The Pillars of Three Faiths: Tanakh, Bible & Qu'ran. Various Authors

And David answered: 'I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Beth-lehemite.'

      18And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. ²And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house. ³Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. ⁴And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his apparel, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. ⁵And David went out; whithersoever Saul sent him, he had good success; and Saul set him over the men of war; and it was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.

      ⁶And it came to pass as they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with timbrels, with joy, and with three-stringed instruments. ⁷And the women sang one to another in their play, and said:

      Saul hath slain his thousands,And David his ten thousands.

      ⁸And Saul was very wroth, and this saying displeased him; and he said: 'They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands; and all he lacketh is the kingdom! ' ⁹And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.

      ¹⁰And it came to pass on the morrow, that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved in the midst of the house; and David played with his hand, as he did day by day; and Saul had his spear in his hand. ¹¹And Saul cast the spear; for he said: 'I will smite David even to the wall.' And David stepped aside out of his presence twice. ¹²And Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, and was departed from Saul. ¹³Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. ¹⁴And David had great success in all his ways; and the Lord was with him. ¹⁵And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in awe of him. ¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them.

      ¹⁷And Saul said to David: 'Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife; only be thou valiant for me, and fight the Lord's battles.' For Saul said: 'Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.' ¹⁸And David said unto Saul: 'Who am I, and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?' ¹⁹But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been given to David, that she was given unto Adriel the Meholathite to wife. ²⁰And Michal Saul's daughter loved David; and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. ²¹And Saul said: 'I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.' Wherefore Saul said to David: 'Thou shalt this day be my son-in-law through the one of the twain.' ²²And Saul commanded his servants: 'Speak with David secretly, and say: Behold, the king hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee; now therefore be the king's son-in-law.' ²³And Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said: 'Seemeth it to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?' ²⁴And the servants of Saul told him, saying: 'On this manner spoke David.' ²⁵And Saul said: 'Thus shall ye say to David: The king desireth not any dowry, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies.' For Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. ²⁶And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. And the days were not expired; ²⁷and David arose and went, he and his men, and slew 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. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife. ²⁸And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David; and Michal Saul's daughter loved him. ²⁹And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul was David's enemy continually.

      ³⁰Then the princes of the Philistines went forth; and it came to pass, as often as they went forth, that David prospered more than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was much set by.

      19And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should slay David; but Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David. ²And Jonathan told David, saying: 'Saul my father seeketh to slay thee; now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself in the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself. ³And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will speak with my father of thee; and if I see aught, I will tell thee.'

      ⁴And Jonathan spoke good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him: 'Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his work hath been very good towards thee; ⁵for he put his life in his hand, and smote the Philistine, and the Lord wrought a great victory for all Israel; thou sawest it, and didst rejoice; wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?' ⁶And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan; and Saul swore: 'As the Lord liveth, he shall not be put to death.' ⁷And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as beforetime.

      ⁸And there was war again; and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him. ⁹And an evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand. ¹⁰And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the spear into the wall; and David fled, and escaped that night. ¹¹And Saul sent messengers unto David's house, to watch him, and to slay him in the morning; and Michal David's wife told him, saying: 'If thou save not thy life to-night, to-morrow thou shalt be slain.' ¹²So Michal let David down through the window; and he went, and fled, and escaped. ¹³And Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a quilt of goats' hair at the head thereof, and covered it with a cloth. ¹⁴And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said: 'He is sick.' ¹⁵And Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying: 'Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him.' ¹⁶And when the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the quilt of goats' hair at the head thereof. ¹⁷And Saul said unto Michal: 'Why hast thou deceived me thus, and let mine enemy go, that he is escaped?' And Michal answered Saul: 'He said unto me: Let me go; why should I kill thee?'

      ¹⁸Now 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 in Naioth. ¹⁹And it was told Saul, saying: 'Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.' ²⁰And 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 upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. ²¹And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. ²²Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great cistern that is in Secu; and he asked and said: 'Where are Samuel and David?' And one said: 'Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.' ²³And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah; and the spirit of God came upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ²⁴And he also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say: 'Is Saul also among the prophets?'

      20And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan: 'What have I done? what is mine iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life?' ²And he said unto him: 'Far from it; thou shalt not die; behold, my father doeth nothing either great or small, but that he discloseth it unto me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.' ³And David swore moreover, and said: 'Thy father knoweth well that I have found favour in thine eyes; and he saith: Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved; but truly as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.' ⁴Then