1 Samuel Chapter 18    

¹It came to pass when he had made an end of speaking to Saul that the soul of Jonathan was bound together with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
  ²And Saul took him that day and did not let him return to his father’s house.
 

³Then Jonathan and David cut a covenant because he loved him as his own soul.
  ⁴Jonathan stripped himself of the tunic that was on him and gave it to David, and his fighting attire, including his sword and his bow and his belt.
 

⁵And David went out wherever Saul sent him and was successful, so Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the eyes of all the people and also in the eyes of Saul’s servants.
 

⁶And it came to pass upon their coming back, when David 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 tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments.
  ⁷The celebrating women answered one another and said, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”
 

⁸But Saul was very angry and this saying was evil in his eyes, and he said, “They have ascribed to David tens of thousands, but to me they have ascribed only thousands. What more can he have but the kingship?”
  ⁹And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.
 

¹⁰It came to pass on the next day that an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house. David was playing the harp with his hand as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand
  ¹¹and Saul threw the spear, for he said, “I will pin David to the wall!” But David escaped from his presence twice.
 

¹²And Saul was afraid of David because Yahweh was with him and had departed from Saul.
  ¹³So Saul removed him from his presence and made him his commander over 1,000, and he went out and came in before the people.
  ¹⁴And David was successful in all his activities because Yahweh was with him.
  ¹⁵When Saul saw that he was very successful, he was even more afraid of him.
  ¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David because he went out and came in before them.
  ¹⁷Then Saul said to David, “Here is my oldest daughter Merab, I will give her to you as a wife. Only be a son of valor for me and fight Yahweh’s battles.” For Saul said to himself, “Let not my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him.”
 

¹⁸And David said to Saul, “Who am I, and who are my living relatives, my father’s clan in Israel, that I should become son-in-law to the king?”
  ¹⁹But at the time for giving Merab, Saul’s daughter, to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.
 

²⁰But Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David, and they told Saul and the matter was good in his eyes.
  ²¹And Saul said to himself, “I will give her to him so that she will be a snare to him and that the hand of the Philistines will be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Through the second one you can this day be my son-in-law.”
 

²²So Saul commanded his servants, “Talk with David secretly and say, ‘Look, the king delights in you, and all his servants love you, so now be the king’s son-in-law.’”
 

²³So Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, “Does it seem to you a light thing to be the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man and lightly esteemed?”
 

²⁴The servants of Saul told him, saying, “David spoke like this.”
 

²⁵And Saul said, “You are to tell David, ‘The king desires no dowry except 100 foreskins of the Philistines to be avenged of the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
 

²⁶When his servants told David these words, it was good in David’s eyes to become the king’s son-in-law. Not many days later
  ²⁷David arose and went, he and his men, and struck down of the Philistines 200 men, and David brought their foreskins and they gave them in full number to the king to become the king’s son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter as a wife.
  ²⁸Saul saw and knew that Yahweh was with David, and Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him.
  ²⁹And Saul became even more afraid of David, and Saul was hostile toward David continually.
 

³⁰Then the commanders of the Philistines went out to battle, and it was, as often as they went out, that David was more successful than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.