שמואל א 18
| ויהי ככלתו לדבר אל שאול ונפש יהונתן נקשרה בנפש דוד ויאהבו (ויאהבהו) יהונתן כנפשו | 1 |
After David finished talking with Saul, [he met Saul’s son, Jonathan.] Jonathan [immediately] liked David; in fact, he began to love/like him as much as he loved/liked himself.
| ויקחהו שאול ביום ההוא ולא נתנו לשוב בית אביו | 2 |
From that day, Saul kept David with him, and did not let him return home.
| ויכרת יהונתן ודוד ברית באהבתו אתו כנפשו | 3 |
Because Jonathan loved David so much, he made a solemn agreement with David. [They promised each other that they would always be loyal friends].
| ויתפשט יהונתן את המעיל אשר עליו ויתנהו לדוד ומדיו ועד חרבו ועד קשתו ועד חגרו | 4 |
Jonathan took off his own outer robe and gave it to David. He also gave David his soldier’s tunic, his sword, his bow [and arrows], and his belt.
| ויצא דוד בכל אשר ישלחנו שאול ישכיל וישמהו שאול על אנשי המלחמה וייטב בעיני כל העם וגם בעיני עבדי שאול | 5 |
[David went wherever Saul sent him. And] whatever Saul told him to do, David did it very successfully. As a result, Saul appointed David to be a commander in the army. All the officers and other men in the army (approved of/were very pleased with) that.
| ויהי בבואם בשוב דוד מהכות את הפלשתי ותצאנה הנשים מכל ערי ישראל לשור (לשיר) והמחלות לקראת שאול המלך--בתפים בשמחה ובשלשים | 6 |
But, when the men in the army were returning home after David had killed Goliath, the women came out from many [HYP] towns in Israel to meet/greet King Saul. They were singing and dancing very joyfully, playing tambourines and lyres.
| ותענינה הנשים המשחקות ותאמרן הכה שאול באלפו ודוד ברבבתיו | 7 |
As they danced, they sang this song to each other: “Saul has killed 1,000 [enemy soldiers], But David has killed 10,000 [of them].”
| ויחר לשאול מאד וירע בעיניו הדבר הזה ויאמר נתנו לדוד רבבות ולי נתנו האלפים ועוד לו אך המלוכה | 8 |
[When] Saul [heard them singing that, he] did not like it. He became very angry. He said [to himself], “They are saying that David [killed] 10,000 men, but that I [have killed] only 1,000. Soon they will want to make him their king!” [RHQ]
| ויהי שאול עון (עוין) את דוד מהיום ההוא והלאה | 9 |
From that time, Saul watched David very closely because he was suspicious [that David would try to become king].
| ויהי ממחרת ותצלח רוח אלהים רעה אל שאול ויתנבא בתוך הבית ודוד מנגן בידו כיום ביום והחנית ביד שאול | 10 |
The next day, an evil spirit sent by God suddenly took control of Saul. He began to act like a madman, inside his house. David was playing the lyre for him, as he did every day. Saul was holding a spear in his hand,
| ויטל שאול את החנית ויאמר אכה בדוד ובקיר ויסב דוד מפניו פעמים | 11 |
and he hurled it [at David], saying to himself, “I will fasten David to the wall with the spear!” He did that two times, but David jumped aside [both times].
| וירא שאול מלפני דוד כי היה יהוה עמו ומעם שאול סר | 12 |
Because [it became evident that] Yahweh had abandoned Saul but [that] he was helping David, Saul was afraid of David.
| ויסרהו שאול מעמו וישמהו לו שר אלף ויצא ויבא לפני העם | 13 |
So he appointed David as a commander of 1,000 soldiers and sent David away from him, [hoping that David would be killed in a battle]. But when David led his soldiers [in their battles],
| ויהי דוד לכל דרכו משכיל ויהוה עמו | 14 |
he always had great success, because Yahweh was helping him.
| וירא שאול אשר הוא משכיל מאד ויגר מפניו | 15 |
When Saul heard that David [and his soldiers were] very successful, he became more afraid of David.
| וכל ישראל ויהודה אהב את דוד כי הוא יוצא ובא לפניהם | 16 |
But all the people of Israel and of Judah loved David, because he led the soldiers very successfully [in the battles].
