David Escapes from Saul

1Then Saul spoke with Jonathan his son and all his servants to put David to death. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, greatly delighted in David. 2So Jonathan told David saying, “Saul my father is seeking to put you to death. So now, please be careful in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 3And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you; what I [†]perceive, I will tell you.” 4Then Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Do not let the king sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his works have been very good for you. 5For he took his life in his hand and struck the Philistine, and Yahweh brought about a great salvation for all Israel; you saw it and were glad. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death without a cause?” 6And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, “As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.” 7Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these words. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as formerly.

8Then there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great slaughter, so that they fled before him. 9Now there was an evil spirit from Yahweh on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp with his hand. 10And Saul tried to [†]pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, so that he [†]stuck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

11Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to keep watch over him, in order to put him to death in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you do not make an escape for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death.” 12So Michal let David down through a window, and he went out and fled and escaped. 13Then Michal took the [†]household idol and laid it on the bed and put a quilt of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with clothes. 14Then Saul sent messengers to take David, but she said, “He is sick.” 15So Saul sent messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me on [†]his bed, that I may put him to death.” 16The messengers came, and behold, the [†]household idol was on the bed with the quilt of goats’ hair at its head. 17So Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal said to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I put you to death?’”

18Now David fled and escaped and came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. 19And it was told to Saul, saying, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” 20Then Saul sent messengers to take David, but they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing and presiding over them. And the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul; and they also prophesied. 21This was told to Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. So Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. 22Then he himself went to Ramah and came as far as the large well that is in Secu; and he asked and said, “Where are Samuel and David?” And someone said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.” 23So he went there, to Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he went along prophesying continually until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24He also stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and [†]lay down [†]naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”