David and Jonathan Covenant

20 Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and ^(A)said ^[a]to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? 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 disclosing it to me. So why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!” ³ Yet David ^(B)vowed again, ^[c]saying, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your sight, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be grieved.’ But truly ^(C)as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is ^[d]hardly 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 ought ^(E)to sit down to eat with the king. But let me go, ^(F)that I may hide myself in the field until the third evening. ⁶ If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked 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, ‘It is good,’ your servant will be safe; but if he is very angry, ^(I)know that he has decided on evil. ⁸ Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for ^(J)you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. But ^(K)if there is iniquity in me, put me to death yourself; for why then should you bring me to your father?” ⁹ Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I should indeed learn that evil has been decided by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you about it?” ¹⁰ Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me ^[g]if your father answers you harshly?” ¹¹ Jonathan said to David, “Come, and let us go out into the field.” So both of them went out to the field.

¹² Then Jonathan said to David, “The Lord, the God of Israel, be witness! When I have sounded out my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if there is good feeling toward David, shall I not then send to you and ^[h]make it known to you? ¹³ If it please my father to do you harm, ^(L)may the Lord do so to Jonathan and more also, if I do not ^[i]make it known to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And ^(M)may the Lord be with you as He has been with my father. ¹⁴ If I am still alive, will you not show me the lovingkindness of the Lord, that I may not die? ^15 (N)You shall not cut off your lovingkindness from my house forever, 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 require it at the hands of David’s enemies.” ¹⁷ 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 because 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 by the stone Ezel. ²⁰ I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target. ²¹ And behold, I will send the lad, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I specifically say to the lad, ‘Behold, the arrows are on this side of you, get them,’ then come; for there is safety for you and ^[j]no harm, as the Lord lives. ²² But if I ^[k]say to the youth, ‘^(R)Behold, the arrows are beyond you,’ go, for the Lord has sent you away. ^23 (S)As for the ^[l]agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, ^(T)the Lord is between you and me forever.”

²⁴ So David hid in the field; and when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food. ²⁵ The king sat on his seat as usual, the seat by the wall; then Jonathan rose up and Abner sat down by Saul’s side, but ^(U)David’s place was empty. ²⁶ Nevertheless Saul did not speak anything that day, for he thought, “It is an accident, ^(V)he is not clean, surely he is not clean.” ²⁷ It came about the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David’s place was empty; so Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today?” ²⁸ Jonathan then answered Saul, “^(W)David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem, ²⁹ for he said, ‘Please ^[m]let me go, since our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to attend. And now, if I have found favor in your sight, please let me get away that I may see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king’s table.”

Saul Is Angry with Jonathan

³⁰ Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you are choosing the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? ³¹ For ^[n]as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Therefore now, send and bring him to me, for ^(X)he ^[o]must surely die.” ³² But Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, “^(Y)Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” ³³ Then ^(Z)Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him down; ^(AA)so Jonathan knew that his father had decided to put David to death. ³⁴ Then Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did not eat food on the second day of the new moon, for he was grieved over David because his father had dishonored him.

³⁵ Now it came about in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field for the appointment with David, and a little lad was with him. ³⁶ He said to his lad, “^(AB)Run, find now the arrows which I am about to shoot.” As the lad was running, he shot ^[p]an arrow past him. ³⁷ When the lad reached the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the lad and said, “^(AC)Is not the arrow beyond you?” ³⁸ And Jonathan called after the lad, “Hurry, be quick, do not stay!” And Jonathan’s lad picked up the arrow and came to his master. ³⁹ But the lad was not aware of anything; only Jonathan and David knew about the matter. ⁴⁰ Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad and said to him, “Go, bring them to the city.” ⁴¹ When the lad was gone, David rose from the south side and fell on his face to the ground, and ^(AD)bowed three times. And they kissed each other and wept together, but ^(AE)David wept the more. ⁴² Jonathan said to David, “^(AF)Go in safety, inasmuch as we have sworn to each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘^(AG)The Lord will be between me and you, and between my ^[q]descendants and your ^[r]descendants forever.’” ^[s]Then he rose and departed, while Jonathan went into the city.

