1. Once again, some people from Ziph went to Gibeah to talk with Saul. “David has a hideout on Mount Hachilah near Jeshimon out in the desert,” they told him.
2. Saul took three thousand of Israel's best soldiers and went to look for David there in Ziph Desert.
3. Saul set up camp on Mount Hachilah, which is across the road from Jeshimon. But David was hiding out in the desert.When David heard that Saul was following him,
4. he sent some spies to find out if it was true.
5. Then he sneaked up to Saul's camp. He noticed that Saul and his army commander Abner the son of Ner were sleeping in the middle of the camp, with soldiers sleeping all around them.
6. David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Joab's brother Abishai, “Which one of you will go with me into Saul's camp?”“I will!” Abishai answered.
7. That same night, David and Abishai crept into the camp. Saul was sleeping, and his spear was stuck in the ground not far from his head. Abner and the soldiers were sound asleep all around him.
8. Abishai whispered, “This time God has let you get your hands on your enemy! I'll pin him to the ground with one thrust of his own spear.”
9. “Don't kill him!” David whispered back. “The Lord will punish anyone who kills his chosen king.
10. As surely as the Lord lives, the Lord will kill Saul, or Saul will die a natural death or be killed in battle.