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The servants of Saul told him, saying, “David spoke like this.”

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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.

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

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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.

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

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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;

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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?”

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

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

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

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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

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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.

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

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

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

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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?’”

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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.

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It was told Saul, saying, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.”

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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.

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

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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.”

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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.

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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?”

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David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”

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He said to him, “Far from it; you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so.”

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David swore moreover, and said, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, ‘Don’t let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved:’ but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”

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Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever your soul desires, I will even do it for you.”

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David said to Jonathan, “Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to dine with the king; but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening.

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If your father miss me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city; for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’

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If he says, ‘It is well;’ your servant shall have peace: but if he be angry, then know that evil is determined by him.

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Therefore deal kindly with your servant; for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you: but if there be in me iniquity, kill me yourself; for why should you bring me to your father?”

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Jonathan said, “Far be it from you; for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come on you, then wouldn’t I tell you that?”

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Then David said to Jonathan, “Who shall tell me if perchance your father answers you roughly?”

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Jonathan said to David, “Come, and let us go out into the field.” They both went out into the field.

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Jonathan said to David, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, [be witness]: when I have sounded my father about this time tomorrow, [or] the third day, behold, if there be good toward David, shall I not then send to you, and disclose it to you?

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Yahweh do so to Jonathan, and more also, should it please my father to do you evil, if I don’t disclose it to you, and send you away, that you may go in peace: and Yahweh be with you, as he has been with my father.

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You shall not only while yet I live show me the loving kindness of Yahweh, that I not die;

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but also you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever; no, not when Yahweh has cut off the enemies of David everyone from the surface of the earth.”

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So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “Yahweh will require it at the hand of David’s enemies.”

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Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had to him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

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Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon: and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.

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When you have stayed three days, you shall go down quickly, and come to the place where you did hide yourself when the business was in hand, and shall remain by the stone Ezel.

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I will shoot three arrows on its side, as though I shot at a mark.

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Behold, I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ If I tell the boy, ‘Behold, the arrows are on this side of you. Take them;’ then come; for there is peace to you and no hurt, as Yahweh lives.

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But if I say this to the boy, ‘Behold, the arrows are beyond you;’ then go your way; for Yahweh has sent you away.

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Concerning the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, Yahweh is between you and me forever.”

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So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat food.

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The king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul’s side: but David’s place was empty.

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Nevertheless Saul didn’t say anything that day: for he thought, “Something has happened to him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean.”

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It happened on the next day after the new moon, the second day, that David’s place was empty. Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why doesn’t the son of Jesse come to eat, neither yesterday, nor today?”

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Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem.

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He said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city. My brother has commanded me to be there. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.”

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Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse rebellious woman, don’t I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?

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For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Therefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die!”

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Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”

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Saul cast his spear at him to strike him. By this Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death.

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So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month; for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.

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It happened in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy with him.

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He said to his boy, “Run, find now the arrows which I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

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When the boy was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the boy, and said, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?”

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Jonathan cried after the boy, “Go fast! Hurry! Don’t delay!” Jonathan’s boy gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.

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But the boy didn’t know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter.

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Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy, and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.”

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As soon as the boy was gone, David arose out of [a place] toward the South, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. They kissed one another, and wept one with another, and David wept the most.

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Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have both sworn in the name of Yahweh, saying, ‘Yahweh shall be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever.’” He arose and departed; and Jonathan went into the city.

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Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no man with you?”

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David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, ‘Let no man know anything of the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you; and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.’

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Now therefore what is under your hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present.”

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The priest answered David, and said, “There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.”

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David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?”

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So the priest gave him holy [bread]; for there was no bread there but the show bread, that was taken from before Yahweh, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.

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Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul.

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David said to Ahimelech, “Isn’t there here under your hand spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”

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The priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it; for there is no other except that here.” David said, “There is none like that. Give it to me.”

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David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

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The servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David the king of the land? Didn’t they sing one to another about him in dances, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?’”

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David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

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He changed his behavior before them, and pretended to be mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard.

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Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me?

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Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”

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David therefore departed there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.

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Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered themselves to him; and he became captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

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David went there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come out with you, until I know what God will do for me.”

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He brought them before the king of Moab; and they lived with him all the while that David was in the stronghold.

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The prophet Gad said to David, “Don’t stay in the stronghold. Depart, and go into the land of Judah.” Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.

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Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.

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Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse give everyone of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds,

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that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none who discloses to me when my son makes a treaty with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you who is sorry for me, or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?”

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Then Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, answered and said, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub.

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He inquired of Yahweh for him, gave him food, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

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Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king.

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Saul said, “Hear now, you son of Ahitub.” He answered, “Here I am, my lord.”