1 Samuel 16:14

The NET Bible®

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

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and an evil spirit sent from the Lord began to torment him,

Hebrew Names Version
Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Sha'ul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

King James Version
But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.

Lexham English Bible
Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul and an evil spirit from Yahweh tormented him.

English Standard Version
Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.

New Century Version
But the Lord 's Spirit had left Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.

Amplified Bible
Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented and terrified him.

New American Standard Bible
Now the Spirit of the LORD left Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrified him.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But the Spirite of the Lorde departed from Saul, and an euill spirite sent of the Lorde vexed him.

Legacy Standard Bible
Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh terrorized him.

Contemporary English Version
The Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord was terrifying him.

Complete Jewish Bible
Now the Spirit of Adonai had left Sha'ul; instead, an evil spirit from Adonai would suddenly come over him.

Darby Translation
And the Spirit of Jehovah departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Jehovah troubled him.

Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord 's Spirit left Saul. Then the Lord sent an evil spirit to Saul that caused him much trouble.

George Lamsa Translation
But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from before the LORD troubled him.

Good News Translation
The Lord 's spirit left Saul, and an evil spirit sent by the Lord tormented him.

Literal Translation
And the Spirit of Jehovah departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Jehovah terrified him.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But the sprete of the LORDE departed from Saul, and an euell sprete from ye LORDE vexed him.

American Standard Version
Now the Spirit of Jehovah departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Jehovah troubled him.

Bible in Basic English
Now the spirit of the Lord had gone from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord was troubling him.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But the spirite of the Lorde departed from Saul, and an euill spirite [sent] of the Lord vexed him.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Now the spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrified him.

King James Version (1611)
But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an euil spirit from the Lord troubled him.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.

English Revised Version
Now the spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

Berean Standard Bible
After the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, a spirit of distress from the LORD began to torment him.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And so the Spirit of the Lord yede awei fro Saul, and a wickid spirit of the Lord trauelide Saul.

Young's Literal Translation
And the Spirit of Jehovah turned aside from Saul, and a spirit of sadness from Jehovah terrified him;

Update Bible Version
Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh troubled him.

Webster's Bible Translation
But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

World English Bible
Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh troubled him.

New King James Version
But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him.

New Living Translation
Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and the Lord sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear.

New Life Bible
Now the Spirit of the Lord left Saul. And a bad spirit sent from the Lord brought trouble upon him.

New Revised Standard
Now the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, the spirit of Yahweh, departed from Saul, - and there terrified him a sad spirit, from Yahweh.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.

Revised Standard Version
Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.

THE MESSAGE
At that very moment the Spirit of God left Saul and in its place a black mood sent by God settled on him. He was terrified.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him.

Contextual Overview

¹⁴ Now the Spirit of the Lord had turned away from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented him. ¹⁵ Then Saul's servants said to him, "Look, an evil spirit from God is tormenting you!" ¹⁶ 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 and you will feel better." ¹⁷ So Saul said to his servants, "Find me a man who plays well and bring him to me." ¹⁸ One of his attendants replied, "I have seen a son of Jesse in Bethlehem who knows how to play the lyre. He is a brave warrior and is articulate and handsome, for the Lord is with him." ¹⁹ So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, "Send me your son David, who is out with the sheep." ²⁰ So Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a container of wine, and a young goat and sent them to Saul with his son David. ²¹ David came to Saul and stood before him. Saul liked him a great deal, and he became his armor bearer. ²² Then Saul sent word to Jesse saying, "Let David be my servant, for I really like him." ²³ 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.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the Spirit: 1 Samuel 11:6, 1 Samuel 18:12, 1 Samuel 28:15, Judges 16:29, Psalms 51:11, Hosea 9:12

