1 Samuel 19
19
Saul Tries to Kill David
1Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan liked David very much. 2So Jonathan warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be very careful tomorrow morning. Find a place to hide and stay there. 3My father and I will come and stand in the field where you are hiding. I’ll speak to him about you. Then I’ll tell you what I find out.”
4Jonathan told his father Saul some good things about David. He said to him, “Please don’t do anything to harm David. He hasn’t done anything to harm you. And what he’s done has helped you a lot. 5He put his own life in danger when he killed Goliath. The Lord used him to win a great battle for the whole nation of Israel. When you saw it, you were glad. So why would you do anything to harm a man like David? He isn’t guilty of doing anything to harm you. Why would you want to kill him without any reason?”
6Saul paid attention to Jonathan. Saul made a promise. He said, “You can be sure that the Lord lives. And you can be just as sure that David will not be put to death.”
7So Jonathan sent for David and told him everything he and Saul had said. Then he brought David to Saul. David served Saul as he had done before.
8Once more war broke out. So David went out and fought against the Philistines. He struck them down with so much force that they ran away from him.
9But an evil spirit sent by the Lord came on Saul. It happened as he was sitting in his house and holding his spear. While David was playing the harp, 10Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear. But David got away from him just as Saul drove the spear into the wall. That night David escaped.
11Saul sent some men to watch David’s house. He told them to kill David the next morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him. She said, “You must run for your life tonight. If you don’t, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12So Michal helped David escape through a window. He ran and got away. 13Then Michal got a statue of a god. She laid it on David’s bed. She covered it with clothes. And she put some goat hair at the place where David’s head would have been.
14Saul sent the men to capture David. But Michal told them, “He’s sick.”
15Then Saul sent the men back to see David. He told them, “Bring him up here to me in his bed. Then I’ll kill him.” 16But when the men entered, the only thing they found in the bed was the statue. Some goat hair was at the place where David’s head would have been.
17Saul said to Michal, “Why did you trick me like this? Why did you help my enemy escape?”
Michal told him, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away. If you don’t, I’ll kill you.’ ”
18After David had run away and escaped, he went to Samuel at Ramah. He told him everything Saul had done to him. Then David and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. 19Saul was told, “David is in Naioth at Ramah.” 20So Saul sent some men to capture him. When they got there, they saw a group of prophets who were prophesying. Samuel was standing there as their leader. Then the Spirit of God came on Saul’s men. So they also began to prophesy. 21Saul was told about it. So he sent some more men. They began to prophesy too. Saul sent some men a third time. And they also began to prophesy. 22Finally, Saul decided to go to Ramah himself. He went to the large well at Seku. He asked some people, “Where are Samuel and David?”
“Over in Naioth at Ramah,” they said.
23So Saul went to Naioth at Ramah. But the Spirit of God even came on him. He walked along and prophesied until he came to Naioth. 24There he took off his clothes. Then he also prophesied in front of Samuel. He lay there without his clothes on all that day and night. That’s why people say, “Is Saul also one of the prophets?”
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1 Samuel 19: NIrV
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Holy Bible, New International Reader’s Version®, NIrV®
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1 Samuel 19
19
1And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should slay David. 2But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David. And Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeks to kill thee; and now, I pray thee, take heed to thyself in the morning, and abide in a secret place and hide thyself; 3and I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and will speak of thee with my father: and see what it is, and tell thee. 4And Jonathan spoke good 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 thee; for also what he did was very advantageous to thee; 5for he put his life in hand, and smote the Philistine, and Jehovah wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou didst see it, and didst rejoice; why then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, in slaying David without cause? 6And Saul hearkened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, As Jehovah liveth, he shall not be put to death! 7Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan declared to him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as previously.
8And there was war again; and David went forth and fought with the Philistines, and smote them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him. 9And an evil spirit from Jehovah was upon Saul. And he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David played with his hand. 10And Saul sought to smite David and the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the spear into the wall. And David fled, and escaped that night.
11And Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning; and Michal David's wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to-night, to-morrow thou wilt be put to death. 12And Michal let David down through a window; and he went, and fled and escaped. 13And Michal took the image, and laid it in the bed, and put the net of goats' hair at its head, and covered it with the coverlet. 14And Saul sent messengers to take David, and she said, He is sick. 15And Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may put him to death. 16And the messengers came in, and behold, the image was in the bed, and the net of goats' hair at its head. 17Then Saul said to Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal said to Saul, He said to me, Let me go; why should I slay thee?
18And David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth. 19And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth by Ramah. 20Then Saul sent messengers to take David; and they saw a company of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as president over them; and the Spirit of God#GodHebrew: Elohim came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21And it was told Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. 22Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Sechu; and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, at Naioth by Ramah. 23And he went thither to Naioth by Ramah; and the Spirit of God#GodHebrew: Elohim came upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth by Ramah. 24And he himself also stripped off his clothes, and prophesied, himself also, before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.