אֵת

“Whom shall I bring up for you?” the woman asked. “Bring up Samuel,” he replied.

But when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out in a loud voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”

Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am deeply distressed,” replied Saul. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.”

He has done exactly what He spoke through me: The LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor David.

Moreover, the LORD will deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. And the LORD will deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”

When the woman came to Saul and saw how distraught he was, she said to him, “Look, your maidservant has obeyed your voice. I took my life in my hands and did as you told me.

Now the Philistines brought all their forces together at Aphek, while Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel.

But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with Achish and told him, “Send that man back and let him return to the place you assigned him. He must not go down with us into battle only to become our adversary during the war. What better way for him to regain the favor of his master than with the heads of our men?

On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.

They had taken captive the women and all who were there, both young and old. They had not killed anyone, but had carried them off as they went on their way.

So David and the troops with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no strength left to weep.

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

…because two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the brook. But David and four hundred men continued in pursuit.

Now his men found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. They gave the man water to drink and food to eat—

We raided the Negev of the Cherethites, the territory of Judah, and the Negev of Caleb, and we burned down Ziklag.”

So David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives.

And he took all the flocks and herds, which his men drove ahead of the other livestock, calling out, “This is David’s plunder!”

When David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Brook of Besor, they came out to meet him and the troops with him. As David approached the men, he greeted them,

…but all the wicked and worthless men among those who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered, except for each man’s wife and children. They may take them and go.”

But David said, “My brothers, you must not do this with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiders who came against us.

The Philistines hotly pursued Saul and his sons, and they killed Saul’s sons Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua.

Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me!” But his armor-bearer was terrified and refused to do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it.

When the Israelites along the valley and those on the other side of the Jordan saw that the army of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons had died, they abandoned their cities and ran away. So the Philistines came and occupied their cities.

The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.

They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news in the temples of their idols and among their people.

They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan.

When the people of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,

…all their men of valor set out, journeyed all night, and retrieved the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. When they arrived at Jabesh, they burned the bodies there.

Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.

After the death of Saul, David returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days.

So David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”

For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”

Then David took up this lament for Saul and his son Jonathan,