^20:1David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked,¹ “What have I done? What is my offense?² How have I sinned before your father? For he is seeking my life!”

^20:2Jonathan³ said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing⁴ large or small without making me aware of it.⁵ Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!”

^20:3Taking an oath, David again⁶ said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact⁷ that I have found favor with you, and he has thought,⁸ ‘Don’t let Jonathan know about this, or he will be upset.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and you live, there is about one step between me and death!” ^20:4Jonathan replied to David, “Tell me what I can do for you.”⁹

^20:5David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to join the king for a meal.¹⁰ You must send me away so I can hide in the field until the third evening from now. ^20:6If your father happens to miss me, you should say, ‘David urgently requested me to let him go¹¹ to his city Bethlehem,¹² for there is an annual sacrifice there for his entire family.’ ^20:7If he should then say, ‘That’s fine,’¹³ then your servant is safe. But if he becomes very angry, be assured that he has decided to harm me.¹⁴^20:8You must be loyal¹⁵ to your servant, for you have made a covenant with your servant in the Lord’s name.¹⁶ If I am guilty,¹⁷ you yourself kill me! Why bother taking me to your father?”

^20:9Jonathan said, “Far be it from you to suggest this! If I were at all aware that my father had decided to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you about it?” ^20:10David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?” ^20:11Jonathan said to David, “Come on. Let’s go out to the field.”

When the two of them had gone out into the field, ^20:12Jonathan said to David, “The Lord God of Israel is my witness.¹⁸ I will feel out my father about this time the day after tomorrow. If he is favorably inclined toward David, will I not then send word to you and let you know?¹⁹^20:13But if my father intends to do you harm, may the Lord do all this and more to Jonathan, if I don’t let you know²⁰ and send word to you so you can go safely on your way.²¹ May the Lord be with you, as he was with my father. ^20:14While I am still alive, extend to me the loyalty of the Lord, or else I will die! ^20:15Don’t ever cut off your loyalty to my family, not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth ^20:16and called David’s enemies to account.” So Jonathan made a covenant²² with the house of David.²³^20:17Jonathan once again took an oath with David, because he loved him. In fact Jonathan loved him as much as he did his own life.²⁴^20:18Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will be empty. ^20:19On the third day²⁵ you should go down quickly²⁶ and come to the place where you hid yourself the day this all started.²⁷ Stay near the stone Ezel. ^20:20I will shoot three arrows near it, as though I were shooting at a target. ^20:21When I send a boy after them, I will say, “Go and find the arrows.” If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you;²⁸ get them,’ then come back. For as surely as the Lord lives, you will be safe and there will no problem. ^20:22But if I say to the boy, “Look, the arrows are on the other side of you,’²⁹ get away. For in that case the Lord has sent you away. ^20:23With regard to the matter that you and I discussed, the Lord is the witness between us forever!”³⁰

^20:24So David hid in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat his meal. ^20:25The king sat down in his usual place by the wall, with Jonathan opposite him³¹ and Abner at his side.³² But David’s place was vacant. ^20:26However, Saul said nothing about it³³ that day, for he thought,³⁴ “Something has happened to make him ceremonially unclean. Yes, he must be unclean.” ^20:27But the next morning, the second day of the new moon, David’s place was still vacant. So Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why has Jesse’s son not come to the meal yesterday or today?”

^20:28Jonathan replied to Saul, “David urgently requested that he be allowed to go to Bethlehem. ^20:29He said, ‘Permit me to go,³⁵ for we are having a family sacrifice in the city, and my brother urged³⁶ me to be there. So now, if I have found favor with you, let me go³⁷ to see my brothers.’ For that reason he has not come to the king’s table.”

^20:30Saul became angry with Jonathan³⁸ and said to him, “You stupid traitor!³⁹ Don’t I realize that to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness you have chosen this son of Jesse? ^20:31For as long as⁴⁰ this son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now, send some men⁴¹ and bring him to me. For he is as good as dead!”⁴²

^20:32Jonathan responded to his father Saul, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” ^20:33Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan⁴³ in order to strike him down. So Jonathan was convinced⁴⁴ that his father had decided to kill David. ^20:34Jonathan got up from the table enraged. He did not eat any food on that second day of the new moon, for he was upset that his father had humiliated David.⁴⁵

^20:35The next morning Jonathan, along with a young servant, went out to the field to meet David. ^20:36He said to his servant, “Run, find the arrows that I am about to shoot.” As the servant ran, Jonathan⁴⁶ shot the arrow beyond him. ^20:37When the servant came to the place where Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan called out to⁴⁷ the servant, “Isn’t the arrow further beyond you?” ^20:38Jonathan called out to the servant, “Hurry! Go faster! Don’t delay!” Jonathan’s servant retrieved the arrow and came back to his master. ^20:39(Now the servant did not understand any of this. Only Jonathan and David knew what was going on.)⁴⁸^20:40Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the servant who was with him. He said to him, “Go, take these things back to the city.”

