1 And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, to slay David. 2 And Jonathan, Saul's son, loved David much: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul seeks to kill thee: take heed to thyself therefore to-morrow morning, and hide thyself, and dwell in secret. 3 And I will go forth, and stand near my father in the field where thou shalt be, and I will speak concerning thee to my father; and I will see what his answer may be, and I will tell thee. 4 And Jonathan spoke favourably concerning David to Saul his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against thy servant David, for he has not sinned against thee, and his deeds [are] very good. 5 And he put his life in his hand, and smote the Philistine, and the Lord wrought a great deliverance; and all Israel saw, and rejoiced: why then dost thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause? 6 And Saul hearkened to the voice of Jonathan; and Saul swore, saying, [As] the Lord lives, he shall not die. 7 And Jonathan called David, and told him all these words; and Jonathan brought David in to Saul, and he was before him as in former times. 8 And there was again war against Saul; and David did valiantly, and fought against the Philistines, and smote them with a very great slaughter, and they fled from before him. 9 And an evil spirit from God was upon Saul, and he was resting in his house, and a spear [was] in his hand, and David was playing on the harp with his hands. 10 And Saul sought to smite David with the spear; and David withdrew [suddenly] from the presence of Saul; and he drove the spear into the wall; and David retreated and escaped. 11 And it came to pass in that night, that Saul sent messengers to the house of David to watch him, in order to slay him in the morning; and Melchol David's wife told him, saying, Unless thou save thy life this night, to-morrow thou shalt be slain. 12 So Melchol lets David down by the window, and he departed, and fled, and escaped. 13 And Melchol took images, and laid them on the bed, and she put the liver of a goat by his head, and covered them with clothes. 14 And Saul sent messengers to take David; and they say that he is sick. 15 And he sends to David, saying, Bring him to me on the bed, that I may slay him. 16 And the messengers come, and, behold, the images [were] on the bed, and the goat's liver at his head. 17 And Saul said to Melchol, Why hast thou thus deceived me, and suffered my enemy to depart, and he has escaped? and Melchol said to Saul, He said, Let me go, and if not, I will slay thee. 18 So David fled, and escaped, and comes to Samuel to Armathaim, and tells him all that Saul had done to him: and Samuel and David went, and dwelt in Navath in Rama. 19 And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David [is] in Navath in Rama. 20 And Saul sent messengers to take David, and they saw the assembly of the prophets, and Samuel stood [as] appointed over them; and the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they prophesy. 21 And it was told Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied: and Saul sent again a third set of messengers, and they also prophesied. 22 And Saul was very angry, and went himself also to Armathaim, and he comes as far as the well of the threshing-floor that is in Sephi; and he asked and said, Where [are] Samuel and David? and they said, Behold, in Navath in Rama. 23 And he went thence to Navath in Rama: and there came the Spirit of God upon him also, and he went on prophesying till he came to Navath in Rama. 24 And he took off his clothes, and prophesied before them; and lay down naked all that day and all that night: therefore they said, [Is] Saul also among the prophets?
1 Samuel · Brenton's English Septuagint
1 Samuel 19 Brenton's English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (2)
- Square brackets mark words Brenton supplied for English sense.
- Old Testament only (no New Testament). First printed 1844; the 1851 edition added the deuterocanonical books.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
David
The shepherd who became Israel's greatest king and a man after God's own heart.
Cited in the guide: 1 Sam. 16 - 1 Kings 2; 2 Sam. 7; 1 Chron. 2:15; Matt. 1:6
Cross references (22)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Samuel 18:1; 1 Samuel 18:9
- 2 Proverbs 17:17; Acts 9:24; Acts 23:16; 1 Samuel 20:2; 1 Samuel 18:1–3
- 3 1 Samuel 20:13; 1 Samuel 20:9
- 4 Jeremiah 18:20; Proverbs 31:8–9; Genesis 42:22; 1 Samuel 20:32; Proverbs 17:13
- 5 1 Chronicles 11:14; 1 Samuel 11:13; 1 Samuel 20:32; Judges 9:17; Matthew 27:4
- 6 Proverbs 26:24–25; Jeremiah 5:2; 1 Samuel 28:10; 1 Samuel 19:10–11; Psalm 15:4
- 7 1 Samuel 18:2; 1 Samuel 16:21; 1 Samuel 18:13; 1 Samuel 18:10; 1 Chronicles 11:2
- 8 Psalm 18:32–50; Psalm 27:3
- 9 1 Samuel 16:14; 1 Samuel 16:16; 1 Samuel 18:10–11
- 10 1 Samuel 20:33; 1 Samuel 18:11; Proverbs 21:30; Matthew 10:23; Psalm 34:19
- 11 Psalm 59:1–17; Judges 16:2
- 12 Joshua 2:15; Acts 9:24–25; 2 Corinthians 11:32–33; Psalm 34:19
- 13 Genesis 31:19; Judges 18:17; Judges 18:14; Judges 17:5; Hosea 3:4
- 14 Joshua 2:5; 2 Samuel 17:20; 2 Samuel 16:17–19
- 15 Proverbs 27:3–4; 1 Samuel 19:6; Job 31:31; Psalm 37:12; Romans 3:15
- 17 2 Samuel 2:22; Exodus 1:17–19; 1 Samuel 22:17; 1 Samuel 28:12; 1 Samuel 19:14
- 18 1 Samuel 7:17; James 5:16; 1 Samuel 28:3; Psalm 116:11; 1 Samuel 15:34
- 19 1 Samuel 26:1; 1 Samuel 23:19; Proverbs 29:12; 1 Samuel 22:9–10
- 20 Joel 2:28; John 7:32; 1 Samuel 10:5–6; 1 Corinthians 14:24–25; 1 Corinthians 14:3
- 21 Jeremiah 13:23; Proverbs 27:22; 2 Kings 1:9–13; Joel 2:28
- 23 Proverbs 16:9; 1 Samuel 10:10; Numbers 24:2; 1 Samuel 19:20; Numbers 23:5
- 24 1 Samuel 10:10–12; Micah 1:8; 2 Samuel 6:20; Isaiah 20:2; 2 Samuel 6:14
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
There is indeed a story in the Scripture of the Reigns, of the occasion when Saul sent to guard the house in order that he might kill David....But in like manner as Saul effected not his purpose of slaying David: so this could not the government of the Jews effect, that the testimony of guards sleeping should avail more …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)