1 Samuel 16:14-23

International Standard Version

¹⁴ The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. ¹⁵ Saul’s servants told him, “Look, an evil spirit from God is troubling you. ¹⁶ Let our lord order his servants who attend you^[a] to look for a man who is skilled in playing the lyre. And then when an evil spirit from God comes on you, he will play^[b] and you will be better.”

¹⁷ Saul told his servants, “Find^[c] a man for me who can play well and bring him to me.”

¹⁸ One of the young men answered: “Look, I’ve seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skilled in playing. The man is a valiant soldier, gifted in speech, and handsome. And the Lord is with him.”

¹⁹ So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.”

²⁰ Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a container of wine, and one kid, and sent them to Saul along with his son David. ²¹ David went to Saul and began to serve him.^[d] Saul loved him very much, and he became his armor bearer. ²² Saul sent a messenger^[e] to Jesse to tell him, “Allow David to serve me, because I’m pleased with him.”^{[f] 23} Whenever an evil^[g] spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the lyre and play it.^[h] Relief would come to Saul and he would be better, because the evil spirit would leave him.