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 Kings 19
19
1And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan the son of Saul loved David exceedingly.
2And Jonathan told David, saying: Saul my father seeketh to kill thee. Wherefore look to thyself, I beseech thee, in the morning; and thou shalt abide in a secret place and shalt be hid.
3And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art. And I will speak of thee to my father; and whatsoever I shall see, I will tell thee.
4And Jonathan spoke good things of David to Saul his father; and said to him: Sin not, O king, against thy servant, David, because he hath not sinned against thee; and his works are very good towards thee.
5And he put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine; and the Lord wrought great salvation for all Israel. Thou sawest it and didst rejoice. Why therefore wilt thou sin against innocent blood by killing David, who is without fault?
6And when Saul heard this he was appeased with the words of Jonathan, and swore: As the Lord liveth he shall not be slain.
7Then Jonathan called David and told him all these words. And Jonathan brought in David to Saul, and he was before him, as he had been yesterday and the day before.
8And the war began again. And David went out and fought against the Philistines, and defeated them with a great slaughter: and they fled from his face.
9And the evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul: and he sat in his house, and held a spear in his hand. And David played with his hand.
10And Saul endeavoured to nail David to the wall with his spear. And David slipt away out of the presence of Saul: and the spear missed him, and was fastened in the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.
11Saul therefore sent his guards to David's house to watch him, that he might be killed in the morning. And when Michol David's wife had told him this, saying: Unless thou save thyself this night, to-morrow thou wilt die,
12She let him down through a window. And he went and fled away and escaped.
13And Michol took an image and laid it on the bed: and put a goat's skin with the hair at the head of it, and covered it with clothes.
14And Saul sent officers to seize David: and it was answered that he was sick.
15And again Saul sent to see David, saying: Bring him to me in the bed, that he may be slain.
16And when the messengers were come in they found an image upon the bed, and a goat's skin at its head.
17And Saul said to Michol: Why hast thou deceived me so, and let my enemy go and flee away? And Michol answered Saul: Because he said to me: Let me go, or else I will kill thee.
18But David fled and escaped, and came to Samuel in Ramatha, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Najoth.
19And it was told Saul by some, saying: Behold David is in Najoth in Ramatha.
20So Saul sent officers to take David: and when they saw a company of prophets prophesying, and Samuel presiding over them, the spirit of the Lord came also upon them, and they likewise began to prophesy.
21And when this was told Saul he sent other messengers: but they also prophesied. And again Saul sent messengers the third time: and they prophesied also. And Saul being exceedingly angry,
22Went also himself to Ramatha, and came as far as the great cistern, which is in Socho, and he asked, and said: In what place are Samuel and David? And it was told him: Behold they are in Najoth in Ramatha.
23And he went to Najoth in Ramatha. And the spirit of the Lord came upon him also; and he went on, and prophesied till he came to Najoth in Ramatha.
24And he stripped himself also of his garments, and prophesied with the rest before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and night. This gave occasion to a proverb: What! Is Saul too among the prophets?
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.