1 Samuel 20
King James Version
20 And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is mine iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life?
2 And he said unto him, God forbid; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will shew it me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.
3 And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.
4 Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee.
5 And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even.
6 If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city: for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.
7 If he say thus, It is well; thy servant shall have peace: but if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him.
8 Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the Lord with thee: notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father?
9 And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee: for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee?
10 Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what if thy father answer thee roughly?
11 And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field.
12 And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about to morrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and shew it thee;
13 The Lord do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will shew it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace: and the Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father.
14 And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not:
15 But also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth.
16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies.
17 And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
18 Then Jonathan said to David, To morrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty.
19 And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shalt remain by the stone Ezel.
20 And I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark.
21 And, behold, I will send a lad, saying, Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them; then come thou: for there is peace to thee, and no hurt; as the Lord liveth.
22 But if I say thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way: for the Lord hath sent thee away.
23 And as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the Lord be between thee and me for ever.
24 So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat meat.
25 And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall: and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty.
26 Nevertheless Saul spake not any thing that day: for he thought, Something hath befallen him, he is not clean; surely he is not clean.
27 And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty: and Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday, nor to day?
28 And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem:
29 And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king's table.
30 Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness?
31 For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die.
32 And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done?
33 And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him: whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David.
34 So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did eat no meat the second day of the month: for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.
35 And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him.
36 And he said unto his lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
37 And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee?
38 And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.
39 But the lad knew not any thing: only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
40 And Jonathan gave his artillery unto his lad, and said unto him, Go, carry them to the city.
41 And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.
42 And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.
1 Samuel 20
EasyEnglish Bible
Jonathan helps David
20 Then David ran away from Naioth at Ramah. He went to Jonathan and he asked him, ‘What bad things have I done? What have I done to hurt your father? Why is he trying to kill me?’
2 Jonathan replied, ‘No. You will not die. My father tells me everything that he does, even the little things. So it is not true that he is trying to kill you. He would not hide this from me.’
3 But David answered, ‘Your father knows that you like me very much. He has decided that he will not tell you. He does not want to make you upset. I promise that my words are true, as truly as the Lord lives and you live. I know that I am very near to death.’
4 Jonathan said to David, ‘I will do anything that you want me to do for you.’
5 David said to Jonathan, ‘Tomorrow we have a special meal because of the new moon.[a] I should go and eat this meal with the king. Instead, let me go and hide in the field. I will stay there until the third evening. 6 Your father may see that I am not at the meal. If he does, say to him, “David asked me to let him go to his home in Bethlehem. His family offer a sacrifice there at this time every year.” 7 Your father may say, “That is good.” If he says that, I will know that I am safe. But if he becomes very angry, we will know that he has decided to hurt me. 8 Jonathan, please show that you love me. The Lord knows about the promise that you made, to be my friend. If I am guilty of a sin, please kill me yourself. Do not let your father kill me.’
9 Jonathan said, ‘No, that will never happen! If I ever find out that my father wants to kill you, I will surely tell you.’
10 David asked Jonathan, ‘If your father answers you in an angry way, who will tell me?’ 11 Jonathan said, ‘Come with me into the field.’ So they went there together.
12 Then Jonathan said to David, ‘I make this promise to you, and the Lord, Israel's God, knows that it is true. Tomorrow or the next day I will find out what my father is thinking about you. If he is feeling friendly to you, I will send someone to tell you. 13 But if my father wants to hurt you, I will tell you clearly. I ask the Lord to punish me, if I do not tell you. I will help you to escape and be safe. I pray that the Lord will bless you, as he blessed my father. 14 While I am still alive, please be kind to me. Continue to love me, as the Lord loves his people. And if I die, 15 continue to be kind to my family. Even when the Lord removes every one of your enemies from the earth, do not forget about my family.’
16 So Jonathan made an agreement with David's family. He said, ‘I am asking the Lord to destroy all David's enemies.’ 17 Jonathan asked David to promise again that they would be friends. That was because Jonathan loved David as much as he loved his own life.
18 Then Jonathan said to David, ‘Tomorrow we will have the special meal because of the new moon. Nobody will be sitting in your seat, so people will know that you are not there. 19 The day after tomorrow, go back to the place where you hid the other time. Wait beside the rock called Ezel. 20 I will shoot three arrows towards the rock to see where they go. 21 Then I will send a boy to find the arrows. If you are not in danger I will say to the boy, “The arrows are on this side of you. Come and bring them here.” That will mean that you are safe. You can then come out from the place where you are hiding. As surely as the Lord lives, I promise that you will not be in trouble. 22 But if I say to the boy, “Look, the arrows are beyond you,” you must run away. It will mean that the Lord has sent you away. 23 But never forget the promise that we have made to each other. The Lord will make sure that we are faithful to each other.’
24 So David hid in the field. At the time of the new moon, the king sat down to eat the special meal. 25 He sat beside the wall in his usual place. Jonathan sat with his face towards him. Abner sat beside the king. David's seat was empty. 26 Saul did not say anything about it that day. He thought, ‘Perhaps something has happened to David that has made him unclean. I am sure that is why he is not here.’[b] 27 The next day after the new moon, David's seat was still empty at the meal. So Saul said to his son Jonathan, ‘Why has Jesse's son not come to the meal? He did not come yesterday or today.’
28 Jonathan answered, ‘David asked me very strongly to let him go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, “Please let me go. My family is offering a sacrifice to God in the town. My brother told me that I must be there. If you agree as my friend, let me go to visit my brothers.” That is why David has not come to eat this meal with the king.’
30 Saul became very angry with Jonathan. He said, ‘You stupid man! I see that you have turned against me! You have become a friend of that son of Jesse. You have brought shame on yourself. Your mother should be ashamed that she gave birth to you! 31 You will never rule as king while that son of Jesse is still alive. Send men to go and bring him to me now. He must die!’[c]
32 Jonathan said to his father, King Saul, ‘Why must David die? What wrong thing has he done?’
33 Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan and tried to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father had decided to kill David. 34 Jonathan was very angry. He got up from the table. He did not eat anything on that second day of the special meal. He was very upset because his father had insulted David.
35 The next morning, Jonathan went out to the field to meet David. He took a young boy with him. 36 He said to the boy, ‘I will shoot some arrows. You must run and find them.’ While the boy was running, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. 37 The boy ran to the place where the arrow had reached. Jonathan shouted to him, ‘I think that the arrow is beyond you.’ 38 Then he shouted, ‘Hurry now! Go quickly. Do not wait.’ The boy picked up the arrow and he brought it back to Jonathan. 39 (The boy did not understand what this meant. Only Jonathan and David knew.) 40 Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows back to the boy. He said to the boy, ‘Go now and take these things back to the town.’
41 When the boy had left, David came out from beside the rock. He went down on his knees in front of Jonathan. He bent down on the ground three times. Then David and Jonathan kissed each other and they wept. David wept even more than Jonathan did.
42 Jonathan said to David, ‘Go now and God will keep you safe. We have promised each other in the Lord's name that we will always be friends. The Lord will watch us to make sure that we always keep this promise. He will watch our descendants too, for ever.’
Then David left. Jonathan returned to the town.
Footnotes
- 20:5 Numbers 10:10; 28:11-15 tell us about the special offerings at the time of the new moon.
- 20:26 Because it was a special meal, the people who came to eat it must be clean.
- 20:31 King Saul speaks about David as ‘that son of Jesse’ because he does not want to say David's name. He hates David too much.
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