Michal Watches Her Husband Dance Half-Naked Before God and Despises Him

The ark enters Jerusalem with enormous celebration. David dances before God with all his might — leaping, whirling — wearing only a linen ephod, a garment more appropriate for a priest than a king. His wife Michal, daughter of Saul, watches from a window. She sees the king of Israel skipping and dancing before the crowd and despises him in her heart. When David comes home she confronts him: 'How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself in the eyes of the servant girls as any shameless fellow would.' David answers that he will be even more undignified than this. The text closes: Michal had no child to the day of her death.