Open English Translation 1 SAM Chapter 19

19 Then Sha’ul urged his son Yonatan and all his servants to kill David, but Yonatan really liked David 2 and told him, “My father Sha’ul wants to get rid of you, so please watch out in the morning. Find a hiding place and stay there. 3 And what I’ll do, I’ll go out and stand by my father in the countryside where you’re hiding, and I’ll bring you into the conversation to see what he’ll say about you.”

4 So the next morning, Yonatan spoke well of David to his father Sha’ul, saying, “Don’t let the king sin against his servant, against David, because he hasn’t sinned against you, and actually, he’s been a big help to you. 5 He took his life into his hands when he fought against Goliat, and Yahweh used it to save all Yisrael. So why would you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death for no reason.”

6 Sha’ul listened to Yonatan, then he promised, “As surely as Yahweh lives, he won’t be put to death.” 7 Afterwards, Yonatan called David and told him what had been said. Then he brought David back to work for Sha’ul and things carried on as before.

8 Then war broke out again, and David went out and battled against the Philistines and defeated them so badly that they fled away from him.

9 One day as Sha’ul was sitting in his house, an evil spirit from Yahweh came on him. He had his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp. 10 Sha’ul tried to hit David with the spear, but David eluded him and the spear went into the wall. Then David slipped away and fled that night.

11 Sha’ul sent messengers to watch David’s house to kill him in the morning, but his wife Mikal told him, “If you don’t do something to save your life tonight, you’ll be dead by tomorrow.”[ref] 12 So Mikal lowered David out through the window, and he was able to slip out and take off. 13 Then she took a household idol and put it in the bed, putting a goats’ hair quilt where the head should be and covering it with the bed-clothes. 14 When Sha’ul sent messengers to arrest David, she told them, “He’s sick.” 15 Sha’ul sent the messengers back, telling them, “Bring him up to me bed and all so I can kill him.” 16 But when the messengers returned, look, it was a household idol in the bed with a goats’ hair quilt as its head. 17 Sha’ul had Mikal brought in and questioned, “Why did you deceive me like that and sent my enemy off, so that he slipped away?”

“He told me that he’d kill me,” Michal answered Sha’ul, “if I didn’t help him escape.”

18 After David had slipped away, he went to Shemuel in Ramah and told him everything that Sha’ul had done to him, then the two of them went and stayed in Nayot. 19 But Sha’ul was told that David was in Nayot near Ramah, 20 so he sent messengers to capture David. When they saw a group of prophets prophesying and Shemuel standing as head over them, God’s spirit came onto Sha’ul’s messengers and they also prophesied. 21 They told Sha’ul and he sent more messengers and they also prophesied. He sent messengers a third time, and they started prophesying as well. 22 Finally Sha’ul himself headed towards Ramah and got as far as the large water cistern in Seku. He asked around about Shemuel and David, and was told that they were in Nayot near Ramah. 23 So he went to Nayot, and God’s spirit came on him as well. As he walked, he kept prophesying until he entered Nayot. 24 He took off his outer clothes and prophesied in front of Shemuel. He lay undressed all that day and all night, so that’s why people ask, “Is Sha’ul a prophet as well?”[ref]