If your father happens to miss me, you should say, ‘David urgently requested me to let him go ¹  to his city Bethlehem, ²  for there is an annual sacrifice there for his entire family.’

You must be loyal ¹  to your servant, for you have made a covenant with your servant in the Lord’s name. ²  If I am guilty, ³  you yourself kill me! Why bother taking me to your father?”

Then David went from there to Mizpah in Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay ¹  with you until I know what God is going to do for me.”

She named the boy Ichabod, ¹  saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” referring to the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband.

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. ¹ 

David replied to Saul, “Your servant has been a shepherd for his father’s flock. Whenever a lion or bear would come and carry off a sheep from the flock,

But Jonathan had not heard about the oath his father had made the army take. He extended the end of his staff that was in his hand and dipped it in the honeycomb. When he ate it, ¹  his eyes gleamed. ² 

So Jonathan spoke on David’s behalf ¹  to his father Saul. He said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David, for he has not sinned against you. On the contrary, his actions have been very beneficial ²  for you.

In fact, days are coming when I will remove your strength ¹  and the strength ²  of your father’s house. There will not be an old man in your house!

So David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s family ¹  learned about it, they went down there to him.

Then the king arranged for a meeting with the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub and all the priests of his father’s house who were at Nob. They all came to the king.

So now swear to me in the Lord’s name ¹  that you will not kill ²  my descendants after me or destroy my name from the house of my father.”

Don’t be concerned ¹  about the donkeys that you lost three days ago, for they have been found. Whom does all Israel desire? Is it not you, and all your father’s family?” ² 

David said to Saul, “Who am I? Who are my relatives or the clan of my father ¹  in Israel that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”

Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that day when Doeg the Edomite was there that he would certainly tell Saul! I am guilty ¹  of all the deaths in your father’s house!

Taking an oath, David again ¹  said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact ²  that I have found favor with you, and he has thought, ³  ‘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!”

Jonathan said to David, “The Lord God of Israel is my witness. ¹  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? ² 

Look, my father, and see the edge of your robe in my hand! When I cut off the edge of your robe, I didn’t kill you. So realize and understand that I am not planning ¹  evil or rebellion. Even though I have not sinned against you, you are waiting in ambush to take my life.

If a man sins against a man, one may appeal to God on his behalf. But if a man sins against the Lord, who then will intercede for him?” But Eli’s sons ¹  would not listen to their father, for the Lord had decided ²  to kill them.

His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phineas, was pregnant and close to giving birth. When she heard that the ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she doubled over and gave birth. But her labor pains were too much for her.