1 Samuel 20
1 And David flees from Naioth in Ramah, and comes, and says before Jonathan, “What have I done? What [is] my iniquity? And what [is] my sin before your father, that he is seeking 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 says to him, “Far be it! You do not die; behold, my father does not do anything great or small and does not uncover my ear; and why does my father hide this thing from me? This [thing] is not.”
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 David swears again and says, “Your father has certainly known that I have found grace in your eyes, and he says, Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he is grieved; and yet, YHWH lives, and your soul lives, but—as a step between me and 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 says to David, “What does your soul [desire]? Command and I do it for you.”
Then Jonathan said to David, Whatever your desire is, I will do it for you.
5 And David says to Jonathan, “Behold, the new moon [is] tomorrow; and I certainly sit with the king to eat; and you have sent me away, and I have been hidden in a field until the third evening;
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 looks after me at all, then you have said, David earnestly asked of me to run to his city of Beth-Lehem, for there [is] a sacrifice of the days for all the family.
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 thus he says: Good; [there is] peace for your servant; and if it is very displeasing to him—know that the evil has been determined by him;
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 and you have done kindness to your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of YHWH with you—and if there is iniquity in me, put me to death yourself; for why [is] this [that] you bring me 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 says, “Far be it from you! For I certainly do not know that the evil has been determined by my father to come on you, and I do not declare 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 says to Jonathan, “Who declares [it] to me? Or what [if] your father answers you sharply?”
Then David said to Jonathan, Who will give me word if your father gives you a rough answer?
11 And Jonathan says to David, “Come, and we go out into the field”; and both of them go 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 And Jonathan says to David, “YHWH, God of Israel, [is my witness]—when I search out my father about [this] time tomorrow [or] the third [day], and behold, [there is] good toward David, and I do not then send to you, and have uncovered your ear—
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 thus YHWH does to Jonathan, and thus He adds; when the evil concerning you is good to my father, then I have uncovered your ear, and sent you away, and you have gone in peace, and YHWH is with you, 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 not only while I am alive do you do the kindness of YHWH with me, and I do not 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 but you do not cut off your kindness from my house for all time, nor in YHWH’s cutting off the enemies of David, each one from off the face of the ground.”
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 So Jonathan cuts [a covenant] with the house of David, and YHWH has sought [it] from the hand 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 adds to cause David to swear, because he loves him, for he has loved him [as] the love [for] 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 says to him, “Tomorrow [is] the new moon, and you have been looked after, for your seat is looked after;
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 and on the third day you certainly come down, and have come to the place where you were hidden in the day of the work, and have remained near the stone of 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 shoot three of the arrows at the side, sending out at a mark for myself;
And on the third day I will send arrows from my bow against its side as if at a mark.
21 and behold, I send the youth, [saying], Go, find the arrows. If I say to the youth at all, Behold, the arrows [are] on this side of you—take them and come, for [there is] peace for you, and there is no [adverse] word—[as] YHWH lives.
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 And if thus I say to the young man, Behold, the arrows [are] beyond you—go, for YHWH has sent you away;
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 as for the thing which you and I have spoken, behold, YHWH [is] between me and you for all time.”
As for what you and I were talking of, the Lord is between you and me for ever.
24 And David is hidden in the field, and it is the new moon, and the king sits down by the food to eat,
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 the king sits on his seat, as time by time, on a seat by the wall, and Jonathan rises, and Abner sits at the side of Saul, and David’s place is looked after.
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 has not spoken anything on that day, for he said, “It [is] an accident; he is not clean—surely not clean.”
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 it comes to pass on the second day of the new moon, that David’s place is looked after, and Saul says to his son Jonathan, “Why has the son of Jesse not come in, either yesterday or today, to the food?”
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 answers Saul, “David has earnestly asked [permission] from me [to go] to Beth-Lehem,
And answering Saul, Jonathan said, He made a request to me that he might go to Beth-lehem,
29 and he says, Please send me away, for we have a family sacrifice in the city, and my brother has given command to me himself, and now, if I have found grace in your eyes, please let me go away and see my brothers; therefore 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 And the anger of Saul burns against Jonathan, and he says to him, “Son of a perverse [woman] of rebellion! Have I not known that you are fixing on the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of the nakedness of your 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 lives on the ground you are not established, you and your kingdom; and now, send and bring him to me, 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 And Jonathan answers his father Saul and says to him, “Why is he put to death? 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 casts the javelin at him to strike him, and Jonathan knows that it has been determined by his father to put David 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 And Jonathan rises from the table in the heat of anger, and has not eaten food on the second day of the new moon, for he has been grieved for David, for his father put him to shame.
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 it comes to pass in the morning, that Jonathan goes out into the field for the appointment with David, and a little youth [is] 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 says to his youth, “Now run, find the arrows which I am shooting”; the youth is running, and he has shot the arrow, causing [it] to pass over him.
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 the youth comes to the place of the arrow which Jonathan has shot, and Jonathan calls after the youth, and says, “Is the arrow not beyond 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 calls after the youth, “Speed, hurry, do not stand”; and Jonathan’s youth gathers the arrows, and comes 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 the youth has not known anything, only Jonathan and David knew the word.
But the boy had no idea what was going on; only Jonathan and David had knowledge of it.
40 And Jonathan gives his weapons to the youth whom he has and says to him, “Go, carry 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 The youth has gone, and David has risen from Ezel, at the south, and falls on his face to the earth, and bows himself three times, and they kiss one another, and they weep with one another, until David exerted himself;
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 and Jonathan says to David, “Go in peace, in that we have sworn—the two of us—in the Name of YHWH, saying, YHWH is between me and you, and between my seed and your seed—for all time”; and he rises and goes; and Jonathan has gone 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.
