1 Samuel 18:17-21

English Standard Version

David Marries Michal

¹⁷ Then Saul said to David, “Here is ^(A)my elder daughter Merab. ^(B)I will give her to you for a wife. Only be valiant for me ^(C)and fight the Lord's battles.” For Saul thought, “Let not my hand be against him, ^(D)but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.” ¹⁸ And David said to Saul, ^(E)“Who am I, and who are my relatives, my father's clan in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?” ¹⁹ But at the time when Merab, Saul's daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to ^(F)Adriel the ^(G)Meholathite for a wife.

²⁰ Now ^(H)Saul's daughter Michal ^(I)loved David. And they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. ²¹ Saul thought, “Let me give her to him, that she may ^(J)be a snare for him ^(K)and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Therefore Saul said to David a second time,^{[a] (L)}“You shall now be my son-in-law.”