1 Samuel 20-22
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 20
David Consults with Jonathan. 1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and went to Jonathan. “What have I done?” he asked him. “What crime or what offense does your father hold against me that he seeks my life?”(A) 2 Jonathan answered him: “Heaven forbid that you should die! My father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. Why, then, should my father conceal this from me? It cannot be true!” 3 But David replied: “Your father is well aware that I am favored with your friendship, so he has decided, ‘Jonathan must not know about this or he will be grieved.’ Nevertheless, as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.” 4 Jonathan then said to David, “I will do whatever you say.” 5 David answered: “Tomorrow is the new moon, when I should in fact dine with the king. Let me go and hide in the open country until evening.(B) 6 If it turns out that your father misses me, say, ‘David urged me to let him go on short notice to his city Bethlehem, because his whole clan is holding its seasonal sacrifice there.’(C) 7 If he says, ‘Very well,’ your servant is safe. But if he becomes quite angry, you can be sure he has planned some harm. 8 (D)Do this kindness for your servant because of the Lord’s covenant into which you brought us: if I am guilty, kill me yourself! Why should you give me up to your father?” 9 But Jonathan answered: “Not I! If ever I find out that my father is determined to harm you, I will certainly let you know.” 10 David then asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father gives you a harsh answer?”
Mutual Agreement. 11 Jonathan replied to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” When they were out in the open country together, 12 Jonathan said to David: “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, I will sound out my father about this time tomorrow. Whether he is well disposed toward David or not, I will inform you. 13 (E)Should it please my father to bring any harm upon you, may the Lord do thus to Jonathan and more,[a] if I do not inform you of it and send you on your way in peace. May the Lord be with you even as he was with my father. 14 Only this: if I am still alive, may you show me the kindness of the Lord. But if I die, 15 never cut off your kindness from my house. And when the Lord cuts off all the enemies of David from the face of the land, 16 the name of Jonathan must never be cut off from the family of David, or the Lord will make you answer for it.” 17 And in his love for David, Jonathan renewed his oath to him, because he loved him as he loved himself.
18 Jonathan then said to him: “Tomorrow is the new moon; you will be missed, since your place will be vacant. 19 On the third day you will be missed all the more. Go to the spot where you hid on the other occasion and wait near the mound there.(F) 20 On the third day of the month I will shoot arrows to the side of it, as though aiming at a target. 21 I will then send my attendant to recover the arrows. If in fact I say to him, ‘Look, the arrow is this side of you; pick it up,’ come, for you are safe. As the Lord lives, there will be nothing to fear. 22 But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrow is beyond you,’ go, for the Lord sends you away. 23 However, in the matter which you and I have discussed, the Lord shall be between you and me forever.” 24 So David hid in the open country.
David’s Absence. On the day of the new moon, when the king sat down at the feast to dine, 25 he took his usual place against the wall. Jonathan sat facing him, while Abner sat at the king’s side. David’s place was vacant. 26 (G)Saul, however, said nothing that day, for he thought, “He must have become unclean by accident.”[b] 27 On the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was still vacant. So Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to table yesterday or today?” 28 Jonathan explained to Saul: “David pleaded with me to let him go to Bethlehem. 29 ‘Please let me go,’ he begged, ‘for we are having a clan sacrifice in our city, and my brothers insist on my presence. Now then, if you think well of me, give me leave to visit my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.” 30 But Saul grew angry with Jonathan and said to him: “Son of a rebellious woman, do I not know that, to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness, you are the companion of Jesse’s son? 31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the earth, you cannot make good your claim to the kingship![c] Now send for him, and bring him to me, for he must die.”(H) 32 But Jonathan argued with his father Saul: “Why should he die? What has he done?” 33 At this Saul brandished his spear to strike him, and thus Jonathan learned that his father was determined to kill David.(I) 34 Jonathan sprang up from the table in a rage and ate nothing that second day of the month, because he was grieved on David’s account, and because his father had humiliated him.