^20:41When the servant had left, David got up from beside the mound,⁴⁹ knelt⁵⁰ with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then they kissed each other and they both wept, especially David. ^20:42Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn together in the name of the Lord saying, ‘The Lord will be between me and you and between my descendants and your descendants forever.’ ”

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Footnotes

1 Heb “and he came and said before Jonathan.”
2 Heb “What is my guilt?”
3 Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew , and the ancient versions in reading “he will not do,” rather than the Kethib of the (“do to him”).
5 Heb “without uncovering my ear.”
6 The and the lack the word “again.”
7 The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
8 Heb “said,” that is, to himself. So also in v. 25.
9 Heb “whatever your soul says, I will do for you.”
10 Heb “and I must surely sit with the king to eat.” The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
11 Heb “to run.”
12 For location see ; ; ; .
13 Heb “good.”
14 Heb “know that the evil is completed from with him.”
15 Heb “and you must do loyalty.”
16 Heb “for into a covenant of the Lord you have brought your servant with you.”
17 Heb “and if there is in me guilt.”
18 The Hebrew text has simply “the Lord God of Israel.” On the basis of the version, many reconstruct the text to read “[is] my witness,” which may have fallen out of the text by homoioarcton (an error which is entirely possible if עֵד, ’ed, “witness,” immediately followed ַָדוִד, “David,” in the original text).
19 Heb “and uncover your ear.”
20 Heb “uncover your ear.”
21 Heb “in peace.”
22 Heb “cut.” The object of the verb (“covenant”) must be supplied.
23 The word order is different in the Hebrew text, which reads “and Jonathan cut with the house of David, and the Lord will seek from the hand of the enemies of David.” The translation assumes that the main clauses of the verse have been accidentally transposed in the course of transmission. The first part of the verse (as it stands in ) belongs with v. 17, while the second part of the verse actually continues v. 15.
24 Heb “for [with] the love of his [own] life he loved him.”
25 Heb “you will do [something] a third time.” The translation assumes an emendation of the verb from שִׁלַּשְׁתָּ (shillashta, “to do a third time”) to שִׁלִּישִׁית (shillishit, “[on the] third [day]”).
26 Heb “you must go down greatly.” See Judg 19:11 for the same idiom.
27 Heb “on the day of the deed.” This probably refers to the incident recorded in 19:2.
28 Heb “from you and here.”
29 Heb “from you and onward.”
30 Heb “the Lord [is] between me and between you forever.” The translation assumes that the original text read עֵד עַד־עוֹלָם (’ed ’ad-’olam), “a witness forever,” with the noun “a witness” accidentally falling out of the text by haplography. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (), .
31 Heb “and Jonathan arose.” Instead of ’s וַיָּקָם (vayyaqam, “and he arose”; from the hollow verbal root קוּם, qum), the translation assumes a reading וַיִּקַדֵּם (vayyiqaddem, “and he was in front of”; from the verbal root קדם, qdm). See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (), .
32 Heb “and Abner sat at the side of Saul.”
33 The words “about it” are not present in the Hebrew text, although they are implied.
34 Heb “said,” that is, to himself.
35 Heb “send me.”
36 Heb “commanded.”
37 Heb “be released [from duty].”
38 Many medieval Hebrew include the words “his son” here.
39 Heb “son of a perverse woman of rebelliousness.” But such an overly literal and domesticated translation of the Hebrew expression fails to capture the force of Saul’s unrestrained reaction. Saul, now incensed and enraged over Jonathan’s liaison with David, is actually hurling very coarse and emotionally charged words at his son. The translation of this phrase suggested by Koehler and Baumgartner is “bastard of a wayward woman” ( עוה), but this is not an expression commonly used in English. A better English approximation of the sentiments expressed here by the Hebrew phrase would be “You stupid son of a bitch!” However, sensitivity to the various public formats in which the Bible is read aloud has led to a less startling English rendering which focuses on the semantic value of Saul’s utterance (i.e., the behavior of his own son Jonathan, which he viewed as both a personal and a political betrayal [= “traitor”]). But this concession should not obscure the fact that Saul is full of bitterness and frustration. That he would address his son Jonathan with such language, not to mention his apparent readiness even to kill his own son over this friendship with David (v. 33), indicates something of the extreme depth of Saul’s jealousy and hatred of David.
40 Heb “all the days that.”
41 The words “some men” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
42 Heb “a son of death.”
43 Heb “him”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
44 Heb “knew.”
45 Heb “for he was upset concerning David for his father had humiliated him.” The referent of the pronoun “him” is not entirely clear, but the phrase “concerning David” suggests that it refers to David, rather than Jonathan.
46 Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
47 Heb “called after” (also in v. 38).
48 Heb “knew the matter.”
49 The translation follows the in reading “the mound,” rather than the ’s “the south.” It is hard to see what meaning the reading “from beside the south” would have as it stands, since such a location lacks specificity. The treats it as an elliptical expression, rendering the phrase as “from the south side of the stone (rock ).” This is perhaps possible, but it seems better to follow the rather than the here.
50 Heb “fell.”