Saul fights against the Amalekites

15 Samuel said to Saul, ‘The Lord sent me to anoint you as king to rule his people, the Israelites. So now listen to this message from the Lord. ² This is what the Lord Almighty says: “It is time to punish the Amalekites! When the Israelites came out of Egypt, the Amalekites attacked them. ³ Now go and attack the Amalekites. Completely destroy everything that they have. Do not save anything. Kill the men and women, as well as their children and babies. Kill their cows, sheep, camels and donkeys.” ’

⁴ So Saul called his army to come together. The men met at Telaim and Saul counted them. There were 200,000 soldiers from Israel and another 10,000 men from Judah's tribe. ⁵ Saul and his army went to the city of the Amalekites. They waited in a small valley to attack their enemy. ⁶ Saul said to the Kenite people, ‘Go away from here! I will kill the Amalekites, but I do not want to kill you. You were kind to the Israelites when they came out from Egypt.’ So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.^[a]

⁷ Then Saul attacked the Amalekites. He fought them all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt. ⁸ Saul caught their king, Agag, while he was still alive. Saul's soldiers used their swords to kill all of Agag's people. ⁹ But Saul and the army let King Agag live. Also, they did not kill the best sheep, lambs, cows and fat calves. They kept all the good things and they did not agree to destroy them. But they killed everything that was weak and useless.

Samuel tells Saul God's message

¹⁰ Then the Lord gave this message to Samuel: ¹¹ ‘I am sorry that I chose Saul to be king. He has turned away from me. He has not obeyed my commands.’

When Samuel heard that, he was very upset. He prayed aloud to the Lord all that night.

¹² Samuel got up early the next morning. He went to meet Saul. Someone told Samuel, ‘Saul went to Carmel. He has put up a tall stone to give himself honour. Now he has left there and he has gone to Gilgal.’

¹³ Samuel went and he found Saul. Saul said to Samuel, ‘I pray that the Lord will bless you. I have obeyed the Lord's command.’ ¹⁴ But Samuel said, ‘If that is true, why can I hear the noise of sheep and cows?’

¹⁵ Saul answered, ‘My soldiers took them from the Amalekites. They saved the best sheep and cows. They will offer them to the Lord your God as sacrifices. We killed all the other animals.’

¹⁶ Samuel said to Saul, ‘Listen to me! I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.’ Saul said, ‘Tell me.’

¹⁷ Samuel said, ‘At one time, you thought that you were not an important person. Now you have become the leader of all the tribes of Israel. The Lord chose you to be king of Israel. ¹⁸ He gave you a job to do. He told you, “Go and kill all those wicked Amalekites. Fight against them until you have destroyed them all.” ¹⁹ Why did you not obey the Lord? Instead you have been greedy. You have hurried to take things for yourself. You have done something evil that does not please the Lord.’

²⁰ Saul said to Samuel, ‘I did obey the Lord! I did the job that the Lord told me to do. I killed all the Amalekites and I brought back Agag, their king. ²¹ But the army did not kill all the sheep and cows that they took from the Amalekites. They brought the best animals to offer as a sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.’

²² But Samuel said, ‘What makes the Lord happy? Which is better? Is he more pleased when people offer burnt offerings and sacrifices to him? Or is he more pleased when people obey him? Listen! It is better to obey the Lord than to offer sacrifices to him. That is true even if you offer to him the best animals that you have.

²³ You have turned against God. That is worse than using magic. You think that you know what is right better than God does. That is as bad as worshipping idols. You decided not to obey the Lord's command. Now the Lord has decided that you will not be king any longer.’

²⁴ Then Saul said to Samuel, ‘It is true, I have done a bad thing. I did not obey the Lord's command. I did not do what you told me to do. I was afraid of the army. I agreed to do what they wanted. ²⁵ Please forgive my sin. Return with me so that I can worship the Lord.’

²⁶ But Samuel said to Saul, ‘I will not return with you. You refused to obey the Lord's command. So now the Lord has decided that you will no longer be king of Israel.’

²⁷ Samuel turned away to leave Saul. But Saul pulled the edge of Samuel's coat and it tore. ²⁸ Samuel said to him, ‘The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel away from you today. He has given it to a man who is better than you. ²⁹ The great God who rules over Israel always does what he says he will do. He does not change his mind. People may change their minds, but he does not!’

