1 Samuel 19

¹ And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David.

² But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted greatly in David; so Jonathan informed David, saying, My father Saul is seeking to kill you. Therefore please be on your guard until morning, and stay in a secret place and hide.

³ And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you; and what I observe, I will inform you.

⁴ Thus Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you.

⁵ For he took his soul in his own hands and killed the Philistine, and Jehovah brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then would you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?

⁶ So Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, As Jehovah lives, he shall not be killed.

⁷ And Jonathan called out to David, and Jonathan told him all these things. So Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was before him as in times past.

⁸ And there was war again; and David went out and fought with the Philistines, and struck them with a great slaughter, and they fled before him.

⁹ And the evil spirit from Jehovah was upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing music with his hand.

¹⁰ And Saul sought to strike David to the wall with the spear, but he escaped away from Saul’s presence; and he struck the spear into the wall. So David fled and escaped that night.

¹¹ Saul also sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michal, David’s wife, informed him, saying, If you do not deliver your soul tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.

¹² So Michal let David down through a window. And he went and fled and escaped.

¹³ And Michal took an image and laid it in the bed, put a quilt of goats’ hair at the head, and covered it with clothes.

¹⁴ So when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.

¹⁵ And Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, to kill him.

¹⁶ And when the messengers had come in, there was the image in the bed, with a quilt of goats’ hair at the head.

¹⁷ And Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me like this, and sent my enemy away, so that he has escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said to me, Let me go! Why should I kill you?

¹⁸ So David fled and escaped, and came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth.

¹⁹ Now it was reported to Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah!

²⁰ And Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing, stationed over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

²¹ And when it was reported to Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.

²² Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is at Sechu. And he asked, and said, Where are Samuel and David? And someone said, Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.

²³ So he went there to Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

²⁴ And he also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?