1 Samuel 20:1-29

New American Standard Bible

David and Jonathan’s Covenant

20 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and he came and ^(A)said ^[a]to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my guilt? And what is my sin before your father, that he is seeking my life?” ² He said to him, “Far from it, you shall not die! Behold, my father does nothing either great or small ^[b]without informing me. So why would my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!” ³ Yet David ^(B)vowed again, ^[c]saying, “Your father is well aware that I have found favor in your sight, and he has said, ‘Jonathan is not to know this, otherwise he will be worried.’ But indeed ^(C)as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is ^[d]just a step between me and death.” ⁴ Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever ^[e]you say, I will do for you.” ⁵ So David said to Jonathan, “Behold, tomorrow is ^(D)the new moon, and I am obligated ^(E)to sit down to eat with the king. But let me go ^(F)so that I may hide myself in the field until the third evening. ⁶ If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly requested leave of me to run to ^(G)Bethlehem, his city, because it is ^(H)the yearly sacrifice there for the whole family.’ ⁷ If he ^[f]says, ‘That is good,’ your servant will be safe; but if he is very angry, ^(I)be aware that he has decided on evil. ⁸ So deal kindly with your servant, for ^(J)you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. But ^(K)if ^[g]I am guilty of wrongdoing, kill me yourself; for why then should you bring me to your father?” ⁹ Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I in fact learn that my father has decided ^[h]to inflict harm on you, would I not inform you?” ¹⁰ Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will inform me ^[i]if your father answers you harshly?” ¹¹ Jonathan said to David, “Come, and let’s go out to the field.” So both of them went out to the field.

¹² Then Jonathan said to David, “The Lord, the God of Israel, is my witness! When I have sounded out my father about this time tomorrow or the third day, behold, if he has a good feeling toward ^[j]you, shall I not then send word to you and ^[k]inform you? ¹³ If it pleases my father to do you harm, ^(L)may the Lord do so to ^[l]me and more so, if I fail to ^[m]inform you and send you away, so that you may go in safety. And ^(M)may the Lord be with you as He has been with my father. ¹⁴ And if I am still alive, will you not show me the faithfulness of the Lord, so that I do not die? ¹⁵ And ^(N)you shall never cut off your loyalty to my house, not even when the Lord cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” ¹⁶ So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “^(O)May the Lord demand it from the hands of David’s enemies.” ¹⁷ And Jonathan made David vow again because of his love for him, because ^(P)he loved him as he loved his own life.

¹⁸ Then Jonathan said to him, “^(Q)Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed since your seat will be empty. ¹⁹ When you have stayed for three days, you shall go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself on that eventful day, and you shall remain beside the stone Ezel. ²⁰ And I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target. ²¹ Then behold, I will send the boy, telling him, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I specifically say to the boy, ‘Behold, the arrows are on this side of you, get them,’ then come, because it is safe for you and there is nothing to harm you, as the Lord lives. ²² But if I ^[n]say to the youth, ‘^(R)Behold, the arrows are beyond you,’ go, because the Lord has sent you away. ^23 (S)As for the ^[o]agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, ^(T)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 Now the king sat on his seat as usual, the seat by the wall; then Jonathan stood up and Abner sat down by Saul’s side; but ^(U)David’s place was empty. ²⁶ Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, because he thought, “It must have been an ^[p]accident; ^(V)he is not clean, undoubtedly he is not clean.” ²⁷ But it came about the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David’s place was empty again; so Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today?” ²⁸ And Jonathan answered Saul, “^(W)David earnestly requested leave of me to go to Bethlehem. ²⁹ He said, ‘Please let me go, because our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has ordered me to attend. So now, if I have found favor in your sight, please let me slip away so that I may see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king’s table.”