³⁰ Saul said again, ‘I have done a bad thing. But please show Israel's leaders and people that you respect me. Please return with me so that I can worship the Lord your God.’

³¹ So Samuel went back with Saul. Saul worshipped the Lord.

³² Then Samuel said, ‘Bring Agag, king of the Amalekites, to me.’

Agag came to Samuel. Agag was happy because he thought, ‘I am sure that now I will not have to die a painful death.’

³³ But Samuel said to Agag, ‘You have used your sword to kill the children of many mothers. Now your own mother will have no children that are still alive.’ Then Samuel cut Agag into pieces at the Lord's altar in Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel left Gilgal and he went to his home in Ramah. Saul went to his home in Gibeah. ³⁵ Until Samuel died, he never saw Saul again. Samuel was very sad about Saul. But the Lord was sorry that he had chosen Saul to be king of Israel.

Samuel anoints David as king

16 The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Stop being sad about Saul. I have decided that he will no longer be the king of Israel. Fill your horn with olive oil and go.^[b] I am sending you to a man whose name is Jesse. He lives in Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to become king.’

² Samuel said, ‘If I go to do that, people will tell Saul about it. Then he will kill me.’

The Lord said, ‘Take a calf with you. Tell the people that you have come to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. ³ Then ask Jesse to come to the sacrifice. I will show you what to do after that. I will show you the person that you must anoint with the oil.’

⁴ Samuel obeyed the Lord. He went to Bethlehem. The leaders of the town went to meet Samuel, but they were very afraid. They asked him, ‘Have you come to visit us as a friend?’

⁵ Samuel replied, ‘Yes. I do not bring any trouble. I have come to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. Make yourselves clean. Then come to the sacrifice with me.’

Samuel made Jesse and his sons clean to worship the Lord. Then he took them with him to the sacrifice.

⁶ When they arrived, Samuel saw Jesse's son Eliab. Samuel thought, ‘I am sure that the Lord has chosen this man to be king.’

⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not look at how handsome or how tall Eliab is. I have not chosen him. The Lord does not look at people in the way that people do. People look at the face and body of a person. But the Lord sees what they are like inside.’

⁸ Then Jesse called his son Abinadab. Jesse caused him to stand in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, ‘The Lord has not chosen this man either.’

⁹ Jesse caused his son Shammah to stand in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, ‘The Lord has not chosen this man.’

¹⁰ Jesse caused seven of his sons to stand in front of Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen any of these men.’

¹¹ Samuel asked Jesse, ‘Are those all of your sons?’

Jesse answered, ‘I have one more son. He is the youngest. He is taking care of my sheep.’

Samuel said, ‘Send someone to bring him here. We cannot continue to offer the sacrifice until he arrives.’

¹² So Jesse told his men to bring his youngest son for Samuel to see. This young man was handsome and strong and he had beautiful eyes.

The Lord said to Samuel, ‘I have chosen this man. Now anoint him as king.’

¹³ Samuel took the horn that was full of olive oil. He poured the oil over David's head to anoint him. Samuel did this in front of David's brothers. From that moment, the Spirit of the Lord came on David with great power.

Then Samuel returned to his home in Ramah.

David becomes Saul's servant

¹⁴ The Spirit of the Lord had now gone away from Saul. The Lord sent an evil spirit to Saul. It gave Saul trouble and fear in his mind.

¹⁵ Saul's servants said to him, ‘We know that God has sent an evil spirit which is giving you much trouble. ¹⁶ If you agree, we will look for a man who can make music on a harp. When the evil spirit gives you trouble, this man can make music. Then you will not feel so upset.’

¹⁷ Saul agreed and he said to his servants, ‘Find someone who can make good music with a harp. Then bring him to me.’

¹⁸ One of the servants said, ‘I know one man who can play a harp very well. He is one of Jesse's sons, who lives in Bethlehem. This man is a brave soldier. He speaks well and he is handsome. The Lord is with him.’

¹⁹ So Saul sent his men to Jesse with this message: ‘Tell your son David to come to me. That is your son who takes care of your sheep.’

