The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Samuel 19
1 Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to
all his servants, thatthey should kill David.
But Jonathan, Saul’s son, greatly delighted
in David.
2 Jonathan told David, saying, “Saul my
father seeks to kill you. Now therefore,
please take care of yourselfinthemorning,
live in a secret place, and hide yourself.
3 I will go out and stand beside my father
in the field where you are, and I will talk
with my father about you; and if I see
anything, I will tell you.”
4 Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul
his father, and said to him, “Don’t let the
king sin against his servant, against David;
because he has not sinned against you, and
because his works have been very good
toward you;
5 for he put his life in his hand and struck
the Philistine, and Yahweh worked a great
victory for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood,
to kill David without a cause?”
6 Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan;
and Saul swore, “As Yahweh lives, he shall
not be put to death.”
7 Jonathan called David, and Jonathan
showed him all those things. Then
Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he
was in his presence as before.
8 There was war again. David went out
and fought with the Philistines, and killed
them with a great slaughter; and they fled
before him.
9 An evil spirit from Yahweh was on Saul
as he sat in his house with his spear in his
hand; and David was playing music with
his hand.
10 Saul sought to pin David to the wall
with the spear, but he slipped away out
of Saul’s presence; and he stuck the spear
into the wall. David fled and escaped that
night.
11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house
to watch him and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying,
“If you don’t save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.”
12 So Michal let David down through the
window. He went away, fled, and escaped.
13 Michal took the teraphim† and laid it
in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair
at its head and covered it with clothes.
14 When Saul sent messengers to take
David, she said, “He is sick.”
15 Saul sent the messengers to see David,
saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that
I may kill him.”
16 When the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the
pillow of goats’ hair at its head.
17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you
deceived me like this and let my enemy go,
so that he has escaped?”
Michal answered Saul, “He said to me,
‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’ ”
18 Now David fled and escaped, and
came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all
that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel
went and lived in Naioth.
19 Saul was told, saying, “Behold, David
is at Naioth in Ramah.”
20 Saul sent messengers to seize David;
and when they saw the company of the
prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, God’s Spirit came
on Saul’s messengers, and they also prophesied.
21 WhenSaul was told, he sent othermessengers, and they also prophesied. Saul
sent messengers again the third time, and
they also prophesied.
22 Thenhe also wenttoRamah, and came
to the great well that is in Secu: and he
asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”
One said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in
Ramah.”
23 He went there to Naioth in Ramah.
Then God’s Spirit came on him also, and he
went on, and prophesied, until he came to
Naioth in Ramah.
24 He also stripped off his clothes. He
also prophesied before Samuel and lay
down naked all that day and all that night.
Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the
prophets?”