1 Samuel 19

19 ¹Saul spoke to his son Jonathan and all his servants about killing David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted greatly in David. ²Jonathan told David, "Saul my father wants to kill you, so be careful in the morning—stay hidden and out of sight. ³I will go out, stand beside my father in the field where you are, and speak to my father about you—then tell you whatever I discover."

⁴Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him: "The king must not sin against his servant David, for he hasn't sinned against you. On the contrary, his deeds have been very good for you. ⁵He risked his life to strike down the Philistine, and our Father won a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why would you sin against innocent blood, killing David for no reason?"

⁶Saul listened to Jonathan and swore, "As our Father lives, David will not be put to death."

⁷Jonathan called David and told him all this, then brought him to Saul, and David served him as before.

⁸War broke out again. David went out, fought the Philistines, struck them with a great blow, and they fled from him.

⁹But a harmful spirit from our Father came on Saul while he sat in his house, spear in hand, and David played the lyre. ¹⁰Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear, but David dodged, and the spear struck the wall. David fled and escaped that night. ¹¹Saul sent men to watch David's house and kill him at dawn. Michal, David's wife, warned him: "If you don't flee tonight, you'll be dead by morning." ¹²So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. ¹³Then Michal took the household idol, laid it on the bed, put a goat-hair blanket at its head, and covered it with a cloth. ¹⁴When Saul sent messengers to seize David, Michal said, "He is ill."

¹⁵So Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, "Bring him to me in the bed, to kill him." ¹⁶When the messengers came in, the household idol was on the bed, goat-hair quilt at its head.

¹⁷Saul said to Michal, "Why did you deceive me like this and let my enemy escape?" Michal said to Saul, "He told me, 'Let me go, why should I kill you?'"

¹⁸David fled and escaped, came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. ¹⁹Saul was told, "David is at Naioth in Ramah." ²⁰Saul sent messengers to seize David. But seeing the band of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing as their leader, the Spirit of our Father came on Saul's messengers, and they too prophesied. ²¹Saul was told; he sent other messengers, and they too prophesied. Saul again sent messengers, a third time, and they also prophesied. ²²Finally Saul himself went to Ramah, reaching the great well at Secu. He asked, "Where are Samuel and David?" "At Naioth in Ramah," someone said.

²³He went to Naioth in Ramah, but the Spirit of our Father came upon him too, and he walked along, prophesying, until he reached Naioth in Ramah. ²⁴He too stripped off his clothes, prophesied before Samuel, and lay naked all that day and night. So people say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"