1 Samuel 18–20; Psalm 11; Psalm 59

1After David had finished speaking with Saul, the souls of Jonathan and David were knit together, and Jonathan loved him as himself.

2And from that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return to his father’s house.

3Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.

4And Jonathan removed the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, his sword, his bow, and his belt.

5So David marched out and prospered in everything Saul sent him to do, and Saul set him over the men of war. And this was pleasing in the sight of all the people, and of Saul’s officers as well.

6As the troops were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs, and with tambourines and other instruments.

7And as the women danced, they sang out: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”

8And Saul was furious and resented this song. “They have ascribed tens of thousands to David,” he said, “but only thousands to me. What more can he have but the kingdom?”

9And from that day forward Saul kept a jealous eye on David.

10The next day a spirit of distress sent from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house while David played the harp as usual. Now Saul was holding a spear,

11and he hurled it, thinking, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David eluded him twice.

12So Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with David but had departed from Saul.

13Therefore Saul sent David away and gave him command of a thousand men. David led the troops out to battle and back,

14and he continued to prosper in all his ways, because the LORD was with him.

15When Saul saw that David was very successful, he was afraid of him.

16But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he was leading them out to battle and back.

17Then Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you in marriage. Only be valiant for me and fight the LORD’s battles.” But Saul was thinking, “I need not raise my hand against him; let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”

18And David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my family or my father’s clan in Israel, that I should become the son-in-law of the king?”

19So when it was time to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.

20Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David, and when this was reported to Saul, it pleased him.

21“I will give her to David,” Saul thought, “so that she may be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “For a second time now you can be my son-in-law.”

22Then Saul ordered his servants, “Speak to David privately and tell him, ‘Behold, the king is pleased with you, and all his servants love you. Now therefore, become his son-in-law.’”

23But when Saul’s servants relayed these words to David, he replied, “Does it seem trivial in your sight to be the son-in-law of the king? I am a poor man and lightly esteemed.”

24And the servants told Saul what David had said.

25Saul replied, “Say to David, ‘The king desires no other dowry but a hundred Philistine foreskins as revenge on his enemies.’” But Saul intended to cause David’s death at the hands of the Philistines.

26When the servants reported these terms to David, he was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law. Before the wedding day arrived,

27David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as payment in full to become the king’s son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David in marriage.

28When Saul realized that the LORD was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David,

29he grew even more afraid of David. So from then on Saul was David’s enemy.

30Every time the Philistine commanders came out for battle, David was more successful than all of Saul’s officers, so that his name was highly esteemed.

1Then Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Jonathan delighted greatly in David,

2so he warned David, saying, “My father Saul intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning; find a secret place and hide there.

3I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, so I can ask about you. And if I find out anything, I will tell you.”

4Then Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David; he has not sinned against you. In fact, his actions have been highly beneficial to you.

5He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”

6Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan and swore an oath: “As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be put to death.”

7So Jonathan summoned David and told him all these things. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.

8When war broke out again, David went out and fought the Philistines and struck them with such a mighty blow that they fled before him.

9But as Saul was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, a spirit of distress from the LORD came upon him. While David was playing the harp,

10Saul tried to pin him to the wall with his spear. But David eluded him and the spear struck the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.

11Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him, “If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”

12So Michal lowered David from the window, and he ran away and escaped.

13Then Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.

14When Saul sent the messengers to seize David, Michal said, “He is ill.”

15But Saul sent the messengers back to see David and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so I can kill him.”

16And when the messengers entered, there was the idol in the bed with the goat hair on its head.

17And Saul said to Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away, and he has escaped!” Michal replied, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away, or I will kill you!’”

18So David ran away and escaped. And he went to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to Naioth and stayed there.

19When Saul was told that David was at Naioth in Ramah,

20he sent messengers to seize him. But when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, with Samuel leading them, the Spirit of God came upon them, and Saul’s messengers also began to prophesy.

21When this was reported to Saul, he sent more messengers, but they began to prophesy as well. So Saul tried again and sent messengers a third time, and even they began to prophesy.

