1 Samuel 20
New English Translation
Jonathan Seeks to Protect David
20 David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked,[a] “What have I done? What is my offense?[b] How have I sinned before your father, that he is seeking my life?”
2 Jonathan[c] said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing[d] large or small without making me aware of it.[e] Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!”
3 Taking an oath, David again[f] said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact[g] that I have found favor with you, and he has thought,[h] ‘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!” 4 Jonathan replied to David, “Tell me what I can do for you.”[i]
5 David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to join the king for a meal.[j] You must send me away so I can hide in the field until the third evening from now. 6 If your father happens to miss me, you should say, ‘David urgently requested me to let him go[k] to his town Bethlehem, for there is an annual sacrifice there for his entire family.’ 7 If he should then say, ‘That’s fine,’[l] then your servant is safe. But if he becomes very angry, be assured that he has decided to harm me.[m] 8 You must be loyal[n] to your servant, for you have made a covenant with your servant in the Lord’s name.[o] If I am guilty,[p] you yourself kill me! Why bother taking me to your father?”
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?” 10 David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?” 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, 12 Jonathan said to David, “The Lord God of Israel is my witness![q] 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?[r] 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[s] and send word to you, so you can go safely on your way.[t] May the Lord be with you, as he was with my father. 14 While I am still alive, extend to me the loyalty of the Lord, or else I will die. 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 16 and called David’s enemies to account.” So Jonathan made a covenant[u] with the house of David.[v] 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.[w] 18 Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will be empty. 19 On the third day[x] you should go down quickly[y] and come to the place where you hid yourself the day this all started.[z] Stay near the stone Ezel. 20 I will shoot three arrows near it, as though I were shooting at a target. 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;[aa] get them,’ then come back. For as surely as the Lord lives, you will be safe and there will be no problem. 22 But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on the other side of you,’[ab] then get away. For in that case the Lord has sent you away. 23 With regard to the matter that you and I discussed, the Lord is the witness between us forever.”[ac]
24 So David hid in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat his meal. 25 The king sat down in his usual place by the wall, with Jonathan opposite him[ad] and Abner at his side.[ae] But David’s place was vacant. 26 However, Saul said nothing about it[af] that day, for he thought,[ag] “Something has happened to make him ceremonially unclean. Yes, he must be unclean.” 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?”
28 Jonathan replied to Saul, “David urgently requested that he be allowed to go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, ‘Permit me to go,[ah] for we are having a family sacrifice in the town, and my brother urged[ai] me to be there. So now, if I have found favor with you, let me go[aj] to see my brothers.’ For that reason he has not come to the king’s table.”
30 Saul became angry with Jonathan[ak] and said to him, “You stupid traitor![al] 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? 31 For as long as[am] this son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now, send some men[an] and bring him to me. For he is as good as dead!”[ao]
32 Jonathan responded to his father Saul, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” 33 Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan[ap] in order to strike him down. So Jonathan was convinced[aq] that his father had decided to kill David. 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.[ar]
35 The next morning Jonathan, along with a young servant, went out to the field to meet David. 36 He said to his servant, “Run, find the arrows that I am about to shoot.” As the servant ran, Jonathan[as] shot the arrow beyond him. 37 When the servant came to the place where Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan called out to[at] the servant, “Isn’t the arrow farther beyond you?” 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. 39 (Now the servant did not understand any of this. Only Jonathan and David knew what was going on.)[au] 40 Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the servant who was with him. He said to him, “Go, take these things back to the town.”
41 When the servant had left, David got up from beside the mound,[av] knelt[aw] with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then they kissed each other and they both wept, especially David. 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.’”
David Goes to Nob
(21:1)[ax] Then David[ay] got up and left, while Jonathan went back to the town of Naioth.[az]
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 20:1 tn Heb “and he came and said before Jonathan.”
- 1 Samuel 20:1 tn Heb “What is my guilt?”
- 1 Samuel 20:2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- 1 Samuel 20:2 tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading “he will not do,” rather than the Kethib of the MT (“do to him”).
- 1 Samuel 20:2 tn Heb “without uncovering my ear.”
- 1 Samuel 20:3 tc The LXX and the Syriac Peshitta lack the word “again.”
- 1 Samuel 20:3 tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
- 1 Samuel 20:3 tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself. So also in v. 25.
- 1 Samuel 20:4 tn Heb “whatever your soul says, I will do for you.”
- 1 Samuel 20:5 tn Heb “and I must surely sit with the king to eat.” The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
- 1 Samuel 20:6 tn Heb “to run.”
- 1 Samuel 20:7 tn Heb “good.”
- 1 Samuel 20:7 tn Heb “know that the evil is completed from with him.”
- 1 Samuel 20:8 tn Heb “and you must do loyalty.”
- 1 Samuel 20:8 tn Heb “for into a covenant of the Lord you have brought your servant with you.”
- 1 Samuel 20:8 tn Heb “and if there is in me guilt.”
- 1 Samuel 20:12 tc The Hebrew text has simply “the Lord God of Israel.” On the basis of the Syriac version, many reconstruct the text to read “[is] my witness,” which may have fallen out of the text by homoioarcton (an error which is entirely possible if עֵד (ʿed, “witness,”) immediately followed דָּוִד, “David,” in the original text).
