14. The Lord was with David, so he was successful in everything.
15. Saul saw how successful David was and became even more afraid of him.
16. But all the people in Israel and Judah loved David because he was out among them and led them into battle.
17. One day Saul said to David, “Here is my oldest daughter, Merab. I will let you marry her. Then you will be like a son to me and you will be a real soldier. Then you will go and fight the Lord’S battles.” Saul was really thinking, “Now I won’t have to kill David. I will let the Philistines kill him for me.”
18. But David said, “I am not an important man from an important family. I can’t marry the king’s daughter.”
19. So when the time came for David to marry Saul’s daughter, Saul let her marry Adriel from Meholah.
20. People told Saul that his daughter Michal loved David. This made Saul happy.
21. He 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.”
22. Saul commanded his officers to speak to David in private. He told them to say, “Look, the king likes you. His officers like you. You should marry his daughter.”
23. Saul’s officers said these things to David, but David answered, “Do you think it is easy to become the king’s son-in-law? I am just a poor, ordinary man.”
24. Saul’s officers told Saul what David said.
25. Saul told them, “Say this to David, ‘David, the king doesn’t want you to pay money for his daughter. He wants to get even with his enemy, so the price for marrying his daughter is 100 Philistine foreskins.’” That was Saul’s secret plan. He thought the Philistines would kill David.