22Finally, Saul himself left for Ramah and came to the large cistern at Secu, where he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” “At Naioth in Ramah,” he was told.

23So Saul went to Naioth in Ramah. But the Spirit of God came upon even Saul, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

24Then Saul stripped off his robes and also prophesied before Samuel. And he collapsed and lay naked all that day and night. That is why it is said, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

1Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?”

2“Far from it!” Jonathan replied. “You will not die. Indeed, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This cannot be true!”

3But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”

4Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you desire, I will do for you.”

5So David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I am supposed to dine with the king. Instead, let me go and hide in the field until the third evening from now.

6If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David urgently requested my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because there is an annual sacrifice for his whole clan.’

7If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant is safe, but if he is enraged, you will know he has evil intentions.

8Therefore show kindness to your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”

9“Never!” Jonathan replied. “If I ever found out that my father had evil intentions against you, would I not tell you?”

10Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”

11“Come,” he replied, “let us go out to the field.” So the two of them went out into the field,

12and Jonathan said, “By the LORD, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. If he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you?

13But if my father intends to bring evil on you, then may the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if I do not tell you and send you on your way in safety. May the LORD be with you, just as He has been with my father.

14And as long as I live, treat me with the LORD’s loving devotion, that I may not die,

15and do not ever cut off your loving devotion from my household—not even when the LORD cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”

16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD hold David’s enemies accountable.”

17And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.

18Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.

19When you have stayed three days, hurry down to the place you hid on the day this trouble began, and remain beside the stone Ezel.

20I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as if I were aiming at a target.

21Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ Now, if I expressly say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them,’ then come, because as surely as the LORD lives, it is safe for you, and there is no danger.

22But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, for the LORD has sent you away.

23And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”

24So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat.

25He sat in his usual place by the wall, opposite Jonathan and beside Abner, but David’s place was empty.

26Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.”

27But on the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?”

28Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem,

29saying, ‘Please let me go, because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”

30Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?

31For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!”

32“Why must he be put to death?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?”

33Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David.

34Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger and did not eat any food that second day of the month, for he was grieved by his father’s shameful treatment of David.

35In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a small boy was with him.

36He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” And as the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.

37When the boy reached the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called to him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?”

38Then Jonathan cried out, “Hurry! Make haste! Do not delay!” So the boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master.

39But the boy did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement.

40Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the boy and said, “Go, take it back to the city.”

41When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone, fell facedown, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept together—though David wept more.

42And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city.

1In the LORD I take refuge. How then can you say to me: “Flee like a bird to your mountain!

2For behold, the wicked bend their bows. They set their arrow on the string to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart.

3If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

4The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men.

5The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked; His soul hates the lover of violence.

6On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.

7For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.

1Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; protect me from those who rise against me.

2Deliver me from workers of iniquity, and save me from men of bloodshed.

3See how they lie in wait for me. Fierce men conspire against me for no transgression or sin of my own, O LORD.

4For no fault of my own, they move swiftly to attack me. Arise to help me, and take notice.

5O LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, rouse Yourself to punish all the nations; show no mercy to the wicked traitors. Selah

6They return in the evening, snarling like dogs and prowling around the city.

7See what they spew from their mouths— sharp words from their lips: “For who can hear us?”

8But You, O LORD, laugh at them; You scoff at all the nations.

9I will keep watch for You, O my strength, because You, O God, are my fortress.

10My God of loving devotion will come to meet me; God will let me stare down my foes.

11Do not kill them, or my people will forget. Scatter them by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.

12By the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride, in the curses and lies they utter.

13Consume them in wrath; consume them till they are no more, so it may be known to the ends of the earth that God rules over Jacob. Selah

14They return in the evening, snarling like dogs and prowling around the city.

15They scavenge for food, and growl if they are not satisfied.

16But I will sing of Your strength and proclaim Your loving devotion in the morning. For You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

17To You, O my strength, I sing praises, for You, O God, are my fortress, my God of loving devotion.