Saul Resents David

18 Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, ^(A)the ^[a]soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, ^(B)and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. ² Saul took him that day, ^(C)and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore. ³ Then Jonathan and David made a ^(D)covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. ⁴ And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.

⁵ So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and ^[b]behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. ⁶ Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the ^[c]Philistine, that ^(E)the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. ⁷ So the women ^(F)sang as they danced, and said:

⁸ Then Saul was very angry, and the saying ^(H)displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but ^(I)the kingdom?” ⁹ So Saul ^[d]eyed David from that day forward.

¹⁰ And it happened on the next day that ^(J)the distressing spirit from God came upon Saul, ^(K)and he prophesied inside the house. So David ^(L)played music with his hand, as at other times; ^(M)but there was a spear in Saul’s hand. ¹¹ And Saul ^(N)cast the spear, for he said, “I will pin David to the wall!” But David escaped his presence twice.

¹² Now Saul was ^(O)afraid of David, because ^(P)the Lord was with him, but had ^(Q)departed from Saul. ¹³ Therefore Saul removed him from ^[e]his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and ^(R)he went out and came in before the people. ¹⁴ And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and ^(S)the Lord was with him. ¹⁵ Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him. ¹⁶ But ^(T)all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.

David Marries Michal

¹⁷ Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab; ^(U)I will give her to you as a wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight ^(V)the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, ^(W)“Let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

¹⁸ So David said to Saul, ^(X)“Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?” ¹⁹ But it happened at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to ^(Y)Adriel the ^(Z)Meholathite as a wife.

^20 (AA)Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. ²¹ So Saul said, “I will give her to him, that she may ^[f]be a snare to him, and that ^(AB)the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time, ^(AC)“You shall be my son-in-law today.”

²² And Saul commanded his servants, “Communicate with David secretly, and say, ‘Look, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become the king’s son-in-law.’ ”

²³ So Saul’s servants spoke those words in the hearing of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?” ²⁴ And the servants of Saul told him, saying, ^[g]“In this manner David spoke.”

²⁵ Then Saul said, “Thus you shall say to David: ‘The king does not desire any ^(AD)dowry but one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take ^(AE)vengeance on the king’s enemies.’ ” But Saul ^(AF)thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. ²⁶ So when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to become the king’s son-in-law. Now ^(AG)the days had not expired; ²⁷ therefore David arose and went, he and ^(AH)his men, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. And ^(AI)David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full count to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as a wife.

²⁸ Thus Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him; ²⁹ and Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David’s enemy ^[h]continually. ³⁰ Then the princes of the Philistines ^(AJ)went out to war. And so it was, whenever they went out, that David ^(AK)behaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name became highly esteemed.

Saul Persecutes David

19 Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill ^(A)David; but Jonathan, Saul’s son, ^(B)delighted greatly in David. ² So Jonathan told David, saying, “My father Saul seeks to kill you. Therefore please be on your guard until morning, and stay in a secret place and hide. ³ And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you. Then what I observe, I will tell ^(C)you.”

⁴ Thus Jonathan ^(D)spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Let not the king ^(E)sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you. ⁵ For he took his ^(F)life in his hands and ^(G)killed the Philistine, and ^(H)the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. ^(I)Why then will you ^(J)sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?”

⁶ So Saul heeded the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed.” ⁷ Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. So Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence ^(K)as in times past.

⁸ And there was war again; and David went out and fought with the Philistines, ^(L)and struck them with a mighty blow, and they fled from him.

⁹ Now ^(M)the distressing spirit from the Lord came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing music with his hand. ¹⁰ Then Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul’s presence; and he drove the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night.

^11 (N)Saul also sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” ¹² So Michal ^(O)let David down through a window. And he went and fled and escaped. ¹³ And Michal took ^[a]an image and laid it in the bed, put a cover of goats’ hair for his head, and covered it with clothes. ¹⁴ So when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”

¹⁵ Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” ¹⁶ And when the messengers had come in, there was the image in the bed, with a cover of goats’ hair for his head. ¹⁷ Then Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this, and sent my enemy away, so that he has escaped?”

And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! ^(P)Why should I kill you?’ ”

¹⁸ So David fled and escaped, and went to ^(Q)Samuel at ^(R)Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth.

The Assured Judgment of the Wicked

To the Chief Musician. Set to ^[a]“Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David ^(A)when Saul sent men, and they watched the house in order to kill him.

¹⁹ Now it was told Saul, saying, “Take note, David is at Naioth in Ramah!” ²⁰ Then ^(A)Saul sent messengers to take David. ^(B)And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also ^(C)prophesied. ²¹ And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. ²² Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is at Sechu. So he asked, and said, “Where are Samuel and David?”

And someone said, “Indeed they are at Naioth in Ramah.” ²³ So he went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then ^(D)the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ^24 (E)And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down ^(F)naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, ^(G)“Is Saul also among the prophets?”

David and the Holy Bread

21 Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And ^(A)Ahimelech was ^(B)afraid when he met David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”

² So David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you.’ And I have directed my young men to such and such a place. ³ Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found.”

⁴ And the priest answered David and said, “There is no ^[a]common bread on hand; but there is ^(C)holy^[b] bread, ^(D)if the young men have at least kept themselves from women.”

⁵ Then David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And ^[c]the ^(E)vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated ^(F)in the vessel this day.”

⁶ So the priest ^(G)gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread ^(H)which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.