1 Samuel 19
1 Then Saul urged all his servants and his son Jonathan to kill David. But Jonathan liked David very much.
And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, to kill David.
2 So he warned David, “My father Saul is seeking for a way to kill you. So be careful. Tomorrow morning go and find a place to hide [in the field].
And Jonathan, Saul's son, loved David much: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul seeks to kill you: take heed to yourself therefore to-morrow morning, and hide yourself, and dwell in secret.
3 I will ask my father to go out there with me. [While we are out there], I will talk to him about you. Then I will tell you everything that he tells me.” [So David did what Jonathan told him to do].
And I will go forth, and stand near my father in the field where you shall be, and I will speak concerning you to my father; and I will see what his answer may be, and I will tell you.
4 [The next morning], Jonathan spoke with his father, saying many good things about David. He said, “You should never do anything to harm your servant David! He has never done anything to harm you! Everything that he has done has helped you very much.
And Jonathan spoke favorably concerning David to Saul his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against your servant David, for he has not sinned against you, and his deeds [are] very good.
5 He was in danger of being killed when he fought against [Goliath, the champion of] the Philistia [army. By enabling David to kill him], Yahweh won a great victory for all the people of Israel. You were very happy when you saw that. Why would you want to do anything now to harm David [RHQ]? There is no reason for you to kill him, because he has not done anything wrong!”
And he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and the Lord wrought a great deliverance; and all Israel saw, and rejoined: why then do you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?
6 Saul listened to what Jonathan said. Then Saul said, “I solemnly promise that just as certain as Yahweh lives, I will not kill David.”
And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan; and Saul swore, saying, [As] the Lord lives, he shall not die.
7 Afterward, Jonathan summoned David and told him what he and Saul had said. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and David served Saul as he had done before.
And Jonathan called David, and told him all these words; and Jonathan brought David in to Saul, and he was before him as in former times.
8 One day a war started again, and David [led his soldiers to] fight against the Philistia army. David’s [army] attacked them very furiously, with the result that the Philistia army ran away.
And there was again war against Saul; and David did valiantly, and fought against the Philistines, and struck them with a very great slaughter, and they fled from before him.
9 But one day when sitting in his house, an evil spirit [sent] from Yahweh [suddenly] came upon Saul. While David was playing his harp [for Saul],
And an evil spirit from God was upon Saul, and he was resting in his house, and a spear [was] in his hand, and David was playing on the harp with his hands.
10 Saul hurled his spear at David to try to fasten him to the wall. David (dodged/jumped to one side), and the spear did not hit him. The spear stuck in the wall, but that night David escaped.
And Saul sought to strike David with the spear; and David withdrew [suddenly] from the presence of Saul; and he drove the spear into the wall; and David retreated and escaped.
11 Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house. He told them to watch the house and to kill David [while he was leaving the house] the following morning. But David’s wife Michal [saw them and] warned him, “To survive, you must run away tonight, because if you do not do that, you will be killed tomorrow!”
And it came to pass in that night, that Saul sent messengers to the house of David to watch him, in order to kill him in the morning; and Melchol David's wife told him, saying, Unless you save your life this night, to-morrow you shall be slain.
12 So she enabled David to climb out through a window, and he ran away and escaped.
So Melchol lets David down by the window, and he departed, and fled, and escaped.
13 Then Michal took an idol and put it in the bed. She covered it with some [of David’s] clothes, and put some goat’s hair on the head of the idol.
And Melchol took images, and laid them on the bed, and she put the liver of a goat by his head, and covered them with clothes.
14 When the messengers came [to the house the next morning], she told them that David was sick [and could not get out of bed].
And Saul sent messengers to take David; and they say that he is sick.
15 [When they reported that to] Saul, he told them to go back to David’s house. He said to them, “Bring him to me lying on his bed, in order that I can kill him!”
And he sends to David, saying, Bring him to me on the bed, that I may kill him.
16 But when those men entered David’s house, they saw that there was only an idol in the bed, with goat’s hair on its head.
And the messengers come, and, behold, the images [were] on the bed, and the goat's liver at his head.
17 [When they reported that to Saul, ] Saul [summoned] Michal [and] said to her, “Why did you trick me like that? You allowed my enemy to escape!” Michal replied to Saul, “David told me that if I did not help him escape, he would kill me!” [RHQ]
And Saul said to Melchol, Why have you thus deceived me, and suffered my enemy to depart, and he has escaped? and Melchol said to Saul, He said, let me go, and if not, I will kill you.
18 After David had escaped from Saul, he went to Samuel, who was [at his home] at Ramah. He told Samuel everything that Saul had done to [try to kill] him. Then David and Samuel went to Naioth, [which was a section] of [Ramah city], and they stayed there.
So David fled, and escaped, and comes to Samuel to Armathaim, and tells him all that Saul had done to him: and Samuel and David went, and lived in Navath in Rama.
19 Someone told Saul that David was in Naioth.
And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David [is] in Navath in Rama.
20 So Saul sent some messengers to capture David. [When] those messengers [arrived in Ramah, they] met some men who were proclaiming ecstatic messages, and Samuel was there, as their leader. When Saul’s messengers met them, the Spirit of God took control of Saul’s men, and they also spoke ecstatically.
And Saul sent messengers to take David, and they saw the assembly of the prophets, and Samuel stood [as] appointed over them; and the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they prophesy.
21 When Saul heard about that, he sent messengers a third time, but they also started to speak ecstatically.
And it was told Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied: and Saul sent again a third set of messengers, and they also prophesied.
22 Finally, Saul himself went to Ramah. When he arrived at the well at [a place named] Secu, he asked people there, “Where are Samuel and David?” The people replied, “They are at Naioth in Ramah [city].”
And Saul was very angry, and went himself also to Armathaim, and he comes as far as the well of the threshing floor that is in Sephi; and he asked and said, Where [are] Samuel and David? And they said, Behold, in Navath in Rama.
23 While Saul was walking toward Naioth, the Spirit of God also took control of him. [While he walked on], he continued speaking ecstatic messages until he came to Naioth.
And he went thence to Navath in Rama: and there came the Spirit of God upon him also, and he went on prophesying till he came to Navath in Rama.
24 There he took off his clothes, and he spoke messages from God in front of Samuel. He lay on the ground doing that all day and all night. That is the reason that [when people see someone doing something that is very unexpected, they think about what happened to Saul, and] they say, “We are surprised, like the people were surprised to see Saul [acting like] a prophet?” [RHQ]
And he took off his clothes, and prophesied before them; and lay down naked all that day and all that night: therefore they said, [Is] Saul also among the prophets?
