Then Gad the prophet said to David, “Don’t stay in the stronghold. Go to the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

So David asked the Lord, “Should I go and strike down these Philistines?” The Lord said to David, “Go, strike down the Philistines and deliver Keilah.”

Saul and his men went to look for him. ¹  But David was informed and went down to the rock and stayed in the desert of Maon. When Saul heard about it, he pursued David in the desert of Maon.

David said to Saul, “Why do you pay attention when men say, ‘David is seeking to do you harm’?

David promised Saul this on oath. ¹  Then Saul went to his house, and David and his men went up to the stronghold.

he ¹  sent ten servants, ²  saying to them, ³  “Go up to Carmel to see Nabal and give him greetings in my name. ⁴ 

But Nabal responded to David’s servants, “Who is David, and who is this son of Jesse? This is a time when many servants are breaking away from their masters!

When Abigail saw David, she got down quickly from the donkey, threw herself down before David, and bowed to the ground.

So the servants of David went to Abigail at Carmel and said to her, “David has sent us to you to bring you back to be his wife.”

David settled with Achish in Gath, along with his men and their families. ¹  David had with him his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the Carmelite, Nabal’s widow.

Isn’t this David, of whom they sang as they danced, ¹  ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, but David his tens of thousands’?”

Then David said to the priest Abiathar son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

David took all the flocks and herds and drove them in front of the rest of the animals. People were saying, “This is David’s plunder!”

After the death of Saul, ¹  when David had returned from defeating the Amalekites, ²  he stayed at Ziklag ³  for two days.

However, the war was prolonged between the house of Saul and the house of David. David was becoming steadily stronger, while the house of Saul was becoming increasingly weaker.

When Abner, accompanied by twenty men, came to David in Hebron, David prepared a banquet for Abner and the men who were with him.

Then Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the well of Sirah. (But David was not aware of it.)

King Hiram of Tyre ¹  sent messengers to David, along with cedar logs, carpenters, and stonemasons. They built a palace ²  for David.

David married more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he arrived from Hebron. Even more sons and daughters were born to David.

Later David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. David took Metheg Ammah ¹  from the Philistines. ²