1 Samuel 20
20
1And David fleeth from Naioth in Ramah, and cometh, and saith before Jonathan, ‘What have I done? what [is] mine iniquity? and what my sin before thy father, that he is seeking my life?’
2And he saith to him, ‘Far be it! thou dost not die; lo, my father doth not do anything great or small and doth not uncover mine ear; and wherefore doth my father hide from me this thing? this [thing] is not.’
3And David sweareth again, and saith, ‘Thy father hath certainly known that I have found grace in thine eyes, and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved; and yet, Jehovah liveth, and thy soul liveth, but — as a step between me and death.’
4And Jonathan saith to David, ‘What doth thy soul say? — and I do it for thee.’
5And David saith unto Jonathan, ‘Lo, the new moon [is] to-morrow; and I do certainly sit with the king to eat; and thou hast sent me away, and I have been hidden in a field till the third evening;
6if thy father at all look after me, and thou hast said, David asked earnestly of me to run to Beth-Lehem his city, for a sacrifice of the days [is] there for all the family.
7If thus he say: Good; peace [is] for thy servant; and if it be very displeasing to him — know that the evil hath been determined by him;
8and thou hast done kindness, to thy servant, for into a covenant of Jehovah thou hast brought thy servant with thee; — and if there is in me iniquity, put thou me to death; and unto thy father, why is this — thou dost bring me in?’
9And Jonathan saith, ‘Far be it from thee! for I certainly do not know that the evil hath been determined by my father to come upon thee, and I do not declare it to thee.’
10And David saith unto Jonathan, ‘Who doth declare to me? or what [if] thy father doth answer thee sharply?’
11And Jonathan saith unto David, ‘Come, and we go out into the field;’ and they go out both of them into the field.
12And Jonathan saith unto David, ‘Jehovah, God of Israel — when I search my father, about [this] time to-morrow [or] the third [day], and lo, good [is] towards David, and I do not then send unto thee, and have uncovered thine ear —
13thus doth Jehovah do to Jonathan, and thus doth He add; when the evil concerning thee is good to my father, then I have uncovered thine ear, and sent thee away, and thou hast gone in peace, and Jehovah is with thee, as he was with my father;
14and not only while I am alive dost thou do with me the kindness of Jehovah, and I die not,
15but thou dost not cut off thy kindness from my house unto the age, nor in Jehovah's cutting off the enemies of David, each one from off the face of the ground.’
16And Jonathan covenanteth with the house of David, and Jehovah hath sought [it] from the hand of the enemies of David;
17and Jonathan addeth to cause David to swear, because he loveth him, for with the love of his own soul he hath loved him.
18And Jonathan saith to him, ‘To-morrow [is] new moon, and thou hast been looked after, for thy seat is looked after;
19and on the third day thou dost certainly come down, and hast come in unto the place where thou wast hidden in the day of the work, and hast remained near the stone Ezel.
20‘And I shoot three of the arrows at the side, sending out for myself at a mark;
21and lo, I send the youth: Go, find the arrows. If I at all say to the youth, Lo, the arrows [are] on this side of thee — take them, — then come thou, for peace [is] for thee, and there is nothing; Jehovah liveth.
22And if thus I say to the young man, Lo, the arrows [are] beyond thee, — go, for Jehovah hath sent thee away;
23as to the thing which we have spoken, I and thou, lo, Jehovah [is] between me and thee — unto the age.’
24And David is hidden in the field, and it is the new moon, and the king sitteth down by the food to eat,
25and the king sitteth on his seat, as time by time, on a seat by the wall, and Jonathan riseth, and Abner sitteth at the side of Saul, and David's place is looked after.
26And Saul hath not spoken anything on that day, for he said, ‘It [is] an accident; he is not clean — surely not clean.’
27And it cometh to pass on the second morrow of the new moon, that David's place is looked after, and Saul saith unto Jonathan his son, ‘Wherefore hath the son of Jesse not come in, either yesterday or to-day, unto the food?’
28And Jonathan answereth Saul, ‘David hath been earnestly asked of me unto Beth-Lehem,
29and he saith, Send me away, I pray thee, for a family sacrifice we have in the city, and my brother himself hath given command to me, and now, if I have found grace in thine eyes, let me go away, I pray thee, and see my brethren; therefore he hath not come unto the table of the king.’
30And the anger of Saul burneth against Jonathan, and he saith to him, ‘Son of a perverse rebellious woman! have I not known that thou art fixing on the son of Jesse to thy shame, and to the shame of the nakedness of thy mother?
31for all the days that the son of Jesse liveth on the ground thou art not established, thou and thy kingdom; and now, send and bring him unto me, for he [is] a son of death.’
32And Jonathan answereth Saul his father, and saith unto him, ‘Why is he put to death? what hath he done?’
33And Saul casteth the javelin at him to smite him, and Jonathan knoweth that it hath been determined by his father to put David to death.
34And Jonathan riseth from the table in the heat of anger, and hath not eaten food on the second day of the new moon, for he hath been grieved for David, for his father put him to shame.
35And it cometh to pass in the morning, that Jonathan goeth out into the field for the appointment with David, and a little youth [is] with him.
36And he saith to his youth, ‘Run, find, I pray thee, the arrows which I am shooting;’ the youth is running, and he hath shot the arrow, causing [it] to pass over him.