Jonathan’s Farewell. 35 The next morning Jonathan, accompanied by a young boy, went out into the field for his appointment with David. 36 There he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows.” And as the boy ran, he shot an arrow past him. 37 When the boy made for the spot where Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan called after him, “The arrow is farther on!” 38 Again he called to the boy, “Hurry, be quick, don’t delay!” Jonathan’s boy picked up the arrow and brought it to his master. 39 The boy suspected nothing; only Jonathan and David knew what was meant. 40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, “Go, take them to the city.” 41 When the boy had gone, David rose from beside the mound and fell on his face to the ground three times in homage. They kissed each other and wept aloud together. 42 (J)At length Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, in keeping with what the two of us have sworn by the name of the Lord: ‘The Lord shall be between you and me, and between your offspring and mine forever.’”
Chapter 21
1 Then David departed on his way, while Jonathan went back into the city.
The Holy Bread. 2 David went to Ahimelech, the priest of Nob, who came trembling to meet him. He asked, “Why are you alone? Is there no one with you?”[d](K) 3 David answered the priest: “The king gave me a commission and told me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I have sent you or the commission I have given you.’ For that reason I have arranged a particular meeting place with my men. 4 (L)Now what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves, or whatever you can find.” 5 [e]But the priest replied to David, “I have no ordinary bread on hand, only holy bread; if the men have abstained from women, you may eat some of that.” 6 David answered the priest: “We have indeed stayed away from women. In the past whenever I went out on a campaign, all the young men were consecrated—even for an ordinary campaign. All the more so are they consecrated with their weapons today!” 7 So the priest gave him holy bread, for no other bread was on hand except the showbread which had been removed from before the Lord and replaced by fresh bread when it was taken away.(M) 8 One of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the Lord;[f] his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.(N)
The Sword of Goliath. 9 David then asked Ahimelech: “Do you have a spear or a sword on hand? I brought along neither my sword nor my weapons, because the king’s business was urgent.” 10 The priest replied: “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a garment behind an ephod.[g] If you wish to take it, do so; there is no sword here except that one.” “There is none like it,” David cried, “give it to me!”(O)
David a Fugitive. 11 That same day David fled from Saul, going to Achish, king of Gath.(P) 12 But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? Is it not for him that during their dances they sing out,
‘Saul has slain his thousands,
David his tens of thousands’?”(Q)
13 David took note of these remarks and became very much afraid of Achish, king of Gath.[h] 14 So, he feigned insanity in front of them and acted like a madman in their custody, drumming on the doors of the gate and drooling onto his beard. 15 Finally Achish said to his servants: “You see the man is mad. Why did you bring him to me? 16 Do I not have enough madmen, that you bring this one to rant in my presence? Should this fellow come into my house?”
Chapter 22
1 David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his family heard about it, they came down to him there.(R) 2 He was joined by all those in difficulties or in debt, or embittered,[i] and became their leader. About four hundred men were with him.
