Saul Tries to Kill David
1 And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants, that they should kill David. rBut Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted much in David.
Hide Me from the Wicked
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 Hear my voice, O God, in my mcomplaint;
preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
2 Hide me from nthe secret plots of the wicked,
from the throng of evildoers,
3 who owhet their tongues like swords,
who paim bitter words like arrows,
4 shooting from qambush at the blameless,
shooting at him suddenly and rwithout fear.
5 They shold fast to their evil purpose;
they talk of tlaying snares secretly,
thinking, u“Who can see them?”
6 They search out injustice,
saying, “We have accomplished a diligent search.”
For vthe inward mind and heart of a man are deep.
7 wBut God shoots his arrow at them;
they are wounded suddenly.
8 They are brought to ruin, with their own xtongues turned against them;
all who ysee them will zwag their heads.
9 Then all mankind yfears;
they atell what God has brought about
and ponder what he has done.
10 Let bthe righteous one rejoice in the Lord
and ctake refuge in him!
Let all dthe upright in heart exult!
How Precious Is Your Steadfast Love
To the choirmaster. Of David, the xservant of the Lord.
1 Transgression speaks to the wicked
deep in his heart;1
ythere is no fear of God
before his eyes.
2 zFor he flatters himself in his own eyes
that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
3 The words of his mouth are atrouble and deceit;
bhe has ceased to act wisely and do good.
4 He cplots dtrouble while on his bed;
he sets himself in ea way that is not good;
fhe does not reject evil.
5 Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.
6 gYour righteousness is like the mountains of God;
hyour judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast you isave, O Lord.
7 jHow precious is your steadfast love, O God!
The children of mankind take refuge kin the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on lthe abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from mthe river of nyour delights.
9 For with you is othe fountain of life;
pin your light do we see light.
10 Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who qknow you,
and your righteousness to rthe upright of heart!
11 Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 There sthe evildoers lie fallen;
they are thrust down, tunable to rise.
Great Is the Lord
Of David.
1 Contend, O Lord, with those who ycontend with me;
zfight against those who fight against me!
2 Take hold of ashield and buckler
and rise for my help!
3 Draw the spear and javelin1
against my pursuers!
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation!”
4 bLet them be cput to shame and dishonor
who seek after my life!
Let them be dturned back and disappointed
who devise evil against me!
5 Let them be like echaff before the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them away!
6 Let their way be dark and fslippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them!
7 For gwithout cause hthey hid their net for me;
without cause they dug ia pit for my life.2
8 Let jdestruction come upon him kwhen he does not know it!
And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
let him fall into it—to his destruction!
9 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord,
lexulting in his salvation.
10 All my mbones shall say,
“O Lord, nwho is like you,
delivering the poor
from him who is too strong for him,
the poor and needy from him who robs him?”
11 oMalicious3 witnesses rise up;
they ask me of things that I do not know.
12 pThey repay me evil for good;
my soul is bereft.4
13 But I, qwhen they were sick—
I rwore sackcloth;
I safflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed twith head bowed5 on my chest.
14 I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
as one who laments his mother,
I ubowed down in mourning.
15 But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
they gathered together against me;
vwretches whom I did not know
tore at me without ceasing;
16 like profane mockers at a feast,6
they wgnash at me with their teeth.
17 How long, O Lord, will you xlook on?
Rescue me from their destruction,
ymy precious life from the lions!
18 I will thank you in zthe great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19 aLet not those rejoice over me
who are bwrongfully my foes,
and let not those cwink the eye
20 For they do not speak peace,
but against those who are quiet in the land
they devise words of deceit.
21 They fopen wide their mouths against me;
they say, g“Aha, Aha!
Our eyes have seen it!”
22 hYou have seen, O Lord; ibe not silent!
O Lord, jbe not far from me!
23 Awake and krouse yourself for lmy vindication,
for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24 mVindicate me, O Lord, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and nlet them not rejoice over me!
25 Let them not say in their hearts,
o“Aha, our heart’s desire!”
Let them not say, p“We have swallowed him up.”
26 Let them be qput to shame and disappointed altogether
who rejoice at my calamity!
Let them be rclothed with shame and dishonor
who smagnify themselves against me!
27 Let those who delight in my righteousness
shout for joy and be glad
tand say evermore,
u“Great is the Lord,
who vdelights in the welfare of his servant!”
28 Then my wtongue shall tell of your righteousness
and of your praise all the day long.
2 And Jonathan told David, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Therefore be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide yourself. 3 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. And if I learn anything I will tell you.” 4 And Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, “Let not the king ssin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you. 5 For the took his life in his hand uand he struck down the Philistine, vand the Lord worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against winnocent blood by killing David without cause?” 6 And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan. Saul swore, x“As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death.” 7 And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence yas before.
8 And there was war again. And David went out and fought with the Philistines and struck them with a great blow, so that they fled before him. 9 zThen a harmful spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand. aAnd David was playing the lyre. 10 bAnd Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he eluded Saul, so that he struck the spear into the wall. And David fled and escaped that night.
11 cSaul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him, that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.”
Deliver Me from My Enemies
To the choirmaster: according to xDo Not Destroy. A yMiktam1 of David, zwhen Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.
1 aDeliver me from my enemies, O my God;
bprotect me from those who crise up against me;
2 deliver me from dthose who work evil,
and save me from ebloodthirsty men.
3 For behold, they flie in wait for my life;
fierce men gstir up strife against me.
hFor no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord,
4 for no fault of mine, they run and make ready.
iAwake, come to meet me, and see!
5 You, jLord God of hosts, are God of Israel.
Rouse yourself to punish all the nations;
spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah
6 Each evening they kcome back,
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.
7 There they are, lbellowing with their mouths
with mswords in their lips—
8 But you, O Lord, olaugh at them;
you hold all the nations in derision.
9 O my Strength, I will watch for you,
for you, O God, are pmy fortress.
10 qMy God in his steadfast love3 rwill meet me;
God will let me slook in triumph on my enemies.
11 Kill them not, lest my people forget;
make them totter4 by your power and tbring them down,
O Lord, our ushield!
12 For vthe sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,
let them be trapped in their pride.
For the cursing and lies that they utter,
13 wconsume them in wrath;
consume them till they are no more,
that they may xknow that God rules over Jacob
to ythe ends of the earth. Selah
14 zEach evening they come back,
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.
15 They awander about for food
and growl if they do not get their fill.
16 But I will sing of your strength;
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me ba fortress
and ca refuge in dthe day of my distress.
17 O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,
for you, O God, bare my fortress,
ethe God who shows me steadfast love.
12 dSo Michal let David down through the window, and he fled away and escaped. 13 Michal took ean image1 and laid it on the bed and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. 14 And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.” 15 Then Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 And when the messengers came in, behold, ethe image was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head. 17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?” And Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. fWhy should I kill you?’”
18 Now David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at gRamah and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and lived at Naioth. 19 And it was told Saul, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.” 20 Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, hthe Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, iand they also prophesied. 21 When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, iand they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, iand they also prophesied. 22 Then he himself went to Ramah and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” And one said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in gRamah.” 23 And he went there to Naioth in Ramah. jAnd the Spirit of God came upon him also, and as he went he prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 kAnd he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied before Samuel and lay naked all that day and all that night. Thus it is said, l“Is Saul also among the prophets?”
