1 Samuel 18:17-30

17Saul said to David, ‘Here is my oldest daughter Merab. I will let you marry her. But you must be a brave soldier and you must fight battles for the Lord.’ Saul thought to himself, ‘I will not have to kill David myself. The Philistines will do that.’

18But David said to Saul, ‘I am not an important person. My family and my father's clan are not important either. I do not deserve to marry the king's daughter.’

19When the time came for Merab to marry David, Saul told her to marry a different man. He gave her to Adriel from Meholah to be his wife.

20Saul had another daughter, Michal, and she loved David. When somebody told Saul about this, he was very happy.

21He thought, ‘I will let David marry her. I will use her as a trap that will catch him. I will give the Philistines a chance to kill him.’ So Saul said to David, ‘Now you have another chance to marry one of my daughters.’

22Saul told his servants to say secretly to David, ‘The king is pleased with you. His servants all like you. You should now marry the king's daughter.’

23Saul's servants said this to David. But David replied, ‘It is a great honour for someone to marry the king's daughter. But I am poor. I am not important enough.’

24Saul's servants told him what David had said.

25Saul said, ‘Tell David this: The king does not want David to pay money to marry the king's daughter. He can pay for her with the foreskins of 100 dead Philistines. Saul wants David to punish his enemies.’ In this way, Saul thought that he would use the Philistines to kill David.

26Saul's servants told David what Saul wanted. It made David happy to think that he could marry the king's daughter. Before the time for the wedding arrived,

27David and his men left their homes. They went and they killed 200 Philistines. David brought all their foreskins to Saul. David gave them to Saul so that he could marry the king's daughter. So Saul agreed to let David marry his daughter Michal.

28Saul realized that the Lord was with David. He knew that his daughter Michal loved David.

29So Saul became even more afraid of David. Saul was David's enemy for the rest of his life.

30The Philistine army continued to march out and attack the Israelites. Every time that they fought, David won more fights than any of Saul's other officers. So David became very famous.