1 Samuel 18

When David finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan felt bound to David heart and soul, and he loved David as much as he loved himself.

1And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

2From that day on Saul kept David with him and would not let him go back home to his father's house.

2And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house.

3Then Jonathan made a solemn agreement with David, because he loved him as much as he loved himself.

3Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

NoteA covenant was a binding formal pact, usually sworn with an oath and sometimes a symbolic act. Between two individuals it created obligations of loyalty and mutual protection as strong as those between blood relatives, and it bound their descendants too.

4Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

4And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

NoteJonathan was the king's son and heir. A robe, a sword, a bow and a belt were the visible marks of a warrior's and a prince's rank, personally fitted and not the sort of thing given away casually. Handing over one's own weapons and clothing was a public, deliberate act with a recognized meaning; the text describes it without saying what the onlookers made of it.

5David went out wherever Saul sent him, and he succeeded. So Saul put him in charge of the fighting men. This pleased all the people, and it pleased Saul's officers too.

5And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.

NoteThe Hebrew verb used here (and in verses 14, 15 and 30) carries two senses at once: to act with skill and good judgment, and to come out well as a result. English needs two words, "acted wisely" and "succeeded", where the Hebrew uses one.

6As the soldiers were coming home after David had killed the Philistine, women came out of every town in Israel to meet King Saul. They came singing and dancing, with joyful songs, with tambourines, and with other instruments.

6And it came to pass as they came, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of musick.

NoteThe Philistines were a people occupying five city-states on the coastal plain south-west of Israel, Israel's chief military rivals in this period. "The Philistine" David had killed is Goliath, the champion of the previous chapter. Women meeting a returning army with drums, dancing and songs was the customary victory welcome, and the songs they improvised were how a soldier's reputation was made.

7As the women danced, they sang back and forth to each other: "Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of thousands."

7And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

Note"Thousands... tens of thousands" is a standard pattern in Hebrew poetry, where the second line repeats the first with a heightened number. As a poetic form it need not mean the singers were literally counting and comparing; Saul, however, takes it as a comparison.

8Saul was very angry, and the song upset him. He said, "They have given David credit for tens of thousands, but they have given me credit for only thousands. What is left for him to get except the kingdom itself?"

8And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom?

9From that day on, Saul watched David with a jealous eye.

9And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.

10The next day an evil spirit from God came on Saul, and he raved inside the house. David was playing the harp, as he did on other days, and Saul had a spear in his hand.

10And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand.

NoteTwo words here are narrower in Hebrew than in English. The word translated "evil" means harmful or injurious in its effects rather than morally wicked. And the verb "prophesied" covers ecstatic, uncontrolled behavior (raving, babbling, frenzied movement), not only the speaking of predictions. The same verb is used of the bands of prophets in chapter 10.

11Saul threw the spear, saying to himself, "I will pin David to the wall with it." But David dodged away from him twice.

11And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.

12Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had left Saul.

12And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and was departed from Saul.

NoteThe narrator is pointing back to chapter 16, where the spirit of the LORD came upon David at his anointing and left Saul.

13So Saul sent David away from him and put him in command of a thousand men. David led the troops out to battle and brought them back again.

13Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

Note"Commander of a thousand" was a real rank in Israel's army, but the point of the move was that it took David away from the king's household and out on campaign. "Led them out and brought them back" is a Hebrew idiom for commanding troops on active service, the phrase appears again in verse 16.

14David succeeded in everything he did, because the LORD was with him.

14And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him.

15When Saul saw how well David was doing, he was afraid of him.

15Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him.

16But everyone in Israel and Judah loved David, because he led them out to battle and brought them back again.

16But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.

17Saul said to David, "Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you as your wife. Just be brave for me and fight the LORD's battles." Saul was thinking, "I will not lay a hand on him. Let the Philistines do it."

17And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the LORD’s battles. For Saul said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.

