1 Samuel 19
19
Saul Tries to Kill David
1Now Saul told his son Jonathan and all his courtiers to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan delighted much in David.
2So Jonathan informed David saying, “My father Saul is seeking to kill you. So now, please be on guard in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself.
3I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you will be, and I will speak with my father about you. If I notice anything, I will tell you.”
4So Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “May the king not sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial for you;
5For he put his life in his hand and killed the Philistine, and Adonai won a great victory for all Israel—you saw it and rejoiced. So why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David without a cause?”
6Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As Adonai lives, he will not be put to death.”
7So Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. Jonathan brought David to Saul and in his presence as before.
8Once again war broke out, and David marched out and fought the Philistines, and inflicted a great slaughter on them and they fled before him.
9Yet once again an evil spirit from Adonai came upon Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, as David was playing music with his hand.
10Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul’s face, so that he drove the spear into the wall. That night David fled and got away.
11Then Saul sent agents to David’s house to watch him, in order to kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him saying, “If you don’t escape for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”
12So Michal lowered David down through the window, and thus he went, fled and escaped.
13Then Michal took a household idol, laid it in the bed, put a quilt of goats’ hair at the head and covered it with a cloth.
14When Saul sent messengers to arrest David, she said, “He’s sick.”
15So Saul sent the agents back to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed so I may put him to death.”
16When the messengers came in, behold, the household idol was in the bed with the quilt of goats’ hair at its head.
17Saul then said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy get away, so that he escaped?” Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go or I’ll kill you!’”
18So David fled and escaped, went to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.
19Saul was told, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.”
20So Saul sent agents to seize David, but they saw a band of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing and presiding over them. Then the Ruach of God came upon Saul’s agents and they too prophesied.
21When Saul was told, he sent other agents and they too prophesied. Then Saul sent a third group of messengers, and they too prophesied.
22Then he himself went to Ramah, and when he arrived at the great cistern in Secu, he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” Someone answered, “Look, they are at Naioth at Ramah.”
23So he proceeded there, to Naioth at Ramah, and the Ruach of God came upon him as well, and he prophesied as he kept walking until he arrived to Naioth at Ramah.
24Then he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. That is why people were saying, “Is Saul too among the prophets?”
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1 Samuel 19: TLV
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Copyright © 2014 - Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
1 Samuel 19
19
1Then Saul instructed his son Jonathan and all his officials to kill David. But Jonathan really liked David, 2so he warned him, “My father Saul is trying to kill you. So be careful tomorrow morning—find a place to hide and stay hidden. 3I'll go out with my father and stand in the field near to where you are hiding. I'll talk to him about you and see what I can find out, then I'll let you know.”
4Then Jonathan spoke positively about David to his father Saul, and told him, “The king should not do anything bad to his servant David because he's not done anything bad to you—he has always served you well. 5He took his life in his hands when he killed the Philistine, and the Lord brought about great salvation for the whole of Israel. You saw it and you were delighted, so why would you sin and spill innocent blood by killing David without having any reason?”
6Saul accepted what Jonathan had to say, and promised with an oath: “I swear on the life of the Lord, he won't be put to death.”
7Later Jonathan called David and told him all that had been said. Then he took him to Saul, and David worked for Saul as he had before.
8War broke out once again, and David went to fight the Philistines. He attacked them so forcefully that they ran away in defeat.
9A while later an evil spirit from the Lord came on Saul while he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. As David played the lyre, 10Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear. David managed to dodge the spear which embedded itself in the wall. Then David escaped and ran away into the night.
11Saul sent some messengers to David's house to keep watch and kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, warned him, “If you don't get away tonight, tomorrow you'll be killed.”
12Michal lowered David down from a window, and he ran off, managing to escape. 13Then she took a home idol#19:13. “Home idol”: the Hebrew word used here is teraphim and they are first mentioned in Genesis 31. They were cult objects that were used to determine the “god's” will, see Ezekiel 21:21; Zechariah 10:2. That such idols would be there in David's house shows the degree to which “pure religion” had been corrupted over time. and laid it in the bed, put a goat hair wig on its head, and covered it with bedclothes.
14When Saul sent the messengers to arrest David, Michal told them, “He's sick.”
15Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, “Bring him to me in the bed so I can kill him.” 16But when the messengers went into the bedroom, there was the idol in the bed with the goat hair wig on its head.
17“Why did you trick me like this—helping my enemy get away so he could escape?” Saul asked Michal.
“He told me, ‘Get out of my way! I don't want to have to kill you!’” Michal replied.
18This is how David got away and escaped. He went to Samuel at Ramah and explained to him everything that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to stay in Naioth. 19When Saul got to hear that David was at Naioth in Ramah, 20he sent messengers to arrest him. But when they saw a group of prophets prophesying with Samuel leading out, the Spirit of God came on Saul's messengers and they started prophesying too. 21Saul was told what had happened, so he sent more messengers, and they started prophesying as well. 22For the third time Saul sent messengers, and they also started prophesying. 23In the end Saul went himself to Ramah and arrived at the large cistern at Secu. “Where are Samuel and David?” he asked.
“At Naioth in Ramah,” someone told him.
So Saul went on to Naioth at Ramah, but the Spirit of God even came on him, and he was prophesying as he walked along until he arrived in Naioth. 24Then Saul also took off his clothes and he too prophesied in Samuel's presence. Then he fell down and lay there naked all that day and all that night. That's why it is said, “Is Saul one of the prophets too?”
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com