1 Samuel 24

²⁸So Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why that place is called Sela-hammahlekoth.

²⁹And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En-gedi.

¹²If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.

³They delight the king with their evil, and the princes with their lies.

¹⁹Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon?

⁹Among you are slanderous men bent on bloodshed; within you are those who eat on the mountain shrines and commit acts of indecency.

⁵Remove the wicked from the king’s presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.

²So Saul, accompanied by three thousand chosen men of Israel, went down to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there.

⁶When their rulers are thrown down from the cliffs, the people will listen to my words, for they are pleasant.

¹⁸The high mountains are for the wild goats, the cliffs a refuge for the rock badgers.

²He chose for himself three thousand men of Israel: Two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin. And the rest of the troops he sent away, each to his own home.

¹²Those who seek my life lay snares; those who wish me harm speak destruction, plotting deceit all day long.

³²Though the wicked lie in wait for the righteous, and seek to slay them,

²⁴After Ehud was gone, Eglon’s servants came in and found the doors of the upper room locked. “He must be relieving himself in the cool room,” they said.

¹A Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A prayer. I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift my voice to the Lord for mercy.

²I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him.

¹For the choirmaster. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A Miktam of David, when he fled from Saul into the cave. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy, for in You my soul takes refuge. In the shadow of Your wings I will take shelter until the danger has passed.

²I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me.

⁶When their rulers are thrown down from the cliffs, the people will listen to my words, for they are pleasant.

⁸Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!”

⁹But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can extend a hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?”

²³May the Lord repay every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. For the Lord delivered you into my hand today, but I would not extend my hand against the Lord’s anointed.

¹⁰Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the Lord delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my lord, since he is the Lord’s anointed.’

²⁸Please forgive your servant’s offense, for the Lord will surely make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because he fights the Lord’s battles. May no evil be found in you as long as you live.

²⁹And should someone pursue you and seek your life, then the life of my lord will be bound securely by the Lord your God in the bundle of the living. But He shall fling away the lives of your enemies like stones from a sling.

¹⁸And you have declared this day how you have treated me well, for when the Lord delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.

¹⁷saying, “Do not be afraid, for my father Saul will never lay a hand on you. And you will be king over Israel, and I will be your second-in-command. Even my father Saul knows this is true.”

¹⁰After David had numbered the troops, his conscience was stricken and he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O Lord, I beg You to take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”

⁹Why then have you despised the command of the Lord by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own. You have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.

²⁰Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.

²¹Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,

¹⁹because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its people, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the Lord.

¹⁴So David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the Lord’s anointed?”

¹⁴Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse.

²⁹If I have rejoiced in my enemy’s ruin, or exulted when evil befell him—

³⁰I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—

⁹But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can extend a hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?”

¹⁰David added, “As surely as the Lord lives, the Lord Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.

¹⁵Make sure that no one repays evil for evil. Always pursue what is good for one another and for all people.

⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

⁴if I have rewarded my ally with evil, if I have plundered my foe without cause,

⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody.

¹⁸If it is possible on your part, live at peace with everyone.

³³Blessed is your discernment, and blessed are you, because today you kept me from bloodshed and from avenging myself by my own hand.

²³When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off the donkey, fell facedown, and bowed before him.

²⁴She fell at his feet and said, “My lord, may the blame be on me alone, but please let your servant speak to you; hear the words of your servant.

¹⁷Then Saul recognized David’s voice and asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” “It is my voice, my lord and king,” David said.

⁷Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

⁴¹When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone, fell facedown, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept together—though David wept more.

³Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,

¹²Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

²¹Do not pay attention to every word that is spoken, or you may hear your servant cursing you.

²²For you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others.

¹²If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.

⁵Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; the one with haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not endure.

¹⁹Now please, may my lord the king hear the words of his servant: If the Lord has stirred you up against me, then may He accept an offering. But if men have done it, may they be cursed in the presence of the Lord! For today they have driven me away from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’

⁸The words of a gossip are like choice morsels that go down into the inmost being.

⁶The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

⁴So David’s men said to him, “This is the day about which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do with him as you wish.’” Then David crept up and stealthily cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.

¹⁵“Do not touch My anointed ones! Do no harm to My prophets!”

⁸Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!”

⁹But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can extend a hand against the Lord’s anointed and be guiltless?”

²⁰So do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the Lord. For the king of Israel has come out to look for a flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

²³Observe and find out all the places where he hides. Then come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the clans of Judah.”

¹⁴And David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God would not deliver David into his hand.

¹⁸And he continued, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done? What evil is in my hand?

¹³Naaman’s servants, however, approached him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’?”

²⁵But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’

¹Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; deliver me from deceitful and unjust men.

²⁷I have not sinned against you, but you have done me wrong by waging war against me. May the Lord, the Judge, decide today between the Israelites and the Ammonites.”

¹Of David. Contend with my opponents, O Lord; fight against those who fight against me.

⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I delivered my servant into your arms, and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me.”

¹⁹Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

⁸However, if I were you, I would appeal to God and lay my cause before Him—

²⁰So then, by their fruit you will recognize them.

¹⁶By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

¹⁷Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

³³Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit.

³⁴You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.

²⁰So do not let my blood fall to the ground far from the presence of the Lord. For the king of Israel has come out to look for a flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

⁸Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog like me?”

⁴³“Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁹Then Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head!”

⁸Abner was furious over Ish-bosheth’s accusation. “Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah?” he asked. “All this time I have been loyal to the house of your father Saul, to his brothers, and to his friends. I have not delivered you into the hand of David, but now you accuse me of wrongdoing with this woman!

¹Then the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, “Why have you done this to us? Why did you fail to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they contended with him violently.

²But Gideon answered them, “Now what have I accomplished compared to you? Are not the gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?

¹Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; deliver me from deceitful and unjust men.

¹Of David. Contend with my opponents, O Lord; fight against those who fight against me.

¹⁵⁴Defend my cause and redeem me; revive me according to Your word.

¹²May the Lord judge between you and me, and may the Lord take vengeance on you, but my hand will never be against you.

⁹Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the Lord, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.

²²Thus King Joash failed to remember the kindness that Zechariah’s father Jehoiada had extended to him. Instead, Joash killed Jehoiada’s son. As he lay dying, Zechariah said, “May the Lord see this and call you to account.”

¹⁷Then Saul recognized David’s voice and asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” “It is my voice, my lord and king,” David said.

¹⁰but they could not stand up to his wisdom or the Spirit by whom he spoke.

¹⁵For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.

¹A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

⁴Esau, however, ran to him and embraced him, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. And they both wept.

²⁵How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove?

⁴⁴But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

²¹Then Saul replied, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. I will never harm you again, because today you considered my life precious. I have played the fool and have committed a grave error!”

²⁶Judah recognized the items and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not have relations with her again.

²⁰On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

⁴“I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.”

⁶He will bring forth your righteousness like the dawn, your justice like the noonday sun.

²³May the Lord repay every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. For the Lord delivered you into my hand today, but I would not extend my hand against the Lord’s anointed.

¹²So David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” “They will,” said the Lord.

⁷When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.”

⁸Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!”

¹⁰Behold, this day you have seen with your own eyes that the Lord delivered you into my hand in the cave. I was told to kill you, but I spared you and said, ‘I will not lift my hand against my lord, since he is the Lord’s anointed.’

⁸You have not delivered me to the enemy; You have set my feet in the open.

²¹If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.

²²For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

²⁵Saul said to him, “May you be blessed, David my son. You will accomplish great things and will surely prevail.” So David went on his way, and Saul returned home.

²⁰The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness; He has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.

²said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have the silver here with me; I took it.” Then his mother said, “Blessed be my son by the Lord!”

²¹“May you be blessed by the Lord,” replied Saul, “for you have had compassion on me.

¹⁷saying, “Do not be afraid, for my father Saul will never lay a hand on you. And you will be king over Israel, and I will be your second-in-command. Even my father Saul knows this is true.”

³When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

⁴And when he had assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.

¹⁷Now Abner conferred with the elders of Israel and said, “In the past you sought David as your king.

¹⁸Now take action, because the Lord has said to David, ‘Through My servant David I will save My people Israel from the hands of the Philistines and of all their enemies.’”

¹⁴But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought a man after His own heart and appointed him ruler over His people, because you have not kept the command of the Lord.”

¹⁶When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.

²⁵For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty,

²³Now, therefore, swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or descendants. Show to me and to the country in which you reside the same kindness that I have shown to you.”

⁶let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.” “I will give them to you,” said the king.

⁷Now the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the Lord between David and Jonathan son of Saul.

¹⁴And as long as I live, treat me with the Lord’s loving devotion, that I may not die,

¹⁵and do not ever cut off your loving devotion from my household—not even when the Lord cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”

⁵³May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

¹⁶Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and their oath serves as a confirmation to end all argument.

⁴⁸Then Laban declared, “This mound is a witness between you and me this day.” Therefore the place was called Galeed.

²⁹And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of En-gedi.

¹⁶Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

¹⁷But beware of men, for they will hand you over to their councils and flog you in their synagogues.

²⁴But Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, for He knew them all.

²⁴A hateful man disguises himself with his speech, but he lays up deceit in his heart.

²⁵When he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart.