Then Saul’s servants said to him, “Look, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you!”

(For Jesus ¹  had said to him, “Come out of that man, you unclean spirit!”) ² 

So whenever the spirit from God would come upon Saul, David would take his lyre and play it. This would bring relief to Saul and make him feel better. Then the evil spirit would leave him alone. ¹ 

Now the Spirit of the Lord had turned away from Saul, and an evil spirit ¹  from the Lord tormented him.

She nagged him ¹  every day and pressured him until he was sick to death of it. ² 

After the demon was cast out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowds were amazed and said, “Never has anything like this been seen in Israel!”

(for while he lived among them day after day, that righteous man was tormented in his righteous soul ¹  by the lawless deeds he saw and heard ² )

that ¹  if our conscience condemns ²  us, that ³  God is greater than our conscience and knows all things.

The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul and he prophesied within his house. Now David was playing the lyre ¹  that day. There was a spear in Saul’s hand,

Then an evil spirit from the Lord came upon ¹  Saul. He was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, while David was playing the lyre. ² 

For the music director; according to the yonath-elem-rechovim style; ²  a prayer ³  of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath. ⁴  Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me! ⁵  All day long hostile enemies ⁶  are tormenting me. ⁷ 

A ¹  Canaanite woman from that area came ²  and cried out, ³  “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is horribly demon-possessed!”

Let our lord instruct his servants who are here before you to look for a man who knows how to play the lyre. Then whenever the evil spirit from God comes upon you, he can play the lyre ¹  and you will feel better.” ²