- 1 Samuel 20:12 tn Heb “and uncover your ear.”
- 1 Samuel 20:13 tn Heb “uncover your ear.”
- 1 Samuel 20:13 tn Heb “in peace.”
- 1 Samuel 20:16 tn Heb “cut.” The object of the verb (“covenant”) must be supplied.
- 1 Samuel 20:16 tn 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 the enemies of David.” The translation assumes that the main clauses of the verse have been accidentally transposed in the course of transmission. The first part of the verse (as it stands in MT) belongs with v. 17, while the second part of the verse actually continues v. 15.
- 1 Samuel 20:17 tn Heb “for [with] the love of his [own] life he loved him.”
- 1 Samuel 20:19 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]”).
- 1 Samuel 20:19 tn Heb “you must go down greatly.” See Judg 19:11 for the same idiom.
- 1 Samuel 20:19 tn Heb “on the day of the deed.” This probably refers to the incident recorded in 19:2.
- 1 Samuel 20:21 tn Heb “from you and here.”
- 1 Samuel 20:22 tn Heb “from you and onward.”
- 1 Samuel 20:23 tc Heb “the Lord [is] between me and between you forever.” The translation assumes that the original text read עֵד עַד־עוֹלָם (ʿed ʿad ʿolam), “a witness forever,” with the noun “a witness” accidentally falling out of the text by haplography. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 338.
- 1 Samuel 20:25 tc Heb “and Jonathan arose.” Instead of MT’s וַיָּקָם (vayyaqom, “and he arose”; from the hollow verbal root קוּם, qum), the translation assumes a reading וַיְקַדֵּם (vayeqaddem, “and he was in front of”; from the verbal root קָדַם, qadam). See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 338.
- 1 Samuel 20:25 tn Heb “and Abner sat at the side of Saul.”
- 1 Samuel 20:26 tn The words “about it” are not present in the Hebrew text, although they are implied.
- 1 Samuel 20:26 tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself.
- 1 Samuel 20:29 tn Heb “send me.”
- 1 Samuel 20:29 tn Heb “commanded.”
- 1 Samuel 20:29 tn Heb “be released [from duty].”
- 1 Samuel 20:30 tc Many medieval Hebrew mss include the words “his son” here.
- 1 Samuel 20:30 tn Heb “son of a perverse woman of rebelliousness.” But such an overly literal and domesticated translation of the Hebrew expression fails to capture the force of Saul’s unrestrained reaction. Saul, now incensed and enraged over Jonathan’s liaison with David, is actually hurling very coarse and emotionally charged words at his son. The translation of this phrase suggested by Koehler and Baumgartner is “bastard of a wayward woman” (HALOT 796 s.v. עוה), but this is not an expression commonly used in English. A better English approximation of the sentiments expressed here by the Hebrew phrase would be “You stupid son of a bitch!” However, sensitivity to the various public formats in which the Bible is read aloud has led to a less startling English rendering which focuses on the semantic value of Saul’s utterance (i.e., the behavior of his own son Jonathan, which he viewed as both a personal and a political betrayal [= “traitor”]). But this concession should not obscure the fact that Saul is full of bitterness and frustration. That he would address his son Jonathan with such language, not to mention his apparent readiness even to kill his own son over this friendship with David (v. 33), indicates something of the extreme depth of Saul’s jealousy and hatred of David.
- 1 Samuel 20:31 tn Heb “all the days that.”
- 1 Samuel 20:31 tn The words “some men” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- 1 Samuel 20:31 tn Heb “a son of death.”
- 1 Samuel 20:33 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- 1 Samuel 20:33 tn Heb “knew.”
- 1 Samuel 20:34 tn Heb “for he was upset concerning David for his father had humiliated him.” The referent of the pronoun “him” is not entirely clear, but the phrase “concerning David” suggests that it refers to David, rather than Jonathan.
- 1 Samuel 20:36 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- 1 Samuel 20:37 tn Heb “called after” (also in v. 38).
- 1 Samuel 20:39 tn Heb “knew the matter.”
- 1 Samuel 20:41 tc The translation follows the LXX in reading “the mound,” rather than the MT’s “the south.” It is hard to see what meaning the MT reading “from beside the south” would have as it stands, since such a location lacks specificity. The NIV treats it as an elliptical expression, rendering the phrase as “from the south side of the stone (rock NCV).” This is perhaps possible, but it seems better to follow the LXX rather than the MT here.
- 1 Samuel 20:41 tn Heb “fell.”
- 1 Samuel 20:42 sn Beginning with 20:42b, the verse numbers through 21:15 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 20:42b ET = 21:1 HT, 21:1 ET = 21:2 HT, 21:2 ET = 21:3 HT, etc., through 21:15 ET = 21:16 HT. With 22:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
- 1 Samuel 20:42 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- 1 Samuel 20:42 tn The words “of Naioth” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied for clarity.
1 Samuel 20
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
20 But David fled from Najoth, which is in Ramatha, and came and said to Jonathan: What have I done? what is my iniquity, and what is my sin against thy father, that he seeketh my life?
