1 Samuel 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 tomorrow 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, tomorrow 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: Tomorrow 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 today?

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.

1Fugit autem David de Najoth, quæ est in Ramatha, veniensque locutus est coram Jonatha: Quid feci? quæ est iniquitas mea, et quod peccatum meum in patrem tuum, quia quærit animam meam?

2Qui dixit ei: Absit, non morieris: neque enim faciet pater meus quidquam grande vel parvum, nisi prius indicaverit mihi: hunc ergo celavit me pater meus sermonem tantummodo? nequaquam erit istud.

3Et juravit rursum Davidi. Et ille ait: Scit profecto pater tuus quia inveni gratiam in oculis tuis, et dicet: Nesciat hoc Jonathas, ne forte tristetur. Quinimmo vivit Dominus, et vivit anima tua, quia uno tantum (ut ita dicam) gradu ego morsque dividimur.

4Et ait Jonathas ad David: Quodcumque dixerit mihi anima tua, faciam tibi.

5Dixit autem David ad Jonathan: Ecce calendæ sunt crastino, et ego ex more sedere soleo juxta regem ad vescendum: dimitte ergo me ut abscondar in agro usque ad vesperam diei tertiæ.

6Si respiciens requisierit me pater tuus, respondebis ei: Rogavit me David ut iret celeriter in Bethlehem civitatem suam, quia victimæ solemnes ibi sunt universis contribulibus suis.

7Si dixerit: Bene: pax erit servo tuo. Si autem fuerit iratus, scito quia completa est malitia ejus.

8Fac ergo misericordiam in servum tuum, quia fœdus Domini me famulum tuum tecum inire fecisti: si autem est iniquitas aliqua in me, tu me interfice, et ad patrem tuum ne introducas me.

9Et ait Jonathas: Absit hoc a te: neque enim fieri potest, ut si certe cognovero completam esse patris mei malitiam contra te, non annuntiem tibi.

10Responditque David ad Jonathan: Quis renuntiabit mihi, si quid forte responderit tibi pater tuus dure de me?

11Et ait Jonathas ad David: Veni, et egrediamur foras in agrum. Cumque exissent ambo in agrum,

12ait Jonathas ad David: Domine Deus Israël, si investigavero sententiam patris mei crastino vel perendie, et aliquid boni fuerit super David, et non statim misero ad te, et notum tibi fecero,

13hæc faciat Dominus Jonathæ, et hæc addat. Si autem perseveraverit patris mei malitia adversum te, revelabo aurem tuam, et dimittam te, ut vadas in pace, et sit Dominus tecum, sicut fuit cum patre meo.

14Et si vixero, facies mihi misericordiam Domini: si vero mortuus fuero,

15non auferes misericordiam tuam a domo mea usque in sempiternum, quando eradicaverit Dominus inimicos David, unumquemque de terra: auferat Jonathan de domo sua, et requirat Dominus de manu inimicorum David.

16Pepigit ergo Jonathas fœdus cum domo David: et requisivit Dominus de manu inimicorum David.

17Et addidit Jonathas dejerare David, eo quod diligeret illum: sicut enim animam suam, ita diligebat eum.

18Dixitque ad eum Jonathas: Cras calendæ sunt, et requireris:

19requiretur enim sessio tua usque perendie. Descendes ergo festinus, et venies in locum ubi celandus es in die qua operari licet, et sedebis juxta lapidem cui nomen est Ezel.

20Et ego tres sagittas mittam juxta eum, et jaciam quasi exercens me ad signum.

21Mittam quoque et puerum, dicens ei: Vade, et affer mihi sagittas.

22Si dixero puero: Ecce sagittæ intra te sunt, tolle eas: tu veni ad me, quia pax tibi est, et nihil est mali, vivit Dominus. Si autem sic locutus fuero puero: Ecce sagittæ ultra te sunt: vade in pace, quia dimisit te Dominus.

23De verbo autem quod locuti sumus ego et tu, sit Dominus inter me et te usque in sempiternum.

24Absconditus est ergo David in agro, et venerunt calendæ, et sedit rex ad comedendum panem.

25Cumque sedisset rex super cathedram suam (secundum consuetudinem) quæ erat juxta parietem, surrexit Jonathas, et sedit Abner ex latere Saul: vacuusque apparuit locus David.

