10
The dispute became so violent that the commander, fearing that Sha'ul would be torn apart by them, ordered the soldiers to go down, take him by force and bring him back into the barracks.
11
The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage! For just as you have borne a faithful witness to me in Yerushalayim, so now you must bear witness in Rome."
12
The next day, some of the Judeans formed a conspiracy. They took an oath, saying they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Sha'ul;
13
more than forty were involved in this plot.
14
They went to the head cohanim and the elders and said, "We have bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food until we have killed Sha'ul
15
What you are to do is make it appear to the commander that you and the Sanhedrin want to get more accurate information about Sha'ul's case, so that he will bring him down to you; while we, for our part, are prepared to kill him before he ever gets here."
16
But the son of Sha'ul's sister got wind of the planned ambush, and he went into the barracks and told Sha'ul.
17
Sha'ul called one of the officers and said, "Take this man up to the commander; he has something to tell him."
18
So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, "The prisoner Sha'ul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you."
19
The commander took him by the hand, led him aside privately and asked, "What is it you have to tell me?
20
He said, "The Judeans have agreed to ask you tomorrow to bring Sha'ul down to the Sanhedrin on the pretext that they want to investigate his case more thoroughly.