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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Copyright © 2014 - Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society
1 Samuel 19
19
The Black Mood of Saul
1-3Saul called his son Jonathan together with his servants and ordered them to kill David. But because Jonathan treasured David, he went and warned him: “My father is looking for a way to kill you. Here’s what you are to do. Tomorrow morning, hide and stay hidden. I’ll go out with my father into the field where you are hiding. I’ll talk about you with my father and we’ll see what he says. Then I’ll report back to you.”
4-5Jonathan brought up David with his father, speaking well of him. “Please,” he said to his father, “don’t attack David. He hasn’t wronged you, has he? And just look at all the good he has done! He put his life on the line when he killed the Philistine. What a great victory God gave Israel that day! You were there. You saw it and were on your feet applauding with everyone else. So why would you even think of sinning against an innocent person, killing David for no reason whatever?”
6Saul listened to Jonathan and said, “You’re right. As God lives, David lives. He will not be killed.”
7Jonathan sent for David and reported to him everything that was said. Then he brought David back to Saul and everything was as it was before.
8War broke out again and David went out to fight Philistines. He beat them badly, and they ran for their lives.
9-10But then a black mood from God settled over Saul and took control of him. He was sitting at home, his spear in his hand, while David was playing music. Suddenly, Saul tried to skewer David with his spear, but David ducked. The spear stuck in the wall and David got away. It was night.
11-14Saul sent men to David’s house to stake it out and then, first thing in the morning, to kill him. But Michal, David’s wife, told him what was going on. “Quickly now—make your escape tonight. If not, you’ll be dead by morning!” She let him out of a window, and he made his escape. Then Michal took a dummy god and put it in the bed, placed a wig of goat’s hair on its head, and threw a quilt over it. When Saul’s men arrived to get David, she said, “He’s sick in bed.”
15-16Saul sent his men back, ordering them, “Bring him, bed and all, so I can kill him.” When the men entered the room, all they found in the bed was the dummy god with its goat-hair wig!
17Saul stormed at Michal: “How could you play tricks on me like this? You sided with my enemy, and now he’s gotten away!”
18Michal said, “He threatened me. He said, ‘Help me out of here or I’ll kill you.’”
David made good his escape and went to Samuel at Ramah and told him everything Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel withdrew to the privacy of Naioth.
19-20Saul was told, “David’s at Naioth in Ramah.” He immediately sent his men to capture him. They saw a band of prophets prophesying with Samuel presiding over them. Before they knew it, the Spirit of God was on them, too, and they were ranting and raving right along with the prophets!
21That was reported back to Saul, and he dispatched more men. They, too, were soon prophesying. So Saul tried a third time—a third set of men—and they ended up mindlessly raving as well!
22Fed up, Saul went to Ramah himself. He came to the big cistern at Secu and inquired, “Where are Samuel and David?”
A bystander said, “Over at Naioth in Ramah.”
23-24As he headed out for Naioth in Ramah, the Spirit of God was on him, too. All the way to Naioth he was caught up in a babbling trance! He ripped off his clothes and lay there rambling gibberish before Samuel for a day and a night, stretched out naked. People are still talking about it: “Saul among the prophets! Who would have guessed?”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.