I Samuel Chapter 19

I Samuel 19 — English translation

Translation: THE JPS TANAKH: Gender-Sensitive Edition. Verse numbers match the Hebrew text below.

1. 1Saul urged his son Jonathan and all his courtiers to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan was very fond of David,
2. 2and Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is bent on killing you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; get to a secret place and remain in hiding.
3. 3I will go out and stand next to my father in the field where you will be, and I will speak to my father about you. If I learn anything, I will tell you.”
4. 4So Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul. He said to him, “Let not Your Majesty wrong his servant David, for he has not wronged you; indeed, all his actions have been very much to your advantage.
5. 5He took his life in his hands and killed the Philistine, and G OD wrought a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then should you incur the guilt of shedding an innocent’s blood, killing David without cause?”
6. 6Saul heeded Jonathan’s plea, and Saul swore, “As G OD lives, he shall not be put to death!”
7. 7Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all this. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he served him as before.
8. 8Fighting broke out again. David went out and fought the Philistines. He inflicted a great defeat upon them and they fled before him.
9. 9Then an evil spirit of G OD came upon Saul while he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing [the lyre].
10. 10Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he drove the spear into the wall. David fled and got away. That night
11. 11Saul sent messengers to David’s home to keep watch on him and to kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal told him, “Unless you run for your life tonight, you will be killed tomorrow.”
12. 12Michal let David down from the window and he escaped and fled.
13. 13Michal then took the oracle idol, laid it on the bed, and covered it with a cloth; and at its head she put a net of goat’s hair.
14. 14Saul sent messengers to seize David; but she said, “He is sick.”
15. 15Saul, however, sent back the messengers to see David for themselves. “Bring him up to me in the bed,” he ordered, “that he may be put to death.”
16. 16When the messengers came, they found the oracle idol in the bed, with the net of goat’s hair at its head.
17. 17Saul said to Michal, “Why did you play that trick on me and let my enemy get away safely?” “Because,” Michal answered Saul, “he said to me: ‘Help me get away or I’ll kill you.’”
18. 18David made good his escape, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.
19. 19Saul was told that David was at Naioth in Ramah,
20. 20and Saul sent messengers to seize David. They saw a band of prophets speaking in ecstasy, with Samuel standing by as their leader; and the spirit of God came upon Saul’s messengers and they too began to speak in ecstasy.
21. 21When Saul was told about this, he sent other messengers; but they too spoke in ecstasy. Saul sent a third group of messengers; and they also spoke in ecstasy.
22. 22So he himself went to Ramah. When he came to the great cistern at Secu, he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” and was told that they were at Naioth in Ramah.
23. 23He was on his way there, to Naioth in Ramah, when the spirit of God came upon him too; and he walked on, speaking in ecstasy, until he reached Naioth in Ramah.
24. 24Then he too stripped off his clothes and he too spoke in ecstasy before Samuel; and he lay naked all that day and all night. That is why people say, “Is Saul too among the prophets?”

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