1 Samuel 20

¹ David fled from Naioth at Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my guilt? What is my sin before your father, that he is seeking my life?"

² He said to him, "Far from it! You shall not die. My father does nothing great or small without disclosing it to me. Why would my father hide this from me? It is not so."

³ But David swore again and said, "Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thinks, 'Jonathan must not know this, lest he be grieved.' But as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death."

⁴ Jonathan said to David, "Whatever you say, I will do for you."

⁵ David said to Jonathan, "Tomorrow is the new moon, and I should certainly be sitting with the king to eat. Let me go so that I may hide 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 Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for the whole clan.'

⁷ "If he says, 'Good,' your servant is safe. But if he becomes angry, know that harm has been determined by him.

⁸ "Deal faithfully with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you. But if there is guilt in me, kill me yourself. Why should you bring me to your father?"

⁹ Jonathan said, "Far be it from you! If I knew that harm had been determined by my father to come upon you, would I not tell you?"

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

¹¹ Jonathan said to David, "Come, let us go out into the field." So they both went out into the field.

¹² 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—if there is good toward David, and I do not then send and disclose it to you,

¹³ may the LORD do so to Jonathan and more also if my father intends harm toward you—I will disclose it to you and send you away, so that you may go in peace. May the LORD be with you as he was with my father.

¹⁴ "And may you—if I am still alive—may you show me the faithful love of the LORD, so that I do not die;

¹⁵ and may you never cut off your faithful love from my house—not even when the LORD has cut off every one of David's enemies from the face of the earth."

¹⁶ So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "May the LORD require it at the hand of David's enemies."

¹⁷ Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

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

¹⁹ "On the third day, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed, and remain beside the stone Ezel.

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

²¹ "Then I will send the boy, saying, 'Go, find the arrows.' If I specifically say to the boy, 'Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them'—then come, for it is safe for you and there is nothing wrong, as the LORD lives.

²² "But if I say to the youth, 'Look, the arrows are beyond you'—go, for the LORD has sent you away.

²³ "As for the matter of which you and I have spoken, the LORD is between you and me forever."

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

²⁵ The king sat on his seat as usual, on the seat by the wall. Jonathan rose, and Abner sat beside Saul, but David's place was empty.

²⁶ Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, "Something has happened to him. He is not clean; surely he is not clean."

²⁷ But on the second day, the day after the new moon, David's place was empty. Saul said to Jonathan his son, "Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today?"

²⁸ Jonathan answered Saul, "David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem.

²⁹ He said, 'Please let me go, for our clan has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away and see my brothers.' That is why he has not come to the king's table."

³⁰ Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, "You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?

³¹ "For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send and bring him to me, for he is a son of death."

³² Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?"

³³ Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him, and Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death.

³⁴ Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food on the second day of the new moon, for he was grieved for David because his father had dishonored him.

³⁵ In the morning Jonathan went out to the field at the appointed time with David, and a small boy was with him.

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

³⁷ When the boy came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the boy and said, "Is not the arrow beyond you?"

³⁸ Jonathan called after the boy, "Hurry, be quick, do not stand still!" Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows and came to his master.

³⁹ The boy knew nothing; only Jonathan and David knew the matter.

⁴⁰ Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, "Go, carry them to the city."

⁴¹ As soon as the boy was gone, David rose from beside the south side and fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. They kissed each other and wept with each other, until David wept greatly.

⁴² Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, 'The LORD shall be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever.'" Then he rose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.