19:1 Then Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Jonathan the son of Saul took great delight in David. 19:2 Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is seeking to kill you. So exercise caution in the morning. Find a hiding place and stay in seclusion. 19:3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are. I will speak with my father concerning you. When I find out what’s up, I will let you know.”
19:4 So Jonathan spoke in David’s behalf to his father Saul. He said to him, “Let not the king sin against his servant David, for he has not sinned against you. On the contrary, his actions have been very beneficial for you. 19:5 He took his life in his own hands when he struck down the Philistines, and the LORD gave great deliverance to all Israel. When you saw it, you were happy. Why would you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death for no reason?”
19:6 So Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan and swore, “As the LORD lives, he will not be put to death.” 19:7 Then Jonathan called David and told him all these things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was before him the way he used to be.
19:8 But once again there was war. So David went out to fight with the Philistines. He struck them down decisively,1 and they fled from him. 19:9 But an evil spirit from the LORD was with Saul. He was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the lyre with his hand. 19:10 Saul attempted to nail David to the wall with the spear, but he escaped from Saul’s presence just as he nailed the wall with the spear. David fled and escaped that night.
19:11 Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to guard it and to put him to death in the morning. But David’s wife Michal told him saying, “Unless you escape tonight, tomorrow you are going to be killed!” 19:12 So Michal lowered David through the window, and he fled and escaped.
19:13 Then Michal took the teraphim2 and put them on the bed along with a goat quilt3 at its head and covered everything with his garment. 19:14 When Saul sent messengers to arrest David, she said, “He’s sick.”
19:15 Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David saying, “Bring him up to me on his bed so I can put him to death.” 19:16 When the messengers came, they found only the teraphim on the bed and the goat quilt at its head.
19:17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me this way, sending my enemy away? Now he has escaped.” Michal replied to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Send me away. Why should I kill you?’”
19:18 Now David had fled and escaped, going to Samuel in Ramah. He told him everything that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth. 19:19 It was reported to Saul saying, “David is at Naioth in Ramah.” 19:20 So Saul sent messengers to capture David. When they saw a company of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing as leader over them, the spirit of God came on Saul’s messengers and they too prophesied. 19:21 When it was reported to Saul, he sent additional messengers. But they too prophesied. Saul once again, for a third time, sent messengers. But they too prophesied. 19:22 Then he himself went to Ramah. When he arrived at the large well that is in Secu, he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” They said, “In Naioth at Ramah.”
19:23 So he went there to Naioth at Ramah. The Spirit of God came on him, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth at Ramah. 19:24 Then he even stripped off his garments and prophesied before Samuel. He fell down naked all that day and night. For that reason it is asked, “Is Saul too among the prophets?”