David Anointed King

¹The Lord said to Samuel, r“How long will you grieve over Saul, since sI have rejected him from being king over Israel? tFill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, ufor I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” ²And Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, v‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. wAnd you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you.” ⁴Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city xcame to meet him trembling and said, y“Do you come peaceably?” ⁵And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. zConsecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

⁶When they came, he looked on aEliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.” ⁷But the Lord said to Samuel, b“Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, cbut the Lord looks on the heart.” ⁸Then Jesse called dAbinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ⁹Then Jesse made dShammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, e“There remains yet the youngest,1 but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, f“Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” ¹²And he sent and brought him in. Now he was gruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, h“Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” ¹³Then Samuel took ithe horn of oil jand anointed him in the midst of his brothers. kAnd the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

David in Saul's Service

¹⁴lNow the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, mand a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. ¹⁵And Saul's servants said to him, “Behold now, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you. ¹⁶Let our lord now command your servants nwho are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre, and when the harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will oplay it, and you will be well.” ¹⁷So Saul said to his servants, “Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me.” ¹⁸One of the young men answered, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, pa man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, qand the Lord is with him.” ¹⁹Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son, rwho is with the sheep.” ²⁰sAnd Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David his son to Saul. ²¹And David came to Saul tand entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. ²²And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.” ²³And uwhenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre oand played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him.

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David and Goliath

¹Now the Philistines vgathered their armies for battle. And they were gathered at wSocoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and xAzekah, in yEphes-dammim. ²And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in zthe Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines. ³And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them. ⁴And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named aGoliath of bGath, whose height was six1 cubits2 and a span. ⁵He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels3 of bronze. ⁶And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a cjavelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. ⁷The shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. dAnd his shield-bearer went before him. ⁸He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and eare you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. ⁹If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants fand serve us.” ¹⁰And the Philistine said, g“I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” ¹¹When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.

¹²Now David was hthe son of an iEphrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, jnamed Jesse, kwho had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years.4 ¹³The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And lthe names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. ¹⁴mDavid was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, ¹⁵but David went back and forth from Saul nto feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. ¹⁶For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening.

¹⁷And Jesse said to David his son, “Take for your brothers an ephah5 of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. ¹⁸oAlso take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. pSee if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them.”

¹⁹Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. ²⁰And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to qthe encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. ²¹And Israel and the Philistines drew up for battle, army against army. ²²And David left the rthings in charge of the keeper of the rbaggage and ran to the ranks and went and greeted his brothers. ²³As he talked with them, behold, sthe champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, came up out of the ranks of the Philistines and spoke tthe same words as before. And David heard him.

²⁴All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were much afraid. ²⁵And the men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to udefy Israel. And the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches vand will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel.” ²⁶And David said to the men who stood by him, “What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away wthe reproach from Israel? For who is this xuncircumcised Philistine, that he should udefy the armies of ythe living God?” ²⁷And the people answered him in the same way, z“So shall it be done to the man who kills him.”

²⁸Now Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” ²⁹And David said, “What have I done now? Was it not but a word?” ³⁰And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke bin the same way, and the people answered him again as before.

³¹When the words that David spoke were heard, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. ³²And David said to Saul, c“Let no man's heart fail because of him. dYour servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” ³³And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” ³⁴But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. ³⁶Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, efor he has defied the armies of the living God.” ³⁷And David said, f“The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, gand the Lord be with you!”

³⁸Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, ³⁹and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, “I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.” So David put them off. ⁴⁰Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.

⁴¹And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, hwith his shield-bearer in front of him. ⁴²And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, iruddy and handsome in appearance. ⁴³And the Philistine said to David, “Am I ja dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh kto the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” ⁴⁵Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with la javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, ewhom you have defied. ⁴⁶This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. mAnd I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day nto the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, othat all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷and that all this assembly may know that pthe Lord saves not with sword and spear. qFor the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.”

⁴⁸When the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

⁵⁰So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. ⁵¹Then David ran and stood over the Philistine rand took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, sthey fled. ⁵²And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath6 and the gates of tEkron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from uShaaraim as far as vGath and Ekron. ⁵³And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. ⁵⁴And David took wthe head of the Philistine xand brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.

⁵⁵As soon as Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, ythe commander of the army, “Abner, zwhose son is this youth?” And Abner said, a“As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” ⁵⁶And the king said, “Inquire whose son the boy is.” ⁵⁷And as soon as David returned from the striking down of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul bwith the head of the Philistine in his hand. ⁵⁸And Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, c“I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

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David and Jonathan's Friendship

¹As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan dloved him as his own soul. ²And Saul took him that day eand would not let him return to his father's house. ³Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because dhe loved him as his own soul. ⁴And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. ⁵And David went out fand was successful wherever Saul sent him, so that Saul set him over the men of war. And this was good in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul's servants.

Saul's Jealousy of David

⁶As they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, gthe women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with songs of joy, and with musical instruments.1 ⁷And the women hsang to one another as they celebrated,

i“Saul has struck down his thousands,

and David his ten thousands.”

⁸And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but jthe kingdom?” ⁹And Saul eyed David from that day on.

¹⁰The next day ka harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and lhe raved within his house while David was mplaying the lyre, as he did day by day. nSaul had his spear in his hand. ¹¹And Saul ohurled the spear, for he thought, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David evaded him twice.

¹²pSaul was afraid of David because qthe Lord was with him rbut had departed from Saul. ¹³So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. sAnd he went out and came in before the people. ¹⁴And David thad success in all his undertakings, qfor the Lord was with him. ¹⁵And when Saul saw that the had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him. ¹⁶uBut all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.