David Takes Consecrated Bread

21 Then David came to ^(AH)Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech ^(AI)came trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone and no one with you?” ² David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, ‘^(AJ)Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place.’ ³ Now therefore, what ^[t]do you have on hand? Give ^[u]me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found.” ⁴ The priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread ^[v]on hand, but there is ^(AK)consecrated bread; if only the young men have ^(AL)kept themselves from women.” ⁵ David answered the priest and said to him, “^(AM)Surely women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the ^(AN)vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then today will ^[w]their vessels be holy?” ⁶ So ^(AO)the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the ^(AP)bread of the Presence which was removed from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away.

⁷ Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; and his name was ^(AQ)Doeg the Edomite, the ^(AR)chief of Saul’s shepherds.

⁸ David said to Ahimelech, “Now is there not a spear or a sword ^[x]on hand? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons ^[y]with me, because the king’s matter was urgent.” ⁹ Then the priest said, “^(AS)The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you ^[z]killed ^(AT)in the valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you would take it for yourself, take it. For there is no other except it here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

¹⁰ Then David arose and fled that day from Saul, and went to ^(AU)Achish king of Gath. ¹¹ But the ^(AV)servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? ^(AW)Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying,

¹² David ^(AX)took these words ^[aa]to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath. ¹³ So he ^(AY)disguised his sanity before them, and acted insanely in their hands, and scribbled on the doors of the gate, and let his saliva run down into his beard. ¹⁴ Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me? ¹⁵ Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?”

The Priests Slain at Nob

22 So David departed from there and ^(AZ)escaped to ^(BA)the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s household heard of it, they went down there to him. ² Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who ^[ab]was in debt, and everyone who was ^[ac]discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were ^(BB)about four hundred men with him.

³ And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.” ⁴ Then he left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. ^5 (BC)The prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go into the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.

⁶ Then Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered. Now ^(BD)Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him. ⁷ Saul said to his servants who stood around him, “Hear now, O Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse also give to all of you fields and vineyards? ^(BE)Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds? ⁸ For all of you have conspired against me so that there is no one who ^[ad]discloses to me ^(BF)when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you ^(BG)who is sorry for me or ^[ae]discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in ambush, as it is this day.” ⁹ Then ^(BH)Doeg the Edomite, who was ^[af]standing by the servants of Saul, said, “^(BI)I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to ^(BJ)Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. ^10 (BK)He inquired of the Lord for him, ^(BL)gave him provisions, and ^(BM)gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

¹¹ Then the king sent someone to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s household, the priests who were in Nob; and all of them came to the king. ¹² Saul said, “Listen now, son of Ahitub.” And he ^[ag]answered, “Here I am, my lord.” ¹³ Saul then said to him, “Why have you and the son of Jesse conspired against me, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, so that he would rise up against me ^(BN)by lying in ambush as it is this day?”

^14 (BO)Then Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, even the king’s son-in-law, who ^[ah]is captain over your guard, and is honored in your house? ¹⁵ Did I just begin ^(BP)to inquire of God for him today? Far be it from me! ^(BQ)Do not let the king impute anything to his servant or to any of the household of my father, for your servant knows nothing ^[ai]at all of this whole affair.” ¹⁶ But the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s household!” ¹⁷ And ^(BR)the king said to the ^[aj]guards who were attending him, “Turn around and put the priests of the Lord to death, because their hand also is with David and because they knew that he was fleeing and did not ^[ak]reveal it to me.” But the ^(BS)servants of the king were not willing to put forth their hands to ^[al]attack the priests of the Lord. ¹⁸ Then the king said to Doeg, “You turn around and ^[am]attack the priests.” And Doeg the Edomite turned around and ^[an]attacked the priests, and ^(BT)he killed that day eighty-five men ^(BU)who wore the linen ephod. ¹⁹ And ^(BV)he struck Nob the city of the priests with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and infants; also oxen, donkeys, and sheep he struck with the edge of the sword.

²⁰ But ^(BW)one son of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, ^(BX)escaped and fled after David. ²¹ Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. ²² Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when ^(BY)Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of every person in your father’s household. ²³ Stay with me; do not be afraid, for ^(BZ)he who seeks my life seeks your life, for you are ^[ao]safe with me.”

