1 Samuel 26:1-9 ▼

1 And the Ziphites come to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding himself in the height of Hachilah, on the front of the desert?”

2 And Saul rises, and goes down to the wilderness of Ziph, and with him [are] three thousand men, chosen ones of Israel, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

3 And Saul encamps in the height of Hachilah, which [is] on the front of the desert, by the way, and David is abiding in the wilderness, and he sees that Saul has come into the wilderness after him;

4 and David sends spies, and knows that Saul has come to Nachon,

5 and David rises, and comes to the place where Saul has encamped, and David sees the place where Saul has lain, and Abner son of Ner, head of his host, and Saul is lying in the path, and the people are encamping around him.

6 And David answers and says to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai son of Zeruiah, brother of Joab, saying, “Who goes down with me to Saul, to the camp?” And Abishai says, “I go down with you.”

7 And David comes—and Abishai—by night to the people, and behold, Saul is lying sleeping in the path, and his spear is pressed into the earth by his pillow, and Abner and the people are lying around him.

8 And Abishai says to David, “God has shut up your enemy into your hand today; and now, please let me strike him with [the] spear, even into the earth, at once—and not repeat [it] to him.”

9 And David says to Abishai, “Do not destroy him; for who has put forth his hand against the anointed of YHWH and been acquitted?”