1 Samuel 19

Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, was very fond of David.

1And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David.

Note"Servants" here means the king's officials and courtiers, the men of his household staff and armed retinue, not slaves. David was one of them: an officer in Saul's service and, by this point in the story, married to Saul's daughter.

2So Jonathan warned David. He said, "My father Saul is trying to kill you. So please be careful in the morning. Stay in a hidden place and keep out of sight.

2But Jonathan Saul’s son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself:

3I will go out and stand next to my father in the field where you are hiding, and I will talk with him about you. Whatever I find out, I will tell you."

3And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father of thee; and what I see, that I will tell thee.

4Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul. He said to him, "The king should not do wrong to his servant David. David has done nothing wrong to you, and what he has done has been very good for you.

4And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward very good:

5He risked his own life and killed the Philistine, and the LORD won a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and you were glad. So why would you do wrong and kill an innocent man for no reason?"

5For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?

NoteThe Philistine is Goliath (chapter 17). The Philistines were a people settled on the coastal plain south-west of Israel, organized around five cities, and Israel's main military rival throughout this period. "Put his life in his hand" is a Hebrew idiom for deliberately risking death.

6Saul listened to what Jonathan said. Saul made a promise: "As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be put to death."

6And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan: and Saul sware, As the LORD liveth, he shall not be slain.

Note"As the LORD lives" was the standard formula for a binding oath. By swearing it, a speaker staked himself on the words: to break the oath was to invite the punishment of the God he had sworn by.

7Then Jonathan called David and told him everything that had been said. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and David served him as he had before.

7And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan shewed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in times past.

8War broke out again. David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them so hard that they ran away from him.

8And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled from him.

9An evil spirit from the LORD came on Saul while he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing the harp.

9And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.

Note"Evil" here translates a Hebrew word meaning harmful or injurious rather than morally wicked; the spirit is one that torments Saul. Hebrew writers routinely traced such things to the LORD, since they did not picture any power operating outside his control. The weapon (KJV "javelin") is a light spear that could be thrown or thrust, and Saul appears to hold it as a mark of office as much as a weapon. David's instrument was a lyre, a small hand-held harp with strings stretched across a frame.

10Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but David slipped out of the way and the spear stuck in the wall. David ran off and got away that night.

10And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin, but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

11Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But David's wife Michal warned him, "If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead."

11Saul also sent messengers unto David’s house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal David’s wife told him, saying, If thou save not thy life to night, to morrow thou shalt be slain.

NoteMichal is Saul's own daughter, given to David in marriage in the previous chapter, so the warning sets her against her father. "Messengers" translates a word for royal agents sent on the king's business; here they are effectively a police detail posted to watch the house until daylight.

12So Michal let David down through a window, and he ran away and got clear.

12So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped.

NoteHouses were often built against the town wall, with an upper room whose window opened outward; letting someone down by rope through such a window bypassed the guarded gate and the watchers at the door.

13Then Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed. She put a piece of goat hair at its head and covered it with a cloth.

13And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth.

NoteThe Hebrew word is *teraphim*, household images or figurines kept in the home; here one is large enough to pass for a sleeping man. The KJV's "pillow of goats' hair for his bolster" is a guess at an obscure phrase: the Hebrew says only that she put something of goats' hair at its head, which may have been a woven net or quilt, or hair arranged to look like David's own.

14When Saul sent messengers to arrest David, Michal said, "He is sick."

14And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.

15Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David for themselves. He said, "Bring him up to me in the bed, so I can kill him."

15And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him.

NoteBeds were light frames or mats that could be carried, so ordering a sick man brought "in the bed" was a practical instruction, not a taunt.

16When the messengers came in, there was the idol lying in the bed, with the goat hair at its head.

16And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster.

17Saul said to Michal, "Why did you trick me like this? You let my enemy go, and now he has gotten away." Michal answered Saul, "He said to me, 'Let me go. Why should I kill you?'"

17And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee?

NoteMichal reports David as having threatened her ("let me go, or why should I have to kill you?") which gives her the excuse that she acted under duress. The Hebrew leaves open whether she is repeating something David said or inventing it on the spot.

18So David ran away and got clear. He went to Samuel at Ramah and told him everything Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there.

18So David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.

NoteRamah was Samuel's home town. Naioth appears only in this episode; the name may not be a town at all but a word meaning "dwellings" or "camps", that is, the quarters where the group of prophets around Samuel lived.

19Saul was told, "David is at Naioth in Ramah."

19And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.

20Saul sent messengers to arrest David. But when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there in charge of them, the Spirit of God came on Saul's messengers, and they prophesied too.

20And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

NoteA "company of the prophets" was an organized band living together under a recognized leader. "Prophesying" in these passages does not mean predicting the future; it describes ecstatic behavior (chanting, music, loss of ordinary self-control) that marked a person as seized by the spirit of God. Saul's arrest party is caught up in it and stops being able to carry out its errand.

21When Saul was told about this, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied as well. Saul sent messengers a third time, and they also prophesied.

21And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also.

22Then Saul went to Ramah himself. He came to the large well at Sechu and asked, "Where are Samuel and David?" Someone said, "They are at Naioth in Ramah."

22Then went he also to Ramah, and came to a great well that is in Sechu: and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they be at Naioth in Ramah.

NoteThe "great well" may equally be a large cistern, a rock-cut tank for storing water, which would serve as a landmark and a natural place to meet people and ask directions. Sechu (Secu) is otherwise unknown.

23So he went on toward Naioth in Ramah. The Spirit of God came on him too, and he walked along prophesying until he reached Naioth in Ramah.

23And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

24He stripped off his clothes and prophesied in front of Samuel just as the others had. He lay down naked all that day and all that night. That is why people say, "Is Saul one of the prophets too?"

24And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?

NoteStripping off his clothes means shedding his royal robes, the visible marks of kingship; the Hebrew word for "naked" can mean either entirely unclothed or stripped to an undergarment. The saying quoted at the end is already recorded earlier in the book (chapter 10) and was used of anyone turning up somewhere he plainly did not belong.