1 Samuel 18:17-29

New King James Version

David Marries Michal

¹⁷ Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab; ^(A)I will give her to you as a wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight ^(B)the Lord’s battles.” For Saul thought, ^(C)“Let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

¹⁸ So David said to Saul, ^(D)“Who am I, and what is my life or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?” ¹⁹ But it happened at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to ^(E)Adriel the ^(F)Meholathite as a wife.

^20 (G)Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. ²¹ So Saul said, “I will give her to him, that she may ^[a]be a snare to him, and that ^(H)the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time, ^(I)“You shall be my son-in-law today.”

²² And Saul commanded his servants, “Communicate with David secretly, and say, ‘Look, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become the king’s son-in-law.’ ”

²³ So Saul’s servants spoke those words in the hearing of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be a king’s son-in-law, seeing I am a poor and lightly esteemed man?” ²⁴ And the servants of Saul told him, saying, ^[b]“In this manner David spoke.”

²⁵ Then Saul said, “Thus you shall say to David: ‘The king does not desire any ^(J)dowry but one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take ^(K)vengeance on the king’s enemies.’ ” But Saul ^(L)thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. ²⁶ So when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to become the king’s son-in-law. Now ^(M)the days had not expired; ²⁷ therefore David arose and went, he and ^(N)his men, and killed two hundred men of the Philistines. And ^(O)David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full count to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave him Michal his daughter as a wife.

²⁸ Thus Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him; ²⁹ and Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul became David’s enemy ^[c]continually.