Saul Grows Jealous

⁶When the army returned home after David killed the Philistine, women came out from every town in Israel to greet King Saul, singing and dancing with tambourines, celebration, and musical instruments. ⁷As they played, the women sang back and forth to each other, saying, 'Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands.' ⁸This made Saul furious. He fumed, "They're giving David credit for 10 thousands but only giving me thousands! What's left for him but the kingdom itself?" ⁹And from that day on, Saul kept a suspicious eye on David. ¹⁰The next day, an evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house. David was playing the harp as he usually did, and Saul had a spear in his hand. ¹¹Saul hurled the spear, thinking, "I'll pin David to the wall!" But David dodged him — twice. ¹²Saul became afraid of David because the LORD was with David but had departed from Saul. ¹³So Saul sent David away from his side and made him a commander over 1,000 soldiers. David went out and came in before the people. ¹⁴David handled everything wisely, and the LORD was with him. ¹⁵When Saul saw how wisely David acted, he became afraid of him. ¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David because he went out and came in before them.