5. Then David went to the place where Saul had camped. David saw the place where Saul and Ner’s son Abner, the commander of the army, were lying. Saul was lying in the camp, and the troops were camped around him.
6. David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai, who was Zeruiah’s son and Joab’s brother, “Who will go with me to Saul in the camp?”Abishai answered, “I’ll go with you.”
7. So David and Abishai went among ⌊Saul’s⌋ troops that night. Saul was lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him.
8. Abishai said to David, “Today God has turned your enemy over to you. Please let me nail him to the ground with one stab of the spear. I won’t have to do it twice!”
9. “Don’t kill him!” David told Abishai. “No one has ever attacked the Lord’s anointed king and remained free of guilt.
10. I solemnly swear, as the Lord lives,” David added, “the Lord will strike him. Either his time will come when he’ll die ⌊naturally⌋, or he’ll go into battle and be swept away.
11. It would be unthinkable for me to attack the Lord’s anointed king. But please take that spear near his head and that jar of water, and let’s go.”