1 Samuel 19

1Saul spoke to his son Jonathan and to all his officials about killing David. But Saul’s son Jonathan was deeply fond of David. 2Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is looking for a way to kill you. So please be careful in the morning. Stay in a hidden place and keep out of sight. 3I will go out and take my place at my father’s side in the field where you are, and talk with him about you. Whatever I find out, I will let you know.”

4Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul. “May the king not sin against David his servant,” he said. “David has committed no sin against you, and what he has done has served you very well. 5He took his life in his hands and struck down the Philistine, and the LORD won a great victory for all Israel. You saw it and were glad. So why would you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death for no reason?” 6Saul listened to Jonathan and swore, “As surely as the LORD lives, he will not be put to death.” 7Then Jonathan called David and told him everything that had been said. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and David served him as he had before.

8War broke out again. David went out and fought the Philistines. He defeated them with heavy losses, and they ran from him. 9Then an evil spirit from the LORD came on Saul. He was sitting in his house, spear in hand, while David played the lyre. 10Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but David slipped away from him, and Saul drove the spear into the wall. David fled and got away that night.

11Saul sent messengers to David’s house to keep watch on him and kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead.” 12So Michal let David down through the window, and he went off, fled, and escaped. 13Then Michal took the household god and laid it on the bed. She put a mat of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with a garment.

14When Saul sent messengers to seize David, she said, “He is sick.”

15Then Saul sent the messengers back to see David for themselves. He told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed, so that I can kill him.” 16When the messengers came in, there was the household god on the bed, with the mat of goats’ hair at its head. 17Saul said to Michal, “Why did you trick me like this and let my enemy go, so that he got away?” Michal answered, “He told me, ‘Let me go! Why should I have to kill you?’” 18So David fled and escaped. He went to Samuel at Ramah and reported to him everything Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went off and stayed at Naioth. 19Saul was told, “David is at Naioth in Ramah.” 20Saul sent messengers to seize David. But when they saw the company of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing there as their leader, the Spirit of God came on Saul’s messengers, and they also prophesied. 21When Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied too. Saul sent messengers a third time, and they also prophesied. 22Then Saul himself went to Ramah. He came to the great cistern at Secu and asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” Someone said, “They are at Naioth in Ramah.” 23So he went there, toward Naioth in Ramah. The Spirit of God came on him too, and he kept walking along, prophesying, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24He too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied in Samuel’s presence. He lay there naked all that day and all that night. That is why people say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”