| ויאמר שאול אל דוד הנה בתי הגדולה מרב אתה אתן לך לאשה--אך היה לי לבן חיל והלחם מלחמות יהוה ושאול אמר אל תהי ידי בו ותהי בו יד פלשתים | 17 |
One day Saul said to David, “I am ready to give you my oldest daughter, Merab, to be your wife. I will do that if you serve me bravely by fighting battles for Yahweh [against the Philistines]”. He said that because he thought, “I will not try to get rid of David by myself. I will allow the Philistines to do that.”
| ויאמר דוד אל שאול מי אנכי ומי חיי משפחת אבי בישראל--כי אהיה חתן למלך | 18 |
But David said to Saul, “I am not [RHQ] a very important person, and my family is not very important, and my clan is not a very important Israeli clan. So I do not deserve to become your son-in-law.” [RHQ]
| ויהי בעת תת את מרב בת שאול--לדוד והיא נתנה לעדריאל המחלתי לאשה | 19 |
So, when it was time for Merab to be given to David to become his wife, instead, Saul gave her to a man named Adriel, from Meholah [town].
| ותאהב מיכל בת שאול את דוד ויגדו לשאול וישר הדבר בעיניו | 20 |
But Saul’s other daughter, Michal, fell in love with David. When they told Saul about that, he was pleased.
| ויאמר שאול אתננה לו ותהי לו למוקש ותהי בו יד פלשתים ויאמר שאול אל דוד בשתים תתחתן בי היום | 21 |
He thought, “I will let Michal marry him, in order that she may trap him, and the Philistines will be able to kill him.” So he said to David, [“You can marry Michal],” and by saying that, he indicated for the second time that David would become his son-in-law.
| ויצו שאול את עבדו דברו אל דוד בלט לאמר הנה חפץ בך המלך וכל עבדיו אהבוך ועתה התחתן במלך | 22 |
Saul told his servants, “Talk to David privately, and say to him, ‘Listen, the king is pleased with you, and all of us his servants love you. So now [we think that] you should [marry Michal and] become the king’s son-in-law.’”
| וידברו עבדי שאול באזני דוד את הדברים האלה ויאמר דוד הנקלה בעיניכם התחתן במלך ואנכי איש רש ונקלה | 23 |
So they told that to David. But David said, “It would be a great honor [RHQ] to become the king’s son-in-law. But [I do not think that I should do that, because] I am only a poor and insignificant man.”
| ויגדו עבדי שאול לו--לאמר כדברים האלה דבר דוד | 24 |
When the servants told Saul what David had said,
| ויאמר שאול כה תאמרו לדוד אין חפץ למלך במהר כי במאה ערלות פלשתים להנקם באיבי המלך ושאול חשב להפיל את דוד ביד פלשתים | 25 |
Saul replied, “Go and say to David, ‘[In order for] the king [to allow you to marry Michal, he] wants [you to kill] 100 Philistines [and cut off] their foreskins [and bring the foreskins to him to prove that you have killed them]. In that way he will get revenge on his enemies.’” But what Saul wanted was that the Philistines would kill David [while David was trying to kill them].
| ויגדו עבדיו לדוד את הדברים האלה וישר הדבר בעיני דוד להתחתן במלך ולא מלאו הימים | 26 |
When the servants told that to David, he was very pleased that he could become the king’s son-in-law [by doing that. The king had said how many days he would allow for David to do that]. But before that time ended,
| ויקם דוד וילך הוא ואנשיו ויך בפלשתים מאתים איש ויבא דוד את ערלתיהם וימלאום למלך להתחתן במלך ויתן לו שאול את מיכל בתו לאשה | 27 |
David and his men went and killed, [not 100, but] 200 Philistines! He brought their foreskins to Saul, and counted them [while Saul was watching], in order to prove that he had [done what the king required so that he could become Saul’s son-in-law. So then Saul was obligated] to allow David to marry his daughter Michal.
| וירא שאול וידע כי יהוה עם דוד ומיכל בת שאול אהבתהו | 28 |
But when Saul realized that Yahweh was helping David, and that his daughter loved David,
| ויאסף שאול לרא מפני דוד--עוד ויהי שאול איב את דוד כל הימים | 29 |
he became more afraid of David. So, as long as Saul lived, he was David’s enemy.
| ויצאו שרי פלשתים ויהי מדי צאתם שכל דוד מכל עבדי שאול וייקר שמו מאד | 30 |
The Philistine armies repeatedly came to fight the Israelis, but every time they fought, David and his soldiers were more successful than any of Saul’s other army commanders. As a result, David became very famous.
