Chronological Plan

¹In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, "Understand for certain that you and your men will go out with me to battle."

²David said to Achish, "All right, you shall know what your servant can do." So Achish said to David, "Therefore I will make you my bodyguard for life."

³Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and the spiritists (soothsayers) from the land.

⁴The Philistines assembled and came and camped at Shunem; and Saul gathered all the Israelites and they camped at Gilboa.

⁵When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid and badly shaken.

⁶So Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim [used like lots by the priest to determine the will of God] or by prophets.

⁷Then Saul said to his servants, "Find for me a woman who is a medium [between the living and the dead], so that I may go to her and ask her advice." His servants said to him, "There is a woman who is a medium at En-dor."

⁸So Saul disguised himself by wearing different clothes, and he left with two men, and they came to the woman at night. He said to her, "Conjure up for me, please, and bring up [from the dead] for me [the spirit] whom I shall name to you."

⁹But the woman said to him, "See here, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off (eliminated) those who are mediums and spiritists from the land. So why are you laying a trap for my life, to cause my death?"

¹⁰Then Saul swore [an oath] to her by the LORD, saying, "As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this."

¹¹So the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" He said, "Bring up Samuel for me."

¹²When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed with a loud voice; and she said to Saul, "Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!"

¹³The king said to her, "Do not be afraid; but [tell me] what do you see?" The woman said to Saul, "I see a divine [superhuman] being coming up from the earth."

¹⁴He said to her, "What is his appearance?" And she said, "An old man is coming up, wrapped in a robe." Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid respect [to him].

¹⁵Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" Saul answered, "I am greatly distressed; for the Philistines are making war against me, and God has left me and no longer answers me, either through prophets or by dreams; therefore I have called you to make known to me what I should do."

¹⁶Samuel said, "Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has left you and has become your enemy?

¹⁷The LORD has done [to you] just as He said through me [when I was with you]; for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David.

¹⁸Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD and did not execute His fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day.

¹⁹Moreover, the LORD will also put Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me [among the dead]. Indeed, the LORD will put the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines."

²⁰Then Saul immediately fell full length on the earth [floor of the medium's house], and was very afraid because of Samuel's words; and he was thoroughly exhausted because he had not eaten all day and all night.

²¹The woman came to Saul and saw that he was greatly troubled, and she said to him, "Look, your maidservant has obeyed you, and I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to everything you said to me.

²²So now, please listen to the voice of your maidservant, and let me set a piece of bread before you, and eat, so that you may have strength when you go on your way."

²³But he refused and said, "I will not eat." But his servants together with the woman urged him, and he [finally] listened to them. So he got up from the ground and sat on the bed.

²⁴The woman had a fattened calf in the house; she quickly killed it, and took flour, kneaded it and baked unleavened bread.

²⁵She brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they got up and went away that night.

¹Now the Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, while Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel.

²As the Philistine lords (governors) were proceeding on [marching] by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were proceeding on in the rear with Achish [the king of Gath],

³the Philistine commanders [having noticed David] said, "What are these Hebrews doing here?" Achish said to the Philistine commanders, "Is this not David, the servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me these days and years, and I have found no fault in him from the day he deserted to me to this day?"

⁴But the Philistine commanders were angry with Achish and they said to him, "Make this man return, so that he may go back to his place where you have assigned him, and do not let him go down to battle with us, or in the battle he may [turn and] become our adversary. For how could David reconcile himself to his lord [Saul]? Would it not be with the heads of these [Philistine] men?

⁵Is this not David, of whom they used to sing in dances, 'Saul killed his thousands, And David his ten thousands'?"

⁶Then Achish called David and said to him, "As the LORD lives, you have been upright (righteous), and your behavior in the army is pleasing in my sight. For from the day you came to me to this day I have found no evil in you. Nevertheless, the [Philistine] lords do not approve of you.

⁷So return now and go in peace [to your place], so that you do not displease the Philistine lords."

⁸David said to Achish, "But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day when I [first] came before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?"

⁹Achish answered David, "I know that you are blameless in my sight, like an angel of God; nevertheless the commanders of the Philistines have said, 'He must not go up with us to the battle.'

