1 Samuel 17:55–18:5

⁵⁵When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.”^{* 56}The king said, “Inquire whose son the young man is.” ⁵⁷On David’s return from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand.^{* 58}Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”^*

Jonathan’s Covenant with David

¹⁸When David^a had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.^{* 2}Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.^{* 3}Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul. ⁴Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing and gave it to David and his armor and even his sword and his bow and his belt. ⁵David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him; as a result, Saul set him over the army. And all the people, even the servants of Saul, approved.