1 Samuel 31 records the death of Saul and three of his sons on Mount Gilboa, the collapse of Israel's army before the Philistines, and the shame done to Saul's body afterward. The chapter closes the l

1 Samuel 30 tells how David and his six hundred men returned to Ziklag to find their town burned and their families carried off by Amalekite raiders. While his own men talked of stoning him, David str

1 Samuel 29 records the moment the Philistine commanders refuse to let David and his men join the battle against Israel. Achish, the Philistine king David has been serving, defends David's loyalty, bu

1 Samuel 28 records the night King Saul, terrified by the Philistine army and hearing nothing from God, disguises himself and asks a medium at Endor to bring up the prophet Samuel. Samuel does appear,

1 Samuel 27 tells how David, worn down by years of running from Saul, stopped trusting God's promise and took refuge among the Philistines. He settled in Gath under King Achish, asked for a country to

First Samuel 26 tells how David, once again hiding from Saul in the wilderness, slips into Saul's sleeping camp with Abishai and refuses to kill the king. Instead he takes Saul's spear and water jar a

1 Samuel 25 tells how Samuel dies and is buried, and then how David nearly destroys a wealthy fool named Nabal in a fit of vengeance. Nabal's wife Abigail intercepts David with food and a carefully re

First Samuel 24 tells how David, hiding in a cave at En Gedi, had a clear chance to kill King Saul and refused it. He cut off a corner of Saul's robe instead, then confronted Saul from a distance with

1 Samuel 23 follows David as a hunted man who keeps asking God what to do. He rescues the town of Keilah from Philistine raiders, then learns that the same town would hand him over to Saul. He flees i

1 Samuel 22 follows David from the cave of Adullam to the forest of Hereth, where a ragged company of about four hundred distressed and indebted men gathers around him. Saul, seated under a tamarisk t

1 Samuel 21 follows David as a fugitive from Saul, first to the priest Ahimelech at Nob, where he receives holy bread and Goliath's sword under a false cover story, and then to Gath, the Philistine ci

1 Samuel 20 tells how David, convinced Saul means to kill him, appeals to Jonathan for the truth and for protection. Jonathan tests his father at the new moon feast, discovers that Saul is determined