26Et non est locutus Saul quidquam in die illa: cogitabat enim quod forte evenisset ei, ut non esset mundus, nec purificatus.

27Cumque illuxisset dies secunda post calendas, rursus apparuit vacuus locus David. Dixitque Saul ad Jonathan filium suum: Cur non venit filius Isai nec heri nec hodie ad vescendum?

28Responditque Jonathas Sauli: Rogavit me obnixe ut iret in Bethlehem,

29et ait: Dimitte me, quoniam sacrificium solemne est in civitate, unus de fratribus meis accersivit me: nunc ergo si inveni gratiam in oculis tuis, vadam cito, et videbo fratres meos. Ob hanc causam non venit ad mensam regis.

30Iratus autem Saul adversum Jonathan, dixit ei: Fili mulieris virum ultro rapientis, numquid ignoro quia diligis filium Isai in confusionem tuam, et in confusionem ignominiosæ matris tuæ?

31Omnibus enim diebus quibus filius Isai vixerit super terram, non stabilieris tu, neque regnum tuum. Itaque jam nunc mitte, et adduc eum ad me: quia filius mortis est.

32Respondens autem Jonathas Sauli patri suo, ait: Quare morietur? quid fecit?

33Et arripuit Saul lanceam ut percuteret eum. Et intellexit Jonathas quod definitum esset a patre suo, ut interficeret David.

34Surrexit ergo Jonathas a mensa in ira furoris, et non comedit in die calendarum secunda panem. Contristatus est enim super David, eo quod confudisset eum pater suus.

35Cumque illuxisset mane, venit Jonathas in agrum juxta placitum David, et puer parvulus cum eo.

36Et ait ad puerum suum: Vade, et affer mihi sagittas quas ego jacio. Cumque puer cucurrisset, jecit aliam sagittam trans puerum.

37Venit itaque puer ad locum jaculi quod miserat Jonathas: et clamavit Jonathas post tergum pueri, et ait: Ecce ibi est sagitta porro ultra te.

38Clamavitque iterum Jonathas post tergum pueri, dicens: Festina velociter, ne steteris. Collegit autem puer Jonathæ sagittas, et attulit ad dominum suum:

39et quid ageretur, penitus ignorabat, tantummodo enim Jonathas et David rem noverant.

40Dedit ergo Jonathas arma sua puero, et dixit ei: Vade, et defer in civitatem.

41Cumque abiisset puer, surrexit David de loco qui vergebat ad austrum, et cadens pronus in terram, adoravit tertio: et osculantes se alterutrum, fleverunt pariter, David autem amplius.

42Dixit ergo Jonathas ad David: Vade in pace: quæcumque juravimus ambo in nomine Domini, dicentes: Dominus sit inter me et te, et inter semen meum et semen tuum usque in sempiternum.

43Et surrexit David, et abiit: sed et Jonathas ingressus est civitatem.

1Then David fled from Naioth, which is in Ramah, and he went and said before Jonathan: “What have I done? What is my iniquity, or what is my sin, against your father, so that he would seek my life?”

2And he said to him: “May this not be! You shall not die. For my father will not do anything, great or small, without first revealing it to me. Therefore, has my father concealed this word solely from me? By no means shall this be!”

3And he swore again to David. And David said: “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your sight, and so he will say, ‘Let Jonathan not know this, lest he be saddened.’ So truly, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, there is only one step (if I may say it) separating me from death.”

4And Jonathan said to David, “Whatever your soul will tell me, I will do for you.”

5Then David said to Jonathan: “Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I am accustomed to sit in a seat beside the king to eat. Therefore, permit me that I may be hidden in the field, until the evening of the third day.

6If your father, looking around, will seek me, you shall respond to him: ‘David asked me if he may hurry to Bethlehem, his own city. For there are solemn sacrifices in that place for all of his tribe together.’

7If he will say, ‘It is well,’ then your servant will have peace. But if he will be angry, know that his malice has reached its height.

8Therefore, show mercy to your servant. For you have brought me, your servant, into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if there is any iniquity in me, you may kill me, and you shall not lead me in to your father.”

9And Jonathan said: “May this be far from you. For certainly, if I ever realized that any wickedness was determined by my father against you, I would not be able to do anything other than report it to you.”

10And David responded to Jonathan, “Who will repeat it to me, if your father may perhaps answer you harshly about me?”

