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Chapter 20
1 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 your father, that he seeks my life?
2 And he said to him: God forbid, you shall not die: for my father will do nothing great or little, without first telling me: has then my father hid this word only from me? no, this shall not be.
3 And he swore again to David. And David said: your father certainly know that I have found grace in your sight, and he will say: Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly as the Lord lives, and your soul lives, there is but one step (as I may say) between me and death.
4 And Jonathan said to David: Whatsoever your soul shall say to me, I will do for you.
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 your father look and inquire for me, you shall 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: your servant shall have peace: but if he be angry, know that his malice is come to its height.
8 Deal mercifully then with your servant: for you have brought me your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if there be any iniquity in me, do you kill me, and bring me not in to your father.
9 And Jonathan said: Far be this from you: for if I should certainly know that evil is determined by my father against you, I could do no otherwise than tell you.
10 And David answered Jonathan: Who shall bring me word, if your father should answer you 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 you, and make it known to you,
13 May the Lord do so and so to Jonathan and add still more. But if my father shall continue in malice against you, I will discover it to your ear, and will send you away, that you may go in peace, and the Lord be with you, as he has been with my father.
14 And if I live, you shall shew me the kindness of the Lord: but if I die,
15 You shall not take away your 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 you will be missed:
19 For your seat will be empty till after tomorrow. So you shall go down quickly, and come to the place, where you must be hid on the day when it is lawful to work, and you shall 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 you, take them up: come you to me, because, there is peace to you, and there is no evil, as the Lord lives. But if I shall speak thus to the boy: Behold the arrows are beyond you: go in peace, for the Lord has sent you away.
23 And concerning the word which I and you have spoken, the Lord be between you 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 comes 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 has sent for me: and now if I have found favour in your 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: you son of a woman that is the ravisher of a man, do I not know that you love the son of Isai to your own confusion and to the confusion of your shameless mother?
31 For as long as the son of Isai lives upon earth, you shall not be established, nor your 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 has 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 you.
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 you, and between my seed and your seed for ever.
43 And David arose, and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.