David and Jonathan Become Friends

18 Saul decided to take David with him. He would not let David go back home to his father. After David finished talking with Saul, Jonathan developed a strong friendship with David.^{[a] 3} Jonathan loved David as much as himself, so they made a special agreement. ⁴ Jonathan took off the coat he was wearing and gave it to David. In fact, Jonathan gave David his whole uniform—including his sword, his bow, and even his belt.

Saul Notices David’s Success

⁵ David went to fight wherever Saul sent him. He was very successful, so Saul put him in charge of the soldiers. This pleased everyone, even Saul’s officers. ⁶ David would go out to fight against the Philistines. On the way home, after the battles, women in every town in Israel would come out to meet him. They sang and danced for joy as they played their tambourines and lyres. They did this right in front of Saul! ⁷ The women sang,

⁸ This song upset Saul and he became very angry. Saul thought, “The women give David credit for killing tens of thousands of the enemy, and they give me credit for only thousands. A little more of this and they will give him the kingdom itself!^[b]” ⁹ So from that time on, Saul watched David very closely.

Saul Is Afraid of David

¹⁰ The next day, an evil spirit from God took control of Saul and he went wild^[c] in his house. David played the harp to calm him as he usually did, ¹¹ but Saul had a spear in his hand. He thought, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” Saul threw the spear twice, but David jumped out of the way both times.

¹² The Lord had left Saul and was now with David, so Saul was afraid of David. ¹³ Saul sent David away and made him a commander over 1000 soldiers. This put David out among the men even more as they went into battle and returned. ¹⁴ The Lord was with David, so he was successful in everything. ¹⁵ Saul saw how successful David was and became even more afraid of him. ¹⁶ But all the people in Israel and Judah loved David because he was out among them and led them into battle.

Saul Wants His Daughter to Marry David

¹⁷ One day Saul said to David, “Here is my oldest daughter, Merab. I will let you marry her. Then you will be like a son to me and you will be a real soldier.^[d] Then you will go and fight the Lord’s battles.” Saul was really thinking, “Now I won’t have to kill David. I will let the Philistines kill him for me.”

¹⁸ But David said, “I am not an important man from an important family. I can’t marry the king’s daughter.”

¹⁹ So when the time came for David to marry Saul’s daughter, Saul let her marry Adriel from Meholah.

²⁰ People told Saul that his daughter Michal loved David. This made Saul happy. ²¹ He thought, “I will use Michal to trap David. I will let Michal marry David, and then I will let the Philistines kill him.” So Saul said to David a second time, “You can marry my daughter today.”

²² Saul commanded his officers to speak to David in private. He told them to say, “Look, the king likes you. His officers like you. You should marry his daughter.”

²³ Saul’s officers said these things to David, but David answered, “Do you think it is easy to become the king’s son-in-law? I am just a poor, ordinary man.”

²⁴ Saul’s officers told Saul what David said. ²⁵ Saul told them, “Say this to David, ‘David, the king doesn’t want you to pay money for his daughter.^[e] He wants to get even with his enemy, so the price for marrying his daughter is 100 Philistine foreskins.’” That was Saul’s secret plan. He thought the Philistines would kill David.

²⁶ Saul’s officers told this to David. David was happy that he had a chance to become the king’s son-in-law, so immediately ²⁷ he and his men went out to fight the Philistines. They killed 200^[f] Philistines. David took these Philistine foreskins and gave them to Saul. He did this because he wanted to become the king’s son-in-law.

Saul let David marry his daughter Michal. ²⁸ He saw that the Lord was with David and he also saw that his daughter, Michal, loved David. ²⁹ So Saul became even more afraid of David and was against him all that time.

³⁰ The Philistine commanders continued to go out to fight the Israelites, but David defeated them every time. He became famous as Saul’s best officer.

Jonathan Helps David

19 Saul told his son Jonathan and his officers to kill David. But Jonathan liked David very much, ^2-3 so he warned him. “Be careful! Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. In the morning go into the field and hide. I will go out into the field with my father. We will stand in the field where you are hiding. I will talk to my father about you, and I will tell you what I learn.”

⁴ Jonathan talked to his father Saul. Jonathan said good things about David. He said, “You are the king. David is your servant. David hasn’t done anything wrong to you, so don’t do anything wrong to him. He has always been good to you. ⁵ He risked his life when he killed the Philistine. The Lord won a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and you were happy. Why do you want to hurt David? He’s innocent. There is no reason to kill him.”

⁶ Saul listened to Jonathan and made a promise. He said, “As surely as the Lord lives, David won’t be put to death.”

⁷ So Jonathan called David and told him everything that was said. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.

Saul Tries Again to Kill David

⁸ Once again there was war with the Philistines, and David went out to fight. He defeated them badly, and they ran away. ⁹ Later, in Saul’s house, David was playing the harp. Saul was there with his spear in his hand. Then an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul. ¹⁰ Saul threw his spear at David and tried to pin him to the wall. David jumped out of the way, so the spear missed him and stuck in the wall. That night, David ran away.

¹¹ Saul sent men to watch David’s house. They stayed there all night. They were waiting to kill David in the morning, but David’s wife Michal warned him. She said, “You must run away tonight and save your life. If you don’t, you will be killed tomorrow.” ¹² Then Michal let David down out of a window, and he escaped and ran away. ¹³ Michal took the household god, put clothes on it, and put goats’ hair on its head. Then she put the statue in the bed.

¹⁴ Saul sent messengers to take David prisoner. But Michal said, “David is sick.”

¹⁵ The men went and told Saul, but he sent the messengers back to see David. Saul told these men, “Bring David to me. Bring him lying on his bed if you must, even if it kills him.”

¹⁶ The messengers went to David’s house. They went inside to get him, but they saw it was only a statue and that its hair was only goats’ hair.

¹⁷ Saul said to Michal, “Why did you trick me like this? You let my enemy escape, and now he is gone.”

Michal answered Saul, “David told me he would kill me if I didn’t help him escape.”

David Goes to the Camps at Ramah

¹⁸ David escaped and ran away to Samuel at Ramah. He told Samuel everything that Saul had done to him. Then David and Samuel went to the camps where the prophets stayed. David stayed there.

¹⁹ Saul heard that David was there in the camps near Ramah. ²⁰ So he sent some men to arrest David. But when they came to the camps, there was a group of prophets prophesying.^[g] Samuel was standing there leading the group. The Spirit of God came on Saul’s messengers and they began prophesying.

²¹ Saul heard about this, so he sent other messengers, but they also began prophesying. So Saul sent messengers a third time, and they also began prophesying. ²² Finally, Saul himself went to Ramah. Saul came to the big well by the threshing floor at Secu. He asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”

The people answered, “In the camps near Ramah.”

²³ So Saul went out to the camps near Ramah. The Spirit of God came on Saul, and he also began prophesying. He prophesied all the way to the camps at Ramah. ²⁴ Saul even took off his clothes. He lay there naked all day and through the night. So even Saul prophesied there in front of Samuel.

That is why people say, “Is Saul also one of the prophets?”