37And the youth cometh unto the place of the arrow which Jonathan hath shot, and Jonathan calleth after the youth, and saith, ‘Is not the arrow beyond thee?’
38and Jonathan calleth after the youth, ‘Speed, haste, stand not;’ and Jonathan's youth gathereth the arrows, and cometh unto his lord.
39And the youth hath not known anything, only Jonathan and David knew the word.
40And Jonathan giveth his weapons unto the youth whom he hath, and saith to him, ‘Go, carry into the city.’
41The youth hath gone, and David hath risen from Ezel, at the south, and falleth on his face to the earth, and boweth himself three times, and they kiss one another, and they weep one with another, till David exerted himself;
42and Jonathan saith to David, ‘Go in peace, in that we have sworn — we two — in the name of Jehovah, saying, Jehovah is between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed — unto the age;’ and he riseth and goeth; and Jonathan hath gone in to the city.
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1 Samuel 20: YLT98
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maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
1 Samuel 20
20
David and Jonathan
1Then David ran away from Naioth in Ramah. He went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I sinned against your father so that he’s trying to kill me?”
2Jonathan answered, “No! You won’t die! See, my father doesn’t do anything without first telling me. It doesn’t matter if it is very important or just a small thing. Why would he refuse to tell me he wants to kill you? No, it’s not true!”
3But David took an oath. He said, “Your father knows very well that I’m your friend. He has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know about it. If he knows, he will tell David.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I am very close to death!”
4Jonathan said to David, “I’ll do anything you want me to do.”
5So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon festival. I am supposed to eat with the king. But let me hide in the field until the third evening. 6Your father may notice I am gone. If he does, tell him, ‘David begged me to let him go to his hometown of Bethlehem. Every year at this time, his family group offers a sacrifice.’ 7If your father says, ‘Fine,’ I am safe. But if he becomes angry, you can believe he wants to hurt me. 8Jonathan, be kind to me, your servant. You have made an agreement with me before the Lord. If I am guilty, you may kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”
9Jonathan answered, “No, never! If I learn that my father plans to harm you, I will warn you!”
10David asked, “Who will let me know if your father answers you unkindly?”
11Then Jonathan said, “Come, let’s go out into the field.” So Jonathan and David went together into the field.
12Jonathan said to David, “I promise this before the Lord, the God of Israel: At this same time day after tomorrow, I will find out how my father feels. If he feels good toward you, I’ll send word to you. I’ll let you know. 13But my father may mean to hurt you. If so, I will let you know and send you away safely. May the Lord punish me terribly if I don’t do this. And may the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. 14But show me the kindness of the Lord as long as I live. Do this so that I may not die. 15You must not stop showing your kindness to my family. Don’t do this, even when the Lord has destroyed all your enemies from the earth.”
16So Jonathan made an agreement with David. He said, “May the Lord punish David’s enemies.” 17And Jonathan asked David to repeat his promise of love for him. He did this because he loved David as much as he loved himself.
18Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon festival. Your seat will be empty. So my father will notice you’re gone. 19On the third day go to the place where you hid when this trouble began. Wait by the rock Ezel. 20On the third day I will shoot three arrows to the side of the rock. I will shoot as if I am shooting at a target. 21Then I will send a boy and tell him to go find the arrows. I may say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you. Bring them here.’ If so, you may come out of hiding. You may do this as surely as the Lord lives because you are safe. There is no danger. 22But I may say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you.’ If I do, you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. 23Remember what we talked about. The Lord is a witness between you and me forever.”
24So David hid in the field. And when the New Moon festival came, the king sat down to eat. 25He sat where he always sat, near the wall. Jonathan sat across from him, and Abner sat next to him. But David’s place was empty. 26That day Saul said nothing. He thought, “Maybe something has happened to David so that he is unclean.” 27But the next day was the second day of the month. And David’s place was empty again. So Saul said to Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the festival yesterday or today?”
28Jonathan answered, “David begged me to let him go to Bethlehem. 29He said, ‘Let me go, because our family has a sacrifice in the town. And my brother has ordered me to be there. Now if I am your friend, please let me go and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
30Then Saul became very angry with Jonathan. He said, “You son of an evil and disobedient woman! I know you are on the side of David son of Jesse! You bring shame on yourself and on your mother who gave birth to you. 31As long as Jesse’s son lives, you’ll never be king or have a kingdom. Now send for David and bring him to me. He must die!”
32Jonathan asked his father, “Why should David be killed? What wrong has he done?” 33Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan, trying to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father really wanted to kill David. 34Jonathan was very angry and left the table. That second day of the month he refused to eat. He was upset about what his father wanted to do to David.
35The next morning Jonathan went out to the field. He went to meet David as they had agreed. He had a young boy with him. 36Jonathan said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” When he ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. 37The boy ran to the place where Jonathan’s arrow fell. But Jonathan called, “The arrow is beyond you!” 38Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and brought it back to his master. 39(The boy knew nothing about what this meant. Only Jonathan and David knew.) 40Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy. He told him, “Go back to town.”
41When the boy left, David came out from the south side of the rock. He bowed facedown on the ground before Jonathan. He did this three times. Then David and Jonathan kissed each other. They cried together, but David cried the most.
42Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace. We have promised by the Lord that we will be friends. We said, ‘The Lord will be a witness between you and me, and between our descendants forever.’” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to town.
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