1 Samuel 19:1-17

1Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Jonathan liked David very much.

2So he told David, ‘My father Saul is trying to kill you. Be careful tomorrow morning. Hide in a secret place and stay there.

3I will go out with my father. I will stand with him in the field where you are hiding. I will talk to him about you. Then I will tell you what he says.’

4Jonathan spoke to his father Saul. He said good things about David. He said to Saul, ‘The king should not do anything bad against David. David is your servant. He has not done anything that is bad against you. Everything that he does really helps you.

5David was not afraid to die when he fought against the Philistine, Goliath. When David killed Goliath, the Lord helped Israel to win a great battle. When you saw it, you were very happy. So why do you now want to kill David? He is not guilty of anything that is wrong. You have no reason to kill him.’

6Saul agreed with Jonathan. He made a promise in the Lord's name that he would not kill David.

7Then Jonathan called to David. He told David everything that the king had said. Jonathan took David back to Saul. So David served King Saul as he had done before.

8The war with the Philistines started again. David went out with his soldiers to fight against them. He attacked them so strongly that the Philistine soldiers ran away.

9Then the Lord caused an evil spirit to control Saul. Saul was sitting in his house. He had a spear in his hand. David was making music with his harp.

10Saul threw his spear at David. He wanted to fix David to the wall. But David moved out of the way and the spear hit the wall. That night, David ran away to escape from Saul.

11Saul sent some of his servants to watch David's house. Saul told them to kill David when he came out in the morning. But David's wife Michal warned him. She said, ‘You must run away tonight. If you do not escape, tomorrow you will die!’

12So Michal helped David to leave the house through a window. He ran away and he escaped.

13Then Michal took an idol and she put it on the bed. She covered the idol with a blanket and she put a pillow of goat's hair at its head.

14Saul sent some of his men to take hold of David. Michal told them that David was ill.

15Saul then told the men to go back to David's house. He said to them, ‘Bring David to me on his bed. Then I will kill him.’

16The men returned to David's house. They found the idol on the bed and the pillow of goat's hair at its head.

17Saul said to Michal, ‘You have deceived me! You have helped my enemy to escape!’ Michal said to him, ‘David told me that I must help him to escape. He said that he would kill me if I did not help him.’