1 Samuel 19:12-18
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
12 Then Michal let David down through a window, and he made his escape in safety.(A) 13 Michal took the teraphim[a] and laid it in the bed, putting a tangle of goat’s hair at its head and covering it with a blanket.(B) 14 When Saul sent officers to arrest David, she said, “He is sick.” 15 Saul, however, sent the officers back to see David and commanded them, “Bring him up to me in his bed, that I may kill him.” 16 But when the messengers entered, they found the teraphim in the bed, with the tangle of goat’s hair at its head. 17 Saul asked Michal: “Why did you lie to me like this? You have helped my enemy to get away!” Michal explained to Saul: “He threatened me, saying ‘Let me go or I will kill you.’”
David and Saul in Ramah. 18 When David got safely away, he went to Samuel in Ramah, informing him of all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went to stay in Naioth.[b]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 19:13 Teraphim: a life-sized image of a household god in human form; cf. also note on Gn 31:19. Elsewhere in the Deuteronomistic History, use of teraphim is condemned (15:23; 2 Kgs 23:24).
- 19:18 Naioth: meaning “the pastures.” This place appears only in chaps. 19–20 and is associated with Ramah.
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