David Escapes from Saul

19 Then Saul spoke with Jonathan his son and all his servants ^(A)to put David to death. But ^(B)Jonathan, Saul’s son, greatly delighted in David. ² So Jonathan told David saying, “Saul my father is seeking to put you to death. So now, please be careful in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 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; ^(C)what I ^[a]perceive, I will tell you.” ⁴ Then Jonathan ^(D)spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “^(E)Do not let the king sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his works have been very good for you. ⁵ For ^(F)he took his life in his hand and struck the Philistine, and ^(G)Yahweh brought about a great salvation for all Israel; you saw it and were glad. ^(H)Why then will you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death without a cause?” ⁶ And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.” ⁷ Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these words. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as ^(I)formerly.

⁸ Then there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great slaughter, so that they fled before him. ⁹ Now there was ^(J)an evil spirit from Yahweh on Saul as he was sitting in his house ^(K)with his spear in his hand, ^(L)and David was playing the harp with his hand. ^10 (M)And Saul tried to ^[b]pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, so that he ^[c]stuck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

¹¹ Then ^(N)Saul sent messengers to David’s house to keep watch over him, in order to put him to death in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you do not make an escape for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death.” ^12 (O)So Michal let David down through a window, and he went out and fled and escaped. ¹³ Then Michal took ^(P)the ^[d]household idol and laid it on the bed and put a quilt of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with clothes. ¹⁴ Then Saul sent messengers to take David, but she said, “^(Q)He is sick.” ¹⁵ So Saul sent messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me on ^[e]his bed, that I may put him to death.” ¹⁶ The messengers came, and behold, the ^[f]household idol was on the bed with the quilt of goats’ hair at its head. ¹⁷ So Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal said to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! ^(R)Why should I put you to death?’”

¹⁸ Now David fled and escaped and came ^(S)to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in ^(T)Naioth. ¹⁹ And it was told to Saul, saying, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” ²⁰ Then ^(U)Saul sent messengers to take David, but they saw ^(V)the company of the prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing and presiding over them. And the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul; and ^(W)they also prophesied. ²¹ This was told to Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. So Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. ²² Then he himself went to Ramah and came as far as the large well that is in Secu; and he asked and said, “Where are Samuel and David?” And someone said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.” ²³ So he went there, to Naioth in Ramah; and ^(X)the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he went along prophesying continually until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ²⁴ He also stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and ^[g]lay down ^[h](Y)naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “^(Z)Is Saul also among the prophets?”

Concerning Marriage and Singleness

7 Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is ^(A)good for a man not to touch a woman. ² But because of sexual immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. ³ The husband must ^[a]fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband. ⁴ The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. ^5 (B)Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and ^[b]come together again so that ^(C)Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. ⁶ But this I say as a concession, ^(D)not as a command. ^7 [c]Yet I wish that all men were ^(E)even as I myself am. However, ^(F)each man has his own gift from God, one this way, and another that.

⁸ But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is ^(G)good for them if they remain ^(H)even as I. ⁹ But if they do not have self-control, ^(I)let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

¹⁰ But to the married I give instructions, ^(J)not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not ^[d]leave her husband ¹¹ (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not ^[e]divorce his wife.

¹² But to the rest ^(K)I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not ^[f]divorce her. ¹³ And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not divorce her husband. ¹⁴ For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through ^[g]her believing husband. For otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are ^(L)holy. ¹⁵ Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave. The brother or the sister is not enslaved in such cases, but God has called ^[h]us ^[i](M)to peace. ¹⁶ For how do you know, O wife, whether you will ^(N)save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?

¹⁷ Only, ^(O)as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And ^(P)so I direct in ^(Q)all the churches. ¹⁸ Was any man called when he was already circumcised? He is not to become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? ^(R)He is not to be circumcised. ^19 (S)Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is ^(T)the keeping of the commandments of God. ^20 (U)Each man must remain in that ^[j]condition in which he was called.

²¹ Were you called while a slave? ^[k]Do not worry about it. But if you are able also to become free, rather ^[l]do that. ²² For he who was called in the Lord while a slave, is ^(V)the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who was called while free, is ^(W)Christ’s slave. ^23 (X)You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. ²⁴ Brothers, ^(Y)each one is to remain with God in that condition in which he was called.

²⁵ Now concerning virgins I have ^(Z)no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who ^[m](AA)by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy. ²⁶ I think then that this is good because of the ^[n]present ^(AB)distress, that ^(AC)it is good for a man ^[o]to remain as he is. ²⁷ Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. ²⁸ But if you marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have ^[p]trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you. ²⁹ But this I say, brothers, ^(AD)the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none; ³⁰ and those who cry, as though they did not cry; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; ³¹ and those who use the world, as though they did not ^(AE)make full use of it. For ^(AF)the form of this world is passing away.

³² But I want you to be free from concern. One who is ^(AG)unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. ³³ But one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, ³⁴ and his interests have been divided. The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit. But one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. ³⁵ Now this I say for your own benefit, not to put a restraint upon you, but ^[q]to promote propriety and undistracted devotion to the Lord.

³⁶ But if any man thinks that he is acting unbecomingly toward his virgin daughter, if she is past her youth, and if it must be so, let him do what he wishes, he does not sin; let ^[r]her marry. ³⁷ But he who stands firm in his heart, ^[s]being under no compulsion, but has authority ^[t]over his own will, and has decided this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin daughter, he will do well. ³⁸ So then both he who gives his own virgin daughter in marriage does well, and he who does not give her in marriage will do better.

^39 (AH)A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband has ^[u]fallen asleep, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only ^(AI)in the Lord. ⁴⁰ But ^(AJ)in my opinion she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.