Then Nathan said to David, “You are that {rich} man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I chose [65] you to be the king of Israel. I saved you from Saul.
Then the woman said, “Why have you planned these things against the people of God? Yes, when you say these things, you show you are guilty. Why? Because you have not brought back the son that you forced to leave home.
“You must say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: I chose you while you were out in the pasture following the sheep. I took you from that job and made you the leader of my people, the Israelites.
Go back and tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. The Lord says, ‘Jeroboam, I chose you from among all the people of Israel. I made you the ruler of my people.
Elijah answered, “I have not caused Israel trouble. You and your father’s family caused all this trouble. You caused the trouble when you stopped obeying the Lord’s commands and began following the false gods.
Then the prophet said to the king, “The Lord says to you, ‘You set free the man that I said should die. So you will take his place—you will die! And your people will take the enemies’ place—your people will die!’”
King, you are that tree! You have become great and powerful. You are like the tall tree that touched the sky—and your power reaches to the far parts of the earth.
Samuel said, “You did a foolish thing! You did not obey the Lord your God! If you had obeyed God’s command, then he would have let your family rule Israel forever.
Samuel said, “In the past, you thought you were not important. But then you became the leader of the family groups of Israel. The Lord chose you to be king over Israel.
Samuel took the horn [147] with the oil in it, and poured the special oil on Jesse’s youngest son in front of his brothers. The Lord’s Spirit came on David with great power from that day on. Then Samuel went back home to Ramah.
But Saul had a spear in his hand. Saul thought, “I’ll pin David to the wall.” Saul threw the spear two times. But David jumped out of the way both times.
Saul thought, “I will use Michal to trap David. I will let Michal marry David. And then I will let the Philistines kill him.” So Saul said to David a second time, “You can marry my daughter today.”
David went to the desert and stayed in the fortresses [192] there. David also went to the hill country in the Desert of Ziph. Every day Saul looked for David, but the Lord didn’t let Saul catch him.
People told Saul that David was now at Keilah. Saul said, “God has given David to me! David has trapped himself. He went into a town that has gates and bars to lock the gates.”