20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, 1 “What have I done? What is my offense? 2 How have I sinned before your father? For he is seeking my life!”
20:2 Jonathan 3 said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing 4 large or small without making me aware of it. 5 Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!”
20:3 Taking an oath, David again 6 said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact 7 that I have found favor with you, and he has thought, 8 ‘Don’t let Jonathan know about this, or he will be upset.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and you live, there is about one step between me and death!” 20:4 Jonathan replied to David, “Tell me what I can do for you.” 9
20:5 David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to join the king for a meal. 10 You must send me away so I can hide in the field until the third evening from now. 20:6 If your father happens to miss me, you should say, ‘David urgently requested me to let him go 11 to his city Bethlehem, 12 for there is an annual sacrifice there for his entire family.’ 20:7 If he should then say, ‘That’s fine,’ 13 then your servant is safe. But if he becomes very angry, be assured that he has decided to harm me. 14 20:8 You must be loyal 15 to your servant, for you have made a covenant with your servant in the Lord’s name. 16 If I am guilty, 17 you yourself kill me! Why bother taking me to your father?”
20:9 Jonathan said, “Far be it from you to suggest this! If I were at all aware that my father had decided to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you about it?” 20:10 David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?” 20:11 Jonathan said to David, “Come on. Let’s go out to the field.”
When the two of them had gone out into the field, 20:12 Jonathan said to David, “The Lord God of Israel is my witness. 18 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? 19 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 20 and send word to you so you can go safely on your way. 21 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 22 with the house of David. 23 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. 24 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 25 you should go down quickly 26 and come to the place where you hid yourself the day this all started. 27 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; 28 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,’ 29 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!” 30
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 31 and Abner at his side. 32 But David’s place was vacant. 20:26 However, Saul said nothing about it 33 that day, for he thought, 34 “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?”
1 tn Heb “and he came and said before Jonathan.”
2 tn Heb “What is my guilt?”
3 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew
5 tn Heb “without uncovering my ear.”
6 tc The LXX and the Syriac Peshitta lack the word “again.”
7 tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
8 tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself. So also in v. 25.
9 tn Heb “whatever your soul says, I will do for you.”
10 tn Heb “and I must surely sit with the king to eat.” The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
11 tn Heb “to run.”
12 map For location see Map5-B1; Map7-E2; Map8-E2; Map10-B4.
13 tn Heb “good.”
14 tn Heb “know that the evil is completed from with him.”
15 tn Heb “and you must do loyalty.”
16 tn Heb “for into a covenant of the
17 tn Heb “and if there is in me guilt.”
18 tc The Hebrew text has simply “the
19 tn Heb “and uncover your ear.”
20 tn Heb “uncover your ear.”
21 tn Heb “in peace.”
22 tn Heb “cut.” The object of the verb (“covenant”) must be supplied.
23 tn The word order is different in the Hebrew text, which reads “and Jonathan cut with the house of David, and the
24 tn Heb “for [with] the love of his [own] life he loved him.”
25 tc Heb “you will do [something] a third time.” The translation assumes an emendation of the verb from שִׁלַּשְׁתָּ (shillashta, “to do a third time”) to שִׁלִּישִׁית (shillishit, “[on the] third [day]”).
26 tn Heb “you must go down greatly.” See Judg 19:11 for the same idiom.
27 tn Heb “on the day of the deed.” This probably refers to the incident recorded in 19:2.
28 tn Heb “from you and here.”
29 tn Heb “from you and onward.”
30 tc Heb “the
31 tc Heb “and Jonathan arose.” Instead of MT’s וַיָּקָם (vayyaqam, “and he arose”; from the hollow verbal root קוּם, qum), the translation assumes a reading וַיִּקַדֵּם (vayyiqaddem, “and he was in front of”; from the verbal root קדם, qdm). See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 338.
32 tn Heb “and Abner sat at the side of Saul.”
33 tn The words “about it” are not present in the Hebrew text, although they are implied.
34 tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself.