Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man was an old man in the days of Saul, stricken [in years] among men.
David was the youngest; and the three eldest followed Saul.
Now David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
Jesse said to David his son, "Now take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry [them] quickly to the camp to your brothers;
David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the place of the wagons, as the army which was going forth to the fight shouted for the battle.
David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers.
As he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke according to the same words: and David heard them.
David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, "What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, "Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle."
David said, "What have I now done? Is there not a cause?"
When the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed them before Saul; and he sent for him.
David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."
Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."
David said to Saul, "Your servant was keeping his father's sheep; and when a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb out of the flock,
David said, "the LORD who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go; and the LORD shall be with you."
Saul dressed David with his clothing. He put a helmet of brass on his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail.
David strapped his sword on his clothing, and he tried to move; for he had not tested it. David said to Saul, "I can't go with these; for I have not tested them." David took them off.
The Philistine came on and drew near to David; and the man who bore the shield went before him.
When the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and withal of a fair face.
The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" The Philistine cursed David by his gods.
The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky, and to the animals of the field."
Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin: but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
It happened, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.
David put his hand in his bag, took a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and killed him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.
Then David ran, and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head therewith. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent.
When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the army, "Abner, whose son is this youth?" Abner said, "As your soul lives, O king, I can't tell."
As David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.
Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, you young man?" David answered, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."
It happened, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him, and gave it to David, and his clothing, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his sash.
David went out wherever Saul sent him, [and] behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.
It happened as they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music.
The women sang one to another as they played, and said, "Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands."
Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him; and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands. What can he have more but the kingdom?"
Saul eyed David from that day and forward.
It happened on the next day, that an evil spirit from God came mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house. David played with his hand, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand;
and Saul threw the spear; for he said, "I will pin David even to the wall!" David escaped from his presence twice.
Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul.
David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him.
But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them.
Saul said to David, "Behold, my elder daughter Merab, I will give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight the LORD's battles." For Saul said, "Don't let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him."
David said to Saul, "Who am I, and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?"
But it happened at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as wife.
Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David; and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.
Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David, "You shall this day be my son-in-law a second time."
Saul commanded his servants, "Talk with David secretly, and say, 'Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you: now therefore be the king's son-in-law.'"
Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, "Does it seems to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, since I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?"
The servants of Saul told him, saying, "David spoke like this."
Saul said, "You shall tell David, 'The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies.'" Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
When his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. The days were not expired;
and David arose and went, he and his men, and killed of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife.
Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David; and Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him.
Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul was David's enemy continually.
Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it happened, as often as they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was highly esteemed.
Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David.
Jonathan told David, saying, "Saul my father seeks to kill you. Now therefore, please take care of yourself in the morning, and live in a secret place, and hide yourself.
Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, "Don't let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you;
for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?"
Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as before.
There was war again. David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him.
An evil spirit from the LORD was on Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand.
Saul sought to pin David even to the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he stuck the spear into the wall. David fled, and escaped that night.
Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, "If you don't save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed."
So Michal let David down through the window. He went, fled, and escaped.
When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, "He is sick."
Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, "Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him."
Now David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and lived in Naioth.
It was told Saul, saying, "Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah."
Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came on the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked, "Where are Samuel and David?" One said, "Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah."
David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?"
David swore moreover, and said, "Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, 'Don't let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved:' but truly as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death."
Then Jonathan said to David, "Whatever your soul desires, I will even do it for you."
David said to Jonathan, "Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to dine with the king; but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening.
If your father miss me at all, then say, 'David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city; for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family.'
Then David said to Jonathan, "Who shall tell me if perchance your father answers you roughly?"
Jonathan said to David, "Come, and let us go out into the field." They both went out into the field.
Jonathan said to David, "the LORD, the God of Israel, [be witness]: when I have sounded my father about this time tomorrow, [or] the third day, behold, if there be good toward David, shall I not then send to you, and disclose it to you?
but also you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever; no, not when the LORD has cut off the enemies of David everyone from the surface of the earth."
So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "the LORD will require it at the hand of David's enemies."
Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had to him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat food.
The king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul's side: but David's place was empty.
It happened on the next day after the new moon, the second day, that David's place was empty. Saul said to Jonathan his son, "Why doesn't the son of Jesse come to eat, neither yesterday, nor today?"
Jonathan answered Saul, "David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem.
Saul cast his spear at him to strike him. By this Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death.
So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month; for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.
It happened in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy with him.
But the boy didn't know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
As soon as the boy was gone, David arose out of [a place] toward the South, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. They kissed one another, and wept one with another, and David wept the most.
Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, because we have both sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, 'the LORD shall be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever.'" He arose and departed; and Jonathan went into the city.
Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no man with you?"
David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, 'Let no man know anything of the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you; and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.'
The priest answered David, and said, "There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women."
David answered the priest, and said to him, "Truly, women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?"
David said to Ahimelech, "Isn't there here under your hand spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste."
The priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it; for there is no other except that here." David said, "There is none like that. Give it to me."
David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
The servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David the king of the land? Didn't they sing one to another about him in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?'"
David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
David therefore departed there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him.
David went there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother come out with you, until I know what God will do for me."
He brought them before the king of Moab; and they lived with him all the while that David was in the stronghold.
The prophet Gad said to David, "Don't stay in the stronghold. Depart, and go into the land of Judah." Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.
Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.
Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, "Who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and is taken into your council, and is honorable in your house?
The king said to the guard who stood about him, "Turn, and kill the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and didn't disclose it to me." But the servants of the king wouldn't put forth their hand to fall on the priests of the LORD.
One of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David.
Abiathar told David that Saul had slain the LORD's priests.
David said to Abiathar, "I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of all the persons of your father's house.
David was told, "Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors."
Therefore David inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go and strike these Philistines?" the LORD said to David, "Go strike the Philistines, and save Keilah."
David's men said to him, "Behold, we are afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?"
Then David inquired of the LORD yet again. the LORD answered him, and said, "Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand."
David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their livestock, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
It happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.
It was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. Saul said, "God has delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that has gates and bars."
Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.
David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here."
Then David said, "O the LORD, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.
Then David said, "Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?" the LORD said, "They will deliver you up."
Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. It was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he gave up going there.
David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God didn't deliver him into his hand.
David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the wood.
Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and went to David into the woods, and strengthened his hand in God.
They both made a covenant before the LORD: and David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his house.
Then the Ziphites came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, "Doesn't David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert?
They arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert.
Saul and his men went to seek him. When David was told, he went down to the rock, and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard [that], he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.
Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men surrounded David and his men to take them.
So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela Hammahlekoth.
David went up from there, and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.
It happened, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, "Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi."
Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats.
He came to the sheep pens by the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave.
The men of David said to him, "Behold, the day of which the LORD said to you, 'Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.'" Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul's robe secretly.
It happened afterward, that David's heart struck him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt.
So David checked his men with these words, and didn't allow them to rise against Saul. Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.
David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance.
David said to Saul, "Why do you listen to men's words, saying, 'Behold, David seeks your hurt?'
It came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, "Is this your voice, my son David?" Saul lifted up his voice, and wept.
He said to David, "You are more righteous than I; for you have done good to me, whereas I have done evil to you.
David swore to Saul. Saul went home; but David and his men went up to the stronghold.
Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, "Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name.
Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore, let the young men find favor in your eyes; for we come in a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand, to your servants, and to your son David.'"
When David's young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
Nabal answered David's servants, and said, "Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days.
So David's young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words.
David said to his men, "Every man put on his sword!" Every man put on his sword. David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David; and two hundred stayed by the baggage.
But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, "Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to Greet our master; and he railed at them.
It was so, as she rode on her donkey, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that behold, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them.
Now David had said, "Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good.
God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall."
When Abigail saw David, she hurried, and alighted from her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground.
David said to Abigail, "Blessed is the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me!
So David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he said to her, "Go up in peace to your house. Behold, I have listened to your voice, and have granted your request."
When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, "Blessed is the LORD, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. the LORD has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head." David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to him as wife.
When the servants of David had come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, "David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife."
Abigail hurried, and arose, and rode on a donkey, with five ladies of hers who followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife.
David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they both became his wives.
Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David's wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.
Most of the teaching of Jesus are recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Complete Sayings of Jesus presents every word spoken by Jesus in one place and provides an index to assist in finding specific ocassions, places and/or events. It is a must read aid for serious Bible study.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ; and they direct us to imitate his life and character. The Imitation of Christ is guide to following the example of Jesus Christ. Let it be our most earnest study to dwell upon the life and example of Jesus.
The Apocrypha books are 14 books that were included between the old and new testaments in the original King James Version of the bible and many others. Church leaders agreed that these books were valuable for instruction in life and manners, but did not all agree that they should be considered cannon.
The Childrens Bible provides bible lessons from the Old and New testaments. There are 216 stories written in plain english. The stories are easy to read and understand but they are not just for childern. It is a pleasure to read and enjoy these important stories.
Let us love one another, for love comes from God and every one who loves is a child of God and knows God. He who loves not man does not know God, for God is love. God showed his love for us, for he sent his only Son into the world that through him we might have life. Love the stranger.
In Mark 12:30 Jesus said;
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment.
And the second Mark 12:31 [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
The Gospel of The Birth of Mary was attributed to St. Matthew and was received as genuine and authentic by early Christians. It is to be found in the works of Jerome, a Father of the Church in the 4th century and is translated from his collection.
The Book of Enoch is ascribed to the great-grandfather of Noah and is included in the cannon of some churches. It describes the fall of the angels (watchers), visions of heaven and hell and the birth of Noah. Quotes from the book of Enoch are found in the New Testament.
The First Book of Adam and Eve. Books 1 begins immediately after the expulsion from the Garden of Eden. We learn about the fall but also of the promise to save Adam and his decendents. The story depicts mans struggle against evil, the devil and sin.
The Second Book of Adam and Eve. Discusses Adam's sorrow and death. The history of the patriarchs who lived before the Flood until the birth of Noah; the children of Seth on Mount Hermon and Cain's death. It ends with the testament and translation of Enoch.
The Infancy of Jesus Christ (Infancy Gospel of Thomas) relates the life of Jesus from the ages of five to twelve. It is believed that the document was transcribed from oral traditions some time prior to the second century. The ancient writing is possibly Gnostic and many early church leaders considered it heretical.
Daily Bible study is essential. The Bible Verse of the Day provides a collection of enlightening and inspiration bible verses. Improve your knowledge and understanding of the Bible and your life by studying the words of the holy scripture. Explore the King James Bible (kjv) and discover new insights.
The World English Bible was produced to provide speakers of modern English with a version of the Bible that is easily understood. The Bible is in the public domain and available world-wide. It is an accurate modern translation of the original King James Bible, including the Apocryphal books.
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