Discovery Box1 Samuel 18:20-28 
Context18:20 Now Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. When they told Saul about this, it 1 pleased him. 18:21 Saul said, “I will give her to him so that she may become a snare to him and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” So Saul said to David, “Today is the second time for you to become my son-in-law.” 2
18:22 Then Saul instructed his servants, “Tell David secretly, ‘The king is pleased with you, and all his servants like you. So now become the king’s son-in-law.” 18:23 So Saul’s servants spoke these words privately 3 to David. David replied, “Is becoming the king’s son-in-law something insignificant to you? I’m just a poor and lightly-esteemed man!”
18:24 When Saul’s servants reported what David had said, 18:25 Saul replied, “Here is what you should say to David: ‘There is nothing that the king wants as a price for the bride except a hundred Philistine foreskins, so that he can be avenged of his 4 enemies.’” (Now Saul was thinking that he could kill David by the hand of the Philistines.)
18:26 So his servants told David these things and David agreed 5 to become the king’s son-in-law. Now the specified time had not yet expired 6 18:27 when David, along with his men, went out 7 and struck down two hundred Philistine men. David brought their foreskins and presented all of them to the king so he could become the king’s son-in-law. Saul then gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
18:28 When Saul realized 8 that the Lord was with David and that his 9 daughter Michal loved David, 10
1 tn Heb “the matter.”
2 tc The final sentence of v. 21 is absent in most LXX
3 tn Heb “in the ears of.”
4 tn Heb “the king’s.”
5 tn Heb “and it was acceptable in the eyes of David.”
6 tn Heb “the days were not fulfilled.”
7 tn Heb “arose and went.”
8 tn Heb “saw and knew.”
9 tn Heb “Saul’s.” In the translation the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun for stylistic reasons.
10 tn Heb “him”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
