1 Samuel 19
New English Translation
Saul Repeatedly Attempts to Take David’s Life
19 Then Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much.[a] 2 So Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is trying[b] to kill you. So be careful tomorrow morning. Find[c] a hiding place and stay in seclusion.[d] 3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are. I will speak to my father about you. When I find out what the problem is,[e] I will let you know.”
4 So Jonathan spoke on David’s behalf[f] to his father Saul. He said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David, for he has not sinned against you. On the contrary, his actions have been very beneficial[g] for you. 5 He risked his life[h] when he struck down the Philistine, and the Lord gave all Israel a great victory. When you saw it, you were happy. So why would you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death for no reason?”
6 Saul accepted Jonathan’s advice[i] and took an oath, “As surely as the Lord lives, he will not be put to death.” 7 Then Jonathan called David and told him all these things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served him as he had done formerly.[j]
8 Now once again there was war. So David went out to fight the Philistines. He defeated them thoroughly,[k] and they ran away from him. 9 Then an evil spirit from the Lord came upon[l] Saul. He was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, while David was playing the lyre.[m] 10 Saul tried to nail David to the wall with the spear, but he escaped from Saul’s presence, and the spear drove into the wall.[n] David escaped quickly[o] that night.
11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to guard it and to kill him in the morning. Then David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save yourself[p] tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!” 12 So Michal lowered David through the window, and he ran away and escaped.
13 Then Michal took a household idol[q] and put it on the bed. She put a quilt[r] made of goats’ hair over its head[s] and then covered the idol with a garment. 14 When Saul sent messengers to arrest David, she said, “He’s sick.”
15 Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me on his bed so I can kill him.” 16 When the messengers came, they found only the idol on the bed and the quilt made of goats’ hair at its head.
17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me this way by sending my enemy away? Now he has escaped!” Michal replied to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away or else I will kill you!’”[t]
18 Now David had run away and escaped. He went to Samuel in Ramah and told him everything that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth. 19 It was reported to Saul saying, “David is at Naioth in Ramah.” 20 So Saul sent messengers to capture David. When they saw a company of prophets prophesying with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came upon Saul’s messengers, and they also prophesied. 21 When it was reported to Saul, he sent more messengers, but they prophesied too. So Saul sent messengers a third time, but they also prophesied. 22 Finally Saul[u] himself went to Ramah. When he arrived at the large cistern that is in Secu, he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” They said, “At Naioth in Ramah.”
23 So Saul went to Naioth in Ramah. The Spirit of God came upon him as well, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 He even stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He lay there[v] naked all that day and night. (For that reason it is asked, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”)
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 19:1 tn Heb “delighted greatly in David.”
- 1 Samuel 19:2 tn Heb “seeking.”
- 1 Samuel 19:2 tn Heb “stay in.”
- 1 Samuel 19:2 tn Heb “and hide yourself.”
- 1 Samuel 19:3 tn Heb “when I see.”
- 1 Samuel 19:4 tn Heb “spoke good with respect to David.”
- 1 Samuel 19:4 tn Heb “good.”
- 1 Samuel 19:5 tn Heb “and he put his life into his hand.”
- 1 Samuel 19:6 tn Heb “and Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan.”
- 1 Samuel 19:7 tn Heb “and he was before him as before.”
- 1 Samuel 19:8 tn Heb “and he struck them down with a great blow.”
- 1 Samuel 19:9 tn Heb “[was] to.”
- 1 Samuel 19:9 tn The Hebrew text adds here “with his hand.”
- 1 Samuel 19:10 tn Heb “and he drove the spear into the wall.”
- 1 Samuel 19:10 tn Heb “fled and escaped.”
- 1 Samuel 19:11 tn Heb “your life.”
- 1 Samuel 19:13 tn Heb “teraphim” (also a second time in this verse and once in v. 16). These were statues that represented various deities. According to 2 Kgs 23:24 they were prohibited during the time of Josiah’s reform movement in the seventh century. The idol Michal placed under the covers was of sufficient size to give the mistaken impression that David lay in the bed, thus facilitating his escape.
