Chronological
Chapter 18
David and Jonathan. 1 When David finished speaking with Saul, David’s soul was bonded with Jonathan’s soul. Jonathan loved him more than he loved himself. 2 From that day on, Saul would not permit him to return to his father’s house.
3 Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him more than he loved himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robe that he was wearing, and he gave it to David, even giving him his sword, his bow, and his belt. 5 Whatever Saul sent David to do, he did it so wisely that he placed him in charge of warriors. This pleased all of the people, and even Saul’s servants.
Saul’s Jealousy. 6 When David returned after having struck down the Philistine, the women came out from the cities of Israel to greet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs, tambourines, and lutes. 7 [a]As the women danced, they sang, “Saul has killed his thousands, and David has killed his ten thousands.” 8 Saul was very angry at this for the saying displeased him. He said, “They give David tens of thousands, and me they only give thousands. What else is he lacking but the kingdom?” 9 From that time on, Saul kept an eye on David.
10 The next morning an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied right inside of the house. David played on the harp, as he did every day. In the meantime, Saul had a javelin in his hand.[b] 11 Saul cast the javelin, saying to himself, “I will pin David to the wall,” but David eluded him twice. 12 Saul feared David, for the Lord was with him, but he had departed from Saul.
13 Saul sent him away, giving him command over a thousand men. He would go out and come back publicly. 14 David prospered in everything he did, for the Lord was with him. 15 When Saul saw that he was very successful, he grew to dread him. 16 But Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came back publicly.
17 David’s Marriage. Saul said to David, “Here is my oldest daughter, Merab, I will give her to you in marriage, only be a brave warrior and fight the Lord’s battles.” Saul thought, “It will not be by my hand, but let it be by the hands of the Philistines.” 18 David said to Saul, “Who am I? What is my life or my father’s family worth in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”[c] 19 When Saul’s daughter Merab should have been given to David, she was given instead to Adriel, the Meholathite, as his wife.
20 Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. When Saul was informed about this, he was pleased. 21 Saul thought, “I will give her to him so that she might be a trap for him and so that the hands of the Philistines will be against him.” Saul said to David, “You have a second chance to be my son-in-law.” 22 Saul ordered his servants, “Speak in confidence to David saying, ‘The king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. You should become the king’s son-in-law.’ ” 23 Saul’s servants said these things to David, and David answered, “Do you think it is a light matter to become the king’s son-in-law? I am only a poor man and not highly esteemed.”
24 Saul’s servants told him, “David was speaking about this thing.” 25 Saul said, “This is what you are to say to David, ‘The king does not want a dowry, he only wants one hundred Philistine foreskins, so he might be avenged on the king’s enemies.’ ” Saul planned to have David fall at the hands of the Philistines.[d] 26 When his servants told David these things, David was well-pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the allotted time had expired, 27 David went out with his men and killed two hundred Philistines. David brought their foreskins and presented the full number to the king so that he might become the king’s son-in-law. So Saul gave him Michal, his daughter, in marriage.
28 When Saul saw and realized that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, his daughter, loved him, 29 Saul dreaded him all the more, and Saul was David’s enemy for the rest of his life. 30 The Philistine leaders continued to go out to battle, and whenever they went out, David would encounter them with more success than all of Saul’s other servants, so that his name became well known.
Chapter 19
Jonathan Defends David.[e] 1 Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants that they should kill David, but Jonathan, Saul’s son, was very fond of David. 2 Jonathan informed David about it saying, “Saul, my father, is seeking to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning. Stay in some secret place and hide there. 3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are. I will speak to him about you, and I will tell you what I discover.”
4 Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul. He said to him, “May the king not wrong his servant David, for he has not wronged you. What he has done has only been to your benefit. 5 He risked his life when he killed the Philistine. The Lord won a great victory for all of Israel. You saw it and you rejoiced. Why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”
6 Saul listened to Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As the Lord lives, he will not be killed.” 7 Jonathan then called David, and Jonathan informed him about all these things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as he had been before.
8 War broke out again, and David went out to fight against the Philistines. He struck them down, slaughtering many, and they fled from him.
David Is Saved by Michal. 9 Now an evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, and he was sitting in his house, holding a javelin in his hand while David was playing some music. 10 Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the javelin, but he eluded Saul, and he drove the javelin into the wall. That night David fled and escaped.
