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Jonathan’s Loyalty to David
Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and went and said to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”
Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and went and said to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”
Jonathan Helps David
David now fled from Naioth in Ramah and found Jonathan. “What have I done?” he exclaimed. “What is my crime? How have I offended your father that he is so determined to kill me?”
David now fled from Naioth in Ramah and found Jonathan. “What have I done?” he exclaimed. “What is my crime? How have I offended your father that he is so determined to kill me?”
So Jonathan said to him, “By no means! You shall not die! Indeed, my father will do nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!”
“That’s not true!” Jonathan protested. “You’re not going to die. He always tells me everything he’s going to do, even the little things. I know my father wouldn’t hide something like this from me. It just isn’t so!”
Then David took an oath again, and said, “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
Then David took an oath before Jonathan and said, “Your father knows perfectly well about our friendship, so he has said to himself, ‘I won’t tell Jonathan — why should I hurt him?’ But I swear to you that I am only a step away from death! I swear it by the LORD and by your own soul!”
So Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you.”
“Tell me what I can do to help you,” Jonathan exclaimed.
And David said to Jonathan, “Indeed tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening.
David replied, “Tomorrow we celebrate the new moon festival. I’ve always eaten with the king on this occasion, but tomorrow I’ll hide in the field and stay there until the evening of the third day.
If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked permission of me that he might run over to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’
If your father asks where I am, tell him I asked permission to go home to Bethlehem for an annual family sacrifice.
If he says thus: ‘It is well,’ your servant will be safe. But if he is very angry, be sure that evil is determined by him.
If he says, ‘Fine!’ you will know all is well. But if he is angry and loses his temper, you will know he is determined to kill me.
Therefore you shall deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. Nevertheless, if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?”
Show me this loyalty as my sworn friend — for we made a solemn pact before the LORD — or kill me yourself if I have sinned against your father. But please don’t betray me to him!”
But Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I knew certainly that evil was determined by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you?”
“Never!” Jonathan exclaimed. “You know that if I had the slightest notion my father was planning to kill you, I would tell you at once.”
Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me, or what if your father answers you roughly?”
Then David asked, “How will I know whether or not your father is angry?”
And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So both of them went out into the field.
“Come out to the field with me,” Jonathan replied. And they went out there together.
Then Jonathan told David, “I promise by the LORD, the God of Israel, that by this time tomorrow, or the next day at the latest, I will talk to my father and let you know at once how he feels about you. If he speaks favorably about you, I will let you know.
may the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will report it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And the Lord be with you as He has been with my father.
But if he is angry and wants you killed, may the LORD strike me and even kill me if I don’t warn you so you can escape and live. May the LORD be with you as he used to be with my father.
And you shall not only show me the kindness of the Lord while I still live, that I may not die;
And may you treat me with the faithful love of the LORD as long as I live. But if I die,
treat my family with this faithful love, even when the LORD destroys all your enemies from the face of the earth.”
Now Jonathan again caused David to vow, because he loved him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
And Jonathan made David reaffirm his vow of friendship again, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.
Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.
Then Jonathan said, “Tomorrow we celebrate the new moon festival. You will be missed when your place at the table is empty.
And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed; and remain by the stone Ezel.
Then I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target;
I will come out and shoot three arrows to the side of the stone pile as though I were shooting at a target.
and there I will send a lad, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to the lad, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them and come’ — then, as the Lord lives, there is safety for you and no harm.
Then I will send a boy to bring the arrows back. If you hear me tell him, ‘They’re on this side,’ then you will know, as surely as the LORD lives, that all is well, and there is no trouble.
But if I say thus to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you’ — go your way, for the Lord has sent you away.
But if I tell him, ‘Go farther — the arrows are still ahead of you,’ then it will mean that you must leave immediately, for the LORD is sending you away.
And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed the Lord be between you and me forever.”
And may the LORD make us keep our promises to each other, for he has witnessed them.”
Then David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast.
So David hid himself in the field, and when the new moon festival began, the king sat down to eat.
Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him; he is unclean, surely he is unclean.”
Saul didn’t say anything about it that day, for he said to himself, “Something must have made David ceremonially unclean.”
And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”
But when David’s place was empty again the next day, Saul asked Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse been here for the meal either yesterday or today?”
So Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem.
Jonathan replied, “David earnestly asked me if he could go to Bethlehem.
And he said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.”
He said, ‘Please let me go, for we are having a family sacrifice. My brother demanded that I be there. So please let me get away to see my brothers.’ That’s why he isn’t here at the king’s table.”
Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?
As long as that son of Jesse is alive, you’ll never be king. Now go and get him so I can kill him!”
And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be killed? What has he done?”
“But why should he be put to death?” Jonathan asked his father. “What has he done?”
Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan, intending to kill him. So at last Jonathan realized that his father was really determined to kill David.
So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully.
Jonathan left the table in fierce anger and refused to eat on that second day of the festival, for he was crushed by his father’s shameful behavior toward David.
And so it was, in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad was with him.
The next morning, as agreed, Jonathan went out into the field and took a young boy with him to gather his arrows.
Then he said to his lad, “Now run, find the arrows which I shoot.” As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
“Start running,” he told the boy, “so you can find the arrows as I shoot them.” So the boy ran, and Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.
When the lad had come to the place where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out after the lad and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”
When the boy had almost reached the arrow, Jonathan shouted, “The arrow is still ahead of you.
And Jonathan cried out after the lad, “Make haste, hurry, do not delay!” So Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master.
Hurry, hurry, don’t wait.” So the boy quickly gathered up the arrows and ran back to his master.
But the lad did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter.
He, of course, suspected nothing; only Jonathan and David understood the signal.
Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to the boy and told him to take them back to town.
As soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another; and they wept together, but David more so.
Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘May the Lord be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever.’ ” So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.