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Text -- 1 Samuel 20:12-42 (NET)
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Context
20:12 Jonathan said to David , “The Lord God of Israel is my witness. I will feel out my father about this time the day after tomorrow . If he is favorably inclined toward David , will I not then send word to you and let you know ?
20:13 But if my father intends to do you harm , may the Lord do all this and more to Jonathan , if I don’t let you know and send word to you so you can go safely on your way. May the Lord be with you, as he was with my father .
20:14 While I am still alive , extend to me the loyalty of the Lord , or else I will die !
20:15 Don’t ever cut off your loyalty to my family , not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth
20:16 and called David’s enemies to account .” So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David .
20:17 Jonathan once again took an oath with David , because he loved him. In fact Jonathan loved him as much as he did his own life .
20:18 Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon , and you will be missed , for your seat will be empty .
20:19 On the third day you should go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself the day this all started. Stay near the stone Ezel .
20:20 I will shoot three arrows near it, as though I were shooting at a target .
20:21 When I send a boy after them, I will say , “Go and find the arrows .” If I say to the boy , ‘Look , the arrows are on this side of you; get them,’ then come back. For as surely as the Lord lives , you will be safe and there will no problem .
20:22 But if I say to the boy , “Look , the arrows are on the other side of you,’ get away . For in that case the Lord has sent you away .
20:23 With regard to the matter that you and I discussed , the Lord is the witness between us forever !”
20:24 So David hid in the field . When the new moon came , the king sat down to eat his meal.
20:25 The king sat down in his usual place by the wall , with Jonathan opposite him and Abner at his side . But David’s place was vacant .
20:26 However, Saul said nothing about it that day , for he thought , “Something has happened to make him ceremonially unclean . Yes , he must be unclean .”
20:27 But the next morning , the second day of the new moon , David’s place was still vacant . So Saul said to his son Jonathan , “Why has Jesse’s son not come to the meal yesterday or today ?”
20:28 Jonathan replied to Saul , “David urgently requested that he be allowed to go to Bethlehem .
20:29 He said , ‘Permit me to go , for we are having a family sacrifice in the city , and my brother urged me to be there. So now , if I have found favor with you, let me go to see my brothers .’ For that reason he has not come to the king’s table .”
20:30 Saul became angry with Jonathan and said to him, “You stupid traitor ! Don’t I realize that to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness you have chosen this son of Jesse ?
20:31 For as long as this son of Jesse is alive on the earth , you and your kingdom will not be established . Now , send some men and bring him to me. For he is as good as dead !”
20:32 Jonathan responded to his father Saul , “Why should he be put to death ? What has he done ?”
20:33 Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan in order to strike him down . So Jonathan was convinced that his father had decided to kill David .
20:34 Jonathan got up from the table enraged . He did not eat any food on that second day of the new moon , for he was upset that his father had humiliated David .
20:35 The next morning Jonathan , along with a young servant , went out to the field to meet David .
20:36 He said to his servant , “Run , find the arrows that I am about to shoot .” As the servant ran , Jonathan shot the arrow beyond him.
20:37 When the servant came to the place where Jonathan had shot the arrow , Jonathan called out to the servant , “Isn’t the arrow further beyond you?”
20:38 Jonathan called out to the servant , “Hurry ! Go faster ! Don’t delay !” Jonathan’s servant retrieved the arrow and came back to his master .
20:39 (Now the servant did not understand any of this . Only Jonathan and David knew what was going on .)
20:40 Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the servant who was with him. He said to him, “Go , take these things back to the city .”
20:41 When the servant had left, David got up from beside the mound , knelt with his face to the ground , and bowed three times . Then they kissed each other and they both wept , especially David .
David Goes to Nob
20:42 Jonathan said to David , “Go in peace , for the two of us have sworn together in the name of the Lord saying , ‘The Lord will be between me and you and between my descendants and your descendants forever .’” Then David got up and left , while Jonathan went back to the city .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
David |
Jonathan |
JESSE |
JONATHAN (2) |
Friendship |
Love |
SAMUEL, BOOKS OF |
Arrow |
Symbols and Similitudes |
NEW MOON |
Jealousy |
SACRIFICE, IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, 2 |
Oath |
Anger |
GAMES |
Ezel |
Holy Spirit |
Malice |
Alliances |
Artillery |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> 1Sa 20:12; 1Sa 20:12; 1Sa 20:13; 1Sa 20:13; 1Sa 20:16; 1Sa 20:16; 1Sa 20:17; 1Sa 20:19; 1Sa 20:19; 1Sa 20:19; 1Sa 20:21; 1Sa 20:22; 1Sa 20:23; 1Sa 20:25; 1Sa 20:25; 1Sa 20:26; 1Sa 20:26; 1Sa 20:29; 1Sa 20:29; 1Sa 20:29; 1Sa 20:30; 1Sa 20:30; 1Sa 20:31; 1Sa 20:31; 1Sa 20:31; 1Sa 20:33; 1Sa 20:33; 1Sa 20:34; 1Sa 20:36; 1Sa 20:37; 1Sa 20:39; 1Sa 20:41; 1Sa 20:41; 1Sa 20:42; 1Sa 20:42
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NET Notes: 1Sa 20:16 The word order is different in the Hebrew text, which reads “and Jonathan cut with the house of David, and the Lord will seek from the hand of t...
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NET Notes: 1Sa 20:19 Heb “on the day of the deed.” This probably refers to the incident recorded in 19:2.
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NET Notes: 1Sa 20:23 Heb “the Lord [is] between me and between you forever.” The translation assumes that the original text read עֵד ע&...
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NET Notes: 1Sa 20:30 Heb “son of a perverse woman of rebelliousness.” But such an overly literal and domesticated translation of the Hebrew expression fails to...
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NET Notes: 1Sa 20:34 Heb “for he was upset concerning David for his father had humiliated him.” The referent of the pronoun “him” is not entirely c...
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NET Notes: 1Sa 20:36 Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
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