1 Samuel 20
1 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?”
Then David fled from Naioth, which is in Ramah, and he went and said before Jonathan: “What have I done? What is my iniquity, or what is my sin, against your father, so that he would seek my life?”
2 “Far from it!” Jonathan replied. “You will not die. Indeed, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This cannot be true!”
And he said to him: “May this not be! You shall not die. For my father will not do anything, great or small, without first revealing it to me. Therefore, has my father concealed this word solely from me? By no means shall this be!”
3 But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”
And he swore again to David. And David said: “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your sight, and so he will say, ‘Let Jonathan not know this, lest he be saddened.’ So truly, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, there is only one step (if I may say it) separating me from death.”
4 Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you desire, I will do for you.”
And Jonathan said to David, “Whatever your soul will tell me, I will do for you.”
5 So David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I am supposed to dine with the king. Instead, let me go and hide in the field until the third evening from now.
Then David said to Jonathan: “Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I am accustomed to sit in a seat beside the king to eat. Therefore, permit me that I may be hidden in the field, until the evening of the third day.
6 If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David urgently requested my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because there is an annual sacrifice for his whole clan.’
If your father, looking around, will seek me, you shall respond to him: ‘David asked me if he may hurry to Bethlehem, his own city. For there are solemn sacrifices in that place for all of his tribe together.’
7 If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant is safe, but if he is enraged, you will know he has evil intentions.
If he will say, ‘It is well,’ then your servant will have peace. But if he will be angry, know that his malice has reached its height.
8 Therefore deal faithfully with your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”
Therefore, show mercy to your servant. For you have brought me, your servant, into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if there is any iniquity in me, you may kill me, and you shall not lead me in to your father.”
9 “Never!” Jonathan replied. “If I ever found out that my father had evil intentions against you, would I not tell you?”
And Jonathan said: “May this be far from you. For certainly, if I ever realized that any wickedness was determined by my father against you, I would not be able to do anything other than report it to you.”
10 Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
And David responded to Jonathan, “Who will repeat it to me, if your father may perhaps answer you harshly about me?”
11 “Come,” he replied, “let us go out to the field.” So the two of them went out into the field,
And Jonathan said to David, “Come, and let us go out into the field.” And when they both had gone out into the field,
12 and Jonathan said, “By the LORD, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. If he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you?
Jonathan said before David: “O Lord, God of Israel, if I will discover a decision by my father, tomorrow, or the day after, and if there will be anything good concerning David, and yet I do not immediately send to you and make it known to you,
13 But if my father intends to bring evil on you, then may the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if I do not tell you and send you on your way in safety. May the LORD be with you, just as He has been with my father.
may the Lord do these things to Jonathan, and may he add these other things. But if my father will have persevered in malice against you, I will reveal it to your ear, and I will send you away, so that you may go in peace, and so that the Lord may be with you, just as he was with my father.
14 And as long as I live, treat me with the LORD’s loving devotion, that I may not die,
And if I live, you shall show the mercy of the Lord to me. Yet truly, if I die,
15 and do not ever cut off your loving devotion from my household—not even when the LORD cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
you shall not take away your mercy from my house, even forever, when the Lord will have rooted out the enemies of David, each and every one of them, from the earth. May he take Jonathan from his house, and may the Lord require it from the hands of the enemies of David.”
16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD hold David’s enemies accountable.”
Therefore, Jonathan formed a covenant with the house of David. And the Lord required it from the hands of the enemies of David.
17 And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.
And Jonathan continued to swear to David, because he loved him. For he loved him like his own soul.
18 Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed if your seat is empty.
And Jonathan said to him: “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be sought.
19 When you have stayed three days, hurry down to the place you hid on the day this trouble began, and remain beside the stone Ezel.
For your seat will be empty until the day after tomorrow. Therefore, you shall descend quickly, and you shall go to the place where you are to be hidden, on a day when it is lawful to work, and you shall remain beside the stone that is called Ezel.
20 I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as if I were aiming at a target.
And I will shoot three arrows near it, and I will cast them as if I were practicing for myself toward a mark.
