David Protected from Saul

19 Now Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants ^(A)to put David to death. But ^(B)Jonathan, Saul’s son, greatly delighted in David. ² So Jonathan informed David, saying, “My father Saul is seeking to put you to death. Now then, please be on your guard in the morning, and stay in a hiding place and conceal yourself. ³ And as for me, I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are hiding, and I will speak with my father about you; and ^(C)whatever I ^[a]find out, I will tell you.” ⁴ Then Jonathan ^(D)spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “^(E)May the king not sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very ^[b]beneficial to you. ⁵ For ^(F)he took his life in his hand and struck the Philistine, and ^(G)the Lord brought about a great ^[c]victory for all Israel; you saw it and rejoiced. ^(H)Why then would you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death ^[d]for no reason?” ⁶ Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul vowed, “As the Lord lives, David 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)before.

⁸ When there was war again, David went out and fought the Philistines and ^[e]defeated them with great slaughter, so that they fled from him. ⁹ Now there was ^(J)an evil spirit from the Lord 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 ^[f]pin David to the wall with the spear, but he escaped from Saul’s presence, so that he stuck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

¹¹ Then ^(N)Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, in order to put him to death in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, informed him, saying, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death!” ^12 (O)So Michal let David down through a window, and he went and fled, and escaped. ¹³ And Michal took ^(P)the ^[g]household idol and laid it on the bed, and put a quilt of goats’ hair at its head, and covered it with clothing. ¹⁴ When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “^(Q)He is sick.” ¹⁵ Then Saul sent messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me on ^[h]his bed, so that I may put him to death.” ¹⁶ When the messengers entered, behold, the ^[i]household idol was on the bed with the quilt of goats’ hair at its head.