3 From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Let my father and mother stay with you, until I learn what God will do for me.” 4 He left them with the king of Moab; they stayed with him as long as David remained in the stronghold.[j]
5 But Gad the prophet said to David: “Do not remain in the stronghold! Leave! Go to the land of Judah.” And so David left and went to the forest of Hereth.(S)
Doeg Betrays Ahimelech. 6 Now Saul heard that David and his men had been located. At the time he was sitting in Gibeah under a tamarisk tree on the high place, holding his spear, while all his servants stood by him.(T) 7 So he said to them: “Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he appoint any of you an officer over a thousand or a hundred men?(U) 8 Is that why you have all conspired against me? Why no one told me that my son had made a pact with the son of Jesse? None of you has shown compassion for me by revealing to me that my son has incited my servant to ambush me, as is the case today.”(V) 9 (W)Then Doeg the Edomite, who was standing with Saul’s officers, spoke up: “I saw the son of Jesse come to Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, in Nob. 10 He consulted the Lord for him, furnished him with provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
Slaughter of the Priests. 11 So the king summoned Ahimelech the priest, son of Ahitub, and all his family, the priests in Nob. They all came to the king. 12 “Listen, son of Ahitub!” Saul declared. “Yes, my lord,” he replied. 13 Saul questioned him, “Why have you conspired against me with the son of Jesse by giving him food and a sword and by consulting God for him, that he might rise up against me in ambush, as is the case today?” 14 Ahimelech answered the king: “Who among all your servants is as loyal as David, the king’s son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard, and honored in your own house? 15 Is this the first time I have consulted God for him? No indeed! Let not the king accuse his servant or anyone in my family of such a thing. Your servant knows nothing at all, great or small, about the whole matter.” 16 But the king said, “You shall certainly die, Ahimelech, with all your family.” 17 The king then commanded his guards standing by him: “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, for they gave David a hand. They knew he was a fugitive and yet failed to inform me.” But the king’s servants refused to raise a hand to strike the priests of the Lord.(X)
18 The king therefore commanded Doeg, “You, turn and kill the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite himself turned and killed the priests that day—eighty-five who wore the linen ephod. 19 Saul also put the priestly city of Nob to the sword, including men and women, children and infants, and oxen, donkeys and sheep.
Abiathar Escapes. 20 One son of Ahimelech, son of Ahitub, named Abiathar,[k] escaped and fled to David.(Y) 21 When Abiathar told David that Saul had slain the priests of the Lord, 22 David said to him: “I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would certainly tell Saul. I am responsible for the slaughter of all your family. 23 Stay with me. Do not be afraid; whoever seeks your life must seek my life also. You are under my protection.”[l]
Footnotes
- 20:13 See note on 3:17.
- 20:26 The meal on the first day of the month would have had religious overtones, and a ritual impurity (Lv 15:16; Dt 23:10–12) would have barred David from sharing in it.
- 20:31 Your claim to the kingship: Saul admits his intention that Jonathan should succeed him and that David is a threat to his lineage (cf. 23:17). However Jonathan has already acknowledged David’s kingship (18:3–4) and his own subservient role (20:13–16).
- 21:2 Ahimelech realizes that he risks incurring Saul’s anger if David has come to Nob as a fugitive.
- 21:5–6 According to Lv 24:5–9, the showbread consisted of twelve loaves that were replaced each sabbath. Since the old bread was to be consumed by the priests, Ahimelech questions David regarding the ritual purity of his men (see 2 Sm 11:11). David’s answer supposes the discipline of a military campaign under the conditions of “holy war” (Dt 23:10–15).
- 21:8 Detained before the Lord: perhaps to fulfill a ritual obligation. David’s arrival at Nob seems to coincide with a festival day, since the showbread has recently been replaced with fresh bread. Shepherds: i.e., Saul’s palace guard. Cf. 22:9–10, where Doeg has easy access to Saul.
- 21:10 Ephod: here an object or image large enough to conceal Goliath’s sword. Cf. Gideon’s ephod in Jgs 8:27.
- 21:13 Gath: a Philistine city (see note on 5:1–12), the home of Goliath.
- 22:2 Embittered: Hebrew mar-nephesh, “bitter of spirit,” used of Hannah, deprived of a child, in 1:10, and of David’s soldiers, whose women and children the Amalekites had seized (30:6). Cf. also 2 Sm 17:8. David becomes a hero for those who have endured loss or deprivation.
- 22:4–5 Stronghold: seemingly connected with the cave complex in v. 1.
- 22:20 Abiathar: the sole survivor of Eli’s household (2:27–36). David now has in his service the only priest of the Lord left in the land and exclusive access to the ephod for consulting the Lord (cf. 23:9–13). David later appoints Abiathar co-high priest with Zadok in Jerusalem (2 Sm 20:25), but Solomon exiles Abiathar to Anathoth when the priest does not support his bid for the throne. Cf. 1 Kgs 2:26–27.
- 22:23 You are under my protection: once again a sharp contrast is drawn between Saul, who kills the Lord’s priests, and David, who protects the lone survivor.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.