1Samuel 20
20Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and went to Jonathan. "What have I done?" he asked. "What crime have I committed? What wrong have I done to your father to make him want to kill me?"H1732H1272H5121H7414H935H559H6440H3083H6213H5771H2403H6440H1H1245H53152Jonathan answered, "God forbid that you should die! My father tells me everything he does, important or not, and he would not hide this from me. It just isn't so!"H559H2486H4191H1H6213H6213H1697H1419H6996H1540H241H1H5641H16973But David answered, "Your father knows very well how much you like me, and he has decided not to let you know what he plans to do, because you would be deeply hurt. I swear to you by the living LORD that I am only a step away from death!"H1732H7650H559H1H3045H3045H4672H2580H5869H559H3083H3045H6087H199H3068H2416H5315H2416H6587H41944Jonathan said, "I'll do anything you want."H559H3083H1732H5315H559H62135"Tomorrow is the New Moon Festival," David replied, "and I am supposed to eat with the king. But if it's all right with you, I will go and hide in the fields until the evening of the day after tomorrow.H1732H559H3083H4279H2320H3427H3427H4428H398H7971H5641H7704H7992H61536If your father notices that I am not at the table, tell him that I begged your permission to hurry home to Bethlehem, since it's the time for the annual sacrifice there for my whole family.H1H6485H6485H559H1732H7592H7592H7323H1035H5892H3117H2077H49407If he says, 'All right,' I will be safe; but if he becomes angry, you will know that he is determined to harm me.H559H2896H5650H7965H2734H2734H3045H7451H36158Please do me this favor, and keep the sacred promise you made to me. But if I'm guilty, kill me yourself ! Why take me to your father to be killed?"H6213H2617H5650H935H5650H1285H3068H3426H5771H4191H935H19"Don't even think such a thing!" Jonathan answered. "If I knew for sure that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn't I tell you?"H3083H559H2486H3045H3045H7451H3615H1H935H504610David then asked, "Who will let me know if your father answers you angrily?"H559H1732H3083H5046H1H6030H718611"Let's go out to the fields," Jonathan answered. So they went,H3083H559H1732H3212H3318H7704H3318H8147H770412and Jonathan said to David, "May the LORD God of Israel be our witness! At this time tomorrow and on the following day I will question my father. If his attitude toward you is good, I will send you word.H3083H559H1732H3068H430H3478H2713H1H4279H6256H7992H2895H1732H7971H1540H24113If he intends to harm you, may the LORD strike me dead if I don't let you know about it and get you safely away. May the LORD be with you as he was with my father!H3068H6213H3541H3254H3083H3190H1H7451H1540H241H7971H1980H7965H3068H114And if I remain alive, please keep your sacred promise and be loyal to me; but if I die,H518H2416H6213H2617H3068H419115show the same kind of loyalty to my family forever. And when the LORD has completely destroyed all your enemies,H3772H2617H1004H5704H5769H3068H3772H341H1732H376H6440H12716may our promise to each other still be unbroken. If it is broken, the LORD will punish you."H3083H3772H1004H1732H3068H1245H3027H1732H34117Once again Jonathan made David promise to love him, for Jonathan loved David as much as he loved himself.H3083H1732H7650H3254H160H157H160H531518Then Jonathan said to him, "Since tomorrow is the New Moon Festival, your absence will be noticed if you aren't at the meal.H3083H559H1732H4279H2320H6485H4186H648519The day after tomorrow your absence will be noticed even more; so go to the place where you hid yourself the other time, and hide behind the pile of stones there.H8027H3381H3966H935H4725H5641H3117H4639H3427H681H68H23720I will then shoot three arrows at it, as though it were a target.H3384H7969H2671H6654H7971H430721Then I will tell my servant to go and find them. And if I tell him, 'Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them,' that means that you are safe and can come out. I swear by the living LORD that you will be in no danger.H7971H5288H3212H4672H2671H559H559H5288H2671H3947H935H7965H1697H3068H241622But