Category: 1 Samuel

[16:14] The Lord's spirit left Saul, and an evil spirit sent by the Lord tormented him.

[16:15] His servants said to him, “We know that an evil spirit sent by God is tormenting you.

[16:16] So give us the order, sir, and we will look for a man who knows how to play the harp. Then when the evil spirit comes on you, the man can play his harp, and you will be all right again.”

[16:17] Saul ordered them, “Find me a man who plays well and bring him to me.”

[16:18] One of his attendants said, “Jesse of the town of Bethlehem has a son who is a good musician. He is also a brave and handsome man, a good soldier, and an able speaker. The Lord is with him.”

[16:19] So Saul sent messengers to Jesse to say, “Send me your son David, the one who takes care of the sheep.”

[16:20] Jesse sent David to Saul with a young goat, a donkey loaded with bread, and a leather bag full of wine.

[16:21] David came to Saul and entered his service. Saul liked him very much and chose him as the man to carry his weapons.

[16:22] Then Saul sent a message to Jesse: “I like David. Let him stay here in my service.”

[16:23] From then on, whenever the evil spirit sent by God came on Saul, David would get his harp and play it. The evil spirit would leave, and Saul would feel better and be all right again.

[17:1] The Philistines gathered for battle in Socoh, a town in Judah; they camped at a place called Ephes Dammim, between Socoh and Azekah.

[17:2] Saul and the Israelites assembled and camped in Elah Valley, where they got ready to fight the Philistines.

[17:3] The Philistines lined up on one hill and the Israelites on another, with a valley between them.

[17:4] A man named Goliath, from the city of Gath, came out from the Philistine camp to challenge the Israelites. He was over nine feet tall

[17:5] and wore bronze armor that weighed about 125 pounds and a bronze helmet.

[17:6] His legs were also protected by bronze armor, and he carried a bronze javelin slung over his shoulder.

[17:7] His spear was as thick as the bar on a weaver's loom, and its iron head weighed about fifteen pounds. A soldier walked in front of him carrying his shield.

[17:8] Goliath stood and shouted at the Israelites, “What are you doing there, lined up for battle? I am a Philistine, you slaves of Saul! Choose one of your men to fight me.

[17:9] If he wins and kills me, we will be your slaves; but if I win and kill him, you will be our slaves.

[17:10] Here and now I challenge the Israelite army. I dare you to pick someone to fight me!”

[17:11] When Saul and his men heard this, they were terrified.

[17:12] David was the son of Jesse, who was an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah. Jesse had eight sons, and at the time Saul was king, he was already a very old man.

[17:13] His three oldest sons had gone with Saul to war. The oldest was Eliab, the next was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah.

[17:14] David was the youngest son, and while the three oldest brothers stayed with Saul,

[17:15] David would go back to Bethlehem from time to time, to take care of his father's sheep.

[17:16] Goliath challenged the Israelites every morning and evening for forty days.

[17:17] One day Jesse said to David, “Take a half-bushel of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and hurry with them to your brothers in the camp.

[17:18] And take these ten cheeses to the commanding officer. Find out how your brothers are getting along and bring back something to show that you saw them and that they are well.

[17:19] King Saul, your brothers, and all the other Israelites are in Elah Valley fighting the Philistines.”

[17:20] David got up early the next morning, left someone else in charge of the sheep, took the food, and went as Jesse had told him to. He arrived at the camp just as the Israelites were going out to their battle line, shouting the war cry.

[17:21] The Philistine and the Israelite armies took positions for battle, facing each other.

[17:22] David left the food with the officer in charge of the supplies, ran to the battle line, went to his brothers, and asked how they were getting along.

[17:23] As he was talking with them, Goliath came forward and challenged the Israelites as he had done before. And David heard him.

[17:24] When the Israelites saw Goliath, they ran away in terror.

[17:25] “Look at him!” they said to each other. “Listen to his challenge! King Saul has promised to give a big reward to the man who kills him; the king will also give him his daughter to marry and will not require his father's family to pay taxes.”

[17:26] David asked the men who were near him, “What will the man get who kills this Philistine and frees Israel from this disgrace? After all, who is this heathen Philistine to defy the army of the living God?”

[17:27] They told him what would be done for the man who killed Goliath.

[17:28] Eliab, David's oldest brother, heard David talking to the men. He became angry with David and said, “What are you doing here? Who is taking care of those sheep of yours out there in the wilderness? You smart aleck, you! You just came to watch the fighting!”

[17:29] “Now what have I done?” David asked. “Can't I even ask a question?”

[17:30] He turned to another man and asked him the same question, and every time he asked, he got the same answer.

[17:31] Some men heard what David had said, and they told Saul, who sent for him.

