³² David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

³³ Then Saul said to David, “You can’t go fight this Philistine—for you’re just a youth, and he’s been a warrior since his youth.”

³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb out of the flock, ³⁵ I went out after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb out of its mouth. If it rose up against me, I grabbed him by its fur, struck it and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear, so this uncircumcised Philistine will become like one of them—since he has defied the ranks of the living God.” ³⁷ Then David said, “Adonai, who has delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

“Go!” said Saul to David, “and may Adonai be with you.”

³⁸ Then Saul clothed David with his own garb, put a bronze helmet on his head, and clothed him in armor. ³⁹ David strapped his sword on his garment and tried to walk, but he was not used to it. So David said to Saul, “I cannot walk in these, for I am not used to them.” So David took them off. ⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the valley, put them in the pocket of the shepherd’s bag that he had, and with his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.

⁴¹ Meanwhile, the Philistine drew nearer and approached David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. ⁴² Now when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was just a ruddy boy with a handsome appearance. ⁴³ Then the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” Then the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, so I may give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.”

⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, “You are coming to me with a sword, a spear and a javelin, but I am coming to you in the Name of Adonai-Tzva’ot, God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This very day Adonai will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and take your head off you, and I will give the carcasses of the Philistines’ camp today to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth. Then all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷ and so all this assembly will know that Adonai delivers not with sword and spear—for the battle belongs to Adonai—and He will give you into our hands.”

⁴⁸ Then when the Philistine rose and began to advance, drawing near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹ David put his hand in his bag, took from it a stone and slung it, striking the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground.

⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, struck the Philistine down and killed him. Since there was no sword in David’s hand, ⁵¹ David ran, stood over the Philistine, picked up his sword, drew it from its sheath, slew him and cut off his head with it.

When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. ⁵² Then the men of Israel and Judah rose up, shouted and pursued the Philistines all the way to the valley up to the gates of Ekron. The slain Philistines fell down along the way to Shaaraim, even up to Gath and Ekron.

⁵³ When Bnei-Yisrael returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp. ⁵⁴ David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his own tent. ⁵⁵ Now when Saul saw David going out against the Philistine, he asked Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this boy?”

Abner said, “As your soul lives, your majesty, I don’t know.”

⁵⁶ So the king said, “Then, find out whose son this young man is.” ⁵⁷ So when David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.

⁵⁸ “Whose son are you, young man?” Saul said to him.

David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Beth-lehemite.”

Jonathan’s Covenant Love for David

18 Now it came to pass, when David had finished speaking to Saul, Jonathan’s soul was knit to David’s soul, and Jonathan loved him as himself. ² Saul took him that day and did not let him return to his father’s house. ³ Then Jonathan cut a covenant with David, because he loved him as himself. ⁴ Jonathan stripped off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, along with his armor: his sword, bow and belt.

Saul’s Jealousy

⁵ So David went out wherever Saul sent him and had success, so Saul set him over the men of war. It was pleasing in the eyes of all the people as well as in the eyes of Saul’s courtiers. ⁶ Upon their coming back, upon David’s return from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the towns of Israel, singing and dancing in circles to greet King Saul, with timbrels, with joy and with three-stringed instruments. ⁷ So the women sang one to another, as they were dancing saying,

⁸ Then Saul became very angry—this saying was evil in his eyes—and he commented, “They’ve ascribed to David ten thousands and to me they’ve ascribed thousands. Now what more does he lack but the kingdom?” ⁹ So Saul eyed David from that day on.

¹⁰ It came about the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, so that he was raving within the palace. While David was playing music with his hand, as he did day by day, Saul had his spear in his hand, ¹¹ and Saul hurled the spear, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall!” But David eluded him—twice.

¹² Now Saul became afraid of David, because Adonai was with him but had departed from Saul. ¹³ Therefore Saul removed him from his entourage by appointing him as a captain of a thousand. So David went out and came in before the troops. ¹⁴ David had success in all his undertakings, since Adonai was with him. ¹⁵ When Saul saw that he had great success, he dreaded him. ¹⁶ But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.

