CEB Common English Bible with Apocrypha - eBook [ePub]. Common English Bible

CEB Common English Bible with Apocrypha - eBook [ePub]

him to return to his father's household. ³And Jonathan and David made a covenant together because Jonathan loved David as much as himself. ⁴Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his armor, as well as his sword, his bow, and his belt. ⁵David went out and was successful in every mission Saul sent him to do. So Saul placed him in charge of the soldiers, and this pleased all the troops as well as Saul's servants.

Saul jealous of David

⁶After David came back from killing the Philistine, and as the troops returned home, women from all of Israel's towns came out to meet King Saul^p with singing and dancing, with tambourines, rejoicing, and musical instruments. ⁷The women sang in celebration:

"Saul has killed his thousands,

but David has killed his tens of thousands!"

⁸Saul burned with anger. This song annoyed him. "They've credited David with tens of thousands," he said, "but only credit me with thousands. What's next for him--the kingdom itself?"⁹So Saul kept a close eye on David from that point on.

¹⁰The next day an evil spirit from God came over Saul,^q and he acted like he was in a prophetic frenzy in his house. So David played the lyre as he usually did. Saul had a spear in his hand, ¹¹and he threw it, thinking, I'll pin David to the wall. But David escaped from him two different times.

¹²Saul was afraid of David because the LORD was with David but no longer with Saul. ¹³So Saul removed David from his service, placing him in command of a unit of one thousand men. David led the men out to war and back. ¹⁴David was successful in everything he did because the LORD was with him. ¹⁵Saul saw that he was very successful, and he was afraid of him. ¹⁶Everyone in Israel and Judah loved David because he led them out in war and back again.

¹⁷Saul said to David, "Look, here is my oldest daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage on this condition: you must be my warrior and fight the LORD's battles." I won't raise my hand against him, Saul thought; let the Philistines do that!

¹⁸"I'm not worthy," David replied to Saul, "and neither is my family or my father's clan in Israel, to become the king's son-in-law."¹⁹And so when the time came for Saul's daughter Merab to be married to David, she was given to Adriel from Meholah instead.

²⁰Now Saul's younger daughter Michal loved David. When this was reported to Saul, he was happy about it. ²¹I'll give her to him, Saul thought; she'll cause him problems, and the Philistines will be against him.

So Saul said to David a second time, "Become my son-in-law now."

²²Saul instructed his servants, "Tell David in private: 'Look, the king likes you, and all his servants love you. You should become the king's son-in-law.'"

²³Saul's servants whispered these things in David's ear. But David said, "Do you think it's a simple matter to become the king's son-in-law? I don't! I'm poor and insignificant."

²⁴Saul's servants reported what David said, ²⁵and Saul replied, "Tell David this: 'The king doesn't want any bridal gift, just a hundred Philistine foreskins as vengeance on the king's enemies.'" (Saul was hoping that David would die at the hands of the Philistines.) ²⁶When the servants reported this to David, he was happy to become the king's son-in-law. Even before the allotted time had expired,^r ²⁷David got up and went with his soldiers and killed one hundred Philistines.^s David brought their foreskins and counted them out for the king so he could become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to him in marriage.

²⁸When Saul knew for certain that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved him, ²⁹then Saul was even more afraid of David. Saul was David's enemy for the rest of his life.^t ³⁰And whenever the Philistine commanders came out for battle, David would have more success than the rest of Saul's officers, so his fame spread widely.

David escapes Saul

1Samuel 19Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David, but Jonathan, Saul's son, liked David very much. ²So Jonathan warned David, "My father Saul is trying to kill you. Be on guard tomorrow morning. Stay somewhere safe and hide. ³I'll go out and stand by my father in the field where you'll be. I'll talk to my father about you, and I'll tell you whatever I find out."

⁴So Jonathan spoke highly about David to his father Saul, telling him, "The king shouldn't do anything wrong to his servant David, because he hasn't wronged you. In fact, his actions have helped you greatly. ⁵He risked his own life when he killed that Philistine, and the LORD won a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and were happy about it. Why then would you do something wrong to an innocent person by killing David for no reason?"

⁶Saul listened to Jonathan and then swore, "As surely as the LORD lives, David won't be executed."⁷So Jonathan summoned David and told him everything they had talked about. Then Jonathan brought David back to Saul, and David served Saul as he had previously.

⁸War broke out again. When David went out to fight the Philistines, he struck them with such force that they ran from him.

⁹Then an evil spirit from the LORD came over Saul.^u He was sitting in his house with his spear in hand while David was playing music. ¹⁰Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear, but David escaped Saul. Saul drove the spear into the wall, but David fled and got away safely. That night ¹¹Saul sent messengers to David's house to keep watch on it and kill him in the morning. David's wife Michal warned him, "If you don't escape with your life tonight, you are a dead man tomorrow."¹²So Michal lowered David through a window. He took off and ran, and he got away. ¹³Then Michal took the household's divine image and laid it in the bed, putting some goat's hair on its head and covering it with clothes.

¹⁴Saul sent messengers to arrest David, but she said, "He's sick."

¹⁵Saul sent the messengers back to check on David for themselves. "Bring him to me on his bed," he ordered, "so he can be executed."¹⁶When the messengers arrived, they found the idol in the bed with the goat's hair on its head. ¹⁷Saul said to Michal, "Why could you betray me like this, letting my enemy go so that now he has escaped?"

Michal said to Saul, "David told me, 'Help me get away or I'll kill you!'"

¹⁸So David fled and escaped. When he reached Samuel at Ramah, he reported to him everything Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to stay in the camps.^v

¹⁹When Saul was told that David was in the camps at Ramah, ²⁰he sent messengers to arrest David. They saw a group of prophets in a prophetic frenzy, with Samuel standing there as their leader. God's spirit came over Saul's messengers, and they also fell into a prophetic frenzy. ²¹This was reported to Saul, and he sent different messengers, but they also fell into a prophetic frenzy. So Saul sent a third group of messengers, and they did the very same thing.

²²At that point, Saul went to Ramah himself. He came to the well at the threshing floor that was on the bare hill there^w and asked, "Where are Samuel and David?"

"In the camps at Ramah," he was told. ²³So Saul went to the camps at Ramah, and God's spirit came over him too. So as he traveled, he was in a prophetic frenzy until he reached the camps at Ramah. ²⁴He even took off all his clothes and fell into a prophetic frenzy in front of Samuel. He lay naked that whole day and night. That's why people say, "Is Saul also one of the prophets?"

Jonathan and David's friendship

1Samuel 20David fled from the camps at Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, "What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father that he wants me dead?"

²Jonathan

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