Open English Translation 1SA Chapter 18

18 After David had finished speaking to the king, him and Yonatan became close friends, in fact Yonatan really loved him. 2 From that day, Sha’ul kept David with him, and wouldn’t allow him to return home. 3 Then Yonatan and David made an agreement together, because Yonatan loved him as much as he loved himself. 4 Yonatan took off the cloak that he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his armour, his sword and bow, and even his belt. 5 David went on missions wherever Sha’ul sent him and always succeeded. Sha’ul put him in charge of the warriors, and that pleased all the people, as well as Sha’ul’s servants.

6 When they’d all come back after killing the Philistine, the women from the Israeli cities had come out to meet King Sha’ul with singing and dancing—playing tambourines and other instruments with great happiness. 7 However, as they danced they sang,[ref]

“Sha’ul has killed his thousands,

≈and David his tens of thousands.”

8 Sha’ul found that offensive and it made him very angry. “They’ve attributed tens of thousands to David,” he complained, “but only thousands to me. Next thing he’ll end up as king.” 9 So from that day onwards, Sha’ul remained wary of David and kept an eye on him.

10 Then the next day, an evil spirit from God rushed on Sha’ul and even in the middle of the house he started prophesying. As David was playing near him (as he did every day), Sha’ul was holding a spear 11 and he suddenly hurled it, saying, “I’ll pin that David to the wall.” But twice when he did that, David managed to elude him.

12 So Sha’ul ended up afraid of David because Yahweh was with him, but was no longer with the king. 13 Then Sha’ul sent him out of the room and appointed him as the commander of a thousand warriors, so he came and went in front of the people.[fn] 14 Yahweh was with David and he was succeeding in everything he did. 15 Sha’ul knew about his successes and couldn’t stand looking at him, 16 but all the people of Israel and Yehudah loved David because they observed his comings and goings.

17 One day Sha’ul told David, “Look, here’s my oldest daughter Merab—I’ll give her to you for a wife. The only condition is that you become a powerful warrior for me and fight Yahweh’s battles.” (Sha’ul had said to himself, “I don’t need to hurt him physically—I’ll let the Philistines do that for me.” 18 “Who am I,” David asked, “and who are my relatives in my father’s clan in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”

19 However, when it was the time for Sha’ul to give his daughter Merab to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite to marry.

20 Now Sha’ul’s other daughter Mikal loved David, and when they told the king, he was pleased about it, 21 saying to himself, “I’ll give her to him so she can become a trap for him so the Philistines could be the ones to attack him.” So he said a second time, “You’ll become a son-in-law of mine today.” 22 Then Sha’ul commanded his servants, “Tell David privately, ‘Listen, the king is pleased with you, and all of us his servants love you. So now we think that you should become the king’s son-in-law.’ ”

23 So they told David privately, but he responded, “Something that significant isn’t likely to happen. I’m hard up and without much honour.”

24 When Sha’ul’s servants told him what David had said, 25 he replied, “Pass this onto David, ‘The king doesn’t want an expensive bride price—only a hundred Philistine foreskins taken from the king’s enemies.’ ” But Sha’ul was still wanting the Philistines to be the ones to kill David. 26 Now when David heard this from the servants, he decided that he could indeed marry the king’s daughter within the time period that had been given, 27 so he and his men got ready and went and killed two hundred Philistine men. He brought them to the king and had them counted to fulfill the pledge, and so Sha’ul had to give his daughter Mikal to become his wife.

28 But when Sha’ul realised that Yahweh was helping David, and that his daughter loved him, 29 he became more afraid of David, so he remained hostile to David from then on.

30 Whenever the Philistine commanders decided to attack, David was more successful than any other of Sha’ul’s commanders, so he became very famous.