “What have you found against your servant from the day I came to you until now? Why can’t I go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

9 Achish answered, “I know that you have been as pleasing in my eyes as an angelr of God; nevertheless, the Philistine commanderss have said, ‘He must not go up with us into battle.’ 10 Now get up early, along with your master’s servants who have come with you, and leavet in the morning as soon as it is light.”

11 So David and his men got up early in the morning to go back to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

David Destroys the Amalekites

30 David and his men reached Ziklagu on the third day. Now the Amalekitesv had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burnedw it, 2 and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.

3 When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.x 4 So David and his men wepty aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David’s two wivesz had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoninga him; each one was bitterb in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strengthc in the Lord his God.

7 Then David said to Abiathard the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.e” Abiathar brought it to him, 8 and David inquiredf of the Lord, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?”

“Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeedg in the rescue.h”

9 David and the six hundred meni with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind. 10 Two hundred of them were too exhaustedj to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit.

11 They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat—12 part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived,k for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights.

13 David asked him, “Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?”

He said, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite.l My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. 14 We raided the Negev of the Kerethites,m some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb.n And we burnedo Ziklag.”

15 David asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?”

He answered, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master,p and I will take you down to them.”

16 He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and revelingq because of the great amount of plunderr they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. 17 David foughts them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled.t 18 David recoveredu everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. 20 He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.”

21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhaustedv to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Valley. They came out to meet David and the men with him. As David and his men approached, he asked them how they were. 22 But all the evil men and troublemakers among David’s followers said, “Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go.”

23 David replied, “No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us. 24 Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike.w” 25 David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this.

26 When David reached Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, saying, “Here is a giftx for you from the plunder of the Lord’s enemies.”

27 David sent it to those who were in Bethel,y Ramothz Negev and Jattir;a 28 to those in Aroer,b Siphmoth,c Eshtemoad 29 and Rakal; to those in the towns of the Jerahmeelitese and the Kenites;f 30 to those in Hormah,g Bor Ashan,h Athak 31 and Hebron;i and to those in all the other places where he and his men had roamed.

Saul Takes His Life

31:1–13pp—2Sa 1:4–12; 1Ch 10:1–12

31 Now the Philistines fought against Israel; the Israelites fled before them, and many fell dead on Mount Gilboa.j 2 The Philistines were in hot pursuit of Saul and his sons,k and they killed his sons Jonathan,l Abinadab and Malki-Shua.m 3 The fighting grew fierce around Saul, and when the archers overtook him, they woundedn him critically.

4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through,o or these uncircumcisedp fellows will come and run me through and abuse me.”

But his armor-bearer was terrified and would not do it; so Saul took his own sword and fell on it. 5 When the armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him. 6 So Saul and his three sons and his armor-bearer and all his men diedq together that same day.

7 When the Israelites along the valley and those across the Jordan saw that the Israelite army had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their towns and fled. And the Philistines came and occupied them.

8 The next day, when the Philistinesr came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 They cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and they sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the newss in the temple of their idols and among their people.t 10 They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtorethsu and fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan.v

11 When the people of Jabesh Gileadw heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all their valiant menx marched through the night to Beth Shan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth Shan and went to Jabesh, where they burnedy them. 13 Then they took their bonesz and buried them under a tamariska tree at Jabesh, and they fastedb seven days.c

2 Samuel

David, a “man after God’s own heart,” forged the tribes of Israel into a strong nation during his forty-year reign as king. But after committing adultery and murder, he was haunted by family problems and national crises.