1 Samuel 16:14-23
World English Bible
14 Now Yahweh’s Spirit departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh troubled him. 15 Saul’s servants said to him, “See now, an evil spirit from God troubles you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are in front of you to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp. Then when the evil spirit from God is on you, he will play with his hand, and you will be well.”
17 Saul said to his servants, “Provide 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 skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and Yahweh is with him.”
19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.”
20 Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, and a container of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by David his son to Saul. 21 David came to Saul and stood before him. He loved him greatly; and he became his armor bearer. 22 Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.” 23 When the spirit from God was on Saul, David took the harp and played with his hand; so Saul was refreshed and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.
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1 Samuel 16:14-23
New King James Version
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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- 1 Samuel 16:16 Lit. evil
- 1 Samuel 16:17 Lit. Look now for a man for me
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.