- 1 Samuel 19:13 tn The exact meaning of the Hebrew word כָּבִיר (kavir) is uncertain; it is found in the Hebrew Bible only here and in v. 16. It probably refers to a quilt made of goats’ hair, perhaps used as a fly net while one slept. See HALOT 458 s.v. *כָּבִיר. Cf. KJV, TEV “pillow”; NLT “cushion”; NAB, NRSV “net.”
- 1 Samuel 19:13 tn Heb “at the place of its head.”
- 1 Samuel 19:17 tn Heb “Send me away! Why should I kill you?” The question has the force of a threat in this context. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 325-26.
- 1 Samuel 19:22 tn Heb “he” (also in v. 23). The referent (Saul) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- 1 Samuel 19:24 tn Heb “and he fell down.”
1 Samuel 19
New Living Translation
Saul Tries to Kill David
19 Saul now urged his servants and his son Jonathan to assassinate David. But Jonathan, because of his strong affection for David, 2 told him what his father was planning. “Tomorrow morning,” he warned him, “you must find a hiding place out in the fields. 3 I’ll ask my father to go out there with me, and I’ll talk to him about you. Then I’ll tell you everything I can find out.”
4 The next morning Jonathan spoke with his father about David, saying many good things about him. “The king must not sin against his servant David,” Jonathan said. “He’s never done anything to harm you. He has always helped you in any way he could. 5 Have you forgotten about the time he risked his life to kill the Philistine giant and how the Lord brought a great victory to all Israel as a result? You were certainly happy about it then. Why should you murder an innocent man like David? There is no reason for it at all!”
6 So Saul listened to Jonathan and vowed, “As surely as the Lord lives, David will not be killed.”
7 Afterward Jonathan called David and told him what had happened. Then he brought David to Saul, and David served in the court as before.
8 War broke out again after that, and David led his troops against the Philistines. He attacked them with such fury that they all ran away.
9 But one day when Saul was sitting at home, with spear in hand, the tormenting spirit[a] from the Lord suddenly came upon him again. As David played his harp, 10 Saul hurled his spear at David. But David dodged out of the way, and leaving the spear stuck in the wall, he fled and escaped into the night.
Michal Saves David’s Life
11 Then Saul sent troops to watch David’s house. They were told to kill David when he came out the next morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you don’t escape tonight, you will be dead by morning.” 12 So she helped him climb out through a window, and he fled and escaped. 13 Then she took an idol[b] and put it in his bed, covered it with blankets, and put a cushion of goat’s hair at its head.
14 When the troops came to arrest David, she told them he was sick and couldn’t get out of bed.
15 But Saul sent the troops back to get David. He ordered, “Bring him to me in his bed so I can kill him!” 16 But when they came to carry David out, they discovered that it was only an idol in the bed with a cushion of goat’s hair at its head.
17 “Why have you betrayed me like this and let my enemy escape?” Saul demanded of Michal.
“I had to,” Michal replied. “He threatened to kill me if I didn’t help him.”
18 So David escaped and went to Ramah to see Samuel, and he told him all that Saul had done to him. Then Samuel took David with him to live at Naioth. 19 When the report reached Saul that David was at Naioth in Ramah, 20 he sent troops to capture him. But when they arrived and saw Samuel leading a group of prophets who were prophesying, the Spirit of God came upon Saul’s men, and they also began to prophesy. 21 When Saul heard what had happened, he sent other troops, but they, too, prophesied! The same thing happened a third time. 22 Finally, Saul himself went to Ramah and arrived at the great well in Secu. “Where are Samuel and David?” he demanded.
“They are at Naioth in Ramah,” someone told him.
23 But on the way to Naioth in Ramah the Spirit of God came even upon Saul, and he, too, began to prophesy all the way to Naioth! 24 He tore off his clothes and lay naked on the ground all day and all night, prophesying in the presence of Samuel. The people who were watching exclaimed, “What? Is even Saul a prophet?”
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