1 Samuel 24:1-7

David Spares Saul’s Life

24:1 (24:2) When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, they told him, “Look, David is in the desert of En Gedi.” 24:2 So Saul took three thousand select men from all Israel and went to find ¹  David and his men in the region of ²  the rocks of the mountain goats. ³  24:3 He came to the sheepfolds by the road, where there was a cave. Saul went into it to relieve himself. ⁴ 

Now David and his men were sitting in the recesses of the cave. 24:4 David’s men said to him, “This is the day about which the Lord said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hand, and you can do to him whatever seems appropriate to you.’” ⁵  So David got up and quietly cut off an edge of Saul’s robe. 24:5 Afterward David’s conscience bothered him ⁶  because he had cut off an edge of Saul’s robe. 24:6 He said to his men, “May the Lord keep me far away from doing such a thing to my lord, who is the Lord’s chosen one, ⁷  by extending my hand against him. After all, ⁸  he is the Lord’s chosen one.” ⁹  24:7 David restrained his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. Then Saul left the cave and started down ¹⁰  the road.

[24:2]  ¹ tn Heb “to search [for].”

[24:2]  ² tn Heb “upon the face of.”

[24:2]  ³ tn Or “the region of the Rocks of the Mountain Goats,” if this expression is understood as a place name (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV, TEV, CEV).

[24:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “to cover his feet,” an idiom (euphemism) for relieving oneself (cf. NAB “to ease nature”).

[24:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “is good in your eyes.”

[24:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “the heart of David struck him.”

[24:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “anointed.”

[24:6]  ⁸ tn Or “for.”

[24:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “anointed.”

[24:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “went on.”