Saul in Torment

14 Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul and an evil spirit from Yahweh tormented him. 15 So the servants of Saul said to him, “Look please, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you. 16 Please, let our lord command your servants who are before you! Let them seek a man skilled in playing on the lyre. When[fn] the evil spirit from God is upon you, he can play on it[fn] and you will feel better.”[fn] 17 So Saul said to his servants, “Please select a man who plays a stringed instrument well[fn] and bring him to me.”

18 One of the servants answered and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skillful in playing a stringed instrument, a brave man, a warrior, prudent in speech, and handsome.[fn] And Yahweh is with him.” 19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me David your son who is with the sheep.” 20 And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread and a skin of wine and one young goat[fn] and sent them to Saul by the hand of David his son. 21 So David came to Saul and entered his service.[fn] He[fn] loved him greatly and he became Saul’s armor bearer.[fn] 22 Then Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me, because he has found favor in my sight.”[fn] 23 So whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the stringed instrument and play it with his hand. Then it would bring relief[fn] for Saul; he would feel better[fn] and the evil spirit would depart from him.