1. Some men from Ziph came to Saul at Gibeah and told him that David was hiding on Mount Hachilah at the edge of the Judean wilderness.
2. Saul went at once with 3,000 of the best soldiers in Israel to the wilderness of Ziph to look for David,
3. and camped by the road on Mount Hachilah. David was still in the wilderness, and when he learnt that Saul had come to look for him,
4. he sent spies and found out that Saul was indeed there.
5. He went at once and located the exact place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, slept. Saul slept inside the camp, and his men camped round him.
6. Then David asked Ahimelech the Hittite, and Abishai the brother of Joab (their mother was Zeruiah), “Which of you two will go to Saul's camp with me?”“I will,” Abishai answered.
7. So that night David and Abishai entered Saul's camp and found Saul sleeping in the centre of the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the troops were sleeping round him.
8. Abishai said to David, “God has put your enemy in your power tonight. Now let me plunge his own spear through him and pin him to the ground with just one blow — I won't have to strike twice!”
9. But David said, “You must not harm him! The Lord will certainly punish whoever harms his chosen king.
10. By the living Lord,” David continued, “I know that the Lord himself will kill Saul, either when his time comes to die a natural death or when he dies in battle.
11. The Lord forbid that I should try to harm the one whom the Lord has made king! Let's take his spear and his water jar, and go.”