CHAPTER 20
Then David
fled
from Naioth
in Ramah.
He came
to
Jonathan
and asked,
“What
have I done?
What is
my iniquity?
How
have I sinned
against
your father,
that
he wants to take
my life?”
“Far from it!”
Jonathan replied.
“You will not
die.
Indeed,
my father
does nothing,
great
or
small,
without
telling
me.
So why
would he
hide
this
matter
from me?
This cannot be true!”
But David
again
vowed,
“Your father
knows very well
that
I have found
favor
in your eyes,
and he has said,
‘Jonathan
must not
know
of this,
or
he will be grieved.’
As surely as
the LORD
lives
and as you
yourself live,
there is but a step
between me
and
death."
So David
told
him,
“Look,
tomorrow
is the New Moon,
and I am
supposed to dine
with
the king.
Instead, let me go
and hide
in the field
until
the third
evening from now.
If
your father
misses me
at all,
tell him,
‘David
urgently requested
my permission
to hurry
to Bethlehem,
his hometown,
because
there is
an annual
sacrifice
for his whole
clan.’
If
he says,
‘Good,’
then your servant
is safe,
but if
he is enraged,
you will know
he has evil
intentions.
Therefore deal
faithfully
with
your servant,
for
you have brought
me
into a covenant
with
you before the LORD.
If
there is
iniquity
in me,
then kill
me yourself;
why
should you bring
me to
your father?”
“Never!”
Jonathan
replied.
“If
I ever found out
my father
has evil
intentions
against you,
would I not
tell you?”
and Jonathan
said,
“By the LORD,
the God
of Israel,
I will sound out
my father
by this time
tomorrow
or the next day.
If
he is favorable
toward
you,
will I not
send
for you
and tell
you?
But if
my father
intends
to
bring evil
on you,
then may the LORD
punish
me,
and ever so
severely,
if I do not tell
you
and send you on your way
in safety.
May the LORD
be
with you,
just as
He has been
with
my father.
and do not
ever
cut off
your loving devotion
from
my household—
not
even when the LORD
cuts off
every one
of David’s
enemies
from
the face
of the earth.”
So Jonathan
made a covenant
with
the house
of David, saying,
“May the LORD
hold
David’s
enemies
accountable.”
And Jonathan
had David
reaffirm
his vow
out of love
for him,
for
Jonathan loved David
as he loved
himself.
Then Jonathan
said
to David,
“Tomorrow
is the New Moon,
and you will be missed
if
your seat
is empty.
When you have stayed three days,
hurry
down
to
the place
you hid
on the day
this trouble began,
and remain
beside
the stone
Ezel.
Then I will send
a boy and say,
‘Go,
find
the arrows!’
Now, if
I expressly say
to him,
‘Look,
the arrows
are on this side
of you;
bring them,’
then come,
because
as surely as the LORD
lives,
it is safe
for you
and there is no
danger.
But if
I say
to the young man,
‘Look,
the arrows are
beyond you,’
then
you must go,
for
the LORD
has sent you away.
And as for the matter
you
and I
have discussed,
the LORD
is a witness between
you and me
forever.”
He
sat
in
his usual
place
by the wall,
opposite
Jonathan
and
beside
Abner,
but David’s
place
was empty.
Saul
said
nothing
that
day
because
he thought,
“Something has happened to
David
to make him ceremonially unclean—
surely
he is
unclean.”
But
on the day after
the New Moon,
the second day,
David’s
place
was still empty,
and Saul
asked
his son
Jonathan,
“Why
hasn't
the son
of Jesse
come
to
the meal
either
yesterday
or today?"
saying,
‘Please
let me go
because
our clan
is holding a sacrifice
in the city,
and my brother
has told
me to be there.
So now,
if
I have found
favor
in your eyes,
please
let me go
and see
my brothers.’
That is why
he did not
come
to
the king’s
table."
Then Saul's
anger
burned
against Jonathan,
and he said
to him,
“You son
of a perverse
and rebellious woman!
Do I not
know
that
you
have chosen
the son
of Jesse
to your own shame
and to the disgrace
of the mother
who bore you?
Every
day
the son
of Jesse
lives
on
earth,
neither
you
nor your kingship
shall be established.
Now
send for him
and bring
him
to me,
for
he
must surely die!”
Then Saul
hurled
his spear
at Jonathan
to kill him;
so Jonathan
knew
that
his father
was determined
to kill
David.
Jonathan
got up
from
the table
in fierce
anger
and did not
eat
any food
that second
day
of the month,
for
he was grieved
by
his father’s
shameful treatment
of
David.
In the morning
Jonathan
went out
to the field
for the appointment
with David,
and a small
boy
was with him.
He said
to the boy,
“Run
and find
the arrows I
shoot.”
And as the boy
ran,
Jonathan
shot
an arrow
beyond him.
When the boy
reached
the place where
Jonathan's
arrow
had fallen,
Jonathan
called
to
him,
“Isn't
the arrow
beyond you?”
Then Jonathan
cried out,
“Hurry!
Make haste!
Do not
delay!”
So the boy
picked up the arrow
and returned
to
his master.
When the young man
had gone,
David
got up
from the south
side of the stone,
fell
facedown,
and bowed
three
times.
Then he and Jonathan kissed
each
other
and wept
together—
though
David
wept more.
And Jonathan
said
to David,
“Go
in peace,
for
the two of us
have sworn
in the name
of the LORD
when we
said,
‘May the LORD
be
a witness between
you and me,
and between
your descendants
and
mine
forever.'"
Then David got up
and departed,
and Jonathan
went back
into the city.