David Marries Michal

¹⁷Then Saul said to David, “Here is vmy elder daughter Merab. wI will give her to you for a wife. Only be valiant for me xand fight the Lord's battles.” For Saul thought, “Let not my hand be against him, ybut let the hand of the Philistines be against him.” ¹⁸And David said to Saul, z“Who am I, and who are my relatives, my father's clan in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?” ¹⁹But at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to aAdriel the bMeholathite for a wife.

²⁰Now vSaul's daughter Michal cloved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. ²¹Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that she may dbe a snare for him eand that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time,2 f“You shall now be my son-in-law.” ²²And Saul commanded his servants, “Speak to David in private and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now then become the king's son-in-law.’” ²³And Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, g“Does it seem to you a little thing to become the king's son-in-law, since I am a poor man and have no reputation?” ²⁴And the servants of Saul told him, “Thus and so did David speak.” ²⁵Then Saul said, “Thus shall you say to David, ‘The king desires no hbride-price except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, ithat he may be avenged of the king's enemies.’” jNow Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. ²⁶And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. kBefore the time had expired, ²⁷David arose and went, lalong with his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines. mAnd David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife. ²⁸But when Saul saw and knew that nthe Lord was with David, oand that Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him, ²⁹Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David's enemy continually.

³⁰pThen the commanders of the Philistines came out to battle, and as often as they came out qDavid had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.

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Saul Tries to Kill David

¹And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. rBut Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David. ²And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself. ³And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you. And if I learn anything I will tell you.” ⁴And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king ssin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. ⁵For the took his life in his hand uand he struck down the Philistine, vand the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against winnocent blood by killing David without cause?” ⁶And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, x“As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” ⁷And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence yas before.

⁸And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him. ⁹zThen a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. aAnd David was playing the lyre. ¹⁰bAnd Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

¹¹cSaul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” ¹²dSo Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. ¹³Michal took ean image1 and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats' hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. ¹⁴And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” ¹⁵Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” ¹⁶And when the messengers came in, behold, ethe image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' hair at its head. ¹⁷Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. fWhy should I kill you?’”

¹⁸Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at gRamah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth. ¹⁹And it was told Saul, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” ²⁰Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, hthe Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, iand they also prophesied. ²¹When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, iand they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, iand they also prophesied. ²²Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in gRamah.” ²³And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. jAnd the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ²⁴kAnd he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, l“Is Saul also among the prophets?”

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Jonathan Warns David

¹Then David fled from Naioth min Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?” ²And he said to him, “Far from it! You shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me. And why should my father hide this from me? It is not so.” ³But David vowed again, saying, “Your father knows well that nI have found favor in your eyes, and he thinks, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But truly, oas the Lord lives and pas your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.” ⁴Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.” ⁵David said to Jonathan, “Behold, tomorrow is qthe new moon, and I should not fail to sit at table with the king. But let me go, rthat I may hide myself in the field till the third day at evening. ⁶sIf your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me to run tto Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly usacrifice there for all the clan.’ ⁷If he says, ‘Good!’ it will be well with your servant, but if he is angry, then know that vharm is determined by him. ⁸Therefore deal kindly with your servant, wfor you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. xBut if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?” ⁹And Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! If I knew that vit was determined by my father that harm should come to you, would I not tell you?” ¹⁰Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you roughly?” ¹¹And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So they both went out into the field.

¹²And Jonathan said to David, “The Lord, the God of Israel, be witness!1 When I have sounded out my father, about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send and disclose it to you? ¹³But should it please my father to do you harm, ythe Lord do so to Jonathan and more also if I do not disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. zMay the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father. ¹⁴If I am still alive, show me the steadfast love of the Lord, that I may not die; ¹⁵aand do not cut off2 your steadfast love from my house forever, when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” ¹⁶And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, b“May3 the Lord take vengeance on David's enemies.” ¹⁷And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, cfor he loved him as he loved his own soul.

¹⁸Then Jonathan said to him, d“Tomorrow is the new moon, and eyou will be missed, because fyour seat will be empty. ¹⁹On the third day go down quickly to the place where you hid yourself when the matter was in hand, and remain beside the stone heap.4 ²⁰And I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I shot at a mark. ²¹And behold, I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you, take them,’ then you are to come, for, gas the Lord lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger. ²²But if I say to the youth, h‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, for the Lord has sent you away. ²³iAnd as for the matter of which you and I have spoken, behold, jthe Lord is between you and me forever.”

²⁴So David hid himself in the field. And when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food. ²⁵The king sat on his seat, as at other times, on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat opposite,5 and Abner sat by Saul's side, kbut David's place was empty.

²⁶Yet Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him. lHe is not clean; surely he is not clean.” ²⁷But on mthe second day, the day after the new moon, kDavid's place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?” ²⁸Jonathan answered Saul, n“David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. ²⁹He said, ‘Let me go, for our clan holds a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away and see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king's table.”

³⁰Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman, do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness? ³¹For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Therefore send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.” ³²Then Jonathan answered Saul his father, o“Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” ³³pBut Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him. So Jonathan knew qthat his father was determined to put David to death. ³⁴And Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had disgraced him.

³⁵In the morning Jonathan went out into the field to the appointment with David, and with him a little boy. ³⁶And he said to his boy, “Run and find the arrows that I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷And when the boy came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the boy and said, r“Is not the arrow beyond you?” ³⁸And Jonathan called after the boy, “Hurry! Be quick! Do not stay!” So Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows and came to his master. ³⁹But the boy knew nothing. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter. ⁴⁰And Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, “Go and carry them to the city.” ⁴¹And as soon as the boy had gone, David rose from beside the stone heap6 and fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed one another and wept with one another, David weeping the most. ⁴²Then Jonathan said to David, s“Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, t‘The Lord shall be between me and you, uand between my offspring and your offspring, forever.’” And he rose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.7

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