1 Samuel 16:14–23

¹⁴But ^zthe spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and ^aan evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. ¹⁵And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee. ¹⁶Let our lord now command thy servants which are ^bbefore thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on a harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall ^cplay with his hand, and thou shalt be well. ¹⁷And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. ¹⁸Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is cunning in playing, and ^da mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and ^ethe Lord is with him. ¹⁹Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son, ^fwhich is with the sheep. ²⁰And Jesse ^gtook an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son unto Saul. ²¹And David came to Saul, and ^hstood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armourbearer. ²²And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favour in my sight. ²³And it came to pass, when ⁱthe evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was ^krefreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

XVII.