11And Jonathan said to David, “Come, and let us go out into the field.” And when they both had gone out into the field,

12Jonathan said before David: “O Lord, God of Israel, if I will discover a decision by my father, tomorrow, or the day after, and if there will be anything good concerning David, and yet I do not immediately send to you and make it known to you,

13may the Lord do these things to Jonathan, and may he add these other things. But if my father will have persevered in malice against you, I will reveal it to your ear, and I will send you away, so that you may go in peace, and so that the Lord may be with you, just as he was with my father.

14And if I live, you shall show the mercy of the Lord to me. Yet truly, if I die,

15you shall not take away your mercy from my house, even forever, when the Lord will have rooted out the enemies of David, each and every one of them, from the earth. May he take Jonathan from his house, and may the Lord require it from the hands of the enemies of David.”

16Therefore, Jonathan formed a covenant with the house of David. And the Lord required it from the hands of the enemies of David.

17And Jonathan continued to swear to David, because he loved him. For he loved him like his own soul.

18And Jonathan said to him: “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be sought.

19For your seat will be empty until the day after tomorrow. Therefore, you shall descend quickly, and you shall go to the place where you are to be hidden, on a day when it is lawful to work, and you shall remain beside the stone that is called Ezel.

20And I will shoot three arrows near it, and I will cast them as if I were practicing for myself toward a mark.

21Also, I will send a boy, saying to him, ‘Go and bring the arrows to me.’

22If I will say to the boy, ‘Behold, the arrows are before you, take them up,’ you shall approach before me, because there is peace for you, and there is nothing evil, as the Lord lives. But if I will have spoken to the boy in this way, ‘Behold, the arrows are away from you,’ then you shall go away in peace, for the Lord has released you.

23Now about the word that you and I have spoken, may the Lord be between you and me, even forever.”

24Therefore, David was hidden in the field. And the new moon came, and the king sat down to eat bread.

25And when the king had sat down on his chair, (according to custom) which was beside the wall, Jonathan rose up, and Abner sat beside Saul, and David’s place appeared empty.

26And Saul did not say anything on that day. For he was thinking that perhaps something happened to him, so that he was not clean, or not purified.

27And when the second day after the new moon had begun to dawn, David’s place again appeared empty. And Saul said to Jonathan, his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not arrived to eat, neither yesterday, nor today?”

28And Jonathan responded to Saul, “He petitioned me earnestly that he might go to Bethlehem,

29and he said: ‘Permit me. For there is a solemn sacrifice in the city. One of my brothers has summoned me. Now therefore, if I have found favor in your eyes, I will go quickly, and I will see my brothers.’ For this reason, he has not come to the table of the king.”

30Then Saul, becoming angry against Jonathan, said to him: “You son of a woman wantonly seizing a man! Could I be ignorant that you love the son of Jesse, to your own shame, and to the shame of your disgraceful mother?

31For all the days that the son of Jesse moves upon earth, neither you, nor your kingdom, will be secure. And so, send and bring him to me, here and now. For he is a son of death.”

32Then Jonathan, answering his father Saul, said: “Why should he die? What has he done?”

33And Saul picked up a lance, so that he might strike him. And Jonathan understood that it had been decided by his father that David be put to death.

34Therefore, Jonathan rose up from the table in a rage of anger. And he did not eat bread on the second day after the new moon. For he was saddened over David, because his father had confounded him.

35And when the morning had begun to dawn, Jonathan went into the field according to the agreement with David, and a young boy was with him.

36And he said to his boy, “Go, and bring to me the arrows that I shoot.” And when the boy had run, he shot another arrow away from the boy.

37And so, the boy went to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot. And Jonathan cried out, from behind the back of boy, and said: “Behold, the arrow is there, farther away from you.”

38And Jonathan cried out again, from behind the back of the boy, saying, “Go quickly! Do not stand still!” Then Jonathan’s boy collected the arrows, and he brought them to his lord.

39And he did not understand at all what was happening. For only Jonathan and David knew the matter.

40Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy, and he said to him, “Go, and carry them into the city.”

41And when the boy had gone away, David rose up from his place, which turned toward the south, and falling prone on the ground, he reverenced three times. And kissing one another, they wept together, but David more so.

42Then Jonathan said to David: “Go in peace. And let us both keep all that we have ever sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘May the Lord be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, even forever.’ ”

43And David rose up and went away. But Jonathan entered into the city.