³Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him just as he loved himself. ⁴Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David. He also gave him his military clothes. He even gave him his sword, his bow and his belt.

⁵David did everything Saul sent him to do. He did it so well that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. That pleased Saul’s whole army, including his officers.

⁶After David had killed Goliath, the men of Israel returned home. The women came out of all of the towns of Israel to meet King Saul. They danced and sang joyful songs. They played lutes and tambourines. ⁷As they danced, they sang,

“Saul has killed thousands of men.

David has killed tens of thousands.”

⁸That song made Saul very angry. It really upset him. He said to himself, “They are saying David has killed tens of thousands of men. But they are saying I’ve killed only thousands. The only thing left for him to get is the kingdom itself.” ⁹From that time on, Saul became very jealous of David. So he watched him closely.

¹⁰The next day an evil spirit that was sent by God came on Saul with power. Saul began to prophesy in his house. At that same time David began to play the harp, just as he usually did. Saul was holding a spear. ¹¹He threw it at David. As he did, he said to himself, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” But David got away from him twice.

¹²The Lord had left Saul and was with David. So Saul was afraid of David. ¹³He sent David away. He put him in command of 1,000 men. David led the troops in battle. ¹⁴In everything he did, he was very successful. That’s because the Lord was with him.

¹⁵When Saul saw how successful David was, he became afraid of him. ¹⁶But all of the troops of Israel and Judah loved David. That’s because he led them in battle.

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