11 [f]Saul sent deputies to David’s house to watch for him and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not save yourself tonight, you will be killed tomorrow.” 12 So Michal lowered David down through a window, and he fled and escaped.
13 Michal took a teraphim and laid it on the bed, and she placed a goat’s hair pillow where his head would be, and she covered it over with clothes.[g] 14 When Saul sent deputies to seize David, she said, “He is sick.” 15 Saul sent the deputies back to look for David saying, “Bring him back to me on a litter so I can kill him.” 16 When the deputies arrived, they found the teraphim in the bed with the pillow of goat’s hair where the head would be.
17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me by sending away my enemy so that he could escape?” Michal said to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go or I will kill you.’ ”
18 David, Samuel, and Saul in Ramah. When David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel in Ramah and told him everything that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went to Naioth and they stayed there.
19 Saul heard that David was in Naioth in Ramah. 20 [h]He sent deputies to capture David. They saw a band of prophets there prophesying, and Samuel was their leader. The Spirit of God rushed upon Saul’s deputies, and they prophesied as well. 21 Saul was told about it, and he sent other deputies, but they prophesied as well. A third time Saul sent deputies, but they also prophesied.
22 Saul and the Prophets. Finally, he himself went to Ramah, and he came to the great well in Secu. He asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” Someone told him, “They are at Naioth in Ramah.” 23 So he went to Naioth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God rushed upon him, too. He walked along, prophesying, until he arrived at Naioth. 24 He stripped off his clothes and he prophesied as he had in Samuel’s presence. He laid down naked all that day and all that night. This is why they say, “Is Saul also one of the prophets?”
Chapter 20
David and Jonathan’s Friendship. 1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah and he went to Jonathan and said, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father that he is trying to take my life?” 2 He answered him, “You will surely not die! Everything that my father does, whether it is important or insignificant, he confides to me. Why would my father hide this from me? It is just not so.” 3 But David swore an oath saying, “Your father knows very well that you like me, so he said to himself, ‘I will not let Jonathan know about it, lest he be grieved by it.’ As the Lord lives and as you live, there is only one step between me and death.”
4 So Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do for you, I will do it.” 5 David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon celebration,[i] and I am supposed to dine with the king. Let me go and hide myself in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. 6 If your father should miss me, tell him, ‘David begged me for permission to hurry to Bethlehem because they are offering an annual sacrifice there for the whole clan.’ 7 If he says, ‘That is fine,’ then your servant is safe. But if he becomes very angry, you can be sure that he is plotting harm. 8 Deal kindly with your servant, for you have entered into a covenant before the Lord with your servant. If I am guilty, kill me yourself, why should you hand me over to your father?”
9 Jonathan answered, “Never! If I knew for sure that my father was planning to harm you, would I not tell you?” 10 David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father’s answer is harsh?” 11 Jonathan said, “Come. Let us go out into the field.” So they went out into the field together. 12 Jonathan said to David, “By the Lord, the God of Israel, by this time on the day after tomorrow, I will have sounded out my father. If he is well disposed toward David, will I not send word to you to let you know? 13 Otherwise, may the Lord do this and more to Jonathan. But if my father wishes to harm you, I will send you away so that you can be safe. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. 14 Only will you not treat me with the Lord’s kindness as long as I live, so that I not be killed? 15 Never cease being kind to my family, even when the Lord has eliminated all of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David saying, “May the Lord take vengeance on all of David’s enemies.” 17 Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him more than he loved himself.
18 Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is a new moon, and you will be missed because your seat will be empty. 19 The day after tomorrow, hurry down to the place where you hid yourself when this trouble began, and stay by the stone of Ezel. 20 I will shoot three arrows off to the side of it, as if I were shooting at a target. 21 Then I will send a boy out saying, ‘Go and find the arrows.’ If I say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you. Bring them,’ then, as the Lord lives, you are safe, there is no danger. 22 But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are ahead of you,’ then go on your way, for the Lord is sending you. 23 The Lord is a witness between me and you forever in regard to the things about which we have spoken.”
