HolyStudy
Bible IndexRead BibleNotesChurchesMissionPrivacyTermsContact
© 2026 HolyStudy
HomeRead BibleBible NotesChurchesSign in
HolyStudy
HomeRead BibleBible NotesChurches
Sign in

1 Samuel 19

1

And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David.

2

But Jonathan Saul’s son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself:

1
3

And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father of thee; and what I see, that I will tell thee.

4

And Jonathan spake 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 works have been to thee-ward very good:

5

For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the Lord wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?

6

And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan: and Saul sware, As the Lord liveth, he shall not be slain.

7

And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan shewed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in times past.

8

And there was war again: and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled from him.

9

And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.

10

And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the javelin; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he smote the javelin into the wall: and David fled, and escaped that night.

11

Saul also 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.

12

So Michal let David down through a window: and he went, and fled, and escaped.

13

And Michal took an image, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster, and covered it with a cloth.

14

And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.

15

And Saul sent the messengers again to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him.

16

And when the messengers were come in, behold, there was an image in the bed, with a pillow of goats’ hair for his bolster.

17

And Saul said unto Michal, Why hast thou deceived me so, and sent away mine enemy, that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said unto me, Let me go; why should I kill thee?

18

So 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.

19

And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.

20

And Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God was upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

21

And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also.

22

Then went he also to Ramah, and came to a great well that is in Sechu: and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they be at Naioth in Ramah.

23

And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah: and the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

24

And he stripped off his clothes also, and prophesied before Samuel in like manner, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?

1
← Previous ChapterNext Chapter →

1 Samuel 19

Saul's attempts to kill David become increasingly urgent, and Jonathan repeatedly intercedes on David's behalf, reminding Saul of David's loyalty and service ('What sin has he committed, that he should be put to death?' 19:4-5); temporarily, Saul relents, yet jealousy returns and the attempts resume. David's wife Michal helps him escape by lowering him through a window and placing an idol (teraphim) in the bed to deceive Saul's assassins (19:12-13)—an act of disloyalty to her father that demonstrates the alienation of Saul's own family. David flees to Samuel at Ramah, and when Saul sends messengers to capture him, the Spirit of the LORD comes upon them, and they prophesy (19:20-21); this happens repeatedly, and finally Saul himself goes to Ramah, where he also prophesies and remains lying down all night naked (19:24)—an image of humiliation suggesting divine overturning of his authority. The chapter shows the progressive dissolution of Saul's kingship: he is abandoned by his family and his forces, protected from his own intentions by the Spirit of the LORD, and reduced to vulnerability and shame, while David grows in favor and protection, embodying the transition to true covenantal kingship.

1 Samuel 19:1

And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants that they should kill David — Saul's explicit command (*va'yomer Shaul el Yehonatan beno v'el kol avadav*) represents the full emergence of murderous intent, no longer concealed but publicly proclaimed to the royal household. The verb *lehemit David*, to kill David, is blunt and unambiguous; Saul has moved from passive attempts to active conspiracy. The inclusion of *Yehonatan*, Jonathan, is significant: Saul assumes his own son will participate in or at least tolerate the assassination. His assumption reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of Jonathan's covenant loyalty, his bond with David that supersedes family obligation.

1 Samuel 19:2

But Jonathan took great pleasure in David — the *v'Yehonatan m'od alav*, Jonathan delighted greatly in David, creates the first dramatic crisis of loyalty: Jonathan's covenant love for David directly contradicts his father's explicit command. The verb *alav* suggests emotional attachment, affection, and delight in David's presence and personality. Jonathan perceives what Saul cannot: David's excellence, his spiritual worth, his destined role. This verse signals that Jonathan will become David's savior, the loyal friend who will risk everything to protect the beloved.

1 Samuel 19:3

And Jonathan told David, saying, My father Saul is seeking your life — Jonathan's *va'yagid le'David*, told David, represents an act of dangerous loyalty, the transmission of information that violates his father's confidence but preserves his friend's life. The *naphshi avi Shaul* (my father Saul is seeking your life) is both literal warning and implicit covenant renewal: Jonathan's knowledge of the threat makes his allegiance to David all the more costly and meaningful. The phrase *chaput et nefshecha*, seeking your life, invokes the language of covenant violation, the deliberate breaking of the obligation to preserve life.

1 Samuel 19:4

But tomorrow be careful and hide yourself and stay in a secret place — Jonathan's counsel (*ve'atah shimor alecha u'lechu va'sitarta b'makom sater*) is practical and protective; he advises David to become fugitive, to enter the hidden world of the hunted. The verb *sitarta*, hide yourself, suggests the liminality of fugitive existence, the loss of the visible, public role that David has occupied. This advice marks the beginning of David's transformation from honored court warrior to hunted man, from insider to outsider.

