1 Samuel 20:18-42

International Standard Version

Jonathan’s Signal to David

¹⁸ Jonathan told him, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed because your seat is empty. ¹⁹ On the third day go down quickly and come to the place where you hid earlier.^[a] Remain beside the rock at Ezel. ²⁰ I’ll shoot three arrows to the side of the rock^[b] as though I were shooting at a target. ²¹ Then I’ll send a servant,^[c] saying,^[d] ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I specifically say to the servant,^[e] ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you, get them,’ then come out because it’s safe for you, and, as surely as the Lord lives, there is no danger.^{[f] 22} But if I say this to the young man: ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, for the Lord has sent you away. ²³ As for the matter about which you and I spoke, remember that^[g] the Lord is a witness^[h] between us forever.”

Jonathan Intercedes for David

²⁴ David hid in the field. When the New Moon arrived, the king sat down to eat. ²⁵ The king sat down at his place as before, in the seat by the wall. Jonathan stood while Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty. ²⁶ Saul didn’t say anything that day because he told himself,^[i] “Something has happened; he’s unclean; surely he’s not clean.”

²⁷ But the next day, on the second day of the New Moon, David’s place was empty, and so Saul told his son Jonathan, “Why didn’t Jesse’s son come to the festival, either yesterday or today?”

²⁸ Jonathan answered Saul, “David urgently requested that I let him go to Bethlehem. ²⁹ He said, ‘Please let me go because our family has a sacrifice in the town, and my brother has ordered me to come. Now, if it’s acceptable to you,^[j] please let me get away so I can see my brothers.’ That’s the reason he didn’t come to the king’s table.”

Saul’s Anger toward Jonathan

³⁰ Saul flew into a rage and told Jonathan, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have chosen Jesse’s son to your shame and to the shame of your mother who bore you?^{[k] 31} As long as^[l] Jesse’s son lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established! Now send someone and bring David^[m] to me. He’s a dead man!”

³² Jonathan asked his father Saul, “Why should he be killed? What did he do?” ³³ Then Saul threw the spear that was beside him to strike Jonathan^[n] down. So Jonathan realized that his father was determined to kill David. ³⁴ So on the second day of the New Moon Jonathan angrily got up from the table without eating because he was upset about David, and because his father had humiliated him.

Jonathan Warns David

³⁵ In the morning Jonathan, accompanied by a servant,^[o] went out to the field for the appointment with David. ³⁶ Jonathan^[p] told his servant,^[q] “Run, find the arrows that I’m shooting.” As the servant^[r] ran, Jonathan^[s] shot the arrow beyond him. ³⁷ The servant^[t] came to the place where Jonathan had shot it, and Jonathan called out to him,^[u] “The arrow is beyond you, isn’t it?” ³⁸ Jonathan called out to the servant,^[v] “Hurry, be quick, don’t stand around.” Jonathan’s servant^[w] picked up the arrow and brought it to his master. ³⁹ The servant was not aware of anything. Only Jonathan and David understood what had happened.^[x]

⁴⁰ Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the servant^[y] who was with him and told him, “Go, take these things to the city.” ⁴¹ The servant^[z] went. Then David came out from the south side of the rock,^[aa] fell on his face, and bowed down three times. The men kissed each other, and both of them cried, but David even more. ⁴² Jonathan told David, “Go in peace since both of us swore in the name of the Lord: ‘May the Lord be between me and you, and between my descendants and your descendants forever.’”

^[ab]Then David^[ac] got up and left, while Jonathan went to the city.