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 ^(AL)David; but Jonathan, Saul’s son, ^(AM)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 ^(AN)you.”

⁴ Thus Jonathan ^(AO)spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Let not the king ^(AP)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 ^(AQ)life in his hands and ^(AR)killed the Philistine, and ^(AS)the Lord brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. ^(AT)Why then will you ^(AU)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 ^(AV)as in times past.

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

⁹ Now ^(AX)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 (AY)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 ^(AZ)let David down through a window. And he went and fled and escaped. ¹³ And Michal took ^[i]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! ^(BA)Why should I kill you?’ ”

¹⁸ So David fled and escaped, and went to ^(BB)Samuel at ^(BC)Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. ¹⁹ Now it was told Saul, saying, “Take note, David is at Naioth in Ramah!” ²⁰ Then ^(BD)Saul sent messengers to take David. ^(BE)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 ^(BF)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 ^(BG)the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ^24 (BH)And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down ^(BI)naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, ^(BJ)“Is Saul also among the prophets?”

The Just Judgment of the Wicked

To the Chief Musician. Set to ^[a]“Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David.

He Is Risen^(A)

24 Now ^(B)on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, ^[a]and certain other women with them, came to the tomb ^(C)bringing the spices which they had prepared. ^2 (D)But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. ^3 (E)Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ And it happened, as they were ^[b]greatly perplexed about this, that ^(F)behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. ⁵ Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but is risen! ^(G)Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, ⁷ saying, ‘The Son of Man must be ^(H)delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ”

⁸ And ^(I)they remembered His words. ^9 (J)Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ It was Mary Magdalene, ^(K)Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. ^11 (L)And their words seemed to them like ^[c]idle tales, and they did not believe them. ^12 (M)But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths ^[d]lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.

The Road to Emmaus^(N)

^13 (O)Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was ^[e]seven miles from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ And they talked together of all these things which had happened. ¹⁵ So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that ^(P)Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. ¹⁶ But ^(Q)their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

¹⁷ And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you ^[f]walk and are sad?”

¹⁸ Then the one ^(R)whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”

¹⁹ And He said to them, “What things?”

So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, ^(S)who was a Prophet ^(T)mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ^20 (U)and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. ²¹ But we were hoping ^(V)that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. ²² Yes, and ^(W)certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. ²³ When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. ²⁴ And ^(X)certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”

²⁵ Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! ^26 (Y)Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His ^(Z)glory?” ²⁷ And beginning at ^(AA)Moses and ^(AB)all the Prophets, He ^[g]expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

The Disciples’ Eyes Opened

²⁸ Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and ^(AC)He ^[h]indicated that He would have gone farther. ²⁹ But ^(AD)they constrained Him, saying, ^(AE)“Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

³⁰ Now it came to pass, as ^(AF)He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

³² And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” ³³ So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, ³⁴ saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and ^(AG)has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵ And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was ^[i]known to them in the breaking of bread.