[17:32] David said to Saul, “Your Majesty, no one should be afraid of this Philistine! I will go and fight him.”

[17:33] “No,” answered Saul. “How could you fight him? You're just a boy, and he has been a soldier all his life!”

[17:34] “Your Majesty,” David said, “I take care of my father's sheep. Any time a lion or a bear carries off a lamb,

[17:35] I go after it, attack it, and rescue the lamb. And if the lion or bear turns on me, I grab it by the throat and beat it to death.

[17:36] I have killed lions and bears, and I will do the same to this heathen Philistine, who has defied the army of the living God.

[17:37] The Lord has saved me from lions and bears; he will save me from this Philistine.” “All right,” Saul answered. “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

[17:38] He gave his own armor to David for him to wear: a bronze helmet, which he put on David's head, and a coat of armor.

[17:39] David strapped Saul's sword over the armor and tried to walk, but he couldn't, because he wasn't used to wearing them. “I can't fight with all this,” he said to Saul. “I'm not used to it.” So he took it all off.

[17:40] He took his shepherd's stick and then picked up five smooth stones from the stream and put them in his bag. With his sling ready, he went out to meet Goliath.

[17:41] The Philistine started walking toward David, with his shield bearer walking in front of him. He kept coming closer,

[17:42] and when he got a good look at David, he was filled with scorn for him because he was just a nice, good-looking boy.

[17:43] He said to David, “What's that stick for? Do you think I'm a dog?” And he called down curses from his god on David.

[17:44] “Come on,” he challenged David, “and I will give your body to the birds and animals to eat.”

[17:45] David answered, “You are coming against me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the Israelite armies, which you have defied.

[17:46] This very day the Lord will put you in my power; I will defeat you and cut off your head. And I will give the bodies of the Philistine soldiers to the birds and animals to eat. Then the whole world will know that Israel has a God,

[17:47] and everyone here will see that the Lord does not need swords or spears to save his people. He is victorious in battle, and he will put all of you in our power.”

[17:48] Goliath started walking toward David again, and David ran quickly toward the Philistine battle line to fight him.

[17:49] He reached into his bag and took out a stone, which he slung at Goliath. It hit him on the forehead and broke his skull, and Goliath fell face downward on the ground.

[17:50] And so, without a sword, David defeated and killed Goliath with a sling and a stone!

[17:51] He ran to him, stood over him, took Goliath's sword out of its sheath, and cut off his head and killed him. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they ran away.

[17:52] The men of Israel and Judah shouted and ran after them, pursuing them all the way to Gath and to the gates of Ekron. The Philistines fell wounded all along the road that leads to Shaaraim, as far as Gath and Ekron.

[17:53] When the Israelites came back from pursuing the Philistines, they looted their camp.

[17:54] David got Goliath's head and took it to Jerusalem, but he kept Goliath's weapons in his own tent.

[18:6] As David was returning after killing Goliath and as the soldiers were coming back home, women from every town in Israel came out to meet King Saul. They were singing joyful songs, dancing, and playing tambourines and lyres.

[18:7] In their celebration the women sang, “Saul has killed thousands, but David tens of thousands.”

[18:8] Saul did not like this, and he became very angry. He said, “For David they claim tens of thousands, but only thousands for me. They will be making him king next!”

[18:9] And so he was jealous and suspicious of David from that day on.

[18:10] The next day an evil spirit from God suddenly took control of Saul, and he raved in his house like a madman. David was playing the harp, as he did every day, and Saul was holding a spear.

[18:11] “I'll pin him to the wall,” Saul said to himself, and he threw the spear at him twice; but David dodged each time.

[18:12] Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with David but had abandoned him.

[18:13] So Saul sent him away and put him in command of a thousand men. David led his men in battle

[18:14] and was successful in all he did, because the Lord was with him.

[18:15] Saul noticed David's success and became even more afraid of him.

[18:16] But everyone in Israel and Judah loved David because he was such a successful leader.

[18:17] Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you as your wife on condition that you serve me as a brave and loyal soldier, and fight the Lord's battles.” (Saul was thinking that in this way the Philistines would kill David, and he would not have to do it himself.)

[18:18] David answered, “Who am I and what is my family that I should become the king's son-in-law?”

[18:19] But when the time came for Merab to be given to David, she was given instead to a man named Adriel from Meholah.

[18:20] Saul's daughter Michal, however, fell in love with David, and when Saul heard of this, he was pleased.

[18:21] He said to himself, “I'll give Michal to David; I will use her to trap him, and he will be killed by the Philistines.” So for the second time Saul said to David, “You will be my son-in-law.”

[18:22] He ordered his officials to speak privately with David and tell him, “The king is pleased with you and all his officials like you; now is a good time for you to marry his daughter.”