2 And he said to him: God forbid, thou shalt not die: for my father will do nothing great or little, without first telling me: hath then my father hid this word only from me? no, this shall not be.
3 And he swore again to David. And David said: Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thy sight, and he will say: Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly as the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, there is but one step (as I may say) between me and death.
4 And Jonathan said to David: Whatsoever thy soul shall say to me, I will do for thee.
5 And David said to Jonathan: Behold to morrow is the new moon, and I according to custom am wont to sit beside the king to eat: let me go then that I may be hid in the field till the evening of the third day.
6 If thy father look and inquire for me, thou shalt answer him: David asked me that he might run to Bethlehem his own city: because there are solemn sacrifices there for all his tribe.
7 If he shall say, It is well: thy servant shall have peace: but if he be angry, know that his malice is come to its height.
8 Deal mercifully then with thy servant: for thou hast brought me thy servant into a covenant of the Lord with thee. But if there be any iniquity in me, do thou kill me, and bring me not in to thy father.
9 And Jonathan said: Far be this from thee: for if I should certainly know that evil is determined by my father against thee, I could do no otherwise than tell thee.
10 And David answered Jonathan: Who shall bring me word, if thy father should answer thee harshly concerning me?
11 And Jonathan said to David: Come and let us go out into the field. And when they were both of them gone out into the field,
12 Jonathan said to David: O Lord God of Israel, if I shall discover my father's mind, to morrow or the day after, and there be any thing good for David, and I send not immediately to thee, and make it known to thee,
13 May the Lord do so and so to Jonathan and add still more. But if my father shall continue in malice against thee, I will discover it to thy ear, and will send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace, and the Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father.
14 And if I live, thou shalt shew me the kindness of the Lord: but if I die,
15 Thou shalt not take away thy kindness from my house for ever, when the Lord shall have rooted out the enemies of David, every one of them from the earth, may he take away Jonathan from his house, and may the Lord require it at the hands of David's enemies.
16 Jonathan therefore made a covenant with the house of David: and the Lord required it at the hands of David's enemies.
17 And Jonathan swore again to David, because he loved him: for he loved him as his own soul.
18 And Jonathan said to him: To morrow is the new moon, and thou wilt be missed:
19 For thy seat will be empty till after to morrow. So thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place, where thou must be hid on the day when it is lawful to work, and thou shalt remain beside the stone, which is called Ezel.
20 And I will shoot three arrows near it, and will shoot as if I were exercising myself at a mark.
21 And I will send a boy, saying to him: Go and fetch me the arrows.
22 If I shall say to the boy: Behold the arrows are on this side of thee, take them up: come thou to me, because, there is peace to thee, and there is no evil, as the Lord liveth. But if I shall speak thus to the boy: Behold the arrows are beyond thee: go in peace, for the Lord hath sent thee away.
23 And concerning the word which I and thou have spoken, the Lord be between thee and me for ever.
24 So David was hid in the field, and the new moon came, and the king sat down to eat bread.
25 And when the king sat down upon his chair (according to custom) which was beside the wall, Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place appeared empty.
26 And Saul said nothing that day, for he thought it might have happened to him, that he was not clean, nor purified.
27 And when the second day after the new moon was come, David's place appeared empty again. And Saul said to Jonathan his son: Why cometh not the son of Isai to meat neither yesterday nor to day?
28 And Jonathan answered Saul: He asked leave of me earnestly to go to Bethlehem,
29 And he said: Let me go, for there is a solemn sacrifice in the city, one of my brethren hath sent for me: and now if I have found favour in thy eyes, I will go quickly, and see my brethren. For this cause he came not to the king's table.
30 Then Saul being angry against Jonathan said to him: Thou son of a woman that is the ravisher of a man, do I not know that thou lovest the son of Isai to thy own confusion and to the confusion of thy shameless mother?
31 For as long as the son of Isai liveth upon earth, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Therefore now presently send, and fetch him to me: for he is the son of death.
32 And Jonathan answering Saul his father, said: Why shall he die: what hath he done?
33 And Saul caught up a spear to strike him. And Jonathan understood that it was determined by his father to kill David.
34 So Jonathan rose from the table in great anger, and did not eat bread on the second day after the new moon. For he was grieved for David, because his father had put him to confusion.
35 And when the morning came, Jonathan went into the field, according to the appointment with David, and a little boy with him.
36 And he said to his boy: Go, and fetch me the arrows which I shoot. And when the boy ran, he shot another arrow beyond the boy.
37 The boy therefore came to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot: and Jonathan cried after the boy, and said: Behold the arrow is there further beyond thee.
38 And Jonathan cried again after the boy, saying: Make haste speedily, stand not. And Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows, and brought them to his master:
39 And he knew not at all what was doing: for only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
40 Jonathan therefore gave his arms to the boy, and said to him: Go, and carry them into the city.
41 And when the boy was gone, David rose out of his place, which was towards the south, and falling on his face to the ground, adored thrice: and kissing one another, they wept together, but David more.
42 And Jonathan said to David: Go in peace: and let all stand that we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying: The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever.
43 And David arose, and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.
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