1 Samuel 20:18-42

Complete Jewish Bible

¹⁸ Y’honatan said to him, “Tomorrow is Rosh-Hodesh, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. ¹⁹ The third day, hide yourself well in the same place as you did before; stay by the Departure Stone. ²⁰ I will shoot three arrows to one side, as if I were shooting at a target. ²¹ Then I will send my boy to recover them. If I tell the boy, ‘They’re here on this side of you, take them,’ then come — it means that everything is peaceful for you; as Adonai lives, there’s nothing wrong. ²² But if I tell the boy, ‘The arrows are out there, beyond you,’ then get going, because Adonai is sending you away. ²³ As for the matter we discussed earlier, Adonai is between you and me forever.”

²⁴ So David hid himself in the countryside. When Rosh-Hodesh came, the king sat down to eat his meal. ²⁵ The king sat at his usual place by the wall. Y’honatan stood up, and Avner sat next to Sha’ul, but David’s place was empty. ²⁶ However, Sha’ul didn’t say anything that day; because he thought, “Something has happened to him, he is unclean. Yes, that’s it, he isn’t clean.” ²⁷ The day after Rosh-Hodesh, the second day, David’s place was empty; and Sha’ul said to Y’honatan his son, “Why hasn’t Yishai’s son come to the meal either yesterday or today?” ²⁸ Y’honatan answered Sha’ul, “David begged me to let him go to Beit-Lechem. ²⁹ He said, ‘Please let me go, because our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother demanded that I come. So now, if you look on me favorably, please let me get away and see my brothers.’ That’s why he hasn’t come to the king’s table.” ³⁰ At that Sha’ul flew into a rage at Y’honatan and said, “You crooked rebel! Don’t I know that you’ve made this son of Yishai your best friend? You don’t care that you’re shaming yourself and dishonoring your mother, do you? ³¹ Because as long as the son of Yishai lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be secure. Now send and bring him here to me — he deserves to die.” ³² Y’honatan answered Sha’ul his father, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” ³³ But Sha’ul threw his spear at him, aiming to kill; Y’honatan could no longer doubt that his father was determined to put David to death. ³⁴ Y’honatan got up from the table in a fury, and he ate no food the second day of the month, both because he was upset over David and because his father had put him to shame.

³⁵ The next morning Y’honatan went out into the country at the time he had arranged with David, taking with him a young boy. ³⁶ He told the boy, “Now run and find the arrows I’m about to shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷ When the boy reached the place where the arrow was that Y’honatan had shot, Y’honatan shouted at the boy, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” ³⁸ Y’honatan continued shouting after the boy, “Quick! Hurry! Don’t just stand there!” Y’honatan’s boy gathered the arrows and returned to his master, ³⁹ but the boy didn’t understand anything about the matter — only Y’honatan and David understood. ⁴⁰ Y’honatan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.”

⁴¹ As soon as the boy had gone, David got up from a place south of the stone, fell face down on the ground and prostrated himself three times; and they kissed one another and wept each with the other until it became too much for David. ⁴² Y’honatan said to David, “Go in peace; because we have sworn, both of us, in the name of Adonai, that Adonai will be between me and you, and between my descendants and yours, forever.”