1 Samuel 20

1Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came to Jonathan and said, “What have I done? What is my guilt? What is my sin against your father, that he is trying to take my life?”

2Jonathan said to him, “Far from it! You will not die. Look, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. Why would my father hide this from me? It is not so!”

3But David took an oath again and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor with you, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this, or he will be grieved.’ But as surely as Yahweh lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”

4Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want, I will do for you.”

5David said to Jonathan, “Look, tomorrow is the new moon festival, and I am expected to sit and eat with the king. But let me go, and I will hide in the field until the evening of the third day.

6If your father misses me at all, say, ‘David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because the annual sacrifice for the whole clan is being held there.’

7If he says, ‘Good,’ your servant is safe. But if he becomes angry, you will know that he has made up his mind to harm me.

8So show kindness to your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant with you before Yahweh. If I am guilty, kill me yourself. Why should you hand me over to your father?”

9Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! If I ever found out that my father had made up his mind to bring harm on you, would I not tell you?”

10David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”

11Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So the two of them went out into the field.

12Then Jonathan said to David, “By Yahweh, the God of Israel: I will sound out my father about this time tomorrow, or the day after. If he is well disposed toward David, will I not then send word to you and let you know?

13But if my father intends to harm you, may Yahweh deal with Jonathan severely, and more so, if I do not let you know and send you away, so that you may go safely. May Yahweh be with you as he has been with my father.

14And if I am still alive, will you not show me the steadfast love of Yahweh, so that I do not die?

15Never cut off your kindness from my family, not even when Yahweh cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”

16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May Yahweh call David’s enemies to account.”

17And Jonathan had David swear again because of his love for him, for he loved him as he loved himself.

18Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon festival, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.

19On the third day, go down quickly to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait beside the stone Ezel.

20I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target.

21Then I will send the boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,’ then come, for as surely as Yahweh lives, you are safe and there is no danger.

22But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, for Yahweh has sent you away.

23As for the matter you and I have spoken about, Yahweh is witness between you and me forever.”

24So David hid in the field. When the new moon festival came, the king sat down to eat the meal.

25The king sat in his usual seat by the wall. Jonathan stood, Abner sat beside Saul, and David’s place was empty.

26Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him. He is ceremonially unclean; surely he is unclean.”

27But on the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was empty again. Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”

28Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked my permission to go to Bethlehem.

29He said, ‘Please let me go, because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the town, and my brother has ordered me to be there. Now if I have found favor with you, please let me slip away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”

30Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have sided with the son of Jesse, to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?

31As long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be secure. Now send and bring him to me, for he must die.”

32Jonathan answered his father Saul, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”

33But Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him down. Then Jonathan knew that his father had made up his mind to kill David.

34Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger and ate no food on the second day of the month, because he was grieved over David, and because his father had humiliated him.

35In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the meeting with David, and a small boy was with him.

36He said to his boy, “Run, find the arrows I am shooting.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

37When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called after the boy, “Is the arrow not beyond you?”

38Jonathan called after the boy, “Hurry! Be quick! Do not stop!” Jonathan’s boy gathered up the arrows and came back to his master.

39The boy knew nothing; only Jonathan and David knew what it meant.

40Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, “Go, carry them to the town.”

41As soon as the boy had gone, David got up from his place on the south side, fell facedown on the ground, and bowed three times. They kissed each other and wept together, but David wept the most.

42Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn to each other in the name of Yahweh, saying, ‘Yahweh will be witness between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants forever.’” Then David got up and left, and Jonathan went back to the town.