²⁰ So Jesse took some loaves of bread, a bag with wine in it, and a young goat. He put them on the back of a donkey and he sent them to Saul with his son David.

²¹ David went to Saul. He became Saul's servant. Saul loved David. David carried Saul's armour for him. ²² Then Saul sent a message to Jesse. He said, ‘I am very pleased with David. Let him stay here as my servant.’

²³ So, when the evil spirit brought trouble to Saul, David made music on his harp. Then Saul would feel happier and the evil spirit would leave him.

David kills Goliath

17 The Philistine army came together. They were ready to fight the Israelites. They met together near Socoh, a town in Judah.^[c] They put up their tents at Ephes Dammim between Socoh and Azekah. ² Saul and the Israelite army put up their tents in the valley of Elah. The soldiers prepared to fight against the Philistines. ³ The Philistines were standing on one hill. The Israelites were on another hill. The valley was between the two armies.

⁴ The Philistines had a strong, brave soldier. His name was Goliath and he came from a town called Gath. He was nearly three metres tall! ⁵ He wore a helmet and armour that were made of bronze. The armour for his body weighed about 57 kilograms. ⁶ He had pieces of bronze to protect his legs. He had a bronze sword that he tied on his back. ⁷ He also carried a heavy spear. It was as thick as a tree. The iron point on the spear weighed about seven kilograms. A man who carried Goliath's shield walked in front of him.

⁸ Goliath stood up and he shouted to the Israelite soldiers, ‘Why have you all got ready to fight against us? I am the great soldier of the Philistine army. You serve Saul as his soldiers. Is that not true? So you must choose one of your men to come and fight against me. ⁹ If he can kill me in a fight, we Philistines will become your slaves. But if I knock him down and I kill him, then you Israelites will become our slaves.’

¹⁰ Then Goliath said, ‘I am not afraid of any of your soldiers! Choose one of your men and we will fight against each other.’

¹¹ King Saul and all the Israelite soldiers heard what Goliath said. It made them very upset and afraid.

¹² At this time, David's father Jesse was a very old man. Jesse belonged to the clan of Ephrathah. He came from Bethlehem town in Judah. He had e ight sons. ¹³ Jesse's three oldest sons had joined Saul's army to fight the war. They were Eliab, Jesse's oldest son, his second son, Abinadab, and his third son, Shammah. ¹⁴ David was Jesse's youngest son. While Jesse's three oldest sons were in Saul's army, ¹⁵ David would sometimes leave Saul and go back home to Bethlehem. He did that to take care of his father's sheep.

¹⁶ For 40 days, Goliath would stand up and insult the Israelite army every morning and every evening.

¹⁷ One day, Jesse said to his son David, ‘Take some food to your brothers in the army. Here is a large bag of grain that we have cooked, and ten loaves of bread. Take them quickly to the army camp. ¹⁸ Also take these ten pieces of cheese to the officer who leads their group of soldiers. Find out whether your brothers are well. Bring something back to me to show how they are. ¹⁹ They are in Elah Valley with Saul and the Israelite army, where they are fighting against the Philistines.’

²⁰ So David got up early the next morning. He left his father's sheep with another shepherd to take care of them. He did what his father had told him to do. He took the food to give to his brothers. When David arrived at the camp of the Israelite army, the soldiers were going out to fight. They were shouting their war songs while they went. ²¹ The Israelite army and the Philistine army stood in their places ready for the fight. They looked towards each other across the valley. ²² David gave his gifts to the officer who took care of the army's food. Then he ran to the place where the Israelite soldiers were standing. He said ‘hello’ to his brothers to see if they were well. ²³ While David was talking to his brothers, Goliath marched out from the Philistine army. He was the great Philistine soldier from Gath. As he came, Goliath was insulting the Israelites as he did every day. David heard what he said. ²⁴ When all the Israelite soldiers saw Goliath, they were very afraid. They ran away from him.

²⁵ The Israelites said to each other, ‘Look at this man! He is so strong! He comes every day to insult us. King Saul will give great riches to any man who can kill Goliath. The king will give his daughter to that man, for him to marry her. His family will never again have to pay taxes to the king.’

