1 Samuel 20

1 Samuel 20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What did I do wrong? How have I sinned against your father so that he wants to take my throat?”

1 Samuel 20:2 Jonathan said to him, “No, you won’t die. Notice, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This can’t be true.”

1 Samuel 20:3 But David said, “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor with you. He has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or else he will be grieved.'” David also swore, “As surely as Yahveh lives and as your throat lives, there is but a step between me and death.”

1 Samuel 20:4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”

1 Samuel 20:5 So David told him, “Notice, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I’m supposed to sit down and eat with the king. Instead, let me go, and I’ll hide in the countryside for the next two nights.

1 Samuel 20:6 If your father misses me at all, say, ‘David urgently requested my permission to go quickly to his hometown Bethlehem for an annual sacrifice there involving the whole clan.’

1 Samuel 20:7 If he says, ‘Good,’ then your slave is safe, but if he becomes angry, you will know he has evil intentions.

1 Samuel 20:8 Deal kindly with your slave, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before Yahveh. If I have done anything wrong, then kill me yourself; why take me to your father?”

1 Samuel 20:9 “No!” Jonathan responded. “If I ever find out my father has evil intentions against you, wouldn’t I tell you about it?”

1 Samuel 20:10 So David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”

1 Samuel 20:11 He answered David, “Come on, let’s go out to the countryside.” So both of them went out to the countryside.

1 Samuel 20:12 “By Yahveh, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. Notice, if I find out that he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you?

1 Samuel 20:13 If my father intends to bring evil on you, may God punish Jonathan and do so severely if I do not tell you and send you away so you may leave safely. May Yahveh be with you, just as he was with my father.

1 Samuel 20:14 If I continue to live, show me kindness from Yahveh, but if I die,

1 Samuel 20:15 don’t ever withdraw your kindness from my household– not even when Yahveh cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the land.”

1 Samuel 20:16 Then Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May Yahveh hold David’s enemies accountable.”

1 Samuel 20:17 Jonathan once again swore to David in his love for him, because he loved him as he loved his throat.

1 Samuel 20:18 Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the New Moon; you’ll be missed because your seat will be empty.

1 Samuel 20:19 The following day hurry down and go to the place where you hid on the day this incident began and stay beside the rock Ezel.

1 Samuel 20:20 I will shoot three arrows beside it as if I’m aiming at a target.

1 Samuel 20:21 Then, notice, I will send a boy and say, ‘Go and find the arrows! ‘ Now, if I expressly say to the servant, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you– get them,’ then come, because as Yahveh lives, it is safe for you and there is no problem.

1 Samuel 20:22 But if I say this to the youth, Notice, the arrows are beyond you! ‘ then go, for Yahveh is sending you away.

1 Samuel 20:23 As for the matter you and I have spoken about, Ynotice, Yahveh will be a witness between you and me forever.”

1 Samuel 20:24 So David hid in the countryside. At the New Moon, the king sat down to eat the meal.

1 Samuel 20:25 He sat at his usual place on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat facing him and Abner took his place beside Saul, but David’s place was empty.

1 Samuel 20:26 Saul did not say anything that day because he thought, “Something unexpected has happened; he must be ceremonially unclean– yes, that’s it, he is unclean.”

1 Samuel 20:27 However, the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why didn’t Jesse’s son come to the meal either yesterday or today?”

1 Samuel 20:28 Jonathan answered, “David asked for my permission to go to Bethlehem.

1 Samuel 20:29 He said, ‘Please let me go because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the town, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if I have found favor with you, let me go so I can see my brothers.’ That’s why he didn’t come to the king’s table.”

1 Samuel 20:30 Then Saul became angry with Jonathan and shouted, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you are siding with Jesse’s son to your own shame and to the disgrace of your mother?

1 Samuel 20:31 Every day Jesse’s son lives on land you and your kingship are not secure. Now send for him and bring him to me– he must die!”

1 Samuel 20:32 Jonathan answered his father back: “Why is he to be killed? What has he done?”

1 Samuel 20:33 Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan to kill him, so he knew that his father was determined to kill David.

1 Samuel 20:34 He got up from the table fiercely angry and did not eat any food that second day of the New Moon, for he was grieved because of his father’s shameful behavior toward David.

1 Samuel 20:35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the countryside for the appointed meeting with David. A little boy was with him.

1 Samuel 20:36 He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I’m shooting.” As the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.

1 Samuel 20:37 The boy came to the location of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, but Jonathan called to him and said, “The arrow is beyond you, isn’t it?”

1 Samuel 20:38 Then Jonathan called to him, “Hurry up and don’t stop!” Jonathan’s boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master.

1 Samuel 20:39 He did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement.

1 Samuel 20:40 Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the boy who was with him and said, “Go, take it back to the city.”

1 Samuel 20:41 When the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone Ezel, fell facedown to the ground, and payed homage three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept with each other, though David wept more.

1 Samuel 20:42 Jonathan then said to David, “Go in the assurance the two of us pledged in the name of Yahveh when we said: Yahveh will be a witness between you and me and between my offspring and your offspring forever.” Then David left, and Jonathan went into the city.