1 Samuel 19–20

Jonathan Intercedes for David

19Now Saul spoke to Jonathan his son and to all his servants about killing David, but Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much.^{a 2}So Jonathan informed David, saying, “My father Saul is trying to kill you; now please take care! In the morning you should stay in the hiding place and conceal yourself. ³I will go out and stand at my father’s side^b in the field where you are, and I will speak about you to my father; if I find out anything^c I will tell it to you.” ⁴So Jonathan spoke well about David to his father Saul and said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his service for you has been very good. ⁵He put his life in his hand and attacked the Philistine, and Yahweh brought about a great victory for all of Israel, and you saw it and rejoiced! Now why should you sin against innocent blood by killing David without cause?” ⁶And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan and swore, “As Yahweh lives,^d he will not be put to death!” ⁷Jonathan called to David and told him all of these words. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul and he was before him as formerly.^e

David Has to Flee Again

⁸War came again, so David went out and fought against the Philistines and defeated them thoroughly^f so that they fled before him. ⁹Then the evil spirit from Yahweh came upon Saul while he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand. And David was playing a stringed instrument in his hand. ¹⁰So Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear,^g but he eluded Saul,^h so that he struck the spear into the wall, and David fled and escaped that same night.

¹¹Then Saul sent messengers to David’s house to guard him and to kill him in the morning, but Michal his wife told David, saying, “If you do not save your lifeⁱ tonight, then tomorrow you will be killed!” ¹²So Michal lowered David through the window, and he went and fled and escaped. ¹³Then Michal took the household god^j and put it on the bed and put a quilt of goat’s hair at its head and covered it with the clothes. ¹⁴And Saul sent messengers to arrest David, but she said, “He is ill.” ¹⁵So Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, so that I can kill him.” ¹⁶When the messengers came, to their surprise^k the idol was on the bed with the quilt of goat’s hair at the head. ¹⁷Then Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and sent away my enemy, so that he escaped?” Michal said to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go, why should I kill you?’ ”

¹⁸So David fled and escaped, and he came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth. ¹⁹And it was told to Saul, “David is in Naioth in Ramah.” ²⁰So Saul sent messengers to capture David. When they saw the company of the prophets prophesying and Samuel standing as chief over them, then the Spirit of God came upon Saul’s messengers, and they also prophesied. ²¹So they told Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Again Saul sent messengers a third time, and they also prophesied. ²²Then he also went to Ramah. When he came to the great cistern which was in Secu, he asked and said, “Where are Samuel and David?” Someone said, “Look they are in Naioth in Ramah.” ²³So he went there to Naioth in Ramah and the Spirit of God came upon him also, and he walked along prophesying^l until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ²⁴He also stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He lay naked all that day and all night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

Jonathan Supports David over Saul

20Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my guilt and what is my sin before your father that he is trying to kill me?^{a 2}And he said to him, “Far from it! You will not die! Look, my father does not do^b anything large or small unless he reveals it to me.^c Why should my father hide this thing or anything from me?” ³Then David took an oath^d again and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thought, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he worry.’ But as Yahweh lives^e and as your soul lives,^f surely there is merely a step between me and death!” ⁴Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you wish,^g I will do for you.” ⁵David said to Jonathan, “Look, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should certainly sit with the king to eat. You must send me away so that I can hide myself in the field until the third evening. ⁶If your father misses me at all, then you must say, ‘David earnestly asked from me to run to Bethlehem his city, for the yearly sacrifice^h is there for all the clan.’ ⁷If he says ‘Good,’ it will mean peace for your servant; but if he is very angry, know that he has decided to do me harm.^{i 8}So you must show loyal love to your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you. But if there is guilt in me, then kill me yourself! But why should you bring me to your father?” ⁹Then Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I know for certain that my father decided evil should come upon you,^j would I not have told it to you?” ¹⁰Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if what your father answers you is harsh?” ¹¹And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out to the field.” So the two of them went out to the field.

¹²Then Jonathan said to David, “Yahweh the God of Israel is my witness^k that I will question my father by this time the day after tomorrow.^l And look, if he is well disposed toward you,^m will I not send word to you and disclose it to you?^{n 13}So may Yahweh punish Jonathan and more^o if my father decides to do you harm^p and if I fail to disclose it to you^q and send word to you that you can go safely. And may Yahweh be with you, as he has been with my father. ¹⁴And not while I am still alive, will you not show the loyal love of Yahweh with me, that I may not die?^{r 15}And do not cut off your loyal love from my family^s forever, not even when Yahweh exterminates^t each of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” ¹⁶So Jonathan made a covenant^u with the house of David, saying, “May Yahweh call the enemies of David to account.”^{v 17}And Jonathan again made David swear an oath, because he loved him; for with the love of his soul he loved him.

¹⁸Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will stay empty. ¹⁹On the third day you must go down quickly and go to the place where you hid yourself on the day all this started^w and remain beside the stone Ezel. ²⁰I will shoot three arrows to the side as if I were shooting at a target. ²¹Then^x I will send word to my servant, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ If I clearly say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you;^y bring^z it,’ then^a come, for it means peace for you. And there is no problem, as Yahweh lives.^{b 22}But if I say this to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’^c go, for Yahweh has sent you away. ²³And as for the matter about which you and I spoke, look, Yahweh is between you and me forever.”

²⁴So David hid himself in the field. When the new moon came,^d the king was seated at the feast.^{e 25}The king sat at his seat as before,^f the seat by the wall, and Jonathan got up, and Abner sat beside Saul, but David’s place was empty. ²⁶But Saul said nothing on that day, for he thought, “Something happened to him.^g He is not ceremonially clean; surely he is not clean.” ²⁷And then^h on the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David’s place was empty. So Saul asked Jonathan his son, “Why did the son of Jesse not come either yesterday or today to the feast?” ²⁸Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission from me to go up to Bethlehem. ²⁹He said, ‘Send me away, please, for our clan sacrifice is in the city, and my brother commandedⁱ me to be present. So then, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me slip away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the table of the king.” ³⁰Then Saul became angry^j at Jonathan and said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman!^k Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? ³¹For as long as^l the son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established! So then, send and bring him to me, for he will surely die!”^{m 32}But Jonathan answered his father Saul and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” ³³Then Saul hurled hisⁿ spear at him to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father had decided^o to kill David.

³⁴Jonathan got up from the table enraged,^p and did not eat on the second day of the new moon because he was upset about David, because his father had disgraced him. ³⁵And then^q in the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a young boy^r was with him. ³⁶He said to his servant,^s “Run, please find the arrows that I am shooting!” The boy^t ran, and he shot the arrow to pass over him. ³⁷When the boy came up to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called out after the boy and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”^{u 38}Then Jonathan called out after the boy, “Quick, hurry, do not linger!” And Jonathan’s servant collected the arrows and came to his master. ³⁹But the boy did not know anything about this; only Jonathan and David knew the matter. ⁴⁰Jonathan gave his weapons to his servant and said to him, “Go, bring them to the city.” ⁴¹The boy left, and then David got up from the south side,^v and he fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed each other^w and wept together,^x but David wept the most. ⁴²Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have sworn, the two of us, an oath in the name of Yahweh, saying, “Yahweh will be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring…