1 Samuel 19
19
David escapes Saul
1Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David, but Jonathan, Saul’s son, liked David very much. 2So Jonathan warned David, “My father Saul is trying to kill you. Be on guard tomorrow morning. Stay somewhere safe and hide. 3I’ll go out and stand by my father in the field where you’ll be. I’ll talk to my father about you, and I’ll tell you whatever I find out.”
4So Jonathan spoke highly about David to his father Saul, telling him, “The king shouldn’t do anything wrong to his servant David, because he hasn’t wronged you. In fact, his actions have helped you greatly. 5He risked his own life when he killed that Philistine, and the LORD won a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and were happy about it. Why then would you do something wrong to an innocent person by killing David for no reason?”
6Saul listened to Jonathan and then swore, “As surely as the LORD lives, David won’t be executed.” 7So Jonathan summoned David and told him everything they had talked about. Then Jonathan brought David back to Saul, and David served Saul as he had previously.
8War broke out again. When David went out to fight the Philistines, he struck them with such force that they ran from him.
9Then an evil spirit from the LORD came over Saul.#19.9 Or to Saul He was sitting in his house with his spear in hand while David was playing music. 10Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear, but David escaped Saul. Saul drove the spear into the wall, but David fled and got away safely. That night 11Saul sent messengers to David’s house to keep watch on it and kill him in the morning. David’s wife Michal warned him, “If you don’t escape with your life tonight, you are a dead man tomorrow.” 12So Michal lowered David through a window. He took off and ran, and he got away. 13Then Michal took the household’s divine image and laid it in the bed, putting some goat’s hair on its head and covering it with clothes.
14Saul sent messengers to arrest David, but she said, “He’s sick.”
15Saul sent the messengers back to check on David for themselves. “Bring him to me on his bed,” he ordered, “so he can be executed.” 16When the messengers arrived, they found the idol in the bed with the goat’s hair on its head. 17Saul said to Michal, “Why could you betray me like this, letting my enemy go so that now he has escaped?”
Michal said to Saul, “David told me, ‘Help me get away or I’ll kill you!’”
18So David fled and escaped. When he reached Samuel at Ramah, he reported to him everything Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to stay in the camps.#19.18 Or Naioth, also in 19:19, 22-23
19When Saul was told that David was in the camps at Ramah, 20he sent messengers to arrest David. They saw a group of prophets in a prophetic frenzy, with Samuel standing there as their leader. God’s spirit came over Saul’s messengers, and they also fell into a prophetic frenzy. 21This was reported to Saul, and he sent different messengers, but they also fell into a prophetic frenzy. So Saul sent a third group of messengers, and they did the very same thing.
22At that point, Saul went to Ramah himself. He came to the well at the threshing floor that was on the bare hill there#19.22 LXX; MT the large well at Secu and asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”
“In the camps at Ramah,” he was told. 23So Saul went to the camps at Ramah, and God’s spirit came over him too. So as he traveled, he was in a prophetic frenzy until he reached the camps at Ramah. 24He even took off all his clothes and fell into a prophetic frenzy in front of Samuel. He lay naked that whole day and night. That’s why people say, “Is Saul also one of the prophets?”
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1 Samuel 19: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
1 Samuel 19
19
David is Persecuted by Saul
1Saul told his son Jonathan and all his officials that he planned to kill#19.1 that he planned to kill; or to kill. David. But Jonathan was very fond of David, 2and so he said to him, “My father is trying to kill you. Please be careful tomorrow morning; hide in some secret place and stay there. 3I will go and stand by my father in the field where you are hiding, and I will speak to him about you. If I find out anything, I will let you know.”
4Jonathan praised David to Saul and said, “Sir, don't do wrong to your servant David. He has never done you any wrong; on the contrary, everything he has done has been a great help to you. 5He risked his life when he killed Goliath, and the LORD won a great victory for Israel. When you saw it, you were glad. Why, then, do you now want to do wrong to an innocent man and kill David for no reason at all?”
6Saul was convinced by what Jonathan said and made a vow in the LORD's name that he would not kill David. 7So Jonathan called David and told him everything; then he took him to Saul, and David served the king as he had before.
8War with the Philistines broke out again. David attacked them and defeated them so thoroughly that they fled.
9One day an evil spirit from the LORD took control of Saul. He was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was there, playing his harp. 10Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear, but David dodged, and the spear stuck in the wall. David ran away and escaped.
11 #
Ps 59 (Title) That same night Saul sent some men to watch David's house and kill him the next morning. Michal, David's wife, warned him, “If you don't get away tonight, tomorrow you will be dead.” 12She let him down from a window, and he ran away and escaped. 13Then she took the household idol, laid it on the bed, put a pillow made of goats'-hair at its head, and put a cover over it. 14When Saul's men came to get David, Michal told them that he was ill. 15But Saul sent them back to see David for themselves. He ordered them, “Carry him here in his bed, and I will kill him.” 16They went inside and found the household idol in the bed and the goats'-hair pillow at its head. 17Saul asked Michal, “Why have you tricked me like this and let my enemy escape?”
She answered, “He said he would kill me if I didn't help him to escape.”
18David escaped and went to Samuel in Ramah and told him everything that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there. 19Saul was told that David was in Naioth in Ramah, 20so he sent some men to arrest him. They saw#19.20 Some ancient translations They saw; Hebrew He saw. the group of prophets dancing and shouting, with Samuel as their leader. Then the Spirit of God took control of Saul's men, and they also began to dance and shout. 21When Saul heard of this, he sent more messengers, and they also began to dance and shout. He sent messengers the third time, and the same thing happened to them. 22Then he himself started out for Ramah. When he came to the large well in Secu, he asked where Samuel and David were and was told that they were at Naioth. 23As he was going there, the Spirit of God took control of him also, and he danced and shouted all the way to Naioth. 24#1 Sam 10.11–12He took off his clothes and danced and shouted in Samuel's presence, and lay naked all that day and all that night. (This is how the saying originated, “Has even Saul become a prophet?”)
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.