1 Samuel 18
18
David’s Success
1When David had finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan was bound to David in close friendship,#18:1 Lit the life of Jonathan was bound to the life of David and loved him as much as he loved himself.#1Sm 20:17; 2Sm 1:26 2Saul kept David with him from that day on and did not let him return to his father’s house.
3Jonathan made a covenant with David#1Sm 20:8,16; 23:18 because he loved him as much as himself. 4Then Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David,#Gn 41:42 along with his military tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.
5David marched out with the army and was successful in everything Saul sent him to do. Saul put him in command of the fighting men, which pleased all the people and Saul’s servants as well.
6As the troops were coming back, when David was returning from killing the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul,#Ex 15:20–21; Jdg 11:34 singing and dancing with tambourines, with shouts of joy, and with three-stringed instruments. 7As they danced, the women sang:
Saul has killed his thousands,
but David his tens of thousands.#1Sm 21:11; 29:5
8Saul was furious and resented this song. “They credited tens of thousands to David,” he complained, “but they only credited me with thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom?” #1Sm 15:28; 24:20 9So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward.
Saul Attempts to Kill David
10The next day an evil spirit sent from God came powerfully on Saul,#1Sm 16:14; 19:9 and he began to rave#18:10 Or prophesy inside the palace. David was playing the lyre as usual,#1Sm 16:23 but Saul was holding a spear,#1Sm 19:9 11and he threw it, thinking, “I’ll pin David to the wall.”#1Sm 19:10; 20:33 But David got away from him twice.
12Saul was afraid of David,#1Sm 18:15,29 because the Lord was with David#1Sm 16:13,18 but had left Saul.#1Sm 16:14; 17:36,47; 2Sm 5:2 13Therefore, Saul sent David away from him and made him commander over a thousand men. David led the troops#2Sm 5:2 14and continued to be successful in all his activities because the Lord was with him.#1Sm 3:19; 16:18 15When Saul observed that David was very successful, he dreaded him. 16But all Israel and Judah loved David#1Sm 18:5 because he was leading their troops. 17Saul told David, “Here is my oldest daughter Merab. I’ll give her to you as a wife#1Sm 17:25 if you will be a warrior for me and fight the Lord’s battles.”#Nm 21:14; 1Sm 17:36–37; 25:28 But Saul was thinking, “I don’t need to raise a hand against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”#1Sm 18:21,25
18Then David responded, “Who am I,#1Sm 9:21; 18:23; 2Sm 7:18 and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?” 19When it was time to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.#Jdg 7:22; 2Sm 21:8; 1Kg 19:16
David’s Marriage to Michal
20Now Saul’s daughter Michal#1Sm 18:28 loved David, and when it was reported to Saul, it pleased him. 21“I’ll give her to him,” Saul thought. “She’ll be a trap for him, and the hand of the Philistines will be against him.”#1Sm 18:17 So Saul said to David a second time, “You can now be my son-in-law.”#1Sm 18:20
22Saul then ordered his servants, “Speak to David in private and tell him, ‘Look, the king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. Therefore, you should become the king’s son-in-law.’”
23Saul’s servants reported these words directly to David, but he replied, “Is it trivial in your sight to become the king’s son-in-law? I am a poor commoner.”#Gn 29:20; 34:12
24The servants reported back to Saul, “These are the words David spoke.”
25Then Saul replied, “Say this to David: ‘The king desires no other bride-price#Gn 34:12; Ex 22:17 except a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.’”#1Sm 14:24 Actually, Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.#1Sm 18:17
26When the servants reported these terms to David, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the wedding day arrived, 27David and his men went out and killed two hundred#18:27 LXX reads 100 Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as full payment to the king to become his son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David as his wife.#2Sm 3:14 28Saul realized#18:28 Lit saw and knew that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him, 29and he became even more afraid of David. As a result, Saul was David’s enemy from then on.
30Every time the Philistine commanders came out to fight,#2Sm 11:1 David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers.#1Sm 18:5 So his name became well known.
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1 Samuel 18: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
I Samuel 18
18
Saul Resents David
1Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, #1 Sam. 17:12the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, #Gen. 44:30and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2Saul took him that day, #Deut. 13:6; 1 Sam. 20:17; 2 Sam. 1:26and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore. 3Then Jonathan and David made a #1 Sam. 17:15covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.
5So David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants. 6Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that #1 Sam. 20:8–17the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments. 7So the women #Ex. 15:20, 21; Judg. 11:34; Ps. 68:25; 149:3sang as they danced, and said:
#Ex. 15:21“Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands.”
8Then Saul was very angry, and the saying #1 Sam. 21:11; 29:5displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but #Eccl. 4:4the kingdom?” 9So Saul eyed David from that day forward.
10And it happened on the next day that #1 Sam. 15:28the distressing spirit from God came upon Saul, #1 Sam. 16:14and he prophesied inside the house. So David #1 Sam. 19:24; 1 Kin. 18:29; Acts 16:16played music with his hand, as at other times; #1 Sam. 16:23but there was a spear in Saul’s hand. 11And Saul #1 Sam. 19:9, 10cast the spear, for he said, “I will pin David to the wall!” But David escaped his presence twice.
12Now Saul was #1 Sam. 19:10; 20:33afraid of David, because #1 Sam. 18:15, 29the Lord was with him, but had #1 Sam. 16:13, 18departed from Saul. 13Therefore Saul removed him from his presence, and made him his captain over a thousand; and #1 Sam. 16:14; 28:15he went out and came in before the people. 14And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and #Num. 27:17; 1 Sam. 18:16; 29:6; 2 Sam. 5:2the Lord was with him. 15Therefore, when Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him. 16But #Gen. 39:2, 3, 23; Josh. 6:27; 1 Sam. 16:18all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.
David Marries Michal
17Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab; #Num. 27:16, 17; 1 Sam. 18:5; 2 Sam. 5:2; 1 Kin. 3:7I will give her to you as a wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight #1 Sam. 14:49; 17:25the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, #Num. 32:20, 27, 29; 1 Sam. 25:28“Let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
18So David said to Saul, #1 Sam. 18:21, 25; 2 Sam. 12:9“Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?” 19But it happened at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to #1 Sam. 9:21; 18:23; 2 Sam. 7:18Adriel the #2 Sam. 21:8Meholathite as a wife.
20#Judg. 7:22; 2 Sam. 21:8; 1 Kin. 19:16Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. 21So Saul said, “I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that #1 Sam. 18:28the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time, #1 Sam. 18:17“You shall be my son-in-law today.”
22And Saul commanded his servants, “Communicate with David secretly, and say, ‘Look, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become the king’s son-in-law.’ ”
23So Saul’s servants spoke those words in the hearing of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?” 24And the servants of Saul told him, saying, “In this manner David spoke.”
25Then Saul said, “Thus you shall say to David: ‘The king does not desire any #1 Sam. 18:26dowry but one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take #Gen. 34:12; Ex. 22:17vengeance on the king’s enemies.’ ” But Saul #1 Sam. 14:24thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. 26So when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to become the king’s son-in-law. Now #1 Sam. 18:17the days had not expired; 27therefore David arose and went, he and #1 Sam. 18:21his men, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. And #1 Sam. 18:13David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full count to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as a wife.
28Thus Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him; 29and Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David’s enemy continually. 30Then the princes of the Philistines #2 Sam. 3:14went out to war. And so it was, whenever they went out, that David #2 Sam. 11:1behaved more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name became highly esteemed.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.