1 Samuel 20:18-29

English Standard Version

¹⁸ Then Jonathan said to him, ^(A)“Tomorrow is the new moon, and ^(B)you will be missed, because ^(C)your seat will be empty. ¹⁹ On the third day go down quickly to the place where you hid yourself when the matter was in hand, and remain beside the stone heap.^{[a] 20} And I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I shot at a mark. ²¹ And behold, I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you, take them,’ then you are to come, for, ^(D)as the Lord lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger. ²² But if I say to the youth, ^(E)‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, for the Lord has sent you away. ^23 (F)And as for the matter of which you and I have spoken, behold, ^(G)the Lord is between you and me forever.”

²⁴ So David hid himself in the field. And when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food. ²⁵ The king sat on his seat, as at other times, on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat opposite,^[b] and Abner sat by Saul's side, ^(H)but David's place was empty.

²⁶ Yet Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him. ^(I)He is not clean; surely he is not clean.” ²⁷ But on ^(J)the second day, the day after the new moon, ^(K)David's place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?” ²⁸ Jonathan answered Saul, ^(L)“David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. ²⁹ He said, ‘Let me go, for our clan holds a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away and see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king's table.”