1 Samuel 18
18
1David and Saul finished talking, and soon David and Jonathan#18.1 Jonathan: Saul's eldest son (see chapter 14). became best friends. Jonathan thought as much of David as he did of himself. 2From that time on, Saul kept David in his service and would not let David go back to his own family.
3Jonathan liked David so much that they promised they would always be loyal friends. 4Jonathan took off the robe that he was wearing and gave it to David. He also gave him his military clothes,#18.4 military clothes: Or “armour”. his sword, his bow and arrows, and his belt.
5David was a success in everything that Saul sent him to do, and Saul made him a high officer in his army. That pleased everyone, including Saul's other officers.
Saul tries to kill David
Saul becomes David's enemy
6David had killed Goliath, the battle was over, and the Israelite army set out for home. As the army went along, women came out of each Israelite town to welcome King Saul. They were singing happy songs and dancing to the music of tambourines and harps. 7They sang:#1 S 21.11; 29.5.
Saul has killed
a thousand enemies;
David has killed
ten thousand enemies!
8This song made Saul very angry, and he thought, “They are saying that David has killed ten times more enemies than I ever did. Next they will want to make him king.” 9Saul never again trusted David.
10The next day the LORD let an evil spirit take control of Saul, and he began acting like a mad man inside his house. David came to play the harp for Saul as usual, but this time Saul had a spear in his hand. 11Saul thought, “I'll pin David to the wall.” He threw the spear at David twice, but David dodged and got away both times.
12Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was helping David and was no longer helping him. 13Saul put David in charge of a thousand soldiers and sent him out to fight. 14The LORD helped David, and he and his soldiers always won their battles. 15This made Saul even more afraid of David. 16But everyone else in Judah and Israel was loyal to#18.16 was loyal to: Or “loved”. David, because he led the army in battle.
17One day, Saul told David, “If you'll be brave and fight the LORD's battles for me, I'll let you marry my eldest daughter Merab.” But Saul was really thinking, “I don't want to kill David myself, so I'll let the Philistines do it for me.”
18David answered, “How could I possibly marry your daughter? I'm not very important, and neither is my family.”
19But when the time came for David to marry Saul's daughter Merab, Saul told her to marry Adriel from the town of Meholah.
20Saul had another daughter. Her name was Michal, and Saul found out that she was in love with David. This made Saul happy, 21and he thought, “I'll tell David he can marry Michal, but I'll set it up so that the Philistines will kill him.” He told David, “I'm going to give you a second chance to marry one of my daughters.”
22-23Saul ordered his officials to speak to David in private, so they went to David and said, “Look, the king likes you, and all his officials are loyal to you. Why not ask the king if you can marry his daughter Michal?”
“I'm not rich#18.22,23 not rich: It was the custom for a man to give the bride's father some silver or gold in order to marry his daughter, and it would take a large amount to marry the daughter of the king. or famous enough to marry princess Michal!” David answered.
24The officials went back to Saul and told him exactly what David had said. 25Saul was hoping that the Philistines would kill David, and he told his officials to tell David, “The king doesn't want any silver or gold. He only wants to get even with his enemies. All you have to do is to bring back proof that you have killed a hundred Philistines!”#18.25 proof…Philistines: Hebrew “one hundred Philistine foreskins”. In ancient times soldiers would sometimes cut off body parts of their dead enemies to prove how many they had killed. 26The officials told David, and David wanted to marry the princess.
King Saul had set a time limit, and before it ran out, 27David and his men left and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought back the proof and showed it to Saul, so he could marry Michal. Saul agreed to let David marry Michal. 28Saul knew that she loved David,#18.28 she…David: Hebrew; one ancient translation “all Israel was loyal to David”. and he also realized that the LORD was helping David. 29But knowing those things made Saul even more afraid of David, and he was David's enemy for the rest of his life.
30The Philistine rulers kept coming to fight Israel, but whenever David fought them, he won. He was famous because he won more battles against the Philistines than any of Saul's other officers.
Currently Selected:
1 Samuel 18: CEVUK
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
1 Kings 18
18
1And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
2And Saul took him that day, and would not let him return to his father's house.
3And David and Jonathan made a covenant: for he loved him as his own soul.
4And Jonathan stripped himself of the coat with which he was clothed, and gave it to David, and the rest of his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.
5And David went out to whatsoever business Saul sent him, and he behaved himself prudently. And Saul set him over the soldiers; and he was acceptable in the eyes of all the people, and especially in the eyes of Saul's servants.
6Now, when David returned, after be slew the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with timbrels of joy, and cornets.
7And the women sung as they played. And they said: Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands.
8And Saul was exceeding angry, and this word was displeasing in his eyes, and he said: They have given David ten thousands, and to me they have given but a thousand. What can he have more but the kingdom?
9And Saul did not look on David with a good eye from that day and forward.
10And the day after, the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of his house. And David played with his hand as at other times. And Saul held a spear in his hand,
11And threw it, thinking to nail David to the wall: and David stept aside out of his presence twice.
12And Saul feared David, because the Lord was with him, and was departed from himself.
13Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him a captain over a thousand men: and he went out and came in before the people.
14And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him.
15And Saul saw that he was exceeding prudent, and began to beware of him.
16But all Israel and Juda loved David, for he came in and went out before them.
17And Saul said to David: Behold my elder daughter Merob: her will I give thee to wife. Only be a valiant man, and fight the battles of the Lord. Now Saul said within himself: Let not my hand be upon him; but let the hands of the Philistines be upon him.
18And David said to Saul: Who am I, or what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law of the king?
19And it came to pass at the time when Merob the daughter of Saul should have been given to David, that she was given to Hadriel the Molathite to wife.
20But Michol the other daughter of Saul loved David. And it was told Saul, and it pleased him.
21And Saul said: I will give her to him, that she may be a stumbling-block to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be upon him. And Saul said to David: In two things thou shalt be my son-in-law this day.
22And Saul commanded his servants to speak to David privately, saying: Behold, thou pleasest the king; and all his servants love thee. Now therefore be the king's son-in-law.
23And the servants of Saul spoke all these words in the ears of David. And David said: Doth it seem to you a small matter to be the king's son-in-law? But I am a poor man, and of small ability.
24And the servants of Saul told him, saying: Such words as these hath David spoken.
25And Saul said: Speak thus to David: The king desireth not any dowry, but only a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. Now Saul thought to deliver David into the hands of the Philistines.
26And when his servants had told David the words that Saul had said, the word was pleasing in the eyes of David to be the king's son-in-law.
27And after a few days David rose up, and went with the men that were under him. And he slew of the Philistines two hundred men, and brought their foreskins and numbered them out to the king, that he might be his son-in-law. Saul therefore gave him Michol his daughter to wife.
28And Saul saw, and understood that the Lord was with David. And Michol the daughter of Saul loved him.
29And Saul began to fear David more: and Saul became David's enemy continually.
30And the princes of the Philistines went forth: and from the beginning of their going forth David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul. And his name became very famous.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.