Jonathan Helps David 1 UST David ran away from Naioth. He went to meet with Jonathan and told him,“I have done nothing wrong. I have not harmed your father. Nevertheless, he is trying to kill me!” BSB BSB: Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?”
2 UST Jonathan replied,“My father is not going to kill you! I would not let that happen. Besides, he always tells me before he does anything of any kind. So he would not fail to tell me if he were planning to kill you. What you are saying cannot be true.” BSB BSB: “Far from it!” Jonathan replied. “You will not die. Indeed, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This cannot be true!”
3 UST Then David solemnly declared this to Jonathan:“Your father knows very well that you and I are very good friends, so he says to himself,‘I will not tell Jonathan what I am going to do. If I tell Jonathan, he will be upset, and then he will tell David.’ But I swear by Yahweh and I swear by your own life that your father is just about to kill me.” BSB BSB: But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”
4 UST Jonathan said to David,“I will do for you whatever you tell me to do.” BSB BSB: Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you desire, I will do for you.”
5 UST David replied,“Here is what you can do for me. Tomorrow the king will host a feast to celebrate the start of a new month. I always sit with the king at such festivals. But this time, allow me not to attend. Instead, I will hide in the field, and I will stay there until the evening of the day after tomorrow. BSB BSB: So David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I am supposed to dine with the king. Instead, let me go and hide in the field until the third evening from now.
6 UST If your father asks why I am not there at the festival, this is what you should tell him:‘All of David’ s relatives gather once a year to sacrifice an animal{ and eat a meal from the meat at which they praise and thank Yahweh}. He asked permission from me to make a brief visit to Bethlehem so that he could eat that meal with his family.’ BSB BSB: If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David urgently requested my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because there is an annual sacrifice for his whole clan.’
7 UST If your father says,‘Very well’, then I know I will be safe. But if he becomes extremely angry, you can be sure that he definitely intends to kill me. BSB BSB: If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant is safe, but if he is enraged, you will know he has evil intentions.
8 UST If that is true, then you must protect me. You indicated you would do that when you promised, with Yahweh as your witness, that you and I would always be good friends. But if I deserve to die for something very wrong that I have done, then you should kill me yourself. You do not need to make your father kill me.” BSB BSB: Therefore show kindness to your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”
9 UST Jonathan replied,“I would never let my father kill you! If I ever find out that my father definitely intends to kill you, I will certainly tell you that.” BSB BSB: “Never!” Jonathan replied. “If I ever found out that my father had evil intentions against you, would I not tell you?”
Jonathan and David Renew Their Covenant 10 UST David asked him,“How will I find out if your father answers you harshly?” BSB BSB: Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
11 UST Jonathan replied,“{ We need to go somewhere where we can speak more privately.} Please come with me out to the field.” So they went together out into the field. BSB BSB: “Come,” he replied, “let us go out to the field.” So the two of them went out into the field,
12 UST There Jonathan said to David,“I swear by Yahweh, the God whom we Israelites worship, that by this time tomorrow or the next day, I will find out from my father whether he intends to kill you. If he does not intend to kill you, I will certainly send a message to you to inform you of that. BSB BSB: and Jonathan said, “By the LORD, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. If he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you?
13 UST But if he is planning to kill you, I hope that Yahweh will punish me very severely if I do not tell you in advance and help you flee so that you get away safely. Yahweh helped my father when he became king, and I hope that Yahweh will help you in the same way. BSB BSB: But if my father intends to bring evil on you, then may the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if I do not tell you and send you on your way in safety. May the LORD be with you, just as He has been with my father.
14 UST While Yahweh was listening, we swore an oath that we would always be friends. So I know you will not kill me when you become king. But suppose I have already died when you become king. Then our oath would not apply to me personally. BSB BSB: And as long as I live, treat me with the LORD’s loving devotion, that I may not die,
15 UST Instead, please never stop acting kindly toward my family, even after Yahweh has killed all your enemies everywhere on earth.” BSB BSB: and do not ever cut off your loving devotion from my household—not even when the LORD cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
16 UST Then Jonathan and David made a solemn agreement that applied to David’ s descendants as well. They agreed that if David or his descendants ever killed Jonathan’ s descendants, then they wanted Yahweh to punish David and his descendants by killing them. BSB BSB: So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD hold David’s enemies accountable.”
17 UST Then Jonathan also had David swear by the love he had for Jonathan{ that he would not harm his descendants. Jonathan knew that David would keep that promise} because David loved Jonathan as much as he loved himself. BSB BSB: And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.
18 UST Then Jonathan told him,“Tomorrow we will celebrate the festival of the new moon. Since you will not be sitting at your place when we eat, my father will miss you. BSB BSB: Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.
19 UST The day after tomorrow, hurry down from your hiding place high up in the mountains. Come back here and hide in the same place where you hid when I first warned you that my father was trying to kill you. Wait by the big rock that people call Ezel. BSB BSB: When you have stayed three days, hurry down to the place you hid on the day this trouble began, and remain beside the stone Ezel.
20 UST I will come out and pretend that I am using the rock as a target to practice how to shoot arrows. I will shoot three arrows, and I will make sure that they land beside the rock. BSB BSB: I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as if I were aiming at a target.