1 Samuel 19:5

And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak to my father about you — Jonathan's *v'ani yatzati v'aamdit et avi ba'sadeh asher attah sham*, I will go out and stand beside my father in the field, represents Jonathan's attempt at mediation, his hope that he can persuade Saul to spare David. The phrase *v'dibartei avi alecha*, I will speak to my father about you, suggests Jonathan's faith in the power of speech to move even Saul's hardened heart. Jonathan positions himself as intermediary, as the voice of reason and love standing between father and friend.

1 Samuel 19:6

And Jonathan spoke to Saul his father and said to him, Do not let the king sin against his servant David — Jonathan's appeal (*al yachta hamelekh b'abdecha David*) names what Saul is attempting as sin (*cheta*), transgression, a violation not merely of courtesy or law but of covenant duty. The verb *dibber Yehonatan*, Jonathan spoke, invokes his role as advocate, speaker on behalf of the condemned. The *avdecha David*, his servant David, reminds Saul of David's status as the king's servant, one bound to him in covenant obligation.

1 Samuel 19:7

Because his deeds have been good toward you, and he has taken his life in his hand and killed the Philistine — Jonathan rehearses David's service record, the objective facts of David's loyalty and achievement: *ki asher asa le'tova* (for his deeds were good toward you) and *va'yakach et nafsho b'cappo* (he took his life in his hand), the latter phrase suggesting the risk David accepted when facing Goliath. The enumeration of David's virtues is meant to appeal to Saul's sense of justice and obligation.

1 Samuel 19:8

And the LORD brought great deliverance for all Israel — Jonathan concludes his argument by invoking the *yeshua gedola* (great deliverance) that David's victory brought to Israel, suggesting that to harm David is to betray not merely David but the nation itself, and the LORD who accomplished deliverance through him. This theological framing raises the stakes: opposition to David becomes opposition to the LORD's work.

1 Samuel 19:9

And Saul hearkened to the voice of Jonathan, and Saul swore, As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death — Saul's *va'yishma Shaul b'qol Yehonatan*, Saul hearkened, represents a temporary victory for Jonathan's mediation, the father yielding to the son's passionate advocacy. Saul's oath (*va'yishaba Shaul chai YHWH ki lo yumit*), swearing by the living God, has the weight of covenantal language; he binds himself before God to preserve David's life. Yet the future will show that Saul's oath, like his character, is unstable, subject to the surges of the *ruach ra'a*.

1 Samuel 19:10

And Saul hurled the spear at him to strike him, but David evaded it and fled that night — Saul's *va'yital Shaul et ha'chanit al David*, threw the spear, repeats the pattern of attempted murder (cf. 18:11), suggesting that the *ruach ra'a* has again seized him, overriding his oath. The verb *va'ynamutz David v'yibrah*, David evaded and fled, marks a turning point: David can no longer remain in Saul's house; he must flee into the wilderness. The night flight prefigures the years of fugitive existence that will follow.

1 Samuel 19:11

And Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him, and to kill him in the morning — Saul's *va'yishlach Shaul tziriyim el bet David*, sent messengers to David's house, represents a new escalation: Saul moves from direct assassination attempts to systematic elimination, surrounding David's dwelling to trap him. The *lazmirah boqer*, in the morning, suggests a deliberate plan, a coordinated assassination when David emerges from his home.

1 Samuel 19:12

And Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, If you do not save yourself tonight, tomorrow you will be killed — Michal's *va'tarot David*, told David, represents a crucial moment of spousal loyalty, Michal choosing her husband over her father's command. Her warning (*im lo matzil atcha ha'laila machar atah yumit*) is explicit: David's only choice is escape. Michal's love, introduced in 18:20, now proves salvific; her knowledge of her father's plans gives her access to information David cannot possess.

1 Samuel 19:13

So Michal let David down through a window, and he went and fled and escaped — Michal's *va'torad Michal et David ba'chalonEven* (let David down through a window) is an act of subversion, the wife using the architecture of the house to facilitate escape. The verb *va'yetzet va'yibrach*, he went and fled, marks David's transition from stationary resident to mobile fugitive. The window becomes the liminal space between the ordered world of home and the chaotic world of flight.

1 Samuel 19:14

And Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed and put a goat's hair blanket as his head covering — Michal's placement of the *teraphim* (household idol, a figure representing a god or ancestor) in the bed is a deception meant to fool the assassins into believing David is sleeping. The *teraphim* itself is theologically problematic—idolatrous imagery—yet Michal uses it as a tool of salvation. The *seir ha'izim* (goat's hair) for a pillow suggests hurried improvisation, the use of whatever is at hand to create the appearance of a sleeping man.

