1Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he is seeking my life?”
2And he said to him, “Far from it! You shall not die. Look, my father does nothing, great or small, without disclosing it to me. Why then would my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!”
3But David swore again and said, “Your father knows full well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Let Jonathan not know this, lest he be grieved.’ Yet, as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
4And Jonathan said to David, “Whatever your soul says, I will do for you.”
5And David said to Jonathan, “Look, tomorrow is the new moon, and I ought to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, and I will hide myself in the field until the third evening.
6If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me to hurry to Bethlehem his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for the whole clan.’
7If he says, ‘Good,’ it is well with your servant; but if he becomes very angry, then know that evil is determined by him.
8So deal in loyal love with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you. But if there is iniquity in me, put me to death yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”
9And Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I should indeed learn that evil is determined by my father to come upon you, would I not tell you?”
10And David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me? Or what will your father answer you, if harshly?”
11And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out to the field.” So the two of them went out to the field.
12And Jonathan said to David, “Yahweh, the God of Israel! When I have sounded out my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, and behold, if he is favorable toward David, and I do not then send to you and disclose it to you””
13May Yahweh do so to Jonathan, and more also, if my father intends evil against you, and I do not disclose it to you and send you away so that you may go in peace. And may Yahweh be with you, as he has been with my father.
14And if I am still alive, will you not show me the loyal love of Yahweh, that I may not die?
15And you shall not cut off your loyal love from my house forever — not even when Yahweh cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May Yahweh require it at the hand of David’s enemies.”
17And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
18Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will be empty.
19On the third day go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself on the day of the deed, and remain beside the Ezel Stone.
20And I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though shooting at a target.
21Then I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them’ — then come, for it is well with you and there is nothing amiss, as Yahweh lives.
22But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you’ — then go, for Yahweh has sent you away.
23And as for the matter of which you and I have spoken — look, Yahweh is between me and you forever.”
24So David hid himself in the field. And when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat the meal.
25The king sat on his seat, as at other times, on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan rose, and Abner sat at Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty.
26But Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something has befallen him; he is not clean — surely he is not clean.”
27But on the next day, the second day of the new moon, David’s place was empty; and Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”
28And Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem.
29He said, ‘Let me go, please, for our clan has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother himself commanded me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away, please, and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
30Then Saul’s anger burned 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?
31For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the ground, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now then, send and bring him to me, for he is a son of death.
32And Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”
33But Saul hurled the spear at him to strike him down, and Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to put David to death.
34So Jonathan rose from the table in the heat of anger, and he ate no food on the second day of the month, for he was grieved over David, because his father had humiliated him.
35And it happened in the morning that Jonathan went out to the field at the appointed time with David, and a small boy was with him.
36And he said to his boy, “Run, find, please, the arrows that I am shooting.” The boy ran, and he shot the arrow beyond him.
37And the boy came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, and Jonathan called out after the boy and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you, farther on?”
38And Jonathan called out after the boy, “Quickly, hurry, do not stand still!” And Jonathan’s boy gathered up the arrows and came to his master.
39But the boy knew nothing; only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
40And Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy who was his and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.”
41The boy had gone, and David rose from beside the south side and fell on his face to the ground and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another and wept with one another, until David wept greatly.
42And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, since the two of us have sworn in the name of Yahweh, saying, ‘Yahweh will be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever.’” Then he arose and went, while Jonathan came into the city.
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