1 Samuel 26:5

Read in context

1 Samuel 26:3–7 · Berean Standard Bible

3 Saul camped beside the road at the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon, but David was living in the wilderness. When he realized that Saul had followed him there,

4 David sent out spies to verify that Saul had arrived.

5 Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the general of his army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the inner circle of the camp, with the troops camped around him.

6 And David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” “I will go with you,” answered Abishai.

7 That night David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the troops were lying around him.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Study 1 Samuel 26:5

Read the commentary on 1 Samuel 26

Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

1 Samuel 9:1

Now there was a Benjamite, a powerful man, whose name was Kish son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah of Benjamin.

1 Samuel 14:50

His wife’s name was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of the commander of his army was Abner, the son of Saul’s uncle Ner.

1 Samuel 14:51

Saul’s father Kish and Abner’s father Ner were sons of Abiel.

1 Samuel 17:55

As Saul had watched David going out to confront the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” “As surely as you live, O king,” Abner replied, “I do not know.”

2 Samuel 2:8

Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, took Saul’s son Ish-bosheth, moved him to Mahanaim,

2 Samuel 2:9

and made him king over Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin—over all Israel.

2 Samuel 2:10

Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned for two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David.

2 Samuel 2:11

And the length of time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

2 Samuel 2:12

One day Abner son of Ner and the servants of Ish-bosheth son of Saul marched out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

2 Samuel 3:7

Meanwhile, Saul had a concubine named Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. So Ish-bosheth questioned Abner, “Why did you sleep with my father’s concubine?”

2 Samuel 3:8

Abner was furious over Ish-bosheth’s accusation. “Am I the head of a dog that belongs to Judah?” he asked. “All this time I have been loyal to the house of your father Saul, to his brothers, and to his friends. I have not delivered you into the hand of David, but now you accuse me of wrongdoing with this woman!

2 Samuel 3:27

When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab pulled him aside into the gateway, as if to speak to him privately, and there Joab stabbed him in the stomach. So Abner died on account of the blood of Joab’s brother Asahel.

2 Samuel 3:33

And the king sang this lament for Abner: “Should Abner die the death of a fool?

2 Samuel 3:34

Your hands were not bound, your feet were not fettered. As a man falls before the wicked, so also you fell.” And all the people wept over him even more.

2 Samuel 3:35

Then all the people came and urged David to eat something while it was still day, but David took an oath, saying, “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun sets!”

2 Samuel 3:36

All the people took note and were pleased. In fact, everything the king did pleased them.

2 Samuel 3:37

So on that day all the troops and all Israel were convinced that the king had no part in the murder of Abner son of Ner.

2 Samuel 3:38

Then the king said to his servants, “Do you not realize that a great prince has fallen today in Israel?

1 Chronicles 9:39

Ner was the father of Kish, Kish was the father of Saul, and Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Esh-baal.

1 Samuel 17:20

So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp as the army was marching out to its position and shouting the battle cry.