²⁶ David asked the men who were standing near him, ‘If someone kills this Philistine soldier and takes away the shame from Israel, what gift will he get? He is an unclean Philistine! He must stop insulting the army of our God, who lives for ever.’

²⁷ The men then told David what the king had promised to do. They said, ‘This is what the king will do to help the man who kills that Philistine soldier.’

²⁸ When David was speaking with the soldiers, his oldest brother, Eliab, heard him. He became angry with David. He asked David, ‘Why have you come here? You should be taking care of a few sheep in the wilderness. Who is taking care of them now? I know how proud you are! I know about your wicked ideas! You came here only to watch the battle.’

²⁹ David said, ‘Have I done anything wrong? I only asked a question.’

³⁰ So David went away and he asked other people the same question. All the men gave him the same answer. ³¹ Some of the soldiers went to King Saul and they told him what David had said. Saul told David to come to him.

³² David said to King Saul, ‘We should not be afraid of this Philistine! I am your servant. I am ready to go and fight against him.’

³³ Saul replied, ‘You could not fight against this strong Philistine. You are only a boy! He has been a brave soldier since he was a young man.’

³⁴ But David said to Saul, ‘Sir, I have been a shepherd who takes care of his father's sheep. Sometimes a lion or a bear would come to take a lamb from among the sheep. ³⁵ Then I would chase after the lion or the bear. I would knock it down and I would save the lamb from its mouth. If the wild animal turned to attack me, I would take hold of its neck. Then I would hit it and kill it. ³⁶ I have killed lions and bears like that. I will do the same to this unclean Philistine. He has insulted the army of our God, who lives for ever. ³⁷ The Lord has kept me safe from lions and bears. He will also save me from the power of this Philistine soldier.’

So Saul said to David, ‘Then do it! I pray that the Lord will help you.’

³⁸ Saul took his own clothes and armour and he put them on David. He put his bronze helmet on David's head. ³⁹ David tied Saul's sword on top of the armour. Then he tried to walk. But he had not worn heavy armour like that before.

So David said to Saul, ‘I cannot wear all this armour to fight. I have not used armour before.’ So David took it all off.

⁴⁰ Instead, David picked up his shepherd's stick. He picked up five round stones from the stream. He put them in the pocket of his shepherd's bag. He held his sling in his hand. Then he walked towards the Philistine soldier.

⁴¹ The Philistine slowly walked towards David. The man who was carrying his shield walked in front of him. ⁴² As he came nearer, the Philistine looked carefully at David. He saw that David was no more than a healthy, handsome boy. That made him laugh at David. ⁴³ He said to David, ‘Do you think that I am just a dog? Can you knock me down with a little stick?’ Then he prayed to his gods that they would curse David.

⁴⁴ The Philistine said to David, ‘Come nearer to me. I will feed the birds and the wild animals with your dead body.’

⁴⁵ David said to him, ‘You have come to fight against me with a sword, a knife and a spear. But I come to fight against you with the authority of the Lord Almighty. He is the God who leads Israel's army, and you have insulted him! ⁴⁶ Today the Lord will make me strong to win against you. I will knock you down and I will cut off your head. Today I will feed the birds and the wild animals with the dead bodies of the Philistine soldiers. Then everyone on the earth will know that there is a God who takes care of Israel. ⁴⁷ The Lord does not need swords or spears to save his people. Everyone here will soon know that! The Lord is the one who fights our battles. He will put you under our power.’

⁴⁸ The Philistine soldier started to move nearer to David to attack him. David ran forward quickly to fight against him. ⁴⁹ David reached into his bag and he took out a stone. He put the stone into his sling and he threw it. The stone hit the Philistine man's head, above his eyes. It went in very deep. Goliath fell down with his face on the ground.

⁵⁰ In that way, David used a sling and a stone to win against the Philistine soldier. He knocked down the Philistine and he killed him. And David did not even hold a sword in his hand! ⁵¹ David then ran and stood over Goliath. He pulled Goliath's sword out and he killed him. Then he used it to cut off Goliath's head.

The Philistines saw that their best soldier was now dead. So they ran away.

⁵² When the soldiers from Israel and Judah saw what had happened, they chased after the Philistines. They shouted their war song as they ran. They chased the Philistines all the way to Gath, and then to the gates of Ekron town. The dead bodies of the Philistine soldiers were lying everywhere on the road to Shaaraim, as far as Gath and Ekron.

