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Samuel Chapter 20: 12-42
12 Then Jonathan said to
David: "By the LORD, the God of Israel, I will surely sound out my father by this
time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you
word and let you know? 13 But if my father is inclined to harm
you, may the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send
you away safely. May the LORD be with you as he has been with my father. 14 But show me unfailing kindness like that of the LORD as long as
I live, so that I may not be killed, 15 and do not ever cut
off your kindness from my family—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 call David's
enemies to account." 17 And Jonathan had David reaffirm
his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.
18 Then
Jonathan said to David: "Tomorrow is the New Moon festival. You will be missed,
because your seat will be empty. 19 The day after tomorrow,
toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by 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 a boy
and say, 'Go, find the arrows.' If I say to him, 'Look, the arrows are on this side of
you; bring them here,' then come, because, as surely as the LORD lives, you are safe;
there is no danger. 22 But if I say to the boy, 'Look, the
arrows are beyond you,' then you must go, because the LORD has sent you away. 23 And about the matter you and I discussed—remember, the LORD
is witness between you and me forever."
24 So David
hid in the field, and when the New Moon festival came, the king sat down to eat. 25 He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan,
and Abner sat next to Saul, but David's place was empty. 26
Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, "Something must have happened to David to
make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean." 27
But the next day, the second day of the month, David's place was empty again. Then Saul
said to his son Jonathan, "Why hasn't the son of Jesse come to the meal, either
yesterday or today?"
28 Jonathan
answered, "David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, 'Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice
in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes,
let me get away to see my brothers.' That is why he has not come to the king's
table."
30 Saul's
anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, "You son of a perverse and rebellious
woman! Don't I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the
shame of the mother who bore you? 31 As long as the son of
Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send and
bring him to me, for he must die!"
32
"Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" Jonathan asked his father. 33 But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew
that his father intended to kill David.
34 Jonathan
got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the month he did not eat,
because he was grieved at his father's shameful treatment of David.
35 In the
morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with
him, 36 and he said to the boy, "Run and find the arrows
I shoot." As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37
When the boy came to the place where Jonathan's arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out
after him, "Isn't the arrow beyond you?" 38 Then he
shouted, "Hurry! Go quickly! Don't stop!" The boy picked up the arrow and
returned to his master. 39 (The boy knew nothing of all this;
only Jonathan and David knew.) 40 Then Jonathan gave his
weapons to the boy and said, "Go, carry them back to town."
41 After
the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before
Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept
together—but David wept the most.
42 Jonathan
said to David, "Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name
of the LORD, saying, 'The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants
and my descendants forever.' " Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.
