18
Saul was jealous of David
6 Then the Israel mob all went back home, and women came from lots of places to meet Saul, the big boss. They danced and sang happily. Some played little drums and others played guitars. 7 They sang like this as they went,*1 Samuel 21:11; 29:5
“Saul killed dead a thousand enemy soldiers.
David killed dead 10,000 of them.”
8 Saul heard their words, and he was really angry. He thought, “They reckon David killed more enemy soldiers than me. Maybe they want to make him the boss of us Israel mob, instead of me?”
9 From then on, he was jealous of David, and he watched him all the time.
10 The next day, God sent a bad spirit to Saul. It made him go really mad. He just sat there in his house and screamed. David played the guitar for him as before. Saul was holding a spear in his hand, 11 and he thought, “I will spear David straight through and hang him on the wall.” So he threw it at him. But David quickly jumped out of the way, and the spear missed him. That happened 2 times, and he missed David each time.
(We have not yet translated 18:12-30. It tells that Saul gave his daughter to David, to be his wife. Her name was Mihal.)