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?”