NoteSaul had earlier promised his daughter to whoever killed Goliath (chapter 17). "The LORD's battles" was ordinary language for Israel's wars, which were understood as fought on the nation's God's behalf.

18David said to Saul, "Who am I, and what is my family or my father's clan in Israel, that I should become the king's son-in-law?"

18And David said unto Saul, Who am I? and what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son in law to the king?

NoteDavid's reply is partly the conventional self-lowering language expected when a commoner was offered a royal honor, and partly a practical objection: a man marrying into the royal house was expected to have the standing and the wealth to pay for the privilege.

19But when the time came for Saul's daughter Merab to be given to David, she was given instead to Adriel of Meholah as his wife.

19But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul’s daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife.

NoteAdriel came from Abel-meholah, a town in the Jordan valley. Marrying Merab to someone else was a public breach of the offer Saul had just made to David.

20Saul's daughter Michal loved David. When people told Saul about it, he was pleased.

20And Michal Saul’s daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.

21Saul thought, "I will give her to him, so she will be a trap for him and the Philistines will attack him." So Saul said to David, "Today you will become my son-in-law. This is the second time I have offered."

21And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son in law in the one of the twain.

NoteThe Hebrew of Saul's last sentence is compressed and can be read two ways: "you shall be my son-in-law by one of the two" (that is, by one of my two daughters), or "you shall be my son-in-law a second time over", a second offer after the first fell through. Translators divide over which is meant.

22Then Saul gave his servants an order: "Talk to David privately and say, 'Look, the king is pleased with you, and all his servants like you. So become the king's son-in-law.'"

22And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune with David secretly, and say, Behold, the king hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee: now therefore be the king’s son in law.

23Saul's servants said these words to David. But David said, "Do you think it is a small thing to become the king's son-in-law? I am a poor man, and people think little of me."

23And Saul’s servants spake those words in the ears of David. And David said, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a king’s son in law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?

NoteDavid's objection is about money. A man could not simply accept a royal marriage; he had to pay for the bride, and the price for a king's daughter would be far beyond a farmer's son from Bethlehem.

24Saul's servants reported back to him what David had said.

24And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner spake David.

25Saul said, "Tell David this: 'The king does not want any bride price except a hundred Philistine foreskins, to pay back the king's enemies.'" Saul's plan was for David to be killed by the Philistines.

25And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

NoteThe Hebrew word is *mohar*, the bride price (a payment made by the groom or his family to the bride's father, the reverse of the dowry an English reader may have in mind. Waiving it, or naming a price a man could meet by his own effort, was a way of showing favor. Philistine men were not circumcised, unlike Israelites, so a foreskin proved the dead man was a Philistine and not just any casualty) a battle trophy that also served as a body count. Saul's price required David to kill a hundred armed men at close quarters.

26When the servants told David these terms, David was glad to become the king's son-in-law. Before the set time was up,

26And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son in law: and the days were not expired.

27David got up and went out with his men and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought back their foreskins and handed over the full count to the king, so he could become the king's son-in-law. So Saul gave him his daughter Michal as his wife.

27Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king’s son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

NoteDavid brings back double the number demanded, leaving Saul no room to refuse. Some ancient copies of the text, including the Greek translation, read "a hundred" here rather than "two hundred"; David himself later refers to a hundred (2 Samuel 3:14).

28Saul saw clearly that the LORD was with David, and that his daughter Michal loved David.

28And Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal Saul’s daughter loved him.

29So Saul was even more afraid of David, and from then on Saul was David's enemy for good.

29And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul became David’s enemy continually.

30The Philistine commanders kept coming out to fight, and every time they did, David did better than all of Saul's other officers. So his name was highly respected.

30Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it came to pass, after they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was much set by.

NoteThe "commanders" were the rulers of the five Philistine cities and their officers; the Philistines campaigned as a coalition. The point is that David's record held up over repeated campaigns, not in one battle.