1 Samuel 18
18
1And it cometh to pass, when he finisheth to speak unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan hath been bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loveth him as his own soul.
2And Saul taketh him on that day, and hath not permitted him to turn back to the house of his father.
3And Jonathan maketh — also David — a covenant, because he loveth him as his own soul,
4and Jonathan strippeth himself of the upper robe which [is] upon him, and giveth it to David, and his long robe, even unto his sword, and unto his bow, and unto his girdle.
5And David goeth out whithersoever Saul doth send him; he acted wisely, and Saul setteth him over the men of war, and it is good in the eyes of all the people, and also in the eyes of the servants of Saul.
6And it cometh to pass, in their coming in, in David's returning from smiting the Philistine, that the women come out from all the cities of Israel to sing — also the dancers — to meet Saul the king, with tabrets, with joy, and with three-stringed instruments;
7and the women answer — those playing, and say, ‘Saul hath smitten among his thousands, And David among his myriads.’
8And it is displeasing to Saul exceedingly, and this thing is evil in his eyes, and he saith, ‘They have given to David myriads, and to me they have given the thousands, and more to him [is] only the kingdom;’
9and Saul is eyeing David from that day and thenceforth.
10And it cometh to pass, on the morrow, that the spirit of sadness [from] God prospereth over Saul, and he prophesieth in the midst of the house, and David is playing with his hand, as day by day, and the javelin [is] in the hand of Saul,
11and Saul casteth the javelin, and saith, ‘I smite through David, even through the wall;’ and David turneth round out of his presence twice.
12And Saul is afraid of the presence of David, for Jehovah hath been with him, and from Saul He hath turned aside;
13and Saul turneth him aside from him, and appointeth him to himself head of a thousand, and he goeth out an cometh in, before the people.
14And David is in all his ways acting wisely, and Jehovah [is] with him,
15and Saul seeth that he is acting very wisely, and is afraid of him,
16and all Israel and Judah love David when he is going out and coming in before them.
17And Saul saith unto David, ‘Lo, my elder daughter Merab — her I give to thee for a wife; only, be to me for a son of valour, and fight the battles of Jehovah;’ and Saul said, ‘Let not my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.’
18And David saith unto Saul, ‘Who [am] I? and what my life — the family of my father in Israel — that I am son-in-law to the king?’
19And it cometh to pass, at the time of the giving of Merab daughter of Saul to David, that she hath been given to Adriel the Meholathite for a wife.
20And Michal daughter of Saul loveth David, and they declare to Saul, and the thing is right in his eyes,
21and Saul saith, ‘I give her to him, and she is to him for a snare, and the hand of the Philistines is on him;’ and Saul saith unto David, ‘By the second — thou dost become my son-in-law to-day.’
22And Saul commandeth his servants, ‘Speak unto David gently, saying, Lo, the king hath delighted in thee, and all his servants have loved thee, and now, be son-in-law to the king.’
23And the servants of Saul speak in the ears of David these words, and David saith, ‘Is it a light thing in your eyes to be son-in-law to the king — and I a poor man, and lightly esteemed?’
24And the servants of Saul declare to him, saying, ‘According to these words hath David spoken.’
25And Saul saith, ‘Thus do ye say to David, There is no delight to the king in dowry, but in a hundred foreskins of the Philistines — to be avenged on the enemies of the king;’ and Saul thought to cause David to fall by the hand of the Philistines.
26And his servants declare to David these words, and the thing is right in the eyes of David, to be son-in-law to the king; and the days have not been full,
27and David riseth and goeth, he and his men, and smiteth among the Philistines two hundred men, and David bringeth in their foreskins, and they set them before the king, to be son-in-law to the king; and Saul giveth to him Michal his daughter for a wife.
28And Saul seeth and knoweth that Jehovah [is] with David, and Michal daughter of Saul hath loved him,
29and Saul addeth to be afraid of the presence of David yet; and Saul is an enemy with David all the days.
30And the princes of the Philistines come out, and it cometh to pass from the time of their coming out, David hath acted more wisely than any of the servants of Saul, and his name is very precious.
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1 Samuel 18: YLT98
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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.
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