¹ And the LORD said to Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thy horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Beth-lehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.

² And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul shall hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.

³ And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint to me him whom I name to thee.

⁴ And Samuel did that which the LORD spoke, and came to Beth-lehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably?

⁵ And he said, Peaceably: I have come to sacrifice to the LORD: sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice.

⁶ And it came to pass when they had come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD'S anointed is before him.

⁷ But the LORD said to Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the hight of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.

⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this.

⁹ Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the LORD chosen this.

¹⁰ Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these.

¹¹ And Samuel said to Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and bring him: for we will not sit down till he hath come hither.

¹² And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and also of a beautiful countenance, and a good appearance. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.

¹³ Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose, and went to Ramah.

¹⁴ But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

¹⁵ And Saul's servants said to him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee.

¹⁶ Let our lord now command thy servants, who are before thee, to seek a man who is a skillful player on a harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he will play with his hand, and thou wilt be well.

¹⁷ And Saul said to his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me.

¹⁸ Then answered one of the servants, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is skillful in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him.

¹⁹ Wherefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, Send to me David thy son, who is with the sheep.

²⁰ And Jesse took an ass laden with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son to Saul.

²¹ And David came to Saul, and stood before him: and he loved him greatly; and he became his armor-bearer.

²² And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me; for he hath found favor in my sight.

²³ And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

¹ And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

² And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house.

³ Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

⁴ And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

⁵ And David went out whithersoever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul's servants.

⁶ And it came to pass as they came, when David had 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 tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music.

⁷ And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.

⁸ And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands; and what can he have more but the kingdom?

⁹ And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.

¹⁰ And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul's hand.

¹¹ And Saul cast the javelin; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall. And David escaped from his presence twice.

¹² And Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him, and had departed from Saul.

¹³ Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

¹⁴ And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the LORD was with him.

¹⁵ Wherefore when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him.

¹⁶ But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them.

¹⁷ And Saul said to David, Behold, my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee for a 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.

¹⁸ And David said to 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?

¹⁹ But it came to pass at the time when Merab Saul's daughter should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite to wife.

²⁰ And Michal Saul's daughter loved David: and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him.

²¹ And Saul said, I will give her to him, 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, in the one of the two.

²² And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Commune 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.

²³ And Saul's servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, Seemeth it to you a light thing to be a king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?

²⁴ And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner spoke David.

²⁵ And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dower, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king's enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.

²⁶ And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law: and the days had not expired.

²⁷ Wherefore 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 for a wife.

²⁸ And Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him.

²⁹ And Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul became David's enemy continually.

³⁰ Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it came to pass after they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was much esteemed.