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?”
But David fled from Najoth, which is in Ramatha, and came and said to Jonathan: What have I done? what is my iniquity, and what is my sin against thy father, that he seeketh 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: God forbid, thou shalt not die: for my father will do nothing great or little, without first telling me: hath then my father hid this word only from me? no, this shall not 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: Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, and he will say: Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly as the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, there is but one step (as I may say) between me and death.
4 Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you desire, I will do for you.”
And Jonathan said to David: Whatsoever thy soul shall say to me, I will do for thee.
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.
And David said to Jonathan: Behold tomorrow is the new moon, and I according to custom am wont to sit beside the king to eat: let me go then that I may be hid in the field till 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 thy father look and inquire for me, thou shalt answer him: David asked me that he might run to Bethlehem his own city: because there are solemn sacrifices there for all his tribe.
7 If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant is safe, but if he is enraged, you will know he has evil intentions.
If he shall say, It is well: thy servant shall have peace: but if he be angry, know that his malice is come to 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?”
Deal mercifully then with thy servant: for thou hast brought me thy servant into a covenant of the Lord with thee. But if there be any iniquity in me, do thou kill me, and bring me not in to thy 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: Far be this from thee: for if I should certainly know that evil is determined by my father against thee, I could do no otherwise than tell thee.
10 Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
And David answered Jonathan: Who shall bring me word, if thy father should answer thee harshly concerning 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 were both of them 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 to David: O Lord God of Israel, if I shall discover my father’s mind, tomorrow or the day after, and there be any thing good for David, and I send not immediately to thee, and make it known to thee,
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 so and so to Jonathan and add still more. But if my father shall continue in malice against thee, I will discover it to thy ear, and will send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace, and the Lord be with thee, as he hath been 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, thou shalt shew me the kindness of the Lord: but 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.”
Thou shalt not take away thy kindness from my house for ever, when the Lord shall have rooted out the enemies of David, every one of them from the earth, may he take away Jonathan from his house, and may the Lord require it at the hands of David’s enemies.
16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD hold David’s enemies accountable.”
Jonathan therefore made a covenant with the house of David: and the Lord required it at the hands of David’s enemies.
17 And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.
And Jonathan swore again to David, because he loved him: for he loved him as 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 thou wilt be missed:
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 thy seat will be empty till after tomorrow. So thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place, where thou must be hid on the day when it is lawful to work, and thou shalt remain beside the stone, which 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 will shoot as if I were exercising myself at 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.
And I will send a boy, saying to him: Go and fetch me the arrows.
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 shall say to the boy: Behold the arrows are on this side of thee, take them up: come thou to me, because, there is peace to thee, and there is no evil, as the Lord liveth. But if I shall speak thus to the boy: Behold the arrows are beyond thee: go in peace, for the Lord hath sent thee away.
23 And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”
And concerning the word which I and thou have spoken, the Lord be between thee and me for ever.
24 So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat.
So David was hid 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 sat down upon his chair (according to custom) which was beside the wall, Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, 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 said nothing that day, for he thought it might have happened to him, that he was not clean, nor 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 was come, David’s place appeared empty again. And Saul said to Jonathan his son: Why cometh not the son of Isai to meat neither yesterday nor today?
28 Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem,
And Jonathan answered Saul: He asked leave of me earnestly to 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: Let me go, for there is a solemn sacrifice in the city, one of my brethren hath sent for me: and now if I have found favour in thy eyes, I will go quickly, and see my brethren. For this cause he came not to the king’s table.
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 being angry against Jonathan said to him: Thou son of a woman that is the ravisher of a man, do I not know that thou lovest the son of Isai to thy own confusion and to the confusion of thy shameless 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 as long as the son of Isai liveth upon earth, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Therefore now presently send, and fetch him to me: for he is the son of death.
32 “Why must he be put to death?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?”
And Jonathan answering Saul his father, said: Why shall he die: what hath 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 caught up a spear to strike him. And Jonathan understood that it was determined by his father to kill David.
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.
So Jonathan rose from the table in great anger, and did not eat bread on the second day after the new moon. For he was grieved for David, because his father had put him to confusion.
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 came, Jonathan went into the field, according to the appointment with David, and a little boy 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 fetch me the arrows which I shoot. And when the boy ran, he shot another arrow beyond 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?”
The boy therefore came to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot: and Jonathan cried after the boy, and said: Behold the arrow is there further beyond thee.
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 again after the boy, saying: Make haste speedily, stand not. And Jonathan’s boy gathered up the arrows, and brought them to his master:
39 But the boy did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement.
And he knew not at all what was doing: 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.”
Jonathan therefore gave his arms to the boy, and 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 was gone, David rose out of his place, which was towards the south, and falling on his face to the ground, adored thrice: and kissing one another, they wept together, but David more.
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.
And Jonathan said to David: Go in peace: and let all stand that we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying: The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And David arose, and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.