[18:23] So they told this to David, and he answered, “It's a great honor to become the king's son-in-law, too great for someone poor and insignificant like me.”

[18:24] The officials told Saul what David had said,

[18:25] and Saul ordered them to tell David: “All the king wants from you as payment for the bride are the foreskins of a hundred dead Philistines, as revenge on his enemies.” (This was how Saul planned to have David killed by the Philistines.)

[18:26] Saul's officials reported to David what Saul had said, and David was delighted with the thought of becoming the king's son-in-law. Before the day set for the wedding,

[18:27] David and his men went and killed two hundred Philistines. He took their foreskins to the king and counted them all out to him, so that he might become his son-in-law. So Saul had to give his daughter Michal in marriage to David.

[18:28] Saul realized clearly that the Lord was with David and also that his daughter Michal loved him.

[18:29] So he became even more afraid of David and was his enemy as long as he lived.

[18:30] The Philistine armies would come and fight, but in every battle David was more successful than any of Saul's other officers. As a result David became very famous.

[19:1] Saul told his son Jonathan and all his officials that he planned to kill David. But Jonathan was very fond of David,

[19:2] and so he told him, “My father is trying to kill you. Please be careful tomorrow morning; hide in some secret place and stay there.

[19:3] I 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.”

[19:4] Jonathan 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.

[19:5] He 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?”

[19:6] Saul was convinced by what Jonathan said and made a vow in the Lord's name that he would not kill David.

[19:7] So Jonathan called David and told him everything; then he took him to Saul, and David served the king as he had before.

[19:8] War with the Philistines broke out again. David attacked them and defeated them so thoroughly that they fled.

[19:9] One 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.

[19:10] Saul 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.

[19:11] 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.”

[19:12] She let him down from a window, and he ran away and escaped.

[19:13] Then 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.

[19:14] When Saul's men came to get David, Michal told them that he was sick.

[19:15] But Saul sent them back to see David for themselves. He ordered them, “Carry him here in his bed, and I will kill him.”

[19:16] They went inside and found the household idol in the bed and the goats' hair pillow at its head.

[19:17] Saul 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 escape.”

[19:18] David 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.

[19:19] Saul was told that David was in Naioth in Ramah,

[19:20] so he sent some men to arrest him. They 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.

[19:21] When 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.

[19:22] Then he himself started out to 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.

[19:23] As he was going there, the spirit of God took control of him also, and he danced and shouted all the way to Naioth.

[19:24] He 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?”)

[20:1] Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and went to Jonathan. “What have I done?” he asked. “What crime have I committed? What wrong have I done to your father to make him want to kill me?”

[20:2] Jonathan answered, “God forbid that you should die! My father tells me everything he does, important or not, and he would not hide this from me. It just isn't so!”

[20:3] But David answered, “Your father knows very well how much you like me, and he has decided not to let you know what he plans to do, because you would be deeply hurt. I swear to you by the living Lord that I am only a step away from death!”

[20:4] Jonathan said, “I'll do anything you want.”

[20:5] “Tomorrow is the New Moon Festival,” David replied, “and I am supposed to eat with the king. But if it's all right with you, I will go and hide in the fields until the evening of the day after tomorrow.

[20:6] If your father notices that I am not at the table, tell him that I begged your permission to hurry home to Bethlehem, since it's the time for the annual sacrifice there for my whole family.

[20:7] If he says, ‘All right,’ I will be safe; but if he becomes angry, you will know that he is determined to harm me.

[20:8] Please do me this favor, and keep the sacred promise you made to me. But if I'm guilty, kill me yourself! Why take me to your father to be killed?”

[20:9] “Don't even think such a thing!” Jonathan answered. “If I knew for sure that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn't I tell you?”

[20:10] David then asked, “Who will let me know if your father answers you angrily?”

[20:11] “Let's go out to the fields,” Jonathan answered. So they went,

[20:12] and Jonathan said to David, “May the Lord God of Israel be our witness! At this time tomorrow and on the following day I will question my father. If his attitude toward you is good, I will send you word.

[20:13] If he intends to harm you, may the Lord strike me dead if I don't let you know about it and get you safely away. May the Lord be with you as he was with my father!

[20:14] And if I remain alive, please keep your sacred promise and be loyal to me; but if I die,

[20:15] show the same kind of loyalty to my family forever. And when the Lord has completely destroyed all your enemies,

[20:16] may our promise to each other still be unbroken. If it is broken, the Lord will punish you.”

[20:17] Once again Jonathan made David promise to love him, for Jonathan loved David as much as he loved himself.

[20:18] Then Jonathan said to him, “Since tomorrow is the New Moon Festival, your absence will be noticed if you aren't at the meal.

[20:19] The day after tomorrow your absence will be noticed even more; so go to the place where you hid yourself the other time, and hide behind the pile of stones there.

