55When Saul saw David going out to assault the Philistine, he asked his army commander Abner, “Whose son is that boy, Abner?” And Abner replied, “By your life, Your Majesty, I do not know.” 56“Then find out whose son that young fellow is,” the king ordered. 57So when David returned after killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him to Saul, with the head of the Philistine still in his hand. 58Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, my boy?” And David answered, “The son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”
18 When [David] finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan’s soul became bound up with the soul of David; Jonathan loved David as himself. 2Saul took him [into his service] that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.—3Jonathan and David made a pact, because [Jonathan] loved him as himself. 4Jonathan took off the cloak and tunic he was wearing and gave them to David, together with his sword, bow, and belt. 5David went out [with the troops], and he was successful in every mission on which Saul sent him, and Saul put him in command of all the soldiers; this pleased all the troops and Saul’s courtiers as well. 6When the [troops] came home [and] David returned from killing the Philistine, a-the women of all the towns of Israel came out singing and dancing to greet King Saul-a with timbrels, shouting, and sistrums.b 7The women sang as they danced, and they chanted:
Saul has slain his thousands;
David, his tens of thousands!
8Saul was much distressed and greatly vexed about the matter. For he said, “To David they have given tens of thousands, and to me they have given thousands. All that he lacks is the kingship!” 9From that day on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. 10The next day an evil spirit of God gripped Saul and he began to rave in the house, while David was playing [the lyre], as he did daily. Saul had a spear in his hand, 11and Saul threwc the spear, thinking to pin David to the wall. But David eluded him twice. 12Saul was afraid of David, for the LORD was with him and had turned away from Saul. 13So Saul removed him from his presence and appointed him chief of a thousand, d-to march at the head of the troops.-d 14 David was successful in all his undertakings, for the LORD was with him; 15and when Saul saw that he was successful, he dreaded him. 16All Israel and Judah loved David, for he marched at their head.
17Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter, Merab; I will give her to you in marriage; in return, you be my warrior and fight the battles of the LORD.” Saul thought: “Let not my hand strike him; let the hand of the Philistines strike him.” 18David replied to Saul, “Who am I and e-what is my life-e—my father’s family in Israel—that I should become Your Majesty’s son-in-law?” 19But at the time that Merab, daughter of Saul, should have been given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel the Meholathite. 20Now Michal daughter of Saul had fallen in love with David; and when this was reported to Saul, he was pleased.
21Saul thought: “I will give her to him, and she can serve as a snare for him, so that the Philistines may kill him.” So Saul said to David, b-“You can become my son-in-law even now through the second one.”-b 22And Saul instructed his courtiers to say to David privately, “The king is fond of you and all his courtiers like you. So why not become the king’s son-in-law?” 23When the king’s courtiers repeated these words to David, David replied, “Do you think that becoming the son-in-law of a king is a small matter, when I am but a poor man of no consequence?”
24Saul’s courtiers reported to him, “This is what David answered.” 25And Saul said, “Say this to David: ‘The king desires no other bride-price than the foreskins of a hundred Philistines, as vengeance on the king’s enemies.”’—Saul intended to bring about David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.— 26When his courtiers told this to David, David was pleased with the idea of becoming the king’s son-in-law. b-Before the time had expired,-b 27David went out with his men and killed two hundredf Philistines; David brought their foreskins and b-they were counted out-b for the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Saul then gave him his daughter Michal in marriage. 28When Saul realized that the LORD was with David g-and that Michal daughter of Saul loved him,-g 29Saul grew still more afraid of David; and Saul was David’s enemy ever after.
30The Philistine chiefs marched out [to battle]; and every time they marched out, David was more successful than all the other officers of Saul. His reputation soared.
19 Saul urged his son Jonathan and all his courtiers to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan was very fond of David, 2and Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is bent on killing you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; get to a secret place and remain in hiding. 3I will go out and stand next to my father in the field where you will be, and I will speak to my father about you. If I learn anything, I will tell you.” 4So Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul. He said to him, “Let not Your Majesty wrong his servant David, for he has not wronged you; indeed, all his actions have been very much to your advantage. 5He took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then should you incur the guilt of shedding the blood of an innocent man, killing David without cause?” 6Saul heeded Jonathan’s plea, and Saul swore, “As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death!” 7Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all this. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served him as before.
8Fighting broke out again. David went out and fought the Philistines. He inflicted a great defeat upon them and they fled before him. 9Then an evil spirit of the LORD came upon Saul while he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing [the lyre]. 10Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he drove the spear into the wall. David fled and got away.
That night 11Saul sent messengers to David’s home to keep watch on him and to kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal told him, “Unless you run for your life tonight, you will be killed tomorrow.” 12Michal let David down from the window and he escaped and fled. 13Michal then took the household idol, laid it on the bed, and covered it with a cloth; and at its head she put a net of goat’s hair. 14Saul sent messengers to seize David; but she said, “He is sick.” 15Saul, however, sent back the messengers to see David for themselves. “Bring him up to me in the bed,” he ordered, “that he may be put to death.” 16When the messengers came, they found the household idol in the bed, with the net of goat’s hair at its head. 17Saul said to Michal, “Why did you play that trick on me and let my enemy get away safely?” “Because,” Michal answered Saul, “he said to me: ‘Help me get away or I’ll kill you.’ ”
18David made good his escape, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth. 19Saul was told that David was at Naioth in Ramah, 20and Saul sent messengers to seize David. Theya saw a band of prophets b-speaking in ecstasy,-b with Samuel standing by c-as their leader;-c and the spirit of God came upon Saul’s messengers and they too began to speak in ecstasy. 21When Saul was told about this, he sent other messen-gers; but they too spoke in ecstasy. Saul sent a third group of messengers; and they also spoke in ecstasy. 22So he himself went to Ramah. When he came to d-the great cistern at Secu,-d he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” and was told that they were at Naioth in Ramah. 23He was on his way there, to Naioth in Ramah, when the spirit of God came upon him too; and he walked on, speaking in ecstasy, until he reached Naioth in Ramah. 24Then he too stripped off his clothes and he too spoke in ecstasy before Samuel; and he lay naked all that day and all night. That is why people say, “Is Saul too among the prophets?”
20 David fled from Naioth in Ramah; he came to Jonathan and said, “What have I done, what is my crime and my guilt against your father, that he seeks my life?” 2He replied, “Heaven forbid! You shall not die. My father does not do anything, great or small, without disclosing it to me; why should my father conceal this matter from me? It cannot be!” 3David a-swore further,-a “Your father knows well that you are fond of me and has decided: Jonathan must not learn of this or he will be grieved. But, as the LORD lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.” 4Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you
