1 Samuel 18

¹And when he had made an ende of speaking vnto Saul, the soule of Ionathan was knit with the soule of Dauid, and Ionathan loued him, as his owne soule.

²And Saul tooke him that day, and woulde not let him returne to his fathers house.

³Then Ionathan and Dauid made a couenant: for he loued him as his owne soule.

⁴And Ionathan put off the robe that was vpon him, and gaue it Dauid, and his garments, euen to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

⁵And Dauid went out whithersoeuer Saul sent him, and behaued himselfe wisely: so that Saul set him ouer the men of warre, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Sauls seruants.

⁶When they came againe, and Dauid returned from the slaughter of the Philistim, the women came out of all cities of Israel singing and dauncing to meete king Saul, with timbrels, with instruments of ioy, and with rebeckes.

⁷And the women sang by course in their play, and sayd, Saul hath slayne his thousand, and Dauid his ten thousand.

⁸Therefore Saul was exceeding wroth, and the saying displeased him, and he sayde, They haue ascribed vnto Dauid ten thousand, and to me they haue ascribed but a thousand, and what can he haue more saue the kingdome?

⁹Wherefore Saul had an eye on Dauid from that day forward.

¹⁰And on the morowe, the euill spirite of God came vpon Saul, and he prophecied in the middes of the house: and Dauid played with his hand like as at other times, and there was a speare in Sauls hand.

¹¹And Saul tooke the speare, and sayd, I will smite Dauid through to the wall. But Dauid auoyded twise out of his presence.