¹² Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, also defeated eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt.^(A)

⁶ David asked Ahimelech the Hittite, and Abishai, son of Zeruiah and brother of Joab, “Who will go down into the camp with me to Saul?” Abishai replied, “I will.”^{(A) 7} So David and Abishai reached Saul’s soldiers by night, and there was Saul lying asleep within the camp, his spear thrust into the ground at his head and Abner and his troops sleeping around him.

⁸ Abishai whispered to David: “God has delivered your enemy into your hand today. Let me nail him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I will not need to strike him twice!”^{(B) 9} But David said to Abishai, “Do not harm him, for who can lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed and remain innocent? ¹⁰ As the Lord lives,” David declared, “only the Lord can strike him: either when the time comes for him to die, or when he goes out and perishes in battle.^[a](C)

⁹ Abishai, son of Zeruiah, said to the king: “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and take off his head.”^(A)

² David then divided the troops three ways, a third under Joab, a third under Abishai, son of Zeruiah and brother of Joab, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the troops, “I intend to go out with you myself.”

¹⁷ but Abishai, son of Zeruiah, came to help him, and struck and killed the Philistine. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must not go out to battle with us again, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”^(A)