evil spirit: The evil spirit was either sent immediately from the Lord, or permitted to come; but whether this was a diabolic possession, or a mere mental malady, is not agreed: it seems to have partaken of both. That Saul had fallen into a deep melancholy, there is little doubt; and that an evil spirit might work more effectually on such a state of mind, there can be little question. His malady appears to have been of a mixed kind, natural and diabolical: there is too much of apparent nature in it to permit us to believe it was all spiritual; and there is too much of apparently supernatural influence, to suffer us to believe it was all natural. 1 Samuel 18:10, 1 Samuel 19:9, 1 Samuel 19:10, Judges 9:23, 1 Kings 22:22, Acts 19:15, Acts 19:16

troubled: or, terrified

Reciprocal: Numbers 27:18 - a man Deuteronomy 28:28 - General Judges 6:34 - the Spirit Judges 16:20 - the Lord 1 Samuel 16:23 - the evil spirit 1 Samuel 17:31 - sent for him 1 Samuel 26:19 - stirred 2 Samuel 7:15 - as I took Psalms 36:3 - he hath

Cross-References

Genesis 14:7
Then they attacked En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) again, and they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar.

Genesis 21:31
That is why he named that place Beer Sheba, because the two of them swore an oath there.

Genesis 24:62
Now Isaac came from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev.

Genesis 25:11
After Abraham's death, God blessed his son Isaac. Isaac lived near Beer Lahai Roi.

Numbers 13:26
They came back to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They reported to the whole community and showed the fruit of the land.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul,.... As a spirit of prophecy as at first, as a spirit of wisdom and prudence in civil government, and as a spirit of fortitude and courage, as the Targum:

and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him; the reverse of the former, which by the permission of God, and as a punishment to him for his sins, came upon him; he seemed to be a demoniac, as Josephus represents i him, as if possessed with the devil; by whom he was almost suffocated and strangled, as well as was distracted in his counsels, and became weak and foolish; lost all courage and greatness of mind, was timorous and fearful, and alarmed by everything, and was full of envy, suspicion, rage, and despair.

i Antiqu. l. 6. c. 8. sect. 2.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 16:14. The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul — He was thrown into such a state of mind by the judgments of God, as to be deprived of any regal qualities which he before possessed. God seems to have taken what gifts he had, and given them to David; and then the evil spirit came upon Saul; for what God fills not, the devil will.

An evil spirit from the Lord — The evil spirit was either immediately sent from the Lord, or permitted to come. Whether this was a diabolic possession, or a mere mental malady, the learned are not agreed; it seems to have partaken of both. That Saul had fallen into a deep melancholy, there is little doubt; that the devil might work more effectually on such a state of mind, there can be but little question. There is an old proverb, Satan delights to fish in troubled waters; and Saul's situation of mind gave him many advantages.

The theory of Dr. Scheuchzer, in his Physica Sacra, on the malady of Saul, is allowed to be very ingenious. It is in substance as follows: Health consists in a moderate tension of the fibres, which permits all the fluids to have an entire freedom of circulation, and to the spirits, that of diffusing themselves through all the limbs; on the contrary, disease consists in tensions of the fibres morbidly weak or morbidly strong. This latter seems to have been the case of Saul; and as the undulations of the air which convey sound communicate themselves to and through the most solid bodies, it is easy to suppose that by the modulations of music all the fibres of his body, which were under the influence of the morbidly increased tension, might be so relaxed as to be brought back into their natural state, and thus permit the re-establishment of a free and gentle circulation of the fluids, and consequently of the animal spirits, and thus induce calmness and tranquillity of mind. I believe this theory to be correct, and I should find no difficulty to amplify and to illustrate the subject. Even a skilful playing upon the harp was one means to bring a disordered state of the nervous and fibrous system into a capacity of affording such uninterrupted tranquillity to the mind as to render it capable of receiving the prophetic influence; see the case of Elisha, 2 Kings 3:14-15. It has been said: -

"Music hath charms to sooth the savage breast."

This has been literally proved: a musician was brought to play on his instrument while they were feeding a savage lion in the tower of London; the beast immediately left his food, came towards the grating of his den, and began to move in such a way as to show himself affected by the music. The musician ceased, and the lion returned to his food; he recommenced, and the lion left off his prey, and was so affected as to seem by his motions to dance with delight. This was repeatedly tried, and the effects were still the same.