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New Living Translation |   | |
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| | 1Sa 19:1 | Saul now urged his servants and his son Jonathan to assassinate David. But Jonathan, because of his close friendship with David,
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| | 1Sa 19:2 | told him what his father was planning. "Tomorrow morning," he warned him, "you must find a hiding place out in the fields.
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| | 1Sa 19:3 | I'll ask my father to go out there with me, and I'll talk to him about you. Then I'll tell you everything I can find out."
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| | 1Sa 19:4 | The next morning Jonathan spoke with his father about David, saying many good things about him. "Please don't sin against David," Jonathan pleaded. "He's never done anything to harm you. He has always helped you in any way he could.
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| | 1Sa 19:5 | Have you forgotten about the time he risked his life to kill the Philistine giant and how the LORD brought a great victory to Israel as a result? You were certainly happy about it then. Why should you murder an innocent man like David? There is no reason for it at all!"
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| | 1Sa 19:6 | So Saul listened to Jonathan and vowed, "As surely as the LORD lives, David will not be killed."
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| | 1Sa 19:7 | Afterward Jonathan called David and told him what had happened. Then he took David to see Saul, and everything was as it had been before.
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| | 1Sa 19:8 | War broke out shortly after that, and David led his troops against the Philistines. He attacked them with such fury that they all ran away.
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| | 1Sa 19:9 | But one day as Saul was sitting at home, the tormenting spirit from the LORD suddenly came upon him again. As David played his harp for the king,
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| | 1Sa 19:10 | Saul hurled his spear at David in an attempt to kill him. But David dodged out of the way and escaped into the night, leaving the spear stuck in the wall.
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| | 1Sa 19:11 | Then Saul sent troops to watch David's house. They were told to kill David when he came out the next morning. But Michal, David's wife, warned him, "If you don't get away tonight, you will be dead by morning."
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| | 1Sa 19:12 | So she helped him climb out through a window, and he escaped.
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| | 1Sa 19:13 | Then she took an idol and put it in his bed, covered it with blankets, and put a cushion of goat's hair at its head.
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| | 1Sa 19:14 | When the troops came to arrest David, she told them he was sick and couldn't get out of bed.
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| | 1Sa 19:15 | "Then bring him to me in his bed," Saul ordered, "so I can kill him as he lies there!" And he sent them back to David's house.
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| | 1Sa 19:16 | But when they came to carry David out, they discovered that it was only an idol in the bed with a cushion of goat's hair at its head.
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| | 1Sa 19:17 | "Why have you tricked me and let my enemy escape?" Saul demanded of Michal. "I had to," Michal replied. "He threatened to kill me if I didn't help him."
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| | 1Sa 19:18 | So David got away and went to Ramah to see Samuel, and he told him all that Saul had done to him. Then Samuel took David with him to live at Naioth.
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| | 1Sa 19:19 | When the report reached Saul that David was at Naioth in Ramah,
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| | 1Sa 19:20 | he sent troops to capture him. But when they arrived and saw Samuel and the other prophets prophesying, the Spirit of God came upon Saul's men, and they also began to prophesy.
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| | 1Sa 19:21 | When Saul heard what had happened, he sent other troops, but they, too, prophesied! The same thing happened a third time!
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| | 1Sa 19:22 | Finally, Saul himself went to Ramah and arrived at the great well in Secu. "Where are Samuel and David?" he demanded. "They are at Naioth in Ramah," someone told him.
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| | 1Sa 19:23 | But on the way to Naioth the Spirit of God came upon Saul, and he, too, began to prophesy!
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| | 1Sa 19:24 | He tore off his clothes and lay on the ground all day and all night, prophesying in the presence of Samuel. The people who were watching exclaimed, "What? Is Saul a prophet, too?"
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