1 Samuel 19

Complete Jewish Bible

19 Sha’ul told Y’honatan his son and all his servants that they should have David killed. But because Y’honatan was very fond of David, ² he told him, “My father Sha’ul is out to have you killed. Therefore you must be very cautious tomorrow morning. Find a well-concealed place to hide in. ³ I will go out and stand next to my father in the countryside where you’re hiding. I will talk with my father about you; and if I learn anything, I’ll tell you.”

⁴ Y’honatan spoke well of David to Sha’ul his father and said to him, “The king shouldn’t sin against his servant David, because he hasn’t sinned against you. On the contrary, his work for you has been very good indeed. ⁵ He put his life in his hands to attack the P’lishtim, and Adonai accomplished a great victory for all Isra’el. You yourself saw it, and you were happy about it. So why do you want to sin against innocent blood by killing David without any reason?” ⁶ Sha’ul heeded Y’honatan’s advice and swore, “As Adonai lives, he will not be put to death.” ⁷ Y’honatan called David and told him all these things. Then Y’honatan brought David to Sha’ul to be in attendance on the king, as before.

⁸ War broke out again, and David went and fought the P’lishtim. He defeated them with a great slaughter, and they fled before him. ⁹ Then an evil spirit from Adonai came upon Sha’ul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. David was playing his lyre, ¹⁰ when Sha’ul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear. But he dodged it and moved out of Sha’ul’s way, so that the spear stuck in the wall. David fled, so that night he escaped.

¹¹ But Sha’ul sent messengers to David’s house to watch for him and kill him in the morning. Mikhal David’s wife told him, “If you don’t save your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be dead.” ¹² So Mikhal let David down through the window; and he left, fled and escaped. ¹³ Mikhal took the household idol, laid it on the bed, put a goat’s-hair quilt at its head and covered it with a cloth. ¹⁴ When Sha’ul sent messengers to capture David, she said, “He’s ill.” ¹⁵ Sha’ul sent the messengers to see David with the order, “Bring him up to me, bed and all, so that I can kill him.” ¹⁶ But when the messengers entered, there before them was the household idol in the bed, with the goat’s-hair quilt at its head. ¹⁷ Sha’ul asked Mikhal, “Why did you deceive me this way and let my enemy go and escape?” Mikhal answered Sha’ul, “He threatened me, ‘Let me go, or I’ll kill you.’”

¹⁸ David fled and escaped, then came to Sh’mu’el in Ramah and told him everything Sha’ul had done to him. So he and Sh’mu’el went and stayed in the prophets’ dormitory. ¹⁹ The news reached Sha’ul that David had been seen at the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah. ²⁰ Sha’ul sent messengers to capture David. But when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, with Sh’mu’el standing and leading them, the Spirit of God fell on Sha’ul’s messengers; and they too began prophesying. ²¹ When Sha’ul was told, he sent other messengers; but they too began prophesying. Sha’ul sent messengers a third time, and they also prophesied. ²² Then he himself went to Ramah. When he arrived at the big cistern in Sekhu, he asked, “Where are Sh’mu’el and David?” Someone answered, “They’re at the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah.” ²³ While on his way to the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah, the Spirit of God fell on him too; and he went on, prophesying, until he arrived at the prophets’ dormitory in Ramah. ²⁴ He also stripped off his clothes, prophesied in Sh’mu’el’s presence and lay there naked all that day and all that night. Hence it continues to be an expression, “Is Sha’ul a prophet, too?”