²⁰ Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. Saul was told, and the thing pleased him.^{(A) 21} Saul thought, “Let me give her to him that she may be a snare for him and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time,^[a] “You shall now be my son-in-law.”^{(B) 22} Saul commanded his servants, “Speak to David in private and say, ‘See, the king is delighted with you, and all his servants love you; now then, become the king’s son-in-law.’ ”

²⁷ David rose and went, along with his men, and killed one hundred^[a] of the Philistines, and David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Saul gave him his daughter Michal as a wife.^{(A) 28} But when Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that Saul’s daughter Michal loved him, ²⁹ Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy from that time forward.

¹¹ Saul sent messengers to David’s house to keep watch over him, planning to kill him in the morning. David’s wife Michal told him, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” ¹² So Michal let David down through the window; he fled away and escaped.^{(A) 13} Michal took an idol^[a] and laid it on the bed; she put a net^[b] of goats’ hair on its head and covered it with the clothes. ¹⁴ When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”^{(B) 15} Then Saul sent the messengers to see David for themselves. He said, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” ¹⁶ When the messengers came in, the idol^[c] was in the bed, with the covering^[d] of goats’ hair on its head. ¹⁷ Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go; why should I kill you?’ ”