⁵David went out whenever^d Saul sent him, and he succeeded. So Saul appointed him over the men of the war, and it pleased^e all the people and even pleased^f the servants of Saul. ⁶When they were coming back^g after David had returned from striking down the Philistine, the women went out from all the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tambourines, with joy, and with three-stringed instruments. ⁷And the women sang as they danced, and they said,

“Saul has struck down his thousands,

but David his ten thousands!”

⁸Saul became very angry,^h and this saying displeased him,ⁱ and he thought, “They have attributed to David ten thousands, but to me they have attributed thousands! What more can he have but the kingdom?”^j ⁹So Saul was watching^k David with suspicion from that day onward.

¹⁰On^l the next day, the evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied in the middle of the house. Now David was playing the lyre with his hand on that day as usual,^m and the spear was in Saul’s hand. ¹¹Then Saul hurled the spear and thought, “I will pin David to the wall.”ⁿ But David eluded him twice.

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Footnotes

dLiterally “in all that”
eLiterally “was good in the eyes of”
fLiterally “was good in the eyes of”
gLiterally “And it happened at their coming”
hLiterally “And it was very hot for Saul”
iLiterally “this thing was bad in his eyes”
jLiterally “And still for him is only the kingdom”
kThe Masoretic Hebrew text (Kethib) reads “sin”; the translation follows the reading tradition (Qere) which has “eyeing” or “watching”
lLiterally “And it happened from”
mLiterally “as day on day”
nLiterally “I will strike David and to the wall”