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David Becomes Saul’s Armor Bearer

14 (A)Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul, and (B)an evil spirit from Yahweh terrorized him. 15 Saul’s servants then said to him, “Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. 16 Let our lord now speak to your servants who are before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful musician on the harp; and it shall be that when the evil spirit from God is on you, (C)he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well.” 17 So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me now a man who can play well and bring him to me.” 18 Then one of the young men answered and said, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is a skillful musician, (D)a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one who is understanding in speech, and man of fine form; and (E)Yahweh is with him.” 19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David who is with the flock.” 20 And Jesse (F)took a donkey loaded with bread and a wineskin of wine and a young goat and sent them to Saul by David his son. 21 Then David came to Saul and (G)stood before him; and [a]Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor bearer. 22 So Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David now stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.” 23 Thus it happened that whenever (H)the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand; and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 16:21 Lit he

A Distressing Spirit Troubles Saul

14 (A)But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and (B)a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. 15 And Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely, a distressing spirit from God is troubling you. 16 Let our master now command your servants, who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp. And it shall be that he will (C)play it with his hand when the [a]distressing spirit from God is upon you, and you shall be well.”

17 So Saul said to his servants, [b]“Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.”

18 Then one of the servants answered and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and (D)the Lord is with him.”

19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.” 20 And Jesse (E)took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by his son David to Saul. 21 So David came to Saul and (F)stood before him. And he loved him greatly, and he became his armorbearer. 22 Then Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.” 23 And so it was, whenever the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 16:16 Lit. evil
  2. 1 Samuel 16:17 Lit. Look now for a man for me