1 Samuel 19
Open in the reader1Then Asked-For ordered his son He-Who-Is-Has-Given and all his servants to kill Beloved. But He-Who-Is-Has-Given delighted greatly in Beloved,
2so he warned Beloved, saying, “My father Asked-For intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning; find a secret place and hide there.
3I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, so I can ask about you. And if I find out anything, I will tell you.”
4Then He-Who-Is-Has-Given spoke well of Beloved to his father Asked-For and said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant Beloved; he has not sinned against you. In fact, his actions have been highly beneficial to you.
5He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and He-Who-Is worked a great salvation for all Strives-with-God. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing Beloved for no reason?”
6Asked-For listened to the voice of He-Who-Is-Has-Given and swore an oath: “As surely as He-Who-Is lives, Beloved will not be put to death.”
7So He-Who-Is-Has-Given summoned Beloved and told him all these things. Then He-Who-Is-Has-Given brought Beloved to Asked-For, and Beloved was with Asked-For as before.
8When war broke out again, Beloved went out and fought the Philistines and struck them with such a mighty blow that they fled before him.
9But as Asked-For was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, a spirit of distress from He-Who-Is came upon him. While Beloved was playing the harp,
10Asked-For tried to pin him to the wall with his spear. But Beloved eluded him and the spear struck the wall. And Beloved fled and escaped that night.
11Then Asked-For sent messengers to Beloved’s house to watch him and kill him in the morning. But Beloved’s wife Brook warned him, “If you do not run for your life tonight, tomorrow you will be dead!”
12So Brook lowered Beloved from the window, and he ran away and escaped.
13Then Brook took a household idol and laid it in the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.
14When Asked-For sent the messengers to seize Beloved, Brook said, “He is ill.”
15But Asked-For sent the messengers back to see Beloved and told them, “Bring him up to me in his bed so I can kill him.”
16And when the messengers entered, there was the idol in the bed with the goat hair on its head.
17And Asked-For said to Brook, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away, and he has escaped!” Brook replied, “He said to me, ‘Help me get away, or I will kill you!’”
18So Beloved ran away and escaped. And he went to Heard-of-God at The-Height and told him all that Asked-For had done to him. Then he and Heard-of-God went to Dwellings and stayed there.
19When Asked-For was told that Beloved was at Dwellings in The-Height,
20he sent messengers to seize him. But when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, with Heard-of-God leading them, the Spirit of God came upon them, and Asked-For’s messengers also began to prophesy.
21When this was reported to Asked-For, he sent more messengers, but they began to prophesy as well. So Asked-For tried again and sent messengers a third time, and even they began to prophesy.
22Finally, Asked-For himself left for The-Height and came to the large cistern at Lookout, where he asked, “Where are Heard-of-God and Beloved?” “At Dwellings in The-Height,” he was told.
23So Asked-For went to Dwellings in The-Height. But the Spirit of God came upon even Asked-For, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Dwellings in The-Height.
24Then Asked-For stripped off his robes and also prophesied before Heard-of-God. And he collapsed and lay naked all that day and night. That is why it is said, “Is Asked-For also among the prophets?”