1 Samuel 18:20-30

New English Translation

²⁰ Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. When they told Saul about this, it^[a] pleased him. ²¹ Saul said, “I will give her to him so that she may become a snare to him and so the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Today is the second time for you to become my son-in-law.”^[b]

²² Then Saul instructed his servants, “Tell David secretly, ‘The king is pleased with you, and all his servants like you. So now become the king’s son-in-law.’” ²³ So Saul’s servants spoke these words privately to^[c] David. David replied, “Is becoming the king’s son-in-law something insignificant to you? I’m just a poor and lightly esteemed man!”

²⁴ When Saul’s servants reported what David had said, ²⁵ Saul replied, “Here is what you should say to David: ‘There is nothing that the king wants as a price for the bride except 100 Philistine foreskins, so that he can be avenged of his^[d] enemies.’” (Now Saul was thinking that he could kill David by the hand of the Philistines.)

²⁶ So his servants told David these things and David agreed^[e] to become the king’s son-in-law. Now the specified time had not yet expired^{[f] 27} when David, along with his men, went out^[g] and struck down 200 Philistine men. David brought their foreskins and presented all of them to the king so that he could become the king’s son-in-law. Saul then gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.

²⁸ When Saul realized^[h] that the Lord was with David and that his^[i] daughter Michal loved David,^{[j] 29} Saul became even more afraid of him.^[k] Saul continued to be at odds with David from then on.^{[l] 30 [m]} The leaders of the Philistines would march out, and as often as they did so, David achieved more success than all of Saul’s servants. His name was held in high esteem.