1 Samuel 20
1 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?”
And David went in flight from Naioth in Ramah and came to Jonathan and said, What have I done? What is my crime and my sin against your father that he is attempting to take my life?
2 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!”
And he said to him, Far be the thought: you will not be put to death: see, my father does nothing, great or small, without giving me word of it: would he keep this secret from me? It is not so.
3 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.”
But David took his oath again and said, Your father sees that I am dear to you; so he says to himself, Let Jonathan have no idea of this, for it will be a grief to him; but as the Lord is living, and as your soul is living, there is only a step between me and death.
4 And Jonathan said to David, “Whatever your soul will tell me, I will do for you.”
Then Jonathan said to David, Whatever your desire is, I will do it for you.
5 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.
And David said to Jonathan, Tomorrow is the new moon, and I will not be seated with the king at his table: but let me go to a safe place in the country till the evening.
6 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.’
And if your father takes note of the fact that I am away, say, David made a request to me for himself that he might go to Beth-lehem, to his town: for it is the time when his family make their offering year by year.
7 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.
If he says, It is well, your servant will be at peace: but if he is angry, then it will be clear to you that he has an evil purpose in mind against me.
8 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.”
So, then, be kind to your servant; for you have been united with your servant in an agreement made before the Lord: but if there is any wrongdoing in me, put me to death yourself; why take me to your father?
9 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.”
And Jonathan said, Do not have such a thought: for if I saw that my father was designing evil against you, would I not give you word of it?
10 And David responded to Jonathan, “Who will repeat it to me, if your father may perhaps answer you harshly about me?”
Then David said to Jonathan, Who will give me word if your father gives you a rough answer?
11 And Jonathan said to David, “Come, and let us go out into the field.” And when they both had gone out into the field,
And Jonathan said to David, Come, let us go out into the country. And the two of them went out together into the open country.
12 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,
And Jonathan said to David, May the Lord, the God of Israel, be witness; when I have had a chance of talking to my father, about this time tomorrow, if his feelings to David are good, will I not send and give you the news?
13 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.
May the Lord's punishment be on Jonathan, if it is my father's pleasure to do you evil and I do not give you word of it and send you away so that you may go in peace: and may the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father.
14 And if I live, you shall show the mercy of the Lord to me. Yet truly, if I die,
And may you, while I am still living, O may you be kind to me, as the Lord is kind, and keep me from death!
15 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.”
And let not your mercy ever be cut off from my family, even when the Lord has sent destruction on all David's haters, cutting them off from the face of the earth.
16 Therefore, Jonathan formed a covenant with the house of David. And the Lord required it from the hands of the enemies of David.
And if it comes about that the name of Jonathan is cut off from the family of David, the Lord will make David responsible.
17 And Jonathan continued to swear to David, because he loved him. For he loved him like his own soul.
And Jonathan again took an oath to David, because of his love for him: for David was as dear to him as his very soul.
18 And Jonathan said to him: “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be sought.
Then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon: and it will be seen that you are not present, for there will be no one in your seat.
19 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.
And on the third day it will be specially noted, and you will go to the place where you took cover when the other business was in hand, waiting by the hill over there.
20 And I will shoot three arrows near it, and I will cast them as if I were practicing for myself toward a mark.
And on the third day I will send arrows from my bow against its side as if at a mark.
21 Also, I will send a boy, saying to him, ‘Go and bring the arrows to me.’
And I will send my boy to have a look for the arrow. And if I say to him, See, the arrow is on this side of you; take it up! then you may come; for there is peace for you and no evil, by the living Lord.
22 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.
But if I say to the boy, See, the arrow has gone past you: then go on your way, for the Lord has sent you away.
23 Now about the word that you and I have spoken, may the Lord be between you and me, even forever.”
As for what you and I were talking of, the Lord is between you and me for ever.
24 Therefore, David was hidden in the field. And the new moon came, and the king sat down to eat bread.
So David went to a secret place in the country: and when the new moon came, the king took his place at the feast.
25 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.
And the king took his seat, as at other times, by the wall: and Jonathan was in front, and Abner was seated by Saul's side, but there was no one in David's seat.
26 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.
But Saul said nothing that day, for his thought was, Something has taken place making him unclean; it is clear that he is not clean.
27 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?”
And on the day after the new moon, that is, the second day, there was still no one in David's seat: and Saul said to his son Jonathan, Why has the son of Jesse not come to the feast yesterday or today?
28 And Jonathan responded to Saul, “He petitioned me earnestly that he might go to Bethlehem,
And answering Saul, Jonathan said, He made a request to me that he might go to Beth-lehem,
29 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.”
Saying, Our family is making an offering in the town, and my brothers have given me orders to be there: so now, if I have grace in your eyes, let me go away and see my brothers. This is why he has not come to the king's table.
30 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?
Then Saul was moved to wrath against Jonathan, and he said to him, You son of an evil and uncontrolled woman, have I not seen how you have given your love to the son of Jesse, to your shame and the shame of your mother?
31 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.”
For while the son of Jesse is living on the earth, your position is unsafe and your kingdom is in danger. So make him come here to me, for it is certainly right for him to be put to death.
32 Then Jonathan, answering his father Saul, said: “Why should he die? What has he done?”
And Jonathan, answering his father Saul, said to him, Why is he to be put to death? What has he done?
33 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.
And Saul, pointing his spear at him, made an attempt to give him a wound: from which it was clear to Jonathan that his father's purpose was to put David to death.
34 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.
So Jonathan got up from the table, burning with wrath, and took no part in the feast the second day of the month, being full of grief for David because his father had put shame on him.
35 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.
Now in the morning, Jonathan went out into the fields at the time he had said to David, and he had a little boy with him.
36 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.
And he said to the boy, Go and get the arrow I let loose from my bow. And while the boy was running, he sent an arrow past him.
37 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.”
And when the boy came to the place where the arrow was, Jonathan, crying out after the boy, said, Has it not gone past you?
38 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.
And Jonathan went on crying out after the boy, Be quick, do not keep waiting about, go quickly. And Jonathan's boy got the arrow and came back to his master.
39 And he did not understand at all what was happening. For only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
But the boy had no idea what was going on; only Jonathan and David had knowledge of it.
40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy, and he said to him, “Go, and carry them into the city.”
And Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to the boy, and said to him, Take these and go back to the town.
41 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.
And when the boy had gone, David came from his secret place by the hill, and falling to the earth went down on his face three times: and they gave one another a kiss, weeping together, till David's grief was the greater.
42 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.
And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, for we two have taken an oath, in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord will be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed for ever. Then David went away, and Jonathan went into the town.