21 Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ Now, if I expressly say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them,’ then come, because as surely as the LORD lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger.
Also, I will send a boy, saying to him, ‘Go and bring the arrows to me.’
22 But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, for the LORD has sent you away.
If I will say to the boy, ‘Behold, the arrows are before you, take them up,’ you shall approach before me, because there is peace for you, and there is nothing evil, as the Lord lives. But if I will have spoken to the boy in this way, ‘Behold, the arrows are away from you,’ then you shall go away in peace, for the Lord has released you.
23 And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”
Now about the word that you and I have spoken, may the Lord be between you and me, even forever.”
24 So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat.
Therefore, David was hidden in the field. And the new moon came, and the king sat down to eat bread.
25 He sat in his usual place by the wall, opposite Jonathan and beside Abner, but David’s place was empty.
And when the king had sat down on his chair, (according to custom) which was beside the wall, Jonathan rose up, and Abner sat beside Saul, and David’s place appeared empty.
26 Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.”
And Saul did not say anything on that day. For he was thinking that perhaps something happened to him, so that he was not clean, or not purified.
27 But on the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?”
And when the second day after the new moon had begun to dawn, David’s place again appeared empty. And Saul said to Jonathan, his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not arrived to eat, neither yesterday, nor today?”
28 Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem,
And Jonathan responded to Saul, “He petitioned me earnestly that he might go to Bethlehem,
29 saying, ‘Please let me go, because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go and see my brothers.’ That is why he did not come to the king’s table.”
and he said: ‘Permit me. For there is a solemn sacrifice in the city. One of my brothers has summoned me. Now therefore, if I have found favor in your eyes, I will go quickly, and I will see my brothers.’ For this reason, he has not come to the table of the king.”
30 Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the disgrace of the mother who bore you?
Then Saul, becoming angry against Jonathan, said to him: “You son of a woman wantonly seizing a man! Could I be ignorant that you love the son of Jesse, to your own shame, and to the shame of your disgraceful mother?
31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingship shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!”
For all the days that the son of Jesse moves upon earth, neither you, nor your kingdom, will be secure. And so, send and bring him to me, here and now. For he is a son of death.”
32 “Why must he be put to death?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?”
Then Jonathan, answering his father Saul, said: “Why should he die? What has he done?”
33 Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to kill him; so Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David.
And Saul picked up a lance, so that he might strike him. And Jonathan understood that it had been decided by his father that David be put to death.
34 Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger and did not eat any food that second day of the month, for he was grieved by his father’s shameful treatment of David.
Therefore, Jonathan rose up from the table in a rage of anger. And he did not eat bread on the second day after the new moon. For he was saddened over David, because his father had confounded him.
35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a small boy was with him.
And when the morning had begun to dawn, Jonathan went into the field according to the agreement with David, and a young boy was with him.
36 He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” And as the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.
And he said to his boy, “Go, and bring to me the arrows that I shoot.” And when the boy had run, he shot another arrow away from the boy.
37 When the boy reached the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called to him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?”
And so, the boy went to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot. And Jonathan cried out, from behind the back of boy, and said: “Behold, the arrow is there, farther away from you.”
38 Then Jonathan cried out, “Hurry! Make haste! Do not delay!” So the boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master.
And Jonathan cried out again, from behind the back of the boy, saying, “Go quickly! Do not stand still!” Then Jonathan’s boy collected the arrows, and he brought them to his lord.
39 But the boy did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement.
And he did not understand at all what was happening. For only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
40 Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the boy and said, “Go, take it back to the city.”
Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy, and he said to him, “Go, and carry them into the city.”
41 When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone, fell facedown, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept together—though David wept more.
And when the boy had gone away, David rose up from his place, which turned toward the south, and falling prone on the ground, he reverenced three times. And kissing one another, they wept together, but David more so.
42 And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city.
Then Jonathan said to David: “Go in peace. And let us both keep all that we have ever sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘May the Lord be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, even forever.’” And David rose up and went away. But Jonathan entered into the city.
