1 Samuel 19

¹ And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they shouldBefore Saul sought David's life secretly, but now his hypocrisy grows to open cruelty.kill David.

² And Ionathan told Dauid, saying, Saul my father goeth about to slay thee: nowe therefore, I pray thee, take heede vnto thy selfe vnto the morning, & abide in a secret place, & hide thy selfe.

³ And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thouThat I may warn you what to do.[art], and I will commune with my father of thee; and what I see, that I will tell thee.

⁴ And Ionathan spake good of Dauid vnto Saul his father, & said vnto him, Let not the King sinne against his seruat, against Dauid: for he hath not sinned against thee, but his works haue bene to thee very good.

⁵ For he did put his life in daunger, and slew the Philistim, and the Lord wrought a great saluation for al Israel: thou sawest it, and thou reioycedst: wherefore then wilt thou sinne against innocent blood, and slay Dauid without a cause?

⁶ And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan: and SaulWhatever he pretended outwardly, yet his heart was full of malice.sware, [As] the LORD liveth, he shall not be slain.

⁷ So Ionathan called Dauid, and Ionathan shewed him all those words, & Ionathan brought Dauid to Saul, and hee was in his presence as in times past.

⁸ Againe the warre began, & Dauid went out & fought with the Philistims, and slew them with a great slaughter, and they fled from him.

⁹ And the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and DavidHe played on his harp to appease the rage of the evil spirit, (1Sa_16:23).played with [his] hand.

¹⁰ And Saul intended to smite Dauid to the wall with the speare: but hee turned aside out of Sauls presence, & he smote the speare against the wall: but Dauid fled, & escaped the same night.

¹¹ Saul also sent messengers vnto Dauids house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning: and Michal Dauids wife told it him, saying, If thou saue not thy selfe this night, to morowe thou shalt be slayne.

¹² So MichalThus God moved both the son and daughter of this tyrant to favour David against their father.let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped.

¹³ Then Michal tooke an image, & layde it in the bed, & put a pillow stuffed with goates heare vnder the head of it, & couered it with a cloth.

¹⁴ And when Saul sent messengers to take Dauid, she sayd, He is sicke.

¹⁵ And Saul sent the messengers [again] to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in theBehold, how the tyrants to accomplish their rage, neither regard oath nor friendship, God nor man.bed, that I may slay him.

¹⁶ And when the messengers were come in, behold, an image was in the bed, with a pillow of goates heare vnder the head of it.

¹⁷ And Saul said vnto Michal, Why hast thou mocked me so, & sent away mine enemie, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said vnto me, Let me go, or els I will kill thee.

¹⁸ So David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt inNaioth was a school where the word of God was studied, near Ramah.Naioth.

¹⁹ But one tolde Saul, saying, Beholde, Dauid is at Naioth in Ramah.

²⁰ And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standingBeing their chief instructor.[as] appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they alsoChanged their minds and praised God.prophesied.

²¹ And when it was tolde Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophecied likewise: againe Saul sent the third messengers, and they prophecied also.

²² Then went he himselfe to Ramah, & came to a great well that is in Sechu, and he asked, and sayd, Where are Samuel and Dauid? & one sayd, Behold, they be at Naioth in Ramah.

²³ And heWith a mind to persecute them.went thither to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

²⁴ And he stripped off hisHis kingly apparel.clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and layHe humbled himself as others did.down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, [Is] Saul also among the prophets?