| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 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?” | 1Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?” |
| 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!” | 2“Far from it!” Jonathan replied. “You will not die. Indeed, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This cannot be true!” |
| 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!” | 3But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.” |
| 4“Tell me what I can do to help you,” Jonathan exclaimed. | 4Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you desire, I will do for you.” |
| 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. | 5So David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I am supposed to dine with the king. Instead, let me go and hide in the field until the third evening from now. |
| 6If your father asks where I am, tell him I asked permission to go home to Bethlehem for an annual family sacrifice. | 6If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David urgently requested my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because there is an annual sacrifice for his whole clan.’ |
| 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. | 7If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant is safe, but if he is enraged, you will know he has evil intentions. |
| 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!” | 8Therefore deal faithfully with your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?” |
| 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.” | 9“Never!” Jonathan replied. “If I ever found out that my father had evil intentions against you, would I not tell you?” |
| 10Then David asked, “How will I know whether or not your father is angry?” | 10Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?” |
| 11“Come out to the field with me,” Jonathan replied. And they went out there together. | 11“Come,” he replied, “let us go out to the field.” So the two of them went out into the field, |
| 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. | 12and Jonathan said, “By the LORD, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. If he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you? |
| 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. | 13But if my father intends to bring evil on you, then may the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if I do not tell you and send you on your way in safety. May the LORD be with you, just as He has been with my father. |
| 14And may you treat me with the faithful love of the LORD as long as I live. But if I die, | 14And as long as I live, treat me with the LORD’s loving devotion, that I may not die, |
| 15treat my family with this faithful love, even when the LORD destroys all your enemies from the face of the earth.” | 15and do not ever cut off your loving devotion from my household—not even when the LORD cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.” |
| 16So Jonathan made a solemn pact with David, saying, “May the LORD destroy all your enemies!” | 16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD hold David’s enemies accountable.” |
| 17And Jonathan made David reaffirm his vow of friendship again, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself. | 17And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself. |
| 18Then Jonathan said, “Tomorrow we celebrate the new moon festival. You will be missed when your place at the table is empty. | 18Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed if your seat is empty. |
| 19The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid before, and wait there by the stone pile. | 19When you have stayed three days, hurry down to the place you hid on the day this trouble began, and remain beside the stone Ezel. |
| 20I will come out and shoot three arrows to the side of the stone pile as though I were shooting at a target. | 20I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as if I were aiming at a target. |
| 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. | 21Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ Now, if I expressly say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them,’ then come, because as surely as the LORD lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger. |
| 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. | 22But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, for the LORD has sent you away. |
| 23And may the LORD make us keep our promises to each other, for he has witnessed them.” | 23And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.” |
| 24So David hid himself in the field, and when the new moon festival began, the king sat down to eat. | 24So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat. |
| 25He sat at his usual place against the wall, with Jonathan sitting opposite him and Abner beside him. But David’s place was empty. | 25He sat in his usual place by the wall, opposite Jonathan and beside Abner, but David’s place was empty. |
| 26Saul didn’t say anything about it that day, for he said to himself, “Something must have made David ceremonially unclean.” | 26Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.” |
| 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?” | 27But on the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?” |
| 28Jonathan replied, “David earnestly asked me if he could go to Bethlehem. | 28Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem, |
| 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.” | 29saying, ‘Please let me go, because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go and see my brothers.’ That is why he did not come to the king’s table.” |
| 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? | 30Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the disgrace of the mother who bore you? |
| 31As long as that son of Jesse is alive, you’ll never be king. Now go and get him so I can kill him!” | 31For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingship shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!” |
| 32“But why should he be put to death?” Jonathan asked his father. “What has he done?” | 32“Why must he be put to death?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?” |
| 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. | 33Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to kill him; so Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David. |
| 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. | 34Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger and did not eat any food that second day of the month, for he was grieved by his father’s shameful treatment of David. |
| 35The next morning, as agreed, Jonathan went out into the field and took a young boy with him to gather his arrows. | 35In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a small boy was with 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. | 36He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” And as the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. |
| 37When the boy had almost reached the arrow, Jonathan shouted, “The arrow is still ahead of you. | 37When the boy reached the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called to him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” |
| 38Hurry, hurry, don’t wait.” So the boy quickly gathered up the arrows and ran back to his master. | 38Then Jonathan cried out, “Hurry! Make haste! Do not delay!” So the boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. |
| 39He, of course, suspected nothing; only Jonathan and David understood the signal. | 39But the boy did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement. |
| 40Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to the boy and told him to take them back to town. | 40Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the boy and said, “Go, take it back to the city.” |
| 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. | 41When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone, fell facedown, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept together—though David wept more. |
| 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. | 42And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’ ” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city. |
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