18 ¶ And it came to pass when he had finished speaking unto Saul that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

² And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.

³ Then Jonathan and David made a covenant because he loved him as his own soul.

⁴ And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him and gave it to David and his garments, even to his sword and to his bow and to his girdle.

⁵ And David went out wherever Saul sent him and behaved himself prudently, 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 slaves.

⁶ ¶ And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music.

⁷ And the women sang as they played and said, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands.

⁸ And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him, and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands; and what can he have more but the kingdom?

⁹ And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.

¹⁰ And it came to pass on the next day that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house, and David played with his hand as at other times, and there was a spear in Saul’s hand.

¹¹ And Saul cast the spear, saying, I will smite David to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.

¹² ¶ But Saul was afraid of David because the LORD was with him and had departed from Saul.

¹³ Therefore, Saul removed him from him and made him captain over a thousand, and he went out and came in before the people.

¹⁴ And David behaved himself prudently in all his ways, and the LORD was with him.

¹⁵ Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved himself very prudently, he was afraid of him.

¹⁶ But all Israel and Judah loved David because he went out and came in before them.

¹⁷ And Saul said to David, Behold I will give thee my elder daughter Merab to wife; only be thou valiant for me, and fight the LORD’s battles. For Saul said to himself, My hand shall not be against him, but the hand of the Philistines shall be against him.

¹⁸ And David said unto Saul, 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 And it came to pass at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David that she was given unto Adriel, the Meholathite, to wife.

²⁰ But Michal, Saul’s other daughter, loved David, and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.

²¹ And Saul said, I will give her to him that she may be a snare to him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore, Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son-in-law with the other one.

²² And Saul commanded his slaves, saying, Speak with David secretly and say, Behold, the king has delight in thee, and all his slaves love thee; now, therefore, be the king’s son-in-law.

²³ And Saul’s slaves spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man and lightly esteemed?

²⁴ And the slaves of Saul told him, saying, David spoke these words.

²⁵ And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The desire of the king is not in any dowry, but one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies. For Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

²⁶ And when his slaves told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law, and the days were not expired.

²⁷ Therefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men, and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them all to the king that he might be the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal, his daughter, to wife.

²⁸ But Saul, seeing and knowing that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him,

²⁹ was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul became David’s enemy continually.

³⁰ Then the princes of the Philistines went forth, and it came to pass after they went forth that David behaved himself more prudently than all the slaves of Saul so that his name was much set by.