Judas Betrays Jesus

18 When Jesus had spoken these words, ^(A)He went forth with His disciples over ^(B)the ^[a]ravine of the Kidron, where there was ^(C)a garden, in which He entered ^[b]with His disciples. ² Now Judas also, who was ^[c]betraying Him, knew the place, for Jesus had ^(D)often met there with His disciples. ^3 (E)Judas then, having received ^(F)the Roman ^[d]cohort and ^(G)officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, *came there with lanterns and ^(H)torches and weapons. ⁴ So Jesus, ^(I)knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and *said to them, “^(J)Whom do you seek?” ⁵ They answered Him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He *said to them, “I am He.” And Judas also, who was betraying Him, was standing with them. ⁶ So when He said to them, “I am He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. ⁷ Therefore He again asked them, “^(K)Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” ⁸ Jesus answered, “I told you that I am He; so if you seek Me, let these go their way,” ⁹ to fulfill the word which He spoke, “^(L)Of those whom You have given Me I lost not one.” ¹⁰ Simon Peter then, ^(M)having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear; and the slave’s name was Malchus. ¹¹ So Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into the sheath; ^(N)the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”

Jesus before the Priests

^12 (O)So ^(P)the Roman ^[e]cohort and the ^[f]commander and the ^(Q)officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus and bound Him, ¹³ and led Him to ^(R)Annas first; for he was father-in-law of ^(S)Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. ¹⁴ Now Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that ^(T)it was expedient for one man to die on behalf of the people.

^15 (U)Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered with Jesus into ^(V)the court of the high priest, ^16 (W)but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and brought Peter in. ^17 (X)Then the slave-girl who kept the door *said to Peter, “^(Y)You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He *said, “I am not.” ¹⁸ Now the slaves and the ^(Z)officers were standing there, having made ^(AA)a charcoal fire, for it was cold and they were ^(AB)warming themselves; and Peter was also with them, standing and warming himself.

^19 (AC)The high priest then questioned Jesus about His disciples, and about His teaching. ²⁰ Jesus answered him, “I ^(AD)have spoken openly to the world; I always ^(AE)taught in ^[g]synagogues and ^(AF)in the temple, where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret. ²¹ Why do you question Me? Question those who have heard what I spoke to them; they know what I said.” ²² When He had said this, one of the ^(AG)officers standing nearby ^(AH)struck Jesus, saying, “Is that the way You answer the high priest?” ^23 (AI)Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?” ^24 (AJ)So Annas sent Him bound to ^(AK)Caiaphas the high priest.

Peter’s Denial of Jesus

^25 (AL)Now ^(AM)Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “^(AN)You are not also one of His disciples, are you?” He denied it, and said, “I am not.” ²⁶ One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one ^(AO)whose ear Peter cut off, *said, “Did I not see you in ^(AP)the garden with Him?” ²⁷ Peter then denied it again, and immediately ^(AQ)a rooster crowed.

Jesus before Pilate

^28 (AR)Then they *led Jesus from ^(AS)Caiaphas into ^(AT)the ^[h]Praetorium, and it was early; and they themselves did not enter into ^(AU)the ^[i]Praetorium so that ^(AV)they would not be defiled, but might eat the Passover. ^29 (AW)Therefore Pilate went out to them and *said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” ³⁰ They answered and said to him, “If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.” ³¹ So Pilate said to them, “Take Him yourselves, and judge Him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death,” ³² to fulfill ^(AX)the word of Jesus which He spoke, signifying by what kind of death He was about to die.

³³ Therefore Pilate ^(AY)entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “^(AZ)Are You the King of the Jews?” ³⁴ Jesus answered, “Are you saying this ^[j]on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” ³⁵ Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” ³⁶ Jesus answered, “^(BA)My kingdom ^[k]is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not ^[l]of this realm.” ³⁷ Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “^(BB)You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, ^(BC)to testify to the truth. ^(BD)Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” ³⁸ Pilate *said to Him, “What is truth?”

And when he had said this, he ^(BE)went out again to the Jews and *said to them, “^(BF)I find no guilt in Him. ^39 (BG)But you have a custom that I release someone ^[m]for you at the Passover; do you wish then that I release ^[n]for you the King of the Jews?” ⁴⁰ So they cried out again, saying, “^(BH)Not this Man, but Barabbas.” Now Barabbas was a robber.