1 Samuel 18:1–20:42
18 Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, athe 1soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, band Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 Saul took him that day, cand would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a dcovenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.
5 So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and 2behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. 6 Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the 3Philistine, that ethe women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. 7 So the women fsang as they danced, and said:
g“Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands.”
8 Then Saul was very angry, and the saying hdispleased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but ithe kingdom?” 9 So Saul 4eyed David from that day forward.
10 And it happened on the next day that jthe distressing spirit from God came upon Saul, kand he prophesied inside the house. So David lplayed music with his hand, as at other times; mbut there was a spear in Saul’s hand. 11 And Saul ncast the spear, for he said, “I will pin David to the wall!” But David escaped his presence twice.
12 Now Saul was oafraid of David, because pthe Lord was with him, but had qdeparted from Saul. 13 Therefore Saul removed him from 5his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and rhe went out and came in before the people. 14 And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and sthe Lord was with him. 15 Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him. 16 But tall Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.
17 Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab; uI will give her to you as a wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight vthe Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, w“Let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
18 So David said to Saul, x“Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?” 19 But it happened at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to yAdriel the zMeholathite as a wife.
20 aNow Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. 21 So Saul said, “I will give her to him, that she may 6be a snare to him, and that bthe hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time, c“You shall be my son-in-law today.”
22 And Saul commanded his servants, “Communicate with David secretly, and say, ‘Look, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become the king’s son-in-law.’ ”
23 So Saul’s servants spoke those words in the hearing of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?” 24 And the servants of Saul told him, saying, 7“In this manner David spoke.”
25 Then Saul said, “Thus you shall say to David: ‘The king does not desire any ddowry but one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take evengeance on the king’s enemies.’ ” But Saul fthought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. 26 So when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to become the king’s son-in-law. Now gthe days had not expired; 27 therefore David arose and went, he and hhis men, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. And iDavid brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full count to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as a wife.
28 Thus Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him; 29 and Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David’s enemy 8continually. 30 Then the princes of the Philistines jwent out to war. And so it was, whenever they went out, that David kbehaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name became highly esteemed.
19 Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill aDavid; but Jonathan, Saul’s son, bdelighted greatly in David. 2 So Jonathan told David, saying, “My father Saul seeks to kill you. Therefore please be on your guard until morning, and stay in a secret place and hide. 3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you. Then what I observe, I will tell cyou.”
4 Thus Jonathan dspoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Let not the king esin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you. 5 For he took his flife in his hands and gkilled the Philistine, and hthe Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. iWhy then will you jsin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?”
6 So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed.” 7 Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. So Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence kas in times past.
8 And there was war again; and David went out and fought with the Philistines, land struck them with a mighty blow, and they fled from him.
9 Now mthe distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing music with his hand. 10 Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul’s presence; and he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night.
11 nSaul also sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal olet David down through a window. And he went and fled and escaped. 13 And Michal took 1an image and laid it in the bed, put a cover of goats’ hair for his head, and covered it with clothes. 14 So when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”
15 Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 And when the messengers had come in, there was the image in the bed, with a cover of goats’ hair for his head. 17 Then Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this, and sent my enemy away, so that he has escaped?”
And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! pWhy should I kill you?’ ”
18 So David fled and escaped, and went to qSamuel at rRamah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. 19 Now it was told Saul, saying, “Take note, David is at Naioth in Ramah!” 20 Then sSaul sent messengers to take David. tAnd when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also uprophesied. 21 And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. 22 Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is at Sechu. So he asked, and said, “Where are Samuel and David?”
And someone said, “Indeed they are at Naioth in Ramah.” 23 So he went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then vthe Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 wAnd he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down xnaked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, y“Is Saul also among the prophets?”
20 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and went and said to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”
2 So Jonathan said to him, “By no means! You shall not die! Indeed, my father will do nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!”
3 Then David took an oath again, and said, “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But atruly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
4 So Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you.”
5 And David said to Jonathan, “Indeed tomorrow is the bNew Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may chide in the field until the third day at evening. 6 If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked permission of me that he might run over dto Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’ 7 eIf he says thus: ‘It is well,’ your servant will be safe. But if he is very angry, be sure that fevil is determined by him. 8 Therefore you shall gdeal kindly with your servant, for hyou have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. Nevertheless, iif there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?”
9 But Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I knew certainly that evil was determined by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you?”
10 Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me, or what if your father answers you roughly?”
11 And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So both of them went out into the …