The First Book of Samuel

⭑ Literal Standard Version 2020 ⭑

- Chapter 20 -

And David flees from Naioth in Ramah, and comes, and says before Jonathan, “What have I done? What [is] my iniquity? And what [is] my sin before your father, that he is seeking my life?”

And he says to him, “Far be it! You do not die; behold, my father does not do anything great or small and does not uncover my ear; and why does my father hide this thing from me? This [thing] is not.”

And David swears again and says, “Your father has certainly known that I have found grace in your eyes, and he says, Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he is grieved; and yet, YHWH lives, and your soul lives, but—as a step between me and death.”

And Jonathan says to David, “What does your soul [desire]? Command and I do it for you.”

And David says to Jonathan, “Behold, the new moon [is] tomorrow; and I certainly sit with the king to eat; and you have sent me away, and I have been hidden in a field until the third evening;

if your father looks after me at all, then you have said, David earnestly asked of me to run to his city of Beth-Lehem, for there [is] a sacrifice of the days for all the family.

If thus he says: Good; [there is] peace for your servant; and if it is very displeasing to him—know that the evil has been determined by him;

and you have done kindness to your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of YHWH with you—and if there is iniquity in me, put me to death yourself; for why [is] this [that] you bring me to your father?”

And Jonathan says, “Far be it from you! For I certainly do not know that the evil has been determined by my father to come on you, and I do not declare it to you.”

Jonathan and David Renew Their Covenant

And David says to Jonathan, “Who declares [it] to me? Or what [if] your father answers you sharply?”

And Jonathan says to David, “Come, and we go out into the field”; and both of them go out into the field.

And Jonathan says to David, “YHWH, God of Israel, [is my witness]—when I search out my father about [this] time tomorrow [or] the third [day], and behold, [there is] good toward David, and I do not then send to you, and have uncovered your ear—

thus YHWH does to Jonathan, and thus He adds; when the evil concerning you is good to my father, then I have uncovered your ear, and sent you away, and you have gone in peace, and YHWH is with you, as he was with my father;

and not only while I am alive do you do the kindness of YHWH with me, and I do not die,

but you do not cut off your kindness from my house for all time, nor in YHWH’s cutting off the enemies of David, each one from off the face of the ground.”

So Jonathan cuts [a covenant] with the house of David, and YHWH has sought [it] from the hand of the enemies of David;

and Jonathan adds to cause David to swear, because he loves him, for he has loved him [as] the love [for] his own soul.

And Jonathan says to him, “Tomorrow [is] the new moon, and you have been looked after, for your seat is looked after;

and on the third day you certainly come down, and have come to the place where you were hidden in the day of the work, and have remained near the stone of Ezel.

And I shoot three of the arrows at the side, sending out at a mark for myself;

and behold, I send the youth, [saying], Go, find the arrows. If I say to the youth at all, Behold, the arrows [are] on this side of you—take them and come, for [there is] peace for you, and there is no [adverse] word—[as] YHWH lives.

And if thus I say to the young man, Behold, the arrows [are] beyond you—go, for YHWH has sent you away;

as for the thing which you and I have spoken, behold, YHWH [is] between me and you for all time.”

And David is hidden in the field, and it is the new moon, and the king sits down by the food to eat,

and the king sits on his seat, as time by time, on a seat by the wall, and Jonathan rises, and Abner sits at the side of Saul, and David’s place is looked after.

And Saul has not spoken anything on that day, for he said, “It [is] an accident; he is not clean—surely not clean.”

And it comes to pass on the second day of the new moon, that David’s place is looked after, and Saul says to his son Jonathan, “Why has the son of Jesse not come in, either yesterday or today, to the food?”

And Jonathan answers Saul, “David has earnestly asked [permission] from me [to go] to Beth-Lehem,

and he says, Please send me away, for we have a family sacrifice in the city, and my brother has given command to me himself, and now, if I have found grace in your eyes, please let me go away and see my brothers; therefore he has not come to the table of the king.”

Saul Seeks to Kill Jonathan

And the anger of Saul burns against Jonathan, and he says to him, “Son of a perverse [woman] of rebellion! Have I not known that you are fixing on the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of the nakedness of your mother?

For all the days that the son of Jesse lives on the ground you are not established, you and your kingdom; and now, send and bring him to me, for he [is] a son of death.”

And Jonathan answers his father Saul and says to him, “Why is he put to death? What has he done?”

And Saul casts the javelin at him to strike him, and Jonathan knows that it has been determined by his father to put David to death.

And Jonathan rises from the table in the heat of anger, and has not eaten food on the second day of the new moon, for he has been grieved for David, for his father put him to shame.

And it comes to pass in the morning, that Jonathan goes out into the field for the appointment with David, and a little youth [is] with him.

And he says to his youth, “Now run, find the arrows which I am shooting”; the youth is running, and he has shot the arrow, causing [it] to pass over him.

And the youth comes to the place of the arrow which Jonathan has shot, and Jonathan calls after the youth, and says, “Is the arrow not beyond you?”

And Jonathan calls after the youth, “Speed, hurry, do not stand”; and Jonathan’s youth gathers the arrows, and comes to his lord.

And the youth has not known anything, only Jonathan and David knew the word.

And Jonathan gives his weapons to the youth whom he has and says to him, “Go, carry into the city.”

The youth has gone, and David has risen from Ezel, at the south, and falls on his face to the earth, and bows himself three times, and they kiss one another, and they weep with one another, until David exerted himself;

and Jonathan says to David, “Go in peace, in that we have sworn—the two of us—in the Name of YHWH, saying, YHWH is between me and you, and between my seed and your seed—for all time”; and he rises and goes; and Jonathan has gone into the city.