12. Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was helping David and was no longer helping him.
13. Saul put David in charge of a thousand soldiers and sent him out to fight.
14. The Lord helped David, and he and his soldiers always won their battles.
15. This made Saul even more afraid of David.
16. But everyone else in Judah and Israel was loyal to David, because he led the army in battle.
17. One day, Saul told David, “If you'll be brave and fight the Lord's battles for me, I'll let you marry my eldest daughter Merab.” But Saul was really thinking, “I don't want to kill David myself, so I'll let the Philistines do it for me.”
18. David answered, “How could I possibly marry your daughter? I'm not very important, and neither is my family.”
19. But when the time came for David to marry Saul's daughter Merab, Saul told her to marry Adriel from the town of Meholah.
20. Saul had another daughter. Her name was Michal, and Saul found out that she was in love with David. This made Saul happy,
21. and he thought, “I'll tell David he can marry Michal, but I'll set it up so that the Philistines will kill him.” He told David, “I'm going to give you a second chance to marry one of my daughters.”
22-23. Saul ordered his officials to speak to David in private, so they went to David and said, “Look, the king likes you, and all his officials are loyal to you. Why not ask the king if you can marry his daughter Michal?”“I'm not rich or famous enough to marry princess Michal!” David answered.