[20:20] I will then shoot three arrows at it, as though it were a target.

[20:21] Then I will tell my servant to go and find them. And if I tell him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them,’ that means that you are safe and can come out. I swear by the living Lord that you will be in no danger.

[20:22] But if I tell him, ‘The arrows are on the other side of you,’ then leave, because the Lord is sending you away.

[20:23] As for the promise we have made to each other, the Lord will make sure that we will keep it forever.”

[20:24] So David hid in the fields. At the New Moon Festival, King Saul came to the meal

[20:25] and sat in his usual place by the wall. Abner sat next to him, and Jonathan sat across the table from him. David's place was empty,

[20:26] but Saul said nothing that day, because he thought, “Something has happened to him, and he is not ritually pure.”

[20:27] On the following day, the day after the New Moon Festival, David's place was still empty, and Saul asked Jonathan, “Why didn't David come to the meal either yesterday or today?”

[20:28] Jonathan answered, “He begged me to let him go to Bethlehem.

[20:29] ‘Please let me go,’ he said, ‘because our family is celebrating the sacrificial feast in town, and my brother ordered me to be there. So then, if you are my friend, let me go and see my relatives.’ That is why he isn't in his place at your table.”

[20:30] Saul became furious with Jonathan and said to him, “How rebellious and faithless your mother was! Now I know you are taking sides with David and are disgracing yourself and that mother of yours!

[20:31] Don't you realize that as long as David is alive, you will never be king of this country? Now go and bring him here—he must die!”

[20:32] “Why should he die?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?”

[20:33] At that, Saul threw his spear at Jonathan to kill him, and Jonathan realized that his father was really determined to kill David.

[20:34] Jonathan got up from the table in a rage and ate nothing that day—the second day of the New Moon Festival. He was deeply distressed about David, because Saul had insulted him.

[20:35] The following morning Jonathan went to the fields to meet David, as they had agreed. He took a young boy with him

[20:36] and said to him, “Run and find the arrows I'm going to shoot.” The boy ran, and Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.

[20:37] When the boy reached the place where the arrow had fallen, Jonathan shouted to him, “The arrow is farther on!

[20:38] Don't just stand there! Hurry up!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master,

[20:39] not knowing what it all meant; only Jonathan and David knew.

[20:40] Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and told him to take them back to town.

[20:41] After the boy had left, David got up from behind the pile of stones, fell on his knees and bowed with his face to the ground three times. Both he and Jonathan were crying as they kissed each other; David's grief was even greater than Jonathan's.

[20:42] Then Jonathan said to David, “God be with you. The Lord will make sure that you and I, and your descendants and mine, will forever keep the sacred promise we have made to each other.” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.

[21:1] David went to the priest Ahimelech in Nob. Ahimelech came out trembling to meet him and asked, “Why did you come here all by yourself?”

[21:2] “I am here on the king's business,” David answered. “He told me not to let anyone know what he sent me to do. As for my men, I have told them to meet me at a certain place.

[21:3] Now, then, what supplies do you have? Give me five loaves of bread or anything else you have.”

[21:4] The priest said, “I don't have any ordinary bread, only sacred bread; you can have it if your men haven't had sexual relations recently.”

[21:5] “Of course they haven't,” answered David. “My men always keep themselves ritually pure even when we go out on an ordinary mission; how much more this time when we are on a special mission!”

[21:6] So the priest gave David the sacred bread, because the only bread he had was the loaves offered to God, which had been removed from the sacred table and replaced by fresh bread. (

[21:7] Saul's chief herdsman, Doeg, who was from Edom, happened to be there that day, because he had to fulfill a religious obligation.)

[21:8] David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or a sword you can give me? The king's orders made me leave in such a hurry that I didn't have time to get my sword or any other weapon.”

[21:9] Ahimelech answered, “I have the sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in Elah Valley; it is behind the ephod, wrapped in a cloth. If you want it, take it—it's the only weapon here.” “Give it to me,” David said. “There is not a better sword anywhere!”

[21:10] So David left, fleeing from Saul, and went to King Achish of Gath.

[21:11] The king's officials said to Achish, “Isn't this David, the king of his country? This is the man about whom the women sang, as they danced, ‘Saul has killed thousands, but David has killed tens of thousands.’”

[21:12] Their words made a deep impression on David, and he became very much afraid of King Achish.

[21:13] So whenever David was around them, he pretended to be insane and acted like a madman when they tried to restrain him; he would scribble on the city gates and let spit drool down his beard.

[21:14] So Achish said to his officials, “Look! The man is crazy! Why did you bring him to me?

[21:15] Don't I have enough madmen already? Why bring another one to bother me with his crazy actions right here in my own house?”