1 Samuel 19:15

And when Saul sent the messengers to take David, she said, He is sick — Michal's *va'tomer asir hu* (he is sick) is a false excuse, a lie told to buy time for David's escape. The illness (*he'asir*) is both literal deception and spiritual metaphor; Saul's household is indeed diseased, fractured by the king's paranoia and murder lust. Michal's lie affirms that truth-telling must sometimes yield to higher obligations: preserving human life supersedes mere honesty.

1 Samuel 19:16

And Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up in the bed, that I may kill him — Saul's *va'yishlach et ha'tziriyim lir'ot et David*, sent messengers to see David, reveals his obsession; he cannot be satisfied until he has visually confirmed David's death. The *bischkavon* (in the bed), with the *teraphim*, is the final detail of Saul's imagined assassination, death in the intimate space of home, surrounded by domestic objects.

1 Samuel 19:17

And when the messengers came, behold, an idol was in the bed with a covering of goat's hair on its head — the messengers' discovery of the *teraphim* is a moment of irony: the would-be assassins are fooled by Michal's deception. The detailed description—the idol in the bed, the goat-hair covering—emphasizes both the crudeness of the deception and its effectiveness. The word *teraphim*, household idol, carries theological weight; the deception uses idolatrous imagery to protect the anointed of the LORD.

1 Samuel 19:18

And Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me thus and sent my enemy away, that he has escaped? — Saul's *va'yomer Shaul el Michal*, said to Michal, confronts the deception, yet his focus on the *teraphim* and Michal's role suggests he does not immediately recognize that David has fled far and is beyond easy capture. His designation of David as *tzrari* (my enemy) marks the complete rupture: David is no longer servant or son-in-law but enemy, one who must be destroyed.

1 Samuel 19:19

And Michal said to Saul, He said to me, Let me go; why should I kill you? — Michal's response (*va'tomer Michal el Shaul hu amar ali shlichi im lo ashlachecha*, she said to Saul, He said to me, Let me go) is a lie; David did not threaten to kill Michal, yet she invents this threat to account for her compliance and to make her deception seem a matter of personal safety. Her willingness to lie to her father shows the depths of her commitment to David and her clarity about Saul's danger.

1 Samuel 19:20

And Saul sent messengers to take David — Saul's renewed pursuit (*va'yishlach Saul tziriyim laqchat David*) shows his obsession unabated; deception will not stop him. The hunt continues, now extended beyond the palace to wherever David has hidden.

1 Samuel 19:21

And when they saw the company of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as appointed over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied — the encounter with Samuel and the *machal hanevi'im* (company of prophets) at Naioth is a turning point. The messengers, sent to capture, fall under the power of the *Ruach elohim* (Spirit of God) and begin to *hitnabbeim* (prophesy), their murderous intent dissolved by divine possession. This suggests that the LORD himself protects David, the messengers becoming conduits of divine intervention rather than instruments of human violence.

1 Samuel 19:22

And Saul was told, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah — the report (*va'yugad le'Shaul le'mor hineh David b'Niyot b'Ramah*) reaches Saul, spurring him to pursue David directly. Naioth, the dwelling place of prophets, becomes a refuge precisely because it is a space of divine presence.

1 Samuel 19:23

And Saul went to Naioth in Ramah — Saul's personal pursuit (*va'yetzet Shaul b'derech Niyot b'Ramah*) shows his determination to capture David himself if his messengers have failed. The king is willing to enter the prophetic space, to challenge even the company of prophets, so intense is his obsession.

1 Samuel 19:24

And the Spirit of God came upon him also, and he went prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah — Saul too falls under the power of the *Ruach*, and his journey to Naioth becomes a prophetic procession (*va'yit naggev ad*). The verb *va'yit naggev* suggests dancing, ecstatic movement, Saul transformed by the Spirit into a prophet despite his murderous intent. The final detail—*va'yishlof et begadav gam hu*, he stripped off his clothes also—marks the extreme of Saul's possession, his dignified kingship dissolved in prophetic ecstasy. The verse concludes with the ironic notation *v'hu niggaf al pnei Shmuel yom va'laylah*, he lay naked before Samuel day and night, suggesting Saul's utter vulnerability before the prophetic power. This episode reveals that the LORD, not Saul, controls the destiny of Israel's king; when Saul attempts to strike against David, the LORD himself intervenes, turning Saul's strength into weakness, his pursuit into humiliation.