1 Samuel 20–22

And David fled from Naioth in ^aRamah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is mine iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life? ²And he said unto him, God forbid; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will shew it me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so. ³And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that ^bI have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as ^cthe Lord liveth, and as ^dthy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death. ⁴Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee. ⁵And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the ^enew moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that ^fI may hide myself in the fields unto the third day at even. ⁶If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run ^gto Beth-lehem his city: for there is a ^hyearly sacrifice there for all the family. ⁷If he say thus, It is well; thy servant shall have peace: but if he be very wroth, then be sure that ⁱevil is determined by him. ⁸Therefore thou shalt ^jdeal kindly with thy servant; for ^kthou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the Lord with thee: notwithstanding, ^lif there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father? ⁹And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee: for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee? ¹⁰Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what if thy father answer thee roughly? ¹¹And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field. ¹²And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about to morrow any time, or the third day, and behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and shew it thee; ^13mthe Lord do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will shew it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace: and ⁿthe Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father. ¹⁴And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not: ¹⁵but also ^othou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth. ¹⁶So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, ^pLet the Lord even require it at the hand of David’s enemies. ¹⁷And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: ^qfor he loved him as he loved his own soul. ¹⁸Then Jonathan said to David, ^rTo morrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty. ¹⁹And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to ^sthe place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shalt remain by the stone Ezel. ²⁰And I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a ^tmark. ²¹And behold, I will send a lad, saying, Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them; then come thou: for there is peace to thee, and no hurt; ^uas the Lord liveth. ²²But if I say thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way: for the Lord hath sent thee away. ²³And as touching ^vthe matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the Lord be between thee and me for ever.

²⁴So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat meat. ²⁵And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall: and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, and David’s place was empty. ²⁶Nevertheless Saul spake not any thing that day: for he thought, Something hath befallen him, ^whe is not clean; surely he is not clean. ²⁷And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second ^xday of the month, that David’s place was empty: and Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday, nor to day? ²⁸And Jonathan answered Saul, ^yDavid earnestly asked leave of me to go to Beth-lehem: ²⁹And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king’s table. ³⁰Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother’s nakedness? ³¹For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be stablished, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die. ³²And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, ^zWherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done? ³³And Saul ^acast a javelin at him to smite him: whereby Jonathan knew that ^bit was determined of his father to slay David. ³⁴So Jonathan arose from the table ^cin fierce anger, and did eat no meat the second day of the month: for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.

³⁵And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him. ³⁶And he said unto his lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow ^dbeyond thee? ³⁸And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master. ³⁹But the lad knew not any thing: only Jonathan and David knew the matter. ⁴⁰And Jonathan gave his artillery unto his lad, and said unto him, Go, carry them to the city. ⁴¹And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded. ⁴²And Jonathan said to David, ^eGo in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and ^fJonathan went into the city.

XXI.Then came David to ^aNob to Ahimelech the priest: and Ahimelech was ^bafraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? ²And David said unto Ahimelech the priest, The king hath commanded me a business, and hath said unto me, Let no man know any thing of the business whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee: and I have appointed my servants to such and such a place. ³Now therefore what is under thine hand? give me five loaves of bread in mine hand, or what there is present. ⁴And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under mine hand, but there is ^challowed bread; ^dif the young men have kept themselves at least from women. ⁵And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is ^ein a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel. ⁶So the priest gave him hallowed bread: for there was no bread there but the shewbread, ^fthat was taken from before the Lord, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. ⁷Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, ^gdetained before the Lord; and his name was ^hDoeg, an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul. ⁸And David said unto Ahimelech, And is there not here under thine hand spear or sword? for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste. ⁹And the priest said, ⁱThe sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou slewest in ^kthe valley of Elah, ^lbehold, it is here wrapt in a cloth behind the ephod: if thou wilt take that, take it: for there is no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that; give it me.

¹⁰And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of ^mGath. ¹¹And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not ⁿsing one to another of him in ^odances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? ¹²And David ^plaid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. ¹³And ^qhe changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. ¹⁴Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, you see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me? ¹⁵Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?

XXII.David therefore departed thence, and escaped to ^athe cave ^bAdullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him. ²And ^cevery one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about ^dfour hundred men. ³And David went thence to Mizpeh of Moab: and he said unto ^ethe king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me. ⁴And he brought them before the king of Moab: and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the hold. ⁵And…