21 UST Then I will tell a boy to go and get the arrows. You may hear me call out to him,‘You have gone too far, the arrows are behind you, turn around and pick them up!’ I swear by Yahweh that if you hear me say that, then it is safe for you to return. You are in no danger. BSB BSB: Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ Now, if I expressly say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them,’ then come, because as surely as the LORD lives, it is safe for you, and there is no danger.
22 UST But you might also hear me call out to the boy,‘The arrows are still past you, keep going!’ If you hear me say that, you will know that you must leave immediately. Yahweh wants you to go away{ so that you will be safe}. BSB BSB: But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, for the LORD has sent you away.
23 UST Regarding the promise we made never to harm the descendants of the other, Yahweh will always make sure that we keep it.” BSB BSB: And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”
24 UST So David went and hid in the field. When the festival of the new moon started, King Saul came to the table for the feast. BSB BSB: So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat.
25 UST He sat where he usually sat, in the place of honor{ at the end of the table} close to the wall. Jonathan gave up his seat next to Saul so that Abner, the army commander, could sit next to him. But David was absent. He was not sitting in his usual seat. BSB BSB: He sat in his usual place by the wall, opposite Jonathan and beside Abner, but David’s place was empty.
26 UST At the time Saul did not say anything{ about David being absent}, because he was thinking,“Something must have happened that caused David to become ritually unclean so that he cannot attend this religious festival today.” BSB BSB: Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.”
27 UST But the next day, when David was not sitting at the place where he usually sat, Saul asked Jonathan,“Why has that son of Jesse not been here to eat with us either yesterday or today?” BSB BSB: But on the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?”
28 UST Jonathan replied,“David urgently requested permission from me to go to Bethlehem. BSB BSB: Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem,
29 UST He told me,‘Our family is going to offer a sacrifice in Bethlehem, and my oldest brother has insisted that I be there. So please let me go. I hope that you think well enough of me to permit that, since I would like to go and visit with my older brothers.’{ I allowed David to go, and} that is the reason why he is not here eating with you.” BSB BSB: saying, ‘Please let me go, because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
Saul Seeks to Kill Jonathan 30 UST Saul became furious with Jonathan. He said to him,“Your mother must have been unfaithful to me{, because no real son of mine would have done that}! It is no secret to me that you have promised always to be friends with that son of Jesse. But by being his friend, you are shaming yourself by showing that your mother must have had sexual relations with some other man who is your actual father. BSB BSB: Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?
31 UST I can assure you that as long as Jesse’ s son is living, you will never become king. No, you will never rule this kingdom! So now send someone to get David and bring him to me, because I must execute him!” BSB BSB: For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!”
32 UST Jonathan insisted to his father,“David has done nothing wrong! So you should not execute him!” BSB BSB: “Why must he be put to death?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?”
33 UST Then Saul{ became so angry that he} threw his spear at Jonathan to try to kill him.{ But the spear did not hit him.} So Jonathan knew that his father really did want to kill David. BSB BSB: Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David.
34 UST This made Jonathan very angry, and he left the room. On that second day of the festival, he refused to eat anything. His father had said unfairly that David was not loyal to him, and that made Jonathan offended for David’ s sake. BSB BSB: Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger and did not eat any food that second day of the month, for he was grieved by his father’s shameful treatment of David.
35 UST The next morning Jonathan went out to the field{ to give a message to David} as he had agreed that he would do. He took a young boy with him. BSB BSB: In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a small boy was with him.
36 UST Jonathan told the boy,“Run out into the field so that you can find the arrows that I shoot.” The boy started running, and Jonathan shot an arrow over the boy{ so that it would land on the ground far ahead of him}. BSB BSB: He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” And as the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.
37 UST The boy ran to the place where the arrow hit the ground, but Jonathan shouted out to him,“The arrow is farther away!” BSB BSB: When the boy reached the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called to him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?”
38 UST { After he had done this three times,} he shouted to the boy,“Now come back here right away! Do not stay out there in the field!” The boy picked up the arrows Jonathan had shot and brought them back to him. BSB BSB: Then Jonathan cried out, “Hurry! Make haste! Do not delay!” So the boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master.
39 UST The boy did not realize that Jonathan had given a signal to David. Only Jonathan and David knew about that. BSB BSB: But the boy did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement.
40 UST Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to the boy and told him,“Take these back to where I keep my weapons in the city.” BSB BSB: Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the boy and said, “Go, take it back to the city.”
41 UST When the boy left, David came out from behind the south side of the large rock where he had been hiding. He went to Jonathan and bowed respectfully in front of him three times, with his face touching the ground. Then David and Jonathan kissed each other{ on the cheek}, and they cried together until David became exhausted from crying. BSB BSB: When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone, fell facedown, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept together—though David wept more.
42 UST Jonathan said to David,“I am letting you go safely, because we made a promise to each other with Yahweh as our witness. We asked Yahweh to make sure that we would always help each other and that our descendants would never hurt each other.” Then David finally left, and Jonathan went back into the city of Gibeah. BSB BSB: And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.