1 Samuel 18:1-30
18 And when he had finished talking to Saul, Jonathan’s soul was tied fast to David’s, and Jonathan loved him as he loved himself.
2 And Saul took him that day and would not let him go back to his father’s house.
3 And Jonathan and David pledged themselves to each other, in the love that he had for him as he loved himself;
4 and Jonathan stripped off the robe he had on and gave it to David, and his brigandine, and even his sword and bow and belt.
5 And David went out on whatever missions Saul sent him on, and did well; and Saul set him over the soldiers, and it pleased all the people, and Saul’s officers too.
6 *** And when they came in, at David’s return from killing the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel for song and dances, to meet King Saul, with tambourines and festivity and triangles;
7 and the merrymaking women sang “Saul struck down his thousands, David his tens of thousands.”
8 * And Saul was very angry, and regarded this as a bad thing, and said “They have given David tens of thousands and me the thousands; he has nothing left but the kingship”;
9 and Saul took to looking askance at David from that day on.
10 * And on the next day a bad divine spirit seized upon Saul, and he fell under the power in the house, while David was playing his music as he did on any day;
11 and Saul had a spear in his hand. And Saul hurled the spear and thought “I will pin David to the wall,” but David dodged away from him, twice.
12 * And Saul was afraid of David, because Jehovah was with him and had gone away from Saul;
13 and Saul removed him from his presence and appointed him captain over a thousand, and he went out and came in before the people.
14 * And David did well on all his errands, and Jehovah was with him.
15 And Saul saw how very well he did, and he quailed before him;
16 but all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.
17 And Saul said to David “Here is my oldest daughter Merab, I will give you her as wife—only show yourself a man of energy, and fight Jehovah’s battles,” Saul’s thought being “Let it not be my hand that comes on him, but the hands of the Philistines.”
18 And David said to Saul “Who am I, and who are my sib (father’s clan), in Israel, that I should marry the princess?”
19 But when the time for giving Saul’s daughter Merab to David came, she had been given to ʽAdriel the Meholathite as wife.
20 And Saul’s daughter Mical fell in love with David; and they told Saul, and the thing suited him.
21 And Saul thought “I will give her to him and have her be a bait to trap him, and the hands of the Philistines come on him.” And Saul said to David “On two conditions you shall marry the princess today.”
22 And Saul gave his officers the order “Tell David quietly ‘Here, the king likes you and all his officers love you—now marry the princess.’”
23 And Saul’s officers said these things in conversation with David; but David said “Does it look to you like a simple thing to marry the princess, I being a poor and obscure man?”
24 And Saul’s officers reported to him “These were David’s words.”
25 And Saul said “Say to David ‘The king does not care for any purchase-money but a hundred Philistine foreskins, to get revenge on the king’s enemies,’” Saul’s plan being to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines.
26 * And Saul’s officers reported these things; and the idea of marrying the princess suited David,
27 * and David went off, he and his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines, and David brought their foreskins and paid the king in full, to marry the princess; and Saul gave him his daughter Mical as wife.
28 And Saul saw and knew that Jehovah was with David; and Saul’s daughter Mical loved him.
29 And Saul was more and more afraid of David; and Saul became a persistent enemy to David.
30 And the captains of the Philistines came out; and as often as they came out David did better than any of Saul’s officers, and his name was held in high honor.
Footnotes
^ 18:6 Conj. And it befell that when they came in from defeating the Philistines
^ 18:6 (for song and dances) Susp.
^ 18:6 (triangles) Unc.
^ 18:8 Conj. I have nothing left
^ 18:10 The word bad is in brackets in the Hebrew
^ 18:12 Or afraid to face David
^ 18:14 Var. in all his course
^ 18:26 Var. suited David, and the time was not up; and David went
^ 18:27 Var. a hundred
