1 Samuel 20
1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah, went to Jonathan, and said, “What have I done? What is my guilt, and what is my sin against your father, that he is trying to take my life?”
2 He answered him, “Absolutely not! You will not die. Look, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. Why would my father hide this from me? It cannot be so.”
3 David swore again, saying, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thought, ‘Jonathan must not know this, or he will be grieved.’ But as surely as the LORD lives, and as surely as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”
4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you desire, I will do for you.”
5 David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I should sit with the king to eat. Let me go, and I will hide in the field until the evening of the third day.
6 If your father notices I am missing, say, ‘David earnestly asked me for permission to run to Bethlehem, his city, because the whole family holds its annual sacrifice there.’
7 If he says, ‘That is fine,’ then your servant will be safe. But if he becomes very angry, know that he is determined to do evil.
8 Show kindness to your servant, for you brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you. If I am guilty, kill me yourself; why bring me to your father?”
9 Jonathan answered, “Absolutely not! If I learn that my father is determined to do you harm, would I not tell you?”
10 David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father gives you a harsh answer?”
11 Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So the two of them went out into the field.
12 Jonathan said to David, “By the LORD, the God of Israel! Tomorrow or the day after, about this time, I will sound out my father. If he is well disposed toward David, will I not send word to you and let you know?
13 If my father is determined to do you harm, and I do not tell you and send you away so that you may go in peace, may the LORD do so to Jonathan, and more besides. May the LORD be with you, as he was with my father.
14 And while I am still alive, will you not show me the LORD’s kindness, so that I do not die?
15 Never withdraw your kindness from my family, not even when the LORD wipes every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
16 Jonathan made a covenant with David’s family, saying that the LORD would call David’s enemies to account.
17 Jonathan had David swear again, because of his love for him; he loved him as he loved his own life.
18 Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, because your place will be empty.
19 The day after tomorrow, go down quickly to the place where you hid on the day of that incident, and wait beside the stone of Ezel.
20 I will shoot three arrows to one side of it, as though shooting at a target.
21 Then I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are this side of you; pick them up,’ then come, for all is well with you, and there is nothing wrong, as surely as the LORD lives.”
22 “But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, for the LORD is sending you away.
23 As for the matter we have discussed, you and I, the LORD is between me and you forever.”
24 David hid in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat down at the table to eat.
25 The king sat in his usual place, by the wall. Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat beside Saul; David’s place was empty.
26 Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him; he is unclean. Surely he is unclean.”
27 The next day, the second day of the new moon, David’s place was empty again. Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”
28 Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem.
29 He said, ‘Please let me go, because our family is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has ordered me to be there. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me slip away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
30 Saul was furious with Jonathan and said to him, “You son of a rebellious, perverse woman! Don’t I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse, to your shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?
31 As long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be secure. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he deserves to die.”
32 Jonathan answered Saul his father, saying, “Why should he die? What has he done?”
33 Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him. Then Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David.
34 Jonathan got up from the table in anger and ate nothing on the second day of the new moon, because he was grieved over David, for his father had humiliated him.
35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his appointed meeting with David, and a young boy was with him.
36 He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” The boy ran, and Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.
37 When the boy reached the place where Jonathan’s arrow had landed, Jonathan called after him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?”
38 Jonathan called after the boy again, “Hurry! Run! Don’t stop!” Jonathan’s boy gathered the arrows and returned to his master.
39 The boy knew nothing; only Jonathan and David knew what was going on.
40 Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy who was with him and said, “Go, take them to the city.”
41 As soon as the boy had gone, David rose from the south side, fell facedown on the ground, and bowed three times. They kissed each other and wept together, until David wept even more.
42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have both sworn by the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD will be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants, forever.’”
Read and listen to this chapter in the Shalem app, free: narration, chapter video and reading progress. Get the app