¹⁰So now, get up early in the morning with your master's servants who have come with you, and as soon as you are up in the morning and have light, leave."

¹¹So David and his men got up early to leave in the morning, to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel [to fight against Israel].

¹Now it happened when David and his men came [home] to Ziklag on the third day, [they found] that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev (the South country) and on Ziklag, and had overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire;

²and they had taken captive the women [and all] who were there, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off [to be used as slaves] and went on their way.

³When David and his men came to the town, it was burned, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.

⁴Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they were too exhausted to weep [any longer].

⁵Now David's two wives had been captured, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.

⁶Further, David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all of them were embittered, each man for his sons and daughters. But David felt strengthened and encouraged in the LORD his God.

⁷David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, "Please bring me the ephod." So Abiathar brought him the ephod.

⁸David inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I pursue this band [of raiders]? Will I overtake them?" And He answered him, "Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them, and you will certainly rescue [the captives]."

⁹So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor; there those [who could not continue] remained behind.

¹⁰But David pursued [the Amalekites], he and four hundred men, for two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor stayed behind.

¹¹They found an Egyptian [who had collapsed] in the field and brought him to David, and gave him bread and he ate, and they gave him water to drink,

¹²and they gave him a piece of a fig cake and two clusters of raisins; and when he had eaten, his energy returned, for he had not eaten bread or had any water to drink for three days and three nights.

¹³David said to him, "To whom do you belong, and where are you from?" He said, "I am a young man from Egypt, a servant of an Amalekite; and my master abandoned me [as useless] when I fell sick three days ago.

¹⁴We made a raid on the Negev of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire."

¹⁵Then David said to him, "Will you take me down to this band [of raiders]?" And he said, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or turn me over to the hand of my master, and I will bring you down to this band."

¹⁶When he brought David down, the Amalekites had disbanded and spread over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.

¹⁷Then David [and his men] struck them down [in battle] from twilight until the evening of the next day; and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode camels and fled.

¹⁸So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives.

¹⁹Nothing of theirs was missing whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken; David recovered it all.

²⁰So David captured all the flocks and herds [which the enemy had], and [the people] drove those animals before him and said, "This is David's spoil."

²¹David came to the two hundred men who were so exhausted that they could not follow him and had been left at the brook Besor [with the provisions]. They went out to meet David and the people with him, and when he approached the people, he greeted them.

²²Then all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David said, "Because they did not go with us, we will give them none of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may take his wife and children away and leave."

²³David said, "You must not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He has kept us safe and has handed over to us the band [of Amalekites] that came against us.

²⁴And who will listen to you in regard to this matter? For as is the share of him who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the provisions and supplies; they shall share alike."

²⁵So from that day forward he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

²⁶When David came to Ziklag, he sent part of the spoil to the elders of Judah, his friends, saying, "Here is a blessing (gift) for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD:

²⁷For those in Bethel, Ramoth of the Negev, Jattir,

²⁸Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa,

²⁹Racal, the cities of the Jerahmeelites, the cities of the Kenites,

³⁰Hormah, Bor-ashan, Athach,

³¹Hebron, and for [those elders in] all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to go."

¹Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

²The Philistines overtook Saul and his sons; and they killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua, Saul's sons.

³The battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was severely wounded by the archers.

⁴Saul said to his armor bearer, "Draw your sword and pierce me through with it, otherwise these uncircumcised [Philistines] will come and pierce me through and abuse and mock me." But his armor bearer would not, because he was terrified [of doing such a thing]. So Saul took his sword and fell on it.

⁵When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his sword and died with him.

⁶So Saul, his three sons, his armor bearer, and all his men died together on that day.

⁷When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley [of Jezreel], and those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the other men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; then the Philistines came and lived in them.

⁸The next day, when the Philistines came to plunder the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

⁹So they cut off Saul's head and stripped off his weapons and armor and sent them throughout the land of the Philistines, to bring the good news to the house of their idols and to the people.

¹⁰And they put Saul's weapons and armor in the temple of the Ashtaroth (female goddesses), and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.

¹¹When the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,

¹²all the brave men stood and walked all night, and they took the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and cremated them there.

¹³They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and fasted [as a sign of mourning and respect] for seven days.