Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you are really turning to the Lord with all your hearts, remove from among you the foreign gods and the images of Ashtoreth. ¹  Give your hearts to the Lord and serve only him. Then he will deliver you ²  from the hand of the Philistines.”

“At this time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin. You must consecrate ¹  him as a leader over my people Israel. He will save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have looked with favor on my people. Their cry has reached me!”

David thought to himself, ¹  “One of these days I’m going to be swept away by the hand of Saul! There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of searching for me through all the territory of Israel and I will escape from his hand.”

When he got home, ¹  he told his father and mother, “A Philistine girl in Timnah has caught my eye. ²  Now get her for my wife.”

Jonathan crawled up on his hands and feet, with his armor bearer following behind him. Jonathan struck down the Philistines, ¹  while his armor bearer came along behind him and killed them. ² 

So when David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul. He still had the head of the Philistine in his hand.

But the leaders of the Philistines became angry with him and said ¹  to him, “Send the man back! Let him return to the place that you assigned him! Don’t let him go down with us into the battle, for he might become ²  our adversary in the battle. What better way to please his lord than with the heads of these men? ³ 

¹ When Pharaoh released ²  the people, God did not lead them ³  by the way to the land ⁴  of the Philistines, ⁵  although ⁶  that was nearby, for God said, ⁷  “Lest ⁸  the people change their minds ⁹  and return to Egypt when they experience war.”

So they assembled ¹  all the leaders of the Philistines and asked, “What should we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They replied, “The ark of the God of Israel should be moved to Gath.” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.

So they assembled ¹  all the leaders of the Philistines and said, “Get the ark of the God of Israel out of here! Let it go back to its own place so that it won’t kill us ²  and our ³  people!” The terror ⁴  of death was throughout the entire city; God was attacking them very severely there. ⁵ 

David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, ¹  and he put Goliath’s ²  weapons in his tent.

when David, along with his men, went out ¹  and struck down two hundred Philistine men. David brought their foreskins and presented all of them to the king so he could become the king’s son-in-law. Saul then gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.

Neither man nor woman would David leave alive so as to bring them back to Gath. He was thinking, “This way they can’t tell on us, saying, ‘This is what David did.’” Such was his practice the entire time ¹  that he lived in the country of the Philistines.

I will set ¹  your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, ²  for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

Then the cows went directly on the road to Beth Shemesh. They went along, mooing as they went; they turned neither to the right nor to the left. The leaders of the Philistines were walking along behind them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.

Don’t be so happy, all you Philistines, just because the club that beat you has been broken! ¹  For a viper will grow out of the serpent’s root, and its fruit will be a darting adder. ² 

from the Shihor River ¹  east of ²  Egypt northward to the territory of Ekron (it is regarded as Canaanite territory), ³  including the area belonging to the five Philistine lords who ruled in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, as well as Avvite land ⁴ 

They inquired, “What is the guilt offering that we should send to him?” They replied, “The Philistine leaders number five. So send five gold sores and five gold mice, for it is the same plague that has afflicted both you and your leaders.

The gold mice corresponded in number to all the Philistine cities of the five leaders, from the fortified cities to hamlet villages, to greater Abel, ¹  where they positioned the ark of the Lord until this very day in the field of Joshua who was from Beth Shemesh.

Then one day Jonathan son of Saul said to his armor bearer, ¹  “Come on, let’s go over to the Philistine garrison that is opposite us.” But he did not let his father know.