1 Samuel 20:20-42 ▼

20 And I will shoot three arrows to the side, sending them out as though at a target.

21 And there I will send a boy: ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are here on this side and away from you, take them and come,’ then there is safety for you and there will be no matter, as YHWH lives.

22 But if thus I say to the young man: ‘Behold, the arrows are away from you and further beyond,’ then you must go, for YHWH has sent you away.

23 And as for the matter that we have spoken of—I and you—behold, YHWH is between me and between you even to forever.”

24 And David hid in the field; and the New Moon had come, and the king sat down by the food to eat.

25 And the king sat on his seat, as time by time, on a seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat at the side of Saul, and the place of David was found empty.

26 And Saul did not say anything on that day, for he said, “Something has happened to that he is not clean; he surely is not clean.”

27 And it came to pass on the next day, the second of the New Moon, that the place of David was found empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has not the son of Jesse come either yesterday or today to eat?”

28 And Jonathan answered Saul, “David urgently requested from me to go to Bethlehem,

29 and he said, ‘Let me go, please, for our clan has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother himself has commanded to me. And if I have found favor in your eyes, may I go away, please, and see my brothers.’ Upon thus he has not come to the table of the king.”

30 And the anger of Saul 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 shame, and to the shame of the nakedness of your mother?

31 For all the days that the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you and your kingdom shall not be established. And now send and bring him to me, for he is a son of death.”

32 And Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, “Why should he be killed? What has he done?”

33 And Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, and Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David.

34 And Jonathan arose from the table in the heat of anger, and he ate no food on the second day of the new moon, for he was grieved for David because his father had treated him shamefully.

35 And it came to pass in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field for the appointment with David, and a small boy was with him.

36 And he said to his boy, “Run, find now the arrows that I shoot.” The boy ran, and he shot an arrow beyond him.

37 And the boy had come to the place where the arrow was that Jonathan had shot, and Jonathan cried out after the boy and said, “Is not the arrow from you and beyond?”

38 And Jonathan cried out after the boy, “Hurry, hurry; do not delay.” And the boy of Jonathan gathered up the arrows and came back to his master.

39 And the boy did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew of the matter.

40 And Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy who was to him, and he said to him, “Go, bring them to the city.”

41 The boy had gone, and David arose from the side at the south, and he fell on his nostrils to the ground, and he bowed down three times. And they kissed one another, and they wept one with another. But David did so more.

42 And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, since the two of us have sworn in the name of YHWH, saying, ‘May YHWH be between me and between you and between my seed and between your seed, even to forever.’” And he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.