Saul Tries to Kill David
(Psalm 59:1–17)

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

And Jonathan son of Saul delighted in David greatly. 2And Jonathan told David, saying, “Saul My father seeks to kill you. And now be on your guard, please, until the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 3And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak about you with my father. And I will observe what it is, and I will tell you.”

4And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his works are very good toward you. 5For he took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and YHWH brought about a great deliverance for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced; and why would you sin against innocent blood to kill David for nothing?”

6And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As YHWH lives, he shall not be killed.”

7And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was before his face, as before heretofore.

8And it added to be war, and David went out and fought with the Philistines, and he struck them with a mighty blow, and they fled from his face.

9And a spirit of distress† from YHWH came upon Saul, and he sat in his house, and his spear was in his hand, and David was playing by hand. 10And Saul sought to strike David with the spear and into the wall, and he slipped away from the face of Saul, and he drove the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped in that night.

11And Saul sent messengers to the house of David to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michal his wife declared it to David, saying, “If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12And Michal let down David through a window, and he went and fled and escaped.

13And Michal took the teraphim† and laid it in the bed, and she put a cover of goats’ hair for his head, and covered it with clothing. 14And Saul sent messengers to take David, and she said, “He is sick.”

15And Saul sent back the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up in the bed to me, that I may kill him.” 16And the messengers had come in, and there was the teraphim in the bed, and a cover of goats’ hair for his head.

17And Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and sent away my enemy, so that he has escaped?”

And Michal answered to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go; why should I kill you?’”

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

19And it was declared to Saul, saying, “Behold, David is in Naioth in Ramah.” 20And Saul sent messengers to take David, and they saw the group of prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as leader over them, and the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

21And was told Saul, and he sent other messengers and prophesied they likewise.

And Saul added and sent messengers the third time, and prophesied they also.

22And he went also to Ramah, and he came to the great well that is at Sechu. And he asked and said, “Where are Samuel and David?”

And one said, “Behold, in Naioth in Ramah.”

23And he went there to Naioth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God was upon him, even him, and he went, going on, and he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24And he also stripped off his clothes, and he prophesied in like manner before the face of Samuel, and he lay naked all that day and all the night. Upon thus they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”