7. They sang:Saul has killeda thousand enemies;David has killedten thousand enemies!
8. This song made Saul very angry, and he thought, “They are saying that David has killed ten times more enemies than I ever did. Next they will want to make him king.”
9. Saul never again trusted David.
10. The next day the Lord let an evil spirit take control of Saul, and he began acting like a mad man inside his house. David came to play the harp for Saul as usual, but this time Saul had a spear in his hand.
11. Saul thought, “I'll pin David to the wall.” He threw the spear at David twice, but David dodged and got away both times.
12. Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was helping David and was no longer helping him.
13. Saul put David in charge of a thousand soldiers and sent him out to fight.
14. The Lord helped David, and he and his soldiers always won their battles.
15. This made Saul even more afraid of David.
16. But everyone else in Judah and Israel was loyal to David, because he led the army in battle.
17. One day, Saul told David, “If you'll be brave and fight the Lord's battles for me, I'll let you marry my eldest daughter Merab.” But Saul was really thinking, “I don't want to kill David myself, so I'll let the Philistines do it for me.”
18. David answered, “How could I possibly marry your daughter? I'm not very important, and neither is my family.”
19. But when the time came for David to marry Saul's daughter Merab, Saul told her to marry Adriel from the town of Meholah.
20. Saul had another daughter. Her name was Michal, and Saul found out that she was in love with David. This made Saul happy,