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.