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1 Samuel 20

20
Jonathan and David’s friendship
1David fled from the camps at Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father that he wants me dead?”
2Jonathan said to him, “No! You are not going to die! Listen: My father doesn’t do anything big or small without telling me first. Why would my father hide this from me? It isn’t true!”
3But David solemnly promised in response, “Your father knows full well that you like me. He probably said, ‘Jonathan must not learn about this or he’ll be upset.’#20.3 LXX or he’ll tell David; cf 20:34 But I promise you—on the LORD’s life and yours!—that I am this close to death!”
4“What do you want me to do?” Jonathan said to David. “I’ll do it.”
5“Okay, listen,” David answered Jonathan. “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I’m supposed to sit with the king at the feast. Instead, let me go and I’ll hide in the field until nighttime.#20.5 LXX; MT until the third evening; cf 20:12, 19-20 6If your father takes note of my absence, tell him, ‘David begged my permission to run down to his hometown Bethlehem, because there is an annual sacrifice there for his whole family.’ 7If Saul says ‘Fine,’ then I, your servant, am safe. But if he loses his temper, then you’ll know for certain that he intends to harm me. 8So be loyal to your servant, because you’ve brought your servant into a sacred covenant#20.8 MT the LORD’s covenant with you. If I’m guilty, then kill me yourself; just don’t take me back to your father.”
9“Enough!” Jonathan replied. “If I can determine for certain that my father intends to harm you, of course I’ll tell you!”
10“Who will tell me if your father responds harshly?” David asked Jonathan.
11“Come on,” Jonathan said to David. “Let’s go into the field.” So both of them went out into the field. 12Then Jonathan told David, “I pledge by the LORD God of Israel that I will question my father by this time tomorrow or on the third day. If he seems favorable toward David, I will definitely send word and make sure you know. 13But if my father intends to harm you, then may the LORD deal harshly with me, Jonathan, and worse still if I don’t tell you right away so that you can escape safely. May the LORD be with you as he once was with my father. 14If I remain alive, be loyal to me.#20.14 LXX; MT show me the Lord’s faithful love But if I die, 15don’t ever stop being loyal to my household. Once the LORD has eliminated all of David’s enemies from the earth, 16if Jonathan’s name is also eliminated, then the LORD will seek retribution from David!”#20.16 20:14-16 follows LXX.
17So Jonathan again made a pledge to David#20.17 LXX; MT Jonathan made David pledge. because he loved David as much as himself. 18“Tomorrow is the festival of the new moon,” Jonathan told David. “You will be missed because your seat will be empty. 19The day after tomorrow, go all the way to the spot where you hid on the day of the incident, and stay close to that mound.#20.19 LXX; MT to the stone Ezel; cf 20:41 20On the third day I will shoot an arrow to the side of the mound as if aiming at a target.#20.20 Correction; MT arrows (plural here and in 20:21-22, 36, 38 Qere) 21Then I’ll send the servant boy, saying, ‘Go retrieve the arrow.’ If I yell to the boy, ‘Hey! The arrow is on this side of you. Get it!’ then you can come out because it will be safe for you. There won’t be any trouble—I make a pledge on the LORD’s life. 22But if I yell to the young man, ‘Hey! The arrow is past you,’ then run for it, because the LORD has sent you away. 23Either way, the LORD is witness#20.23 LXX; MT lacks witness; also in 20:42. between us forever regarding the promise we made to each other.” 24So David hid himself in the field.
When the new moon came, the king sat at the feast to eat. 25He took his customary seat by the wall. Jonathan sat opposite him#20.25 LXX; MT Jonathan arose while Abner sat beside Saul. David’s seat was empty. 26Saul didn’t say anything that day because he thought, Perhaps David became unclean somehow. That must be it. 27But on the next day, the second of the new moon, David’s seat was still empty. Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t Jesse’s son come to the table,#20.27 LXX, DSS (4QSamb); MT to the feast either yesterday or today?”
28Jonathan answered Saul, “David begged my permission to go to Bethlehem. 29He said, ‘Please let me go because we have a family sacrifice there in town, and my brother has ordered me to be present. Please do me a favor and let me slip away so I can see my family.’ That’s why David hasn’t been at the king’s table.”
30At that, Saul got angry at Jonathan. “You son of a stubborn, rebellious woman!” he said. “Do you think I don’t know how you’ve allied yourself with Jesse’s son? Shame on you and on the mother who birthed you!#20.30 Or and shame on your mother’s nakedness. 31As long as Jesse’s son lives on this earth, neither you nor your dynasty will be secure. Now have him brought to me because he’s a dead man!”
32But Jonathan answered his father Saul, “Why should David be executed? What has he done?”
33At that, Saul threw#20.33 LXX; MT pointed his spear at Jonathan to strike him, and Jonathan realized that his father intended to kill David. 34Jonathan got up from the table in a rage. He didn’t eat anything on the second day of the new moon because he was worried about David and because his father had humiliated him.
35In the morning, Jonathan went out to the field for the meeting with David, and a young servant boy went with him. 36He said to the boy, “Go quickly and retrieve the arrow that I shoot.” So the boy ran off, and he shot an arrow beyond him. 37When the boy got to the spot where Jonathan shot the arrow, Jonathan yelled to him, “Isn’t the arrow past you?” 38Jonathan yelled again to the boy, “Quick! Hurry up! Don’t just stand there!” So Jonathan’s servant boy gathered up the arrow and came back to his master. 39The boy had no idea what had happened; only Jonathan and David knew. 40Jonathan handed his weapons to the boy and told him, “Get going. Take these back to town.”
41As soon as the boy was gone, David came out from behind the mound#20.41 LXX; MT beside the south and fell down, face on the ground, bowing low three times. The friends kissed each other, and cried with each other, but David cried hardest. 42#20.42 21:1 in HebThen Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace because the two of us made a solemn pledge in the LORD’s name when we said, ‘The LORD is witness between us and between our descendants forever.’” Then David got up and left, but Jonathan went back to town.

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1 Samuel 20: CEB

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