1 Samuel

¹Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants that he wanted David killed.

²But Jonathan was devoted to David and warned him, 'My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning. Go into hiding and stay there.'

³'I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with him about you. Then I'll let you know what I find out.'

⁴Jonathan spoke up for David to his father Saul. 'The king should not sin against his servant David,' he said. 'He has done nothing wrong against you. On the contrary, everything he has done has been very good for you.'

⁵'He risked his own life when he killed the Philistine, and the LORD won a great victory for all Israel that day. You saw it yourself and were glad. Why then would you sin against an innocent man by killing David without cause?'

⁶Saul listened to Jonathan and took an oath: 'As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be put to death.'

⁷Jonathan called David and told him everything Saul had said. He then brought David back to Saul, and David served in Saul's presence as before.

⁸War broke out again, and David went out and fought the Philistines. He struck them down so hard that they fled from him.

⁹Then the oppressive spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he sat in his house holding his spear. David was playing his harp nearby.

¹⁰Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear, but David dodged out of the way and the spear struck the wall. David fled and escaped that night.

¹¹Saul sent men to watch David's house and kill him in the morning. But David's wife Michal warned him, 'If you don't escape tonight, you will be dead by morning.'

¹²So Michal lowered David through a window, and he fled and escaped.

¹³Then Michal took a household idol, laid it on the bed, placed a cover of goat's hair around its head, and pulled a blanket over it.

¹⁴When Saul's men came to arrest David, Michal told them, 'He is sick.'

¹⁵Saul sent the men back and said, 'Bring him to me in his bed so I can kill him myself.'

¹⁶When the men arrived, they found the idol in the bed with the goat-hair covering around its head.

¹⁷Saul demanded of Michal, 'Why did you deceive me and let my enemy escape?' Michal answered him, 'He threatened me, saying, Help me escape or I'll kill you.'

¹⁸David fled to Samuel at Ramah and told him everything Saul had done. Then the two of them went to Naioth and stayed there.

¹⁹Word reached Saul: 'David is at Naioth in Ramah.'

²⁰So Saul sent men to capture David. But when they saw the company of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing as their leader, the Spirit of God came upon Saul's men and they also began to prophesy.

²¹Saul was told what happened, so he sent more men. They also prophesied. He sent a third group, and they too prophesied.

²²Finally Saul himself went to Ramah. He stopped at the large cistern at Secu and asked, 'Where are Samuel and David?' 'They are at Naioth in Ramah,' someone told him.

²³Saul went to Naioth in Ramah. But the Spirit of God came upon him too, and he walked along prophesying until he reached Naioth.

²⁴He stripped off his clothes and also prophesied before Samuel. He lay there naked all that day and all that night. This is why people say, 'Is Saul also among the prophets?'