1 Samuel 19

Revised Geneva Translation

19 Then Saul spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants, so that they would kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted greatly in David.

² And Jonathan told David, saying, “Saul, my father, intends to kill you. Now, therefore, please be on your guard until morning and stay in a secret place and hide yourself.

³ “And I will go out and stand by my father in the field where you are and will commune with my father about you. And I will see what he says and will tell you.”

⁴ And Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul, his father, and said to him, “Do not let the king sin against his servant, against David. For he has not sinned against you, but his works have been very good to you.

⁵ “For he put his life in danger and killed the Philistine. And the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and you rejoiced. Why, then, will you sin against innocent blood and kill David without a reason?”

⁶ Then Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. And Saul swore, “As the LORD lives, he shall not die.”

⁷ So Jonathan called David. And Jonathan told him all those words. And Jonathan brought David to Saul. And he was in his presence, as in times past.

⁸ Again, the war began. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and killed them with a great slaughter. And they fled from him.

⁹ And the spirit of misery from the LORD was upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. And David played with his hand.

¹⁰ And Saul intended to pin David to the wall with the spear. But he turned aside, out of Saul’s presence. And he struck the spear against the wall. But David fled and escaped that same night.

¹¹ Saul also sent messengers to David’s house, to watch him and to kill him in the morning. And Michal, David’s wife, told it to him, saying, “If you do not save yourself this night, tomorrow you shall be killed.

¹² So Michal let David down through a window. And he went and fled and escaped.

¹³ Then Michal took an image and laid it in the bed and put a pillow stuffed with goat’s hair under the head of it and covered it with a cloth.

¹⁴ And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”

¹⁵ And Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, “Bring him to me in the bed, so that I may kill him.”

¹⁶ And when the messengers had come in, behold, an image was in the bed with a pillow of goat’s hair under the head of it.

¹⁷ And Saul said to Michal, “Why have you mocked me so, and sent away my enemy, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go, or else I will kill you.’”

¹⁸ So David fled and escaped and came to Samuel, to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth.

¹⁹ But someone told Saul, saying, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.”

²⁰ And Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw a company of Prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God fell upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

²¹ And when it was told to Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Again, Saul sent a third group of messengers; and they prophesied also.

²² Then, he himself went to Ramah and came to a great well that is in Sechu. And he asked, and said, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, at Naioth in Ramah.”

²³ And he went there, to Naioth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God came upon him also. And he went prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

²⁴ And he stripped off his clothes; and he also prophesied before Samuel and fell down naked, all that day and all that night. Therefore, they say, “Is Saul also among the Prophets?”