New King James Version

New Living Translation

1Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and went and said to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”

1David now fled from Naioth in Ramah and found Jonathan. “What have I done?” he exclaimed. “What is my crime? How have I offended your father that he is so determined to kill me?”

2So Jonathan said to him, “By no means! You shall not die! Indeed, my father will do nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!”

2“That’s not true!” Jonathan protested. “You’re not going to die. He always tells me everything he’s going to do, even the little things. I know my father wouldn’t hide something like this from me. It just isn’t so!”

3Then David took an oath again, and said, “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But truly, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”

3Then David took an oath before Jonathan and said, “Your father knows perfectly well about our friendship, so he has said to himself, ‘I won’t tell Jonathan—why should I hurt him?’ But I swear to you that I am only a step away from death! I swear it by the LORD and by your own soul!”

4So Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you.”

4“Tell me what I can do to help you,” Jonathan exclaimed.

5And David said to Jonathan, “Indeed tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening.

5David replied, “Tomorrow we celebrate the new moon festival. I’ve always eaten with the king on this occasion, but tomorrow I’ll hide in the field and stay there until the evening of the third day.

6If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked permission of me that he might run over to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’

6If your father asks where I am, tell him I asked permission to go home to Bethlehem for an annual family sacrifice.

7If he says thus: ‘It is well,’ your servant will be safe. But if he is very angry, be sure that evil is determined by him.

7If he says, ‘Fine!’ you will know all is well. But if he is angry and loses his temper, you will know he is determined to kill me.

8Therefore you shall deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you. Nevertheless, if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?”

8Show me this loyalty as my sworn friend—for we made a solemn pact before the LORD—or kill me yourself if I have sinned against your father. But please don’t betray me to him!”

9But Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I knew certainly that evil was determined by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you?”

9“Never!” Jonathan exclaimed. “You know that if I had the slightest notion my father was planning to kill you, I would tell you at once.”

10Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me, or what if your father answers you roughly?”

10Then David asked, “How will I know whether or not your father is angry?”

11And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So both of them went out into the field.

11“Come out to the field with me,” Jonathan replied. And they went out there together.

12Then Jonathan said to David: “The LORD God of Israel is witness! When I have sounded out my father sometime tomorrow, or the third day, and indeed there is good toward David, and I do not send to you and tell you,

12Then Jonathan told David, “I promise by the LORD, the God of Israel, that by this time tomorrow, or the next day at the latest, I will talk to my father and let you know at once how he feels about you. If he speaks favorably about you, I will let you know.

13may the LORD do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will report it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And the LORD be with you as He has been with my father.

13But if he is angry and wants you killed, may the LORD strike me and even kill me if I don’t warn you so you can escape and live. May the LORD be with you as he used to be with my father.

14And you shall not only show me the kindness of the LORD while I still live, that I may not die;

14And may you treat me with the faithful love of the LORD as long as I live. But if I die,

15but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever, no, not when the LORD has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.”

15treat my family with this faithful love, even when the LORD destroys all your enemies from the face of the earth.”

16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “Let the LORD require it at the hand of David’s enemies.”

16So Jonathan made a solemn pact with David, saying, “May the LORD destroy all your enemies!”

17Now Jonathan again caused David to vow, because he loved him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

17And Jonathan made David reaffirm his vow of friendship again, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.

18Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.

18Then Jonathan said, “Tomorrow we celebrate the new moon festival. You will be missed when your place at the table is empty.

19And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed; and remain by the stone Ezel.

19The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid before, and wait there by the stone pile.

20Then I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target;

20I will come out and shoot three arrows to the side of the stone pile as though I were shooting at a target.

21and there I will send a lad, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to the lad, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them and come’—then, as the LORD lives, there is safety for you and no harm.

21Then I will send a boy to bring the arrows back. If you hear me tell him, ‘They’re on this side,’ then you will know, as surely as the LORD lives, that all is well, and there is no trouble.

22But if I say thus to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you’—go your way, for the LORD has sent you away.

22But if I tell him, ‘Go farther—the arrows are still ahead of you,’ then it will mean that you must leave immediately, for the LORD is sending you away.

23And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed the LORD be between you and me forever.”

23And may the LORD make us keep our promises to each other, for he has witnessed them.”

24Then David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast.

24So David hid himself in the field, and when the new moon festival began, the king sat down to eat.

25Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty.

25He sat at his usual place against the wall, with Jonathan sitting opposite him and Abner beside him. But David’s place was empty.

26Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him; he is unclean, surely he is unclean.”

26Saul didn’t say anything about it that day, for he said to himself, “Something must have made David ceremonially unclean.”

27And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”

27But when David’s place was empty again the next day, Saul asked Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse been here for the meal either yesterday or today?”

28So Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem.

28Jonathan replied, “David earnestly asked me if he could go to Bethlehem.

29And he said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.”

29He said, ‘Please let me go, for we are having a family sacrifice. My brother demanded that I be there. So please let me get away to see my brothers.’ That’s why he isn’t here at the king’s table.”

30Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?

30Saul boiled with rage at Jonathan. “You stupid son of a whore!” he swore at him. “Do you think I don’t know that you want him to be king in your place, shaming yourself and your mother?

31For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.”

31As long as that son of Jesse is alive, you’ll never be king. Now go and get him so I can kill him!”

32And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be killed? What has he done?”

32“But why should he be put to death?” Jonathan asked his father. “What has he done?”

33Then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David.

33Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan, intending to kill him. So at last Jonathan realized that his father was really determined to kill David.

34So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully.

34Jonathan left the table in fierce anger and refused to eat on that second day of the festival, for he was crushed by his father’s shameful behavior toward David.

35And so it was, in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad was with him.

35The next morning, as agreed, Jonathan went out into the field and took a young boy with him to gather his arrows.

36Then he said to his lad, “Now run, find the arrows which I shoot.” As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

36“Start running,” he told the boy, “so you can find the arrows as I shoot them.” So the boy ran, and Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.

37When the lad had come to the place where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out after the lad and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”

37When the boy had almost reached the arrow, Jonathan shouted, “The arrow is still ahead of you.

38And Jonathan cried out after the lad, “Make haste, hurry, do not delay!” So Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master.

38Hurry, hurry, don’t wait.” So the boy quickly gathered up the arrows and ran back to his master.

39But the lad did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter.

39He, of course, suspected nothing; only Jonathan and David understood the signal.

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

40Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to the boy and told him to take them back to town.

41As soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another; and they wept together, but David more so.

41As soon as the boy was gone, David came out from where he had been hiding near the stone pile. Then David bowed three times to Jonathan with his face to the ground. Both of them were in tears as they embraced each other and said good-bye, especially David.

42Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever.’ ” So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.

42At last Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn loyalty to each other in the LORD’s name. The LORD is the witness of a bond between us and our children forever.” Then David left, and Jonathan returned to the town.

The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.