1 Samuel 20Previous Chapter | Next ChapterDavid and Jonathan’s DIscussion1David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and said, “What have I done? What is my crime, and how have I wronged your father so that he’s determined to kill me?Lit. seeks my life2JonathanLit. Hesaid to him, “Far from it! You won’t die. Look, my father never does anything, great or small, without telling me;Lit. revealing it in my earso why should my father hide this thing from me? It’s not like that!”3David again took an oath, saying, “Your father certainly knows that I’ve found favor with you, and so he said to himself,The Heb. lacks to himself‘Jonathan must not know this so he won’t be upset.’ But as surely as the LORD lives and as surely as I live, there is only a step between me and death.”4Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I’ll do.”5David said to Jonathan, “Look, the new moon is tomorrow, and I’m expected to sit down with the king to eat. Let me go so I can hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow.Lit. until the third evening6If your father actually notices that I’m not there,The Heb. lacks that I’m not therethen you shall say, ‘David urgently requested that I allow him to run to his hometown of Bethlehem because the yearly sacrifice for the entire family was taking place there.7If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant will be safe.Lit. there will be peace for your servantBut if he actually gets angry, you will know that his intentions are evil.Lit. that evil has been determined by him8Now, show gracious kindness to your servant because you have entered into a sacred covenantLit. a covenant of the LORDwith your servant. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself—why should you bring me to your father?”9Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I actually knew that my father intended evil against you, wouldn’t I tell you about it?”10Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?” David and Jonathan Make a Covenant11Then Jonathan said to David, “Come, let’s go into the field.” So the two of them went into the field.12Jonathan said to David, “The LORD God of Israel is my witnessThe Heb. lacks is my witnessthat I’ll carefully question my father by tomorrow or the next day. And if the responseLit. itis favorable for David, will I not then send wordThe Heb. lacks wordto you and let you know?Lit. reveal in your ear13But if my father intends to harm you, may the LORD strike me deadLit. may the LORD do to Jonathan and more also;This oath would have been accompanied by some symbolic action such as such simulating the plunge of a knife into one’s heart.if I don’t let you know and send you away so you may go safely. May the LORD be with you as he has been with my father.14If I remain alive, don’t fail to show me the LORD’s gracious love so that I don’t die.15And don’t stop showing your gracious love to my family forever, not even when the LORD cuts off each one of David’s enemies from the surface of the earth.”16Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD punish any violation of this covenant by the hand of David’s enemies.”Lit. may the LORD seek from the hand of David’s enemies17Jonathan made David vow again out of his love for him, because he loved him as himself. Jonathan’s Signal to David18Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed because your seat is empty.19On the third day go down quickly and come to the place where you hid earlier.Lit. on the day of the eventRemain beside the rock at Ezel.20I’ll shoot three arrows to the side of the rockThe Heb. lacks of the rockas though I were shooting at a target.21Then I’ll send a servant,Or boysaying,The Heb. lacks saying‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I specifically say to the servant,Or boy‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you, get them,’ then come out because it’s safe for you, and, as surely as the LORD lives, there is no danger.Lit. thing22But if I say this to the young man: ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, for the LORD has sent you away.23As for the matter about which you and I spoke, remember thatOr look,the LORD is a witnessThe Heb. lacks a witnessbetween us forever.” Jonathan Intercedes for David24David hid in the field. When the new moon arrived, the king sat down to eat.25The king sat down at his place as before, in the seat by the wall. Jonathan stood while Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty.26Saul didn’t say anything that day because he said to himself,The Heb. lacks to himself“Something has happened;he’s unclean;surely he’s not clean.”27But the next day, on the second day of the new moon, David’s place was empty, and so Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why didn’t the son of Jesse come to the feast, either yesterday or today?”28Jonathan answered Saul, “David urgently requested that I let him go to Bethlehem.29He said, ‘Please let me go because our family has a sacrifice in the town, and my brother has ordered me to come. Now, if it’s acceptable to you,Lit. if I have found favor in your eyesplease let me get away so I can see my brothers.’ That’s the reason he didn’t come to the king’s table.” Saul’s Anger Toward Jonathan30Saul was angry with Jonathan and said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman!I.e. You perverse and rebellious woman!Don’t I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your shame and to the shame of your mother who bore you?Lit. to the shame of your mother’s nakedness31For as long asLit. all the days thatthe son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established! Now send someone and bring him to me. He’s a dead man!”32Jonathan answered his father Saul, saying to him, “Why should he be killed? What did he do?”33Then Saul threw the spear that was beside him to strike JonathanLit. himdown. So Jonathan realized that his father was determined to kill David.34So on the second day of the new moon Jonathan angrily got up from the table without eating because he was upset about David, and because his father had humiliated him. Jonathan Warns David35In the morning Jonathan, accompanied by a servant,Lit. young manwent out to the field for the appointment with David.36JonathanLit. Hesaid to his servant,Lit. young man“Run, find the arrows that I’m shooting.” As the servantLit. young manran, JonathanLit. heshot the arrow beyond him.37The servantLit. young mancame to the place where Jonathan had shot it, and Jonathan called out to him,Lit. young man“The arrow is beyond you, isn’t it?”38Jonathan called out to the servant,Lit. young man“Hurry, be quick, don’t stand around.” Jonathan’s servantLit. young manpicked up the arrow and brought it to his master.39The servant was not aware of anything. Only Jonathan and David understood what had happened.Lit. the matter40Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the servantLit. young manwho was with him and said to him, “Go, take these things to the city.”41The servantLit. young manwent. Then David came out from the south side of the rock,The Heb. lacks of the rockfell on his face, and bowed down three times. The men kissed each other, and both of them cried, but David even more.42Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace since both of us swore in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants forever.’” This sentence is 21:1 in the MTThen DavidLit. hegot up and left, while Jonathan went to the city.
2Jonathan
