Saul became jealous of David

18 After David finished talking with Saul, he met Saul’s son, Jonathan. Jonathan immediately liked David; in fact, he began to love/like him as much as he loved/liked himself. 2 From that day, Saul kept David with him, and did not let him return home. 3 Because Jonathan loved David so much, he made a solemn agreement with David. They promised each other that they would always be loyal friends. 4 Jonathan took off his own outer robe and gave it to David. He also gave David his soldier’s tunic, his sword, his bow and arrows, and his belt.

5 David went wherever Saul sent him. And whatever Saul told him to do, David did it very successfully. As a result, Saul appointed David to be a commander in the army. All the officers and other men in the army ◄approved of/were very pleased with► that.

6 But, when the men in the army were returning home after David had killed Goliath, the women came out from many [HYP] towns in Israel to meet/greet King Saul. They were singing and dancing very joyfully, playing tambourines and lyres. 7 As they danced, they sang this song to each other:

“Saul has killed 1,000 enemy soldiers,

But David has killed 10,000 of them.”

8 When Saul heard them singing that, he did not like it. He became very angry. He said to himself, “They are saying that David killed 10,000 men, but that I have killed only 1,000. Soon they will want to make him their king!” [RHQ] 9 From that time, Saul watched David very closely because he was suspicious that David would try to become king.

10 The next day, an evil spirit sent by God suddenly took control of Saul. He began to act like a madman, inside his house. David was playing the lyre for him, as he did every day. Saul was holding a spear in his hand, 11 and he hurled it at David, saying to himself, “I will fasten David to the wall with the spear!” He did that two times, but David jumped aside both times.

12 Because it became evident that Yahweh had abandoned Saul but that he was helping David, Saul was afraid of David. 13 So he appointed David as a commander of 1,000 soldiers and sent David away from him, hoping that David would be killed in a battle. But when David led his soldiers in their battles, 14 he always had great success, because Yahweh was helping him. 15 When Saul heard that David and his soldiers were very successful, he became more afraid of David. 16 But all the people of Israel and of Judah loved David, because he led the soldiers very successfully in the battles.