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David and Jonathan Covenant20
1Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and a1 Sam 24:9said [E]Lit before to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? And what is my sin before your father, that he is seeking my life?” 2He said to him, “Far from it, you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small [F]Lit and he does not uncover my earwithout disclosing it to me. So why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!” 3Yet David aDeut 6:13 vowed again, [G]Lit and said saying, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your sight, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be grieved.’ But truly b1 Sam 25:26; 2 Kin 2:6as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is [H]Lit about hardly a step between me and death.” 4Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever [I]Lit your soul saysyou say, I will do for you.” 5So David said to Jonathan, “Behold, tomorrow is aNum 10:10; 28:11-15; Amos 8:5 the new moon, and I ought b1 Sam 20:24, 27 to sit down to eat with the king. But let me go, c1 Sam 19:2that I may hide myself in the field until the third evening. 6“If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me to run to a1 Sam 17:58 Bethlehem his city, because it is bDeut 12:5; 1 Sam 9:12the yearly sacrifice there for the whole family.’ 7“If he [J]Lit says thus says, ‘It is good,’ your servant will be safe; but if he is very angry, a1 Sam 25:17know that he has decided on evil. 8“Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for a1 Sam 18:3; 23:18 you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. But b2 Sam 14:32if there is iniquity in me, put me to death yourself; for why then should you bring me to your father?” 9Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I should indeed learn that evil has been decided by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you about it?” 10Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me [K]Lit or whatif your father answers you harshly?” 11Jonathan said to David, “Come, and let us go out into the field.” So both of them went out to the field.
12Then Jonathan said to David, “The Lord, the God of Israel, be witness! When I have sounded out my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if there is good feeling toward David, shall I not then send to you and [L]Lit uncover your earmake it known to you? 13“If it please my father to do you harm, aRuth 1:17; 1 Sam 3:17 may the Lord do so to Jonathan and more also, if I do not [M]Lit uncover your ear make it known to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And bJosh 1:5; 1 Sam 17:37; 18:12; 1 Chr 22:11, 16may the Lord be with you as He has been with my father. 14“If I am still alive, will you not show me the lovingkindness of the Lord, that I may not die? 15“a2 Sam 9:1, 3You shall not cut off your lovingkindness from my house forever, not even when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” 16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “aDeut 23:21; 1 Sam 25:22May the Lord require it at the hands of David’s enemies.” 17Jonathan made David vow again because of his love for him, because a1 Sam 18:1he loved him as he loved his own life.
18Then Jonathan said to him, “a1 Sam 20:5, 25Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed because your seat will be empty. 19“When you have stayed for three days, you shall go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself on that eventful day, and you shall remain by the stone Ezel. 20“I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target. 21“And behold, I will send the lad, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I specifically say to the lad, ‘Behold, the arrows are on this side of you, get them,’ then come; for there is safety for you and [N]Lit there is nothingno harm, as the Lord lives. 22“But if I [O]Lit say thus say to the youth, ‘a1 Sam 20:37Behold, the arrows are beyond you,’ go, for the Lord has sent you away. 23“a1 Sam 20:14, 15 As for the [P]Lit word agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, bGen 31:49, 53; 1 Sam 20:42the Lord is between you and me forever.”
24So David hid in the field; and when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food. 25The king sat on his seat as usual, the seat by the wall; then Jonathan rose up and Abner sat down by Saul’s side, but a1 Sam 20:18David’s place was empty. 26Nevertheless Saul did not speak anything that day, for he thought, “It is an accident, aLev 7:20, 21; 15:5; 1 Sam 16:5he is not clean, surely he is not clean.” 27It came about the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David’s place was empty; so Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today?” 28Jonathan then answered Saul, “a1 Sam 20:6David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem, 29for he said, ‘Please [Q]Lit send me awaylet me go, since our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to attend. And now, if I have found favor in your sight, please let me get away that I may see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king’s table.”
Saul Is Angry with Jonathan
30Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you are choosing the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? 31“For [R]Lit all the days which as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Therefore now, send and bring him to me, for a2 Sam 12:5he [S]Lit is a son of death must surely die.” 32But Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, “aGen 31:36; 1 Sam 19:5; Prov 31:9; Matt 27:23Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” 33Then a1 Sam 18:11; 19:10 Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him down; b1 Sam 20:7so Jonathan knew that his father had decided to put David to death. 34Then Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did not eat food on the second day of the new moon, for he was grieved over David because his father had dishonored him.
35Now it came about in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field for the appointment with David, and a little lad was with him. 36He said to his lad, “a1 Sam 20:20, 21Run, find now the arrows which I am about to shoot.” As the lad was running, he shot [T]Lit the an arrow past him. 37When the lad reached the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the lad and said, “a1 Sam 20:22Is not the arrow beyond you?” 38And Jonathan called after the lad, “Hurry, be quick, do not stay!” And Jonathan’s lad picked up the arrow and came to his master. 39But the lad was not aware of anything; only Jonathan and David knew about the matter. 40Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad and said to him, “Go, bring them to the city.” 41When the lad was gone, David rose from the south side and fell on his face to the ground, and aGen 42:6 bowed three times. And they kissed each other and wept together, but b1 Sam 18:3David wept the more. 42Jonathan said to David, “a1 Sam 20:22 Go in safety, inasmuch as we have sworn to each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘b1 Sam 20:15, 16, 23The Lord will be between me and you, and between my [U]Lit seed descendants and your [V]Lit seed descendants forever.’” [W]Ch 21:1 in Heb Then he rose and departed, while Jonathan went into the city.
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