⁵³ When the Israelite soldiers had finished chasing and killing the Philistines, they returned. They went into the Philistines' camp and they took their things for themselves. ⁵⁴ David picked up Goliath's head to take it to Jerusalem. But he put Goliath's weapons in his own tent.

⁵⁵ Saul had watched David when he went out to fight the strong Philistine soldier. Saul said to Abner, the leader of his army, ‘Tell me Abner, who is that young man? Who is his father?’

Abner replied, ‘My king, I cannot tell you a lie. I do not know who he is.’ ⁵⁶ The king said, ‘You must find out the name of that man's father.’

⁵⁷ When David returned after he had killed Goliath, Abner took him to Saul. David was still holding Goliath's head in his hand.

⁵⁸ Saul asked him, ‘Young man, who is your father?’ David answered, ‘I am the son of your servant Jesse, who lives in Bethlehem.’

18 David finished talking with Saul. After that, Saul's son Jonathan became a very good friend of David. Jonathan loved David as much as he loved his own life. ² Saul kept David with him from that day. He did not let David go home to his father's house. ³ Jonathan made a special promise to be David's friend, because he loved David as much as he loved his own life. ⁴ Jonathan took off his coat and he gave it to David. He also gave his armour to David, as well as his sword, his bow and his belt.

⁵ David did whatever Saul asked him to do. And he always did it well. So Saul made David an officer to lead his army. That made the soldiers happy, and it also pleased Saul's officers.

⁶ After David had killed the Philistine, Goliath, he and the soldiers returned to their homes. Women came out from all the towns in Israel to meet King Saul. The women were happy as they sang songs and they danced. They made music with tambourines and lyres. ⁷ They sang this song while they danced:

⁸ Saul did not like this song. He became very angry. He thought, ‘The women say that David has killed tens of thousands of men. But they say that I have only killed thousands of men. They will soon want David to be their king.’

⁹ After that, Saul was jealous of David and he watched David carefully.

¹⁰ The next day God caused an evil spirit to come and control Saul. Saul started to prophesy in his house. David was making music on his harp as he did every day. Saul had a spear in his hand. ¹¹ He threw the spear at David. He thought, ‘I will hit David so that it fixes him to the wall.’ He tried to do this twice, but David moved out of the way.

¹² The Lord was with David. But the Lord had left Saul. So Saul was afraid of David. ¹³ So Saul sent David away from him. He made David the leader of 1,000 soldiers. David led the soldiers into battles, but he always came back again.^{[d] 14} David won all his fights because the Lord was with him. ¹⁵ Saul saw that David was a great soldier. So he became more afraid of David. ¹⁶ All the people in Israel and Judah loved David because he led the army in their battles.

David marries Saul's daughter

¹⁷ Saul said to David, ‘Here is my oldest daughter Merab. I will let you marry her. But you must be a brave soldier and you must fight battles for the Lord.’ Saul thought to himself, ‘I will not have to kill David myself. The Philistines will do that.’

¹⁸ But David said to Saul, ‘I am not an important person. My family and my father's clan are not important either. I do not deserve to marry the king's daughter.’

¹⁹ When the time came for Merab to marry David, Saul told her to marry a different man. He gave her to Adriel from Meholah to be his wife.

²⁰ Saul had another daughter, Michal, and she loved David. When somebody told Saul about this, he was very happy. ²¹ He thought, ‘I will let David marry her. I will use her as a trap that will catch him. I will give the Philistines a chance to kill him.’ So Saul said to David, ‘Now you have another chance to marry one of my daughters.’

²² Saul told his servants to say secretly to David, ‘The king is pleased with you. His servants all like you. You should now marry the king's daughter.’

²³ Saul's servants said this to David. But David replied, ‘It is a great honour for someone to marry the king's daughter. But I am poor. I am not important enough.’^[e]

²⁴ Saul's servants told him what David had said. ²⁵ Saul said, ‘Tell David this: The king does not want David to pay money to marry the king's daughter. He can pay for her with the foreskins of 100 dead Philistines. Saul wants David to punish his enemies.’

