1 Samuel 22

David at the Cave of Adullam

1 David therefore departed from there and a escaped b to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 c And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was 1 discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about d four hundred men with him.

3 Then David went from there to Mizpah of e Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and mother come here with you, till I know what God will do for me." 4 So he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. 5 Now the prophet f Gad said to David, "Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go to the land of Judah." So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.

Saul Kills the Priests at Nob

6 When Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered - now Saul was staying in g Gibeah under a tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants standing about him - 7 then Saul said to his servants who stood about him, "Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse h give every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? 8 "All of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who reveals to me that i my son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse; and there is not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day." 9 Then answered j Doeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said, "I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to k Ahimelech the son of l Ahitub. 10 m "And he inquired of the LORD for him, n gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine."

11 So the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests who were in Nob. And they all came to the king. 12 And Saul said, "Hear now, son of Ahitub!" He answered, "Here I am, my lord." 13 Then Saul said to him, "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day?" 14 So Ahimelech answered the king and said, "And who among all your servants is as o faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, who goes at your bidding, and is honorable in your house? 15 "Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king impute anything to his servant, or to any in the house of my father. For your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much." 16 And the king said, "You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all p your father's house!" 17 Then the king said to the guards who stood about him, "Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me." But the servants of the king q would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the LORD. 18 And the king said to Doeg, "You turn and kill the priests!" So Doeg the Edomite turned and 2 struck the priests, and r killed on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod. 19 s Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep - with the edge of the sword.

20 t Now one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, u escaped and fled after David. 21 And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the LORD's priests. 22 So David said to Abiathar, "I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the persons of your father's 3 house. 23 "Stay with me; do not fear. v For he who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me you shall be safe."

  1. Cross References
    Psalms 34:1
    I WILL bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
  2. Cross References
    Psalms 57:1
    Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by.
    Psalms 142:1
    I CRY out to the LORD with my voice; With my voice to the LORD I make my supplication.
  3. Cross References
    Joshua 12:15
    The king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one.
    Joshua 15:35
    Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah.
    2 Samuel 23:13
    Then three of the thirty chief men went down at harvest time and came to David at the cave of Adullam. And the troop of Philistines encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.
  4. Cross References
    Judges 11:3
    Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him.
  5. Cross References
    1 Samuel 25:13
    Then David said to his men, "Every man gird on his sword." So every man girded on his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And about four hundred men went with David, and two hundred stayed with the supplies.
  6. Cross References
    2 Samuel 8:2
    Then he defeated Moab. Forcing them down to the ground, he measured them off with a line. With two lines he measured off those to be put to death, and with one full line those to be kept alive. So the Moabites became David's servants, and brought tribute.
  7. Cross References
    2 Samuel 24:11
    Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying.
    1 Chronicles 21:9
    Then the LORD spoke to Gad, David's seer, saying.
    1 Chronicles 29:29
    Now the acts of King David, first and last, indeed they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer.
    2 Chronicles 29:25
    And he stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king's seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for thus was the commandment of the LORD by His prophets.
  8. Cross References
    1 Samuel 15:34
    Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul.
  9. Cross References
    1 Samuel 8:14
    And he will take the best of your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, and give them to his servants.
  10. Cross References
    1 Samuel 18:3
    Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
    1 Samuel 20:16
    So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "Let the LORD require it at the hand of David's enemies.
    1 Samuel 20:30
    Then Saul's anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, "You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?
  11. Cross References
    1 Samuel 21:7
    Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the LORD. And his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.
    1 Samuel 22:22
    So David said to Abiathar, "I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the persons of your father's house.
    Psalms 52:1
    Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually.
  12. Cross References
    1 Samuel 21:1
    Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid when he met David, and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no one is with you?
  13. Cross References
    1 Samuel 14:3
    Ahijah the son of Ahitub, Ichabod's brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the LORD's priest in Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. But the people did not know that Jonathan had gone.
  14. Cross References
    Numbers 27:21
    "He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the LORD for him by the judgment of the Urim. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, he and all the children of Israel with him - all the congregation."
    1 Samuel 10:22
    Therefore they inquired of the LORD further, "Has the man come here yet?" And the LORD answered, "There he is, hidden among the equipment.
  15. Cross References
    1 Samuel 21:6
    So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread which had been taken from before the LORD, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.
    1 Samuel 21:9
    So the priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it. For there is no other except that one here." And David said, " There is none like it; give it to me.
  16. Cross References
    1 Samuel 19:4
    Thus Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, "Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you.
    1 Samuel 19:5
    "For he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and the LORD brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?"
    1 Samuel 20:32
    And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, "Why should he be killed? What has he done?
    1 Samuel 24:11
    Moreover, my father, see! Yes, see the corner of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the corner of your robe, and did not kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you. Yet you hunt my life to take it.
  17. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 24:16
    Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin.
  18. Cross References
    Exodus 1:17
    But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive.
  19. Cross References
    1 Samuel 2:31
    Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house.
  20. Cross References
    Joshua 21:1 - 45
    Then the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel.
    1 Samuel 22:9
    Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said, "I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.
    1 Samuel 22:11
    So the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests who were in Nob. And they all came to the king.
  21. Cross References
    1 Samuel 23:6
    Now it happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, that he went down with an ephod in his hand.
    1 Samuel 23:9
    When David knew that Saul plotted evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring the ephod here.
    1 Samuel 30:7
    Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, "Please bring the ephod here to me." And Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
    1 Kings 2:26
    And to Abiathar the priest the king said, "Go to Anathoth, to your own fields, for you are deserving of death; but I will not put you to death at this time, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David, and because you were afflicted every time my father was afflicted.
    1 Kings 2:27
    So Solomon removed Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, that he might fulfill the word of the LORD which He spoke concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.
  22. Cross References
    1 Samuel 2:33
    But any of your men whom I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart. And all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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