^18:5On every mission on which Saul sent him, David achieved success. So Saul appointed him over the men of war. This pleased not only all the army, but also Saul’s servants.⁶

^18:6When the men⁷ arrived after David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women from all the cities of Israel came out singing and dancing to meet King Saul. They were happy as they played their tambourines and three-stringed instruments.⁸^18:7The women who were playing the music sang,

“Saul has struck down his thousands,

but David his tens of thousands!”

^18:8This made Saul very angry. The statement displeased him and he thought,⁹ “They have attributed to David tens of thousands, but to me they have attributed only thousands. What does he lack, except the kingdom?” ^18:9So Saul was keeping an eye on David from that day onward.

^18:10The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul and he prophesied within his house. Now David was playing the lyre¹⁰ that day. There was a spear in Saul’s hand, ^18:11and Saul threw the spear, thinking, “I’ll nail David to the wall!” But David escaped from him on two different occasions.

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Footnotes

6 Heb “it was good in the eyes of all the people and also in the eyes of the servants of Saul.”
7 Heb “them.” The masculine plural pronoun apparently refers to the returning soldiers.
8 Heb “with tambourines, with joy, and with three-stringed instruments.”
9 Heb “said.” So also in vv. 11, 17.
10 The Hebrew text adds here “with his hand.”