1 Samuel 19:3–15

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^a 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^b 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.”