1 And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan the son of Saul loved David exceedingly. 2 And Jonathan told David, saying: Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: wherefore look to thyself, I beseech thee, in the morning, and thou shalt abide in a secret place and shalt be hid. 3 And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art: and I will speak of thee to my father, and whatsoever I shall see, I will tell thee. 4 And Jonathan spoke good things of David to Saul his father: and said to him: Sin not, O king, against thy servant, David, because he hath not sinned against thee, and his works are very good towards thee. 5 And he put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the Lord wrought great salvation for all Israel. Thou sawest it and didst rejoice. Why therefore wilt thou sin against innocent blood by killing David, who is without fault? 6 And when Saul heard this he was appeased with the words of Jonathan, and swore: As the Lord liveth he shall not be slain. 7 Then Jonathan called David and told him all these words: and Jonathan brought in David to Saul, and he was before him, as he had been yesterday and the day before. 8 And the war began again, and David went out and fought against the Philistines, and defeated them with a great slaughter, and they fled from his face. 9 And the evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, and he sat in his house, and held a spear in his hand: and David played with his hand. 10 And Saul endeavoured to nail David to the wall with his spear. And David slipt away out of the presence of Saul: and the spear missed him, and was fastened in the wall, and David fled and escaped that night. 11 Saul therefore sent his guards to David’s house to watch him, that he might be killed in the morning. And when Michol David’s wife had told him this, saying: Unless thou save thyself this night, tomorrow thou wilt die, 12 She let him down through a window. And he went and fled away and escaped. 13 And Michol took an image and laid it on the bed, and put a goat’s skin with the hair at the head of it, and covered it with clothes. 14 And Saul sent officers to seize David: and it was answered that he was sick. 15 And again Saul sent to see David, saying: Bring him to me in the bed, that he may be slain. 16 And when the messengers were come in, they found an image upon the bed, and a goat’s skin at its head. 17 And Saul said to Michol: Why hast thou deceived me so, and let my enemy go and flee away? And Michol answered Saul: Because he said to me: Let me go, or else I will kill thee. 18 But David fled and escaped, and came to Samuel in Ramatha, and told him all that Saul had done to him: and he and Samuel went and dwelt in Najoth. 19 And it was told Saul by some, saying: Behold David is in Najoth in Ramatha. 20 So Saul sent officers to take David: and when they saw a company of prophets prophesying, and Samuel presiding over them, the spirit of the Lord came also upon them, and they likewise began to prophesy. 21 And when this was told Saul, he sent other messengers: but they also prophesied. And again Saul sent messengers the third time: and they prophesied also. And Saul being exceedingly angry, 22 Went also himself to Ramatha, and came as far as the great cistern, which is in Socho, and he asked, and said: In what place are Samuel and David? And it was told him: Behold they axe in Najoth in Ramatha. 23 And he went to Najoth in Ramatha, and the spirit of the Lord came upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied till he came to Najoth in Ramatha. 24 And he stripped himself also of his garments, and prophesied with the rest before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and night. This gave occasion to a proverb: What! is Saul too among the prophets?
1 Samuel · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
1 Samuel 19 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
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)