⁴ Then Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “May the king not sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial to you. ⁵ For he took his life in his hand and killed the Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great victory for all Israel; you saw it and rejoiced. Why then would you sin against innocent blood by killing David without a cause?” ⁶ Saul listened to Jonathan and swore [an oath], “As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” ⁷ So Jonathan called David and told him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was ^[a]in his presence [serving him] as previously.

⁸ Then there was war again, and David went out and fought with the Philistines and defeated them with a great slaughter, and they fled before him. ⁹ Then an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp with his hand. ¹⁰ Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he escaped from Saul’s presence, so that Saul only stuck the spear into the wall. Then David fled and escaped that night.

¹¹ Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch for him, so that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.”