24 David’s Absence. So David hid himself in the field. When the new moon celebration began and the king sat down to eat, 25 the king sat in his usual place by the wall. Jonathan sat facing him, and Abner was sitting by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty. 26 Saul did not say anything that day, because he thought, “Something must have happened to him so that he is impure, surely he is unclean.”[j]
27 But the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was still empty. Saul asked Jonathan, his son, “Why did the son of Jesse not come to eat yesterday nor today?” 28 Jonathan answered Saul, “David begged me for permission to go to Bethlehem. 29 He said to me, ‘Please let me go, for our family is offering a sacrifice in the city. My brother has told me to be there. If I have found favor with you, please, let me leave to go to see my brothers.’This is why he has not come to the king’s table.” 30 Saul became angry at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman. I knew that you sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and the shame of your mother’s nakedness. 31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be stable. Send for him and bring him to me, for he must die.”[k] 32 Jonathan answered Saul, his father, saying, “Why must he die? What has he done?” 33 Saul cast a javelin at him to kill him. Jonathan thus knew that his father intended to kill David.
34 Jonathan was enraged and he got up from table. He did not eat on the second day of the month because he was angry at his father for the shameful way he had treated David.
35 Jonathan Warns David. The next morning, Jonathan went out into the field at the time he had arranged with David. He had a small boy with him. 36 He said to the boy, “Run, find the arrows that I shoot.” The boy ran off, and he shot an arrow beyond him. 37 When the boy arrived at the place that Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan said, “Is the arrow not ahead of you?” 38 Then Jonathan cried out to the boy, “Hurry, run, do not stop!” The boy picked up Jonathan’s arrows and returned to his master. 39 (The boy did not know anything about this, only Jonathan and David knew what was happening.)
40 Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said, “Go, carry them into the city.” 41 After the boy had left, David got up from the south side of the place, and he bowed down three times before him, face to the ground. They kissed one another, and they wept over one another, David more so. 42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the Lord saying, ‘May the Lord be between me and you, between my descendants and your descendants, forever.’ ” He got up and left, and Jonathan went back into the city.
Psalm 11[a]
Unshakable Confidence in God
1 For the director.[b] Of David.
[c]In the Lord I take refuge.
How can you say to me,
“Flee like a bird to your mountains!
2 For behold, the wicked are bending their bows
as they fit their arrows to the string
so that from the shadows
they can shoot at those who are upright.[d]
3 If the foundations[e] are destroyed,
what can be done by those who are righteous?”
4 [f]The Lord is in his holy temple;
the Lord, whose throne is in heaven.
His eyes are fixed on the world;
his gaze examines everyone.
5 The Lord tests the upright and the wicked;
he detests the lover of violence.
6 Upon the wicked he will rain down
fiery coals and brimstone;[g]
a scorching wind will be their allotted portion.
7 For the Lord is just
and he loves righteous deeds;
the upright will behold his face.[h]
Psalm 59[a]
Against Wicked Enemies
1 For the director.[b] According to “Do not destroy.” A miktam of David. When Saul sent people to watch David’s house in order to kill him.
2 Rescue me, O my God, from my enemies;
defend me[c] against those who rise up against me.
3 Deliver me from those who do evil;
save me from the violence of the bloodthirsty.
4 They are lying in wait to take my life;
the powerful gather together against me.
For no offense or sin of mine, O Lord,
5 for no guilt of mine,
they stand ready to attack me.
Rise up to help me, and look on my plight;
6 you, Lord, God of hosts,[d] are the God of Israel.
Rouse yourself and punish all the nations;
show no mercy to these wicked deceivers. Selah
7 They return each evening,
snarling like dogs
as they prowl through the city.
8 [e]See what spews from their mouths—
they spew forth from their lips,
and they assert, “Who is there to hear us?”
9 However, you laugh at them, O Lord;
you show your disdain for all the nations.
10 [f]O my strength, I will keep watch for you,
for you, O God, are my fortress,
11 O God of mercy.
May God go before me
and allow me to have my way with my enemies.
12 Do not put them to death,
lest my people forget.[g]
Scatter them in your power
and bring them to their knees,
O Lord, our shield.[h]
13 For the sins of their mouths
and the words of their lips,
let them be trapped in their pride.
For the curses and lies they speak,
14 put an end to them in your wrath;
put an end to them until they are no more.
Then it will be known to the ends of the earth
that God is the ruler over Jacob.[i] Selah
15 [j]They return each evening,
snarling like dogs
as they prowl through the city.
16 They roam about searching for food,
and they growl if they do not have their fill.
17 But I will sing of your strength;
when morning dawns, I will proclaim your kindness.[k]
For you have been my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.
18 O my Strength, I will sing your praises,
for you, O God, are my fortress,
the God who shows me love.[l]
Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.