²⁶ David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, "What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?"

²⁷ The people answered him in this way, saying, "So shall it be done to the man who kills him."

²⁸ Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger was kindled against David, and he said, "Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle."

²⁹ David said, "What have I now done? Is there not a cause?"

³⁰ He turned away from him toward another, and spoke like that again; and the people answered him again the same way.

³¹ When the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed them before Saul; and he sent for him.

³² David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine."

³³ Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth."

³⁴ David said to Saul, "Your servant was keeping his father's sheep; and when a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb out of the flock,

³⁵ I went out after him, and struck him, and rescued it out of his mouth. When he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and struck him, and killed him.

³⁶ Your servant struck both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God."

³⁷ David said, "Yahweh who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." Saul said to David, "Go; and Yahweh shall be with you."

³⁸ Saul dressed David with his clothing. He put a helmet of brass on his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail.

³⁹ David strapped his sword on his clothing, and he tried to move; for he had not tested it. David said to Saul, "I can't go with these; for I have not tested them." David took them off.

⁴⁰ He took his staff in his hand, and chose for himself five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in the shepherd's bag which he had, even in his wallet. His sling was in his hand; and he drew near to the Philistine.

⁴¹ The Philistine came on and drew near to David; and the man who bore the shield went before him.

⁴² When the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and withal of a fair face.

⁴³ The Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" The Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁴⁴ The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky, and to the animals of the field."

⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin: but I come to you in the name of Yahweh of Armies, the God of the Armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

⁴⁶ Today, Yahweh will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you, and take your head from off you. I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky, and to the wild animals of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

⁴⁷ and that all this assembly may know that Yahweh doesn't save with sword and spear: for the battle is Yahweh's, and he will give you into our hand."

⁴⁸ It happened, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

⁴⁹ David put his hand in his bag, took a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.

⁵⁰ So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and killed him; but there was no sword in the hand of David.

⁵¹ Then David ran, and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head therewith. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

⁵² The men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until you come to Gai, and to the gates of Ekron. The wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath, and to Ekron.

⁵³ The children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they plundered their camp.

⁵⁴ David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent.

⁵⁵ When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the army, "Abner, whose son is this youth?" Abner said, "As your soul lives, O king, I can't tell."

⁵⁶ The king said, "Inquire whose son the young man is!"

⁵⁷ As David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand.

⁵⁸ Saul said to him, "Whose son are you, you young man?" David answered, "I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."

¹ It happened, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

² Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house.

³ Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

⁴ Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him, and gave it to David, and his clothing, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his sash.

⁵ David went out wherever Saul sent him, [and] behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.

⁶ It happened as they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music.

⁷ The women sang one to another as they played, and said, "Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands."

⁸ Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him; and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands. What can he have more but the kingdom?"

⁹ Saul eyed David from that day and forward.

¹⁰ It happened on the next day, that an evil spirit from God came mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house. David played with his hand, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand;

¹¹ and Saul threw the spear; for he said, "I will pin David even to the wall!" David escaped from his presence twice.

¹² Saul was afraid of David, because Yahweh was with him, and was departed from Saul.

¹³ Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

¹⁴ David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and Yahweh was with him.

¹⁵ When Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood in awe of him.

¹⁶ But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them.

¹⁷ Saul said to David, "Behold, my elder daughter Merab, I will give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight Yahweh's battles." For Saul said, "Don't let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him."

¹⁸ David said to Saul, "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 Adriel the Meholathite as wife.

²⁰ Michal, Saul's daughter, loved David; and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.

²¹ Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David, "You shall this day be my son-in-law a second time."

²² Saul commanded his servants, "Talk with David secretly, and say, 'Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you: now therefore be the king's son-in-law.'"

²³ Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, "Does it seems to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, since I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?"

²⁴ The servants of Saul told him, saying, "David spoke like this."

²⁵ Saul said, "You shall tell David, 'The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies.'" Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

²⁶ When his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. The days were not expired;

²⁷ and David arose and went, he and his men, and killed of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife.

²⁸ Saul saw and knew that Yahweh was with David; and Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him.

²⁹ Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul was David's enemy continually.

³⁰ Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it happened, as often as they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was highly esteemed.

¹ Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David.

² Jonathan told David, saying, "Saul my father seeks to kill you. Now therefore, please take care of yourself in the morning, and live in a secret place, and hide yourself.

³ I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will talk with my father about you; and if I see anything, I will tell you."

⁴ Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, "Don't let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you;

⁵ for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and Yahweh worked a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?"

⁶ Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, "As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death."

⁷ Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as before.

⁸ There was war again. David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him.

⁹ An evil spirit from Yahweh was on Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand.

¹⁰ Saul sought to pin David even to the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he stuck the spear into the wall. David fled, and escaped that night.

¹¹ Saul sent messengers to David's house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, "If you don't save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed."

¹² So Michal let David down through the window. He went, fled, and escaped.

¹³ Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats' [hair] at its head, and covered it with the clothes.

¹⁴ When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, "He is sick."

¹⁵ Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, "Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him."

¹⁶ When the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats' hair at its head.

¹⁷ Saul said to Michal, "Why have you deceived me thus, and let my enemy go, so that he is escaped?" Michal answered Saul, "He said to me, 'Let me go! Why should I kill you?'"

¹⁸ Now David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and lived in Naioth.

¹⁹ It was told Saul, saying, "Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah."

²⁰ Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came on the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

²¹ When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.

²² Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked, "Where are Samuel and David?" One said, "Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah."

²³ He went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God came on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

²⁴ He also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"