4 They whispered to David, “The Lord told you he was going to let you defeat your enemies and do whatever you want with them. This must be the day the Lord was talking about.”David sneaked over and cut off a small piece of Saul's robe, but Saul didn't notice a thing.
5 Afterwards, David was sorry that he had even done that,
6-7 and he told his men, “Stop talking foolishly. We're not going to attack Saul. He's my king, and I pray that the Lord will keep me from doing anything to harm his chosen king.”Saul left the cave and started down the road.
8 Soon, David also got up and left the cave. “Your Majesty!” he shouted from a distance.Saul turned around to look. David bowed down very low
9 and said:Your Majesty, why do you listen to people who say that I'm trying to harm you?
10 You can see for yourself that the Lord gave me the chance to catch you in the cave today. Some of my men wanted to kill you, but I wouldn't let them do it. I told them, “I will not harm the Lord's chosen king!”
11 Your Majesty, look at what I'm holding. You can see that it's a piece of your robe. If I could cut off a piece of your robe, I could have killed you. But I let you live, and that should prove I'm not trying to harm you or to rebel. I haven't done anything to you, and yet you keep trying to ambush and kill me.