Chapter 20

¹But 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? ²And 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. ³And 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. ⁴And Jonathan said to David: Whatsoever thy soul shall say to me, I will do for thee. ⁵And 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. ⁶If 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. ⁷If 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. ⁸Deal 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. ⁹And 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. ¹⁰And David answered Jonathan: Who shall bring me word, if thy father should answer thee harshly concerning me? ¹¹And 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, ¹²Jonathan 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, ¹³May 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. ¹⁴And if I live, thou shalt shew me the kindness of the Lord: but if I die, ¹⁵Thou 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. ¹⁶Jonathan therefore made a covenant with the house of David: and the Lord required it at the hands of David's enemies. ¹⁷And Jonathan swore again to David, because he loved him: for he loved him as his own soul. ¹⁸And Jonathan said to him: To morrow is the new moon, and thou wilt be missed: ¹⁹For thy seat will be empty till after tomorrow. 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. ²⁰And I will shoot three arrows near it, and will shoot as if I were exercising myself at a mark. ²¹And I will send a boy, saying to him: Go and fetch me the arrows. ²²If 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. ²³And concerning the word which I and thou have spoken, the Lord be between thee and me for ever. ²⁴So David was hid in the field, and the new moon came, and the king sat down to eat bread. ²⁵And 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. ²⁶And Saul said nothing that day, for he thought it might have happened to him, that he was not clean, nor purified. ²⁷And 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? ²⁸And Jonathan answered Saul: He asked leave of me earnestly to go to Bethlehem, ²⁹And 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. ³⁰Then 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? ³¹For 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. ³²And Jonathan answering Saul his father, said: Why shall he die: what hath he done? ³³And Saul caught up a spear to strike him. And Jonathan understood that it was determined by his father to kill David. ³⁴So 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. ³⁵And when the morning came, Jonathan went into the field, according to the appointment with David, and a little boy with him. ³⁶And 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. ³⁷The 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. ³⁸And 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: ³⁹And he knew not at all what was doing: for only Jonathan and David knew the matter. ⁴⁰Jonathan therefore gave his arms to the boy, and said to him: Go, and carry them into the city. ⁴¹And 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. ⁴²And 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. ⁴³And David arose, and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.