Now David had run away and escaped. He went to Samuel in Ramah and told him everything that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.

When Saul was told that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, “God has delivered ¹  him into my hand, for he has boxed himself into a corner by entering a city with two barred gates.” ² 

So David and his men, who numbered about six hundred, set out and left Keilah; they moved around from one place to another. ¹  When told that David had escaped from Keilah, Saul called a halt to his expedition.

When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his house like that of the king. Nabal was having a good time ¹  and was very intoxicated. She told him absolutely nothing ²  until morning’s light.

When the woman came to Saul and saw how terrified he was, she said to him, “Your servant has done what you asked. ¹  I took my life into my own hands and did what you told me. ² 

Afterward David inquired of the Lord, “Should I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” The Lord told him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where should I go?” The Lord replied, ¹  “To Hebron.”

The men of Judah came and there they anointed David as king over the people ¹  of Judah. David was told, ²  “The people ³  of Jabesh Gilead are the ones who buried Saul.”

So David sent messengers to the people of Jabesh Gilead and told them, “May you be blessed by the Lord because you have shown this kindness ¹  to your lord Saul by burying him.

When Joab and all the army that was with him arrived, Joab was told: “Abner the son of Ner came to the king; he sent him away, and he left in peace!”

when someone told me that Saul was dead – even though he thought he was bringing good news ¹  – I seized him and killed him in Ziklag. That was the good news I gave to him!

for you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have told ¹  your servant, ‘I will build you a dynastic house.’ ²  That is why your servant has had the courage ³  to pray this prayer to you.

Messengers ¹  told David what had happened, ²  so he summoned them, for the men were thoroughly humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho ³  until your beards have grown again; then you may come back.”

The king told Joab, the general in command of his army, “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba and muster the army, so I may know the size of the army.”

Araunah told David, “My lord the king may take whatever he wishes ¹  and offer it. Look! Here are oxen for burnt offerings, and threshing sledges ²  and harnesses ³  for wood.

Solomon was told, “Look, Adonijah fears you; ¹  see, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘May King Solomon solemnly promise ²  me today that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’”

The king told him, “Do as he said! Strike him down and bury him. Take away from me and from my father’s family ¹  the guilt of Joab’s murderous, bloody deeds. ² 

Then he told Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces, for this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘Look, I am about to tear the kingdom from Solomon’s hand and I will give ten tribes to you.

Now there was an old prophet living in Bethel. ¹  When his sons came home, they told their father ²  everything the prophet ³  had done in Bethel that day and all the words he had spoken to the king. ⁴ 

Jeroboam’s wife did as she was told. She went to Shiloh and visited Ahijah. ¹  Now Ahijah could not see; he had lost his eyesight in his old age. ² 

Some time later, in the third year of the famine, the Lord told Elijah, ¹  “Go, make an appearance before Ahab, so I may send rain on the surface of the ground.”