if I tell him, 'The arrows are on the other side of you,' then leave, because the LORD is sending you away.H559H5958H2671H1973H3212H3068H797123As for the promise we have made to each other, the LORD will make sure that we will keep it forever."H1697H1696H3068H5704H576924So David hid in the fields. At the New Moon Festival, King Saul came to the mealH1732H5641H7704H2320H4428H3427H398H389925and sat in his usual place by the wall. Abner sat next to him, and Jonathan sat across the table from him. David's place was empty,H4428H3427H4186H6471H4186H7023H3083H6965H74H3427H7586H6654H1732H4725H648526but Saul said nothing that day, because he thought, "Something has happened to him, and he is not ritually pure."H7586H1696H3972H3117H559H4745H1115H2889H288927On the following day, the day after the New Moon Festival, David's place was still empty, and Saul asked Jonathan, "Why didn't David come to the meal either yesterday or today?"H4283H8145H2320H1732H4725H6485H7586H559H3083H1121H935H1121H3448H3899H8543H311728Jonathan answered, "He begged me to let him go to Bethlehem.H3083H6030H7586H1732H7592H7592H5978H103529'Please let me go,' he said, 'because our family is celebrating the sacrificial feast in town, and my brother ordered me to be there. So then, if you are my friend, let me go and see my relatives.' That is why he isn't in his place at your table."H559H7971H4940H2077H5892H251H6680H4672H2580H5869H4422H7200H251H935H4428H797930Saul became furious with Jonathan and said to him, "How rebellious and faithless your mother was! Now I know you are taking sides with David and are disgracing yourself and that mother of yours!H7586H639H2734H3083H559H1121H5753H4780H3045H977H1121H3448H1322H1322H517H617231Don't you realize that as long as David is alive, you will never be king of this country? Now go and bring him here - he must die!"H3117H1121H3448H2425H127H3559H4438H7971H3947H1121H419432"Why should he die?" Jonathan replied. "What has he done?"H3083H6030H7586H1H559H4191H621333At that, Saul threw his spear at Jonathan to kill him, and Jonathan realized that his father was really determined to kill David.H7586H2904H2595H5221H3083H3045H3617H1H4191H173234Jonathan got up from the table in a rage and ate nothing that day - the second day of the New Moon Festival. He was deeply distressed about David, because Saul had insulted him.H3083H6965H7979H2750H639H398H3899H8145H3117H2320H6087H1732H1H363735The following morning Jonathan went to the fields to meet David, as they had agreed. He took a young boy with himH1242H3083H3318H7704H4150H1732H6996H528836and said to him, "Run and find the arrows I'm going to shoot." The boy ran, and Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.H559H5288H7323H4672H2671H3384H5288H7323H3384H2678H567437When the boy reached the place where the arrow had fallen, Jonathan shouted to him, "The arrow is farther on!H5288H935H4725H2678H3083H3384H3083H7121H310H5288H559H2678H197338Don't just stand there! Hurry up!" The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master,H3083H7121H310H5288H4120H2363H5975H3083H5288H3950H2671H2678H935H11339not knowing what it all meant; only Jonathan and David knew.H5288H3045H3972H3083H1732H3045H169740Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and told him to take them back to town.H3083H5414H3627H5288H559H3212H935H589241After the boy had left, David got up from behind the pile of stones, fell on his knees and bowed with his face to the ground three times. Both he and Jonathan were crying as they kissed each other; David's grief was even greater than Jonathan's.H5288H935H1732H6965H681H5045H5307H639H776H7812H7969H6471H5401H376H7453H1058H376H7453H1732H143142Then Jonathan said to David, "God be with you. The LORD will make sure that you and I, and your descendants and mine, will forever keep the sacred promise we have made to each other." Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.H3083H559H1732H3212H7965H7650H8147H8034H3068H559H3068H2233H2233H5704H5769H6965H3212H3083H935H5892
New York, NY