¹⁷ Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab—I give her to you as a wife. Only continue to be my son of valor and fight Adonai’s battles.” For Saul thought, “My hand needn’t be against him—let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

¹⁸ But David replied to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” ¹⁹ But when it was time to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David in marriage, she was given as wife to Adriel the Meholathite instead.

Michal’s Love for David

²⁰ Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. When they told Saul, the matter pleased him. ²¹ Saul thought, “I will give her to him, so that she may become a snare to him—and the hand of the Philistines will be against him.” So Saul said to David, “You can still become my son-in-law, even today, with the second one.”

²² Then Saul commanded his courtiers, “Speak with David privately and say, ‘Behold, the king delights in you and all his courtiers love you. So now, become the king’s son-in-law!’” ²³ So Saul’s courtiers whispered these words in David’s ears.

But David said, “Is it a light thing to you becoming the king’s son-in-law, considering that I am a poor man and of little account?” ²⁴ Saul’s courtiers reported back to him what David had said.

²⁵ Then Saul said, “Thus you will say to David, ‘The king desires no bridal dowry except 100 foreskins of the Philistines—to take vengeance on the king’s enemies.’” So Saul schemed to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

²⁶ When his courtiers told David these words, the word seemed right in David’s eyes to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the days were fulfilled, ²⁷ David had risen, gone with his men and killed 200 Philistine men. Then David brought their foreskins and gave them in full number to the king—to become the king’s son-in-law. So Saul gave him Michal his daughter as a wife. ²⁸ When Saul saw and realized that Adonai was with David and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him, ²⁹ Saul grew even more afraid of David. Thus Saul became David’s enemy for all days.

³⁰ When the chiefs of the Philistines marched out, as often as they came out, David proved more successful than all of Saul’s officers. So his name became highly esteemed.

Saul Tries to Kill David

19 Now Saul told his son Jonathan and all his courtiers to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan delighted much in David. ² So Jonathan informed David saying, “My father Saul is seeking to kill you. So now, please be on guard in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself. ³ I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you will be, and I will speak with my father about you. If I notice anything, I will tell you.” ⁴ So Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “May the king not sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial for you; ⁵ For he put his life in his hand and killed the Philistine, and Adonai won a great victory for all Israel—you saw it and rejoiced. So why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David without a cause?”

⁶ Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As Adonai lives, he will not be put to death.” ⁷ So Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. Jonathan brought David to Saul and in his presence as before.

⁸ Once again war broke out, and David marched out and fought the Philistines, and inflicted a great slaughter on them and they fled before him. ⁹ Yet once again an evil spirit from Adonai came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, as David was playing music with his hand. ¹⁰ Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul’s face, so that he drove the spear into the wall. That night David fled and got away.

¹¹ Then Saul sent agents to David’s house to watch him, in order to kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him saying, “If you don’t escape for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!” ¹² So Michal lowered David down through the window, and thus he went, fled and escaped. ¹³ Then Michal took a household idol, laid it in the bed, put a quilt of goats’ hair at the head and covered it with a cloth. ¹⁴ When Saul sent messengers to arrest David, she said, “He’s sick.”

¹⁵ So Saul sent the agents back to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed so I may put him to death.” ¹⁶ When the messengers came in, behold, the household idol was in the bed with the quilt of goats’ hair at its head. ¹⁷ Saul then said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy get away, so that he escaped?”

Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go or I’ll kill you!’”

God Is My Strong Tower

Psalm 59

¹⁸ So David fled and escaped, went to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth. ¹⁹ Saul was told, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” ²⁰ So Saul sent agents to seize David, but they saw a band of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing and presiding over them. Then the Ruach of God came upon Saul’s agents and they too prophesied. ²¹ When Saul was told, he sent other agents and they too prophesied. Then Saul sent a third group of messengers, and they too prophesied. ²² Then he himself went to Ramah, and when he arrived at the great cistern in Secu, he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”

Someone answered, “Look, they are at Naioth at Ramah.” ²³ So he proceeded there, to Naioth at Ramah, and the Ruach of God came upon him as well, and he prophesied as he kept walking until he arrived to Naioth at Ramah. ²⁴ Then he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. That is why people were saying, “Is Saul too among the prophets?”