1 Samuel 24:3-11

3Saul came to the place near the road where the shepherds keep their sheep. There was a cave near to this place. Saul went in there to use it as a toilet. David and his men were hiding at the back of the same cave.

4David's men said to him, ‘This is the day that the Lord told you about! The Lord said to you, “I will give your enemy to you. Then you can decide what is the right thing to do to him.” ’ So David stood up very quietly. He went and he cut off a small piece of cloth from Saul's coat. Saul did not know what had happened.

5After that, David thought that he had done something wrong. He felt sorry that he had cut a piece of cloth from Saul's coat.

6David said to his men, ‘I ask the Lord to stop me doing anything wrong to my master. The Lord has chosen him to be Israel's king. I must never do anything to hurt him. He is the king that the Lord has chosen.’

7David spoke like this to stop his men from attacking Saul. Then Saul left the cave and he started to travel along the road.

8After that, David went out of the cave. He shouted to Saul, ‘My master and my king!’ Saul looked behind him. David went down on his knees with his face on the ground to respect the king.

9David said to Saul, ‘You should not listen to the people who say, “David wants to hurt you.”

10You can see that the Lord has kept you safe today when I had a chance to hurt you in the cave. Some of my men wanted me to kill you, but I did not agree. I said, “I will not hurt my master, because the Lord has chosen him to be king.”

11My father, look at what I have in my hand! It is a small piece of your coat. I cut this off the corner of your coat, but I did not kill you. So you must know that I do not want to do anything bad against you. I have not turned against you. I am not guilty of anything, but you are chasing after me so that you can kill me.