18:1 And it came to pass, 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.
18:2 And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more
home to his father's house.
18:3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved
him as his own soul.
18:4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that [was] upon
him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword,
and to his bow, and to his girdle.
18:5 And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, [and]
behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war,
and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in
the sight of Saul's servants.
18:6 And it came to pass as they came, when David had 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 tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music.
18:7 And the women answered [one another] as they played, and
said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten
thousands.
18:8 And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and
he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me
they have ascribed thousands; and [what] can he have more but
the kingdom?
18:9 And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.
18:10 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit
from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the
house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and
[there was] a javelin in Saul's hand.
18:11 And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David
even to the wall. And David escaped from his presence twice.
18:12 And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with
him, and had departed from Saul.
18:13 Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his
captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the
people.
18:14 And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the
LORD [was] with him.
18:15 Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very
wisely, he was afraid of him.
18:16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out
and came in before them.
18:17 And Saul said to David, Behold, my elder daughter Merab,
her will I give thee for a wife: only be thou valiant for me,
and fight the LORD'S battles. For Saul said, Let not my hand be
upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.
18:18 And 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?
18:19 But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter
should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel
the Meholathite to wife.
18:20 And Michal Saul's daughter loved David: and they told
Saul, and the thing pleased him.
18:21 And 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. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day
be my son-in-law, in [the one of] the two.
18:22 And Saul commanded his servants, [saying], Commune with
David secretly, and say, Behold, the king hath delight in thee,
and all his servants love thee: now therefore be the king's
son-in-law.
18:23 And Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of
David. And David said, Seemeth it to you [a] light [thing] to
be a king's son-in-law, seeing that I [am] a poor man, and
lightly esteemed?
18:24 And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner
spoke David.
18:25 And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king
desireth not any dower, but a hundred foreskins of the
Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul
thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
18:26 And when his servants told David these words, it pleased
David well to be the king's son-in-law: and the days had not
expired.
18:27 Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew
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. And Saul gave him Michal his
daughter for a wife.
18:28 And Saul saw and knew that the LORD [was] with David, and
[that] Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him.
18:29 And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul became
David's enemy continually.
18:30 Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it
came to pass after they went forth, [that] David behaved
himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his
name was much esteemed.
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