1When he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
2Saul took him that day and did not permit him to return to his father’s house.
3Then Jonathan and David cut a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
4Jonathan stripped off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, along with his armor, even his sword, his bow, and his belt.
5David would go out wherever Saul sent him, and he acted wisely; so Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the eyes of all the people, and also in the eyes of Saul’s servants.
6Now as they were coming home, when David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with three-stringed instruments.
7And the women who made merry answered and said, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”
8Saul was very angry, and this word was evil in his eyes, and he said, “They have given David ten thousands, but to me they have given the thousands; what more can he have but the kingship?”
9So Saul kept a jealous eye on David from that day onward.
10On the next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied within the house, while David was playing the lyre with his hand, as day by day; and the spear was in Saul’s hand.
11And Saul hurled the spear, for he said, “I will strike David to the wall!” But David turned away from before him twice.
12Saul was afraid of David, because Yahweh was with him but had turned away from Saul.
13So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand for himself, and he went out and came in before the people.
14And David was acting wisely in all his ways, and Yahweh was with him.
15When Saul saw that he was acting very wisely, he stood in dread of him.
16But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he was going out and coming in before them.
17Then Saul said to David, “Here is my elder daughter Merab; her I will give to you as a wife. Only be for me a son of valor and fight the battles of Yahweh.” For Saul thought, “Let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
18But David said to Saul, “Who am I, and who are my kinfolk, my father’s clan in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”
19But at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.
20Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David; and they told Saul, and the matter was right in his eyes.
21For Saul thought, “I will give her to him, so that she may become a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “By a second one you may become my son-in-law today.”
22And Saul commanded his servants, “Speak to David secretly, saying, ‘Look, the king delights in you, and all his servants love you; so now become the king’s son-in-law.’”
23So Saul’s servants spoke these words in the ears of David; and David said, “Is it a light thing in your eyes to become the king’s son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man and lightly esteemed?”
24And the servants of Saul told him, saying, “According to these words David has spoken.”
25Then Saul said, “Thus you shall say to David: ‘The king has no desire for a bride-price, but for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take vengeance on the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul was scheming to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
26So his servants told David these words, and the matter was right in David’s eyes, to become the king’s son-in-law. And the days were not yet fulfilled.
27Then David arose and went, he and his men, and struck down two hundred men among the Philistines; and David brought their foreskins, and they counted them out in full for the king, so that he might become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter as a wife.
28When Saul saw and knew that Yahweh was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him,
29then Saul was still more afraid of David; and Saul was David’s enemy all the days.
30Then the commanders of the Philistines came out, and whenever they came out, David acted more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name became very precious.
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