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Saul replied, "I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God."

So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord .

But Samuel said, "As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women." And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.

So he asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?" "There is still the youngest," Jesse answered. "He is tending the sheep." Samuel said, "Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives."

So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, "Rise and anoint him; this is the one."

So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

So Saul said to his attendants, "Find someone who plays well and bring him to me."

So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them with his son David to Saul.

David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them. "I cannot go in these," he said to Saul, "because I am not used to them." So he took them off.

So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so successful that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. This pleased all the troops, and Saul's officers as well.

So he sent David away from him and gave him command over a thousand men, and David led the troops in their campaigns.

So when the time came for Merab, Saul's daughter, to be given to David, she was given in marriage to Adriel of Meholah.

"I will give her to him," he thought, "so that she may be a snare to him and so that the hand of the Philistines may be against him." So Saul said to David, "Now you have a second opportunity to become my son-in-law."

When the attendants told David these things, he was pleased to become the king's son-in-law. So before the allotted time elapsed,

David took his men with him and went out and killed two hundred Philistines and brought back their foreskins. They counted out the full number to the king so that David might become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.

So Jonathan called David and told him the whole conversation. He brought him to Saul, and David was with Saul as before.

So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped.

Then Saul sent the men back to see David and told them, "Bring him up to me in his bed so that I may kill him."

Saul said to Michal, "Why did you deceive me like this and send my enemy away so that he escaped?" Michal told him, "He said to me, ‘Let me get away. Why should I kill you?'"