In this way, Saul thought that he would use the Philistines to kill David.

²⁶ Saul's servants told David what Saul wanted. It made David happy to think that he could marry the king's daughter. Before the time for the wedding arrived, ²⁷ David and his men left their homes. They went and they killed 200 Philistines. David brought all their foreskins to Saul. David gave them to Saul so that he could marry the king's daughter. So Saul agreed to let David marry his daughter Michal.

²⁸ Saul realized that the Lord was with David. He knew that his daughter Michal loved David. ²⁹ So Saul became even more afraid of David. Saul was David's enemy for the rest of his life.

³⁰ The Philistine army continued to march out and attack the Israelites. Every time that they fought, David won more fights than any of Saul's other officers. So David became very famous.

Saul tries to kill David

19 Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Jonathan liked David very much. ² So he told David, ‘My father Saul is trying to kill you. Be careful tomorrow morning. Hide in a secret place and stay there. ³ I will go out with my father. I will stand with him in the field where you are hiding. I will talk to him about you. Then I will tell you what he says.’

⁴ Jonathan spoke to his father Saul. He said good things about David. He said to Saul, ‘The king should not do anything bad against David. David is your servant. He has not done anything that is bad against you. Everything that he does really helps you. ⁵ David was not afraid to die when he fought against the Philistine, Goliath. When David killed Goliath, the Lord helped Israel to win a great battle. When you saw it, you were very happy. So why do you now want to kill David? He is not guilty of anything that is wrong. You have no reason to kill him.’

⁶ Saul agreed with Jonathan. He made a promise in the Lord's name that he would not kill David. ⁷ Then Jonathan called to David. He told David everything that the king had said. Jonathan took David back to Saul. So David served King Saul as he had done before.

⁸ The war with the Philistines started again. David went out with his soldiers to fight against them. He attacked them so strongly that the Philistine soldiers ran away.

⁹ Then the Lord caused an evil spirit to control Saul. Saul was sitting in his house. He had a spear in his hand. David was making music with his harp. ¹⁰ Saul threw his spear at David. He wanted to fix David to the wall. But David moved out of the way and the spear hit the wall. That night, David ran away to escape from Saul.

¹¹ Saul sent some of his servants to watch David's house. Saul told them to kill David when he came out in the morning. But David's wife Michal warned him. She said, ‘You must run away tonight. If you do not escape, tomorrow you will die!’ ¹² So Michal helped David to leave the house through a window. He ran away and he escaped.

¹³ Then Michal took an idol and she put it on the bed. She covered the idol with a blanket and she put a pillow of goat's hair at its head.

¹⁴ Saul sent some of his men to take hold of David. Michal told them that David was ill. ¹⁵ Saul then told the men to go back to David's house. He said to them, ‘Bring David to me on his bed. Then I will kill him.’ ¹⁶ The men returned to David's house. They found the idol on the bed and the pillow of goat's hair at its head.

¹⁷ Saul said to Michal, ‘You have deceived me! You have helped my enemy to escape!’ Michal said to him, ‘David told me that I must help him to escape. He said that he would kill me if I did not help him.’

¹⁸ David ran away and he escaped from Saul. He went to visit Samuel at Ramah. David told Samuel everything that Saul had done to him. Then David and Samuel went to live in Naioth.^[f]

¹⁹ Somebody told Saul that David was living at Naioth in Ramah. ²⁰ So Saul sent men to take hold of David. When the men arrived, they saw a group of prophets. Samuel was their leader. They were all prophesying. Then the Spirit of God came on Saul's men. They also started to prophesy. ²¹ When people told Saul about this, he sent more men to Naioth. But they prophesied too. So Saul sent a third group of men. These men also started to prophesy.

²² Then Saul himself went to Ramah. He went as far as the large well at Secu. He asked the people, ‘Where are Samuel and David?’ The people replied, ‘They are at Naioth in Ramah.’

²³ Saul went to Naioth. The Spirit of God came on him also. He started to prophesy as he walked towards Naioth. ²⁴ When he met Samuel, he took off his clothes and he continued to prophesy. He lay on the ground with no clothes all that day and all that night. So people still say, ‘Has Saul really become one of the prophets?’