Jonathan helps David
1David ran away from the village of Naioth near Ramah and he went to Jonathan. He asked Jonathan: ‘What have I done wrong? What did I do against your father? What mistake did I make? Why does your father want to kill me?’
2Jonathan said: ‘You will not die, this is sure. My father tells me everything he wants to do. He will not hide something like this from me. It is not true.’
3But David said: ‘No, I am sure. Your father knows very well that you love me and he does not want you to know this, so you will not be sad. But as sure as the Lord lives and as you live, I think that soon I will be dead.’ 4Jonathan said to David: ‘You must tell me what you want me to do, and I will do it.’
5And David said to Jonathan: ‘Remember, tomorrow is the New-moon-feast and then I have to eat with the king. But you must let me go, so I can go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. 6If your father sees I am not there, then you must say that I have begged you to let me go to Bethlehem because my whole family will be there to sacrifice as they have to do every year. 7If your father says it is all right, then I am safe, but if he gets very angry, then you must know that he has decided to kill me. 8And you must remember that you and I made an agreement and the Lord was our Witness. If I have done something wrong, then you must kill me. Do not take me to your father.’
9Jonathan said: ‘That will never happen. If I know my father wants to kill you, then I will tell you.’
10David said: ‘Who will tell me if your father gets angry?’ 11Jonathan said to David: ‘Come, let us go to the field.’ So the 2 of them went to the field 12and Jonathan said to David: ‘As sure as the Lord God of Israel lives, I will ask my father this time the day after tomorrow and if he is friendly and his answer is good for you, then I will let you know. 13And if my father has decided to kill you, I will also let you know. I will let you go so that you can be safe. The Lord can punish me if I don't do it. And I pray that the Lord will be with you as He was with my father. 14And as long as I live, you must remember that we have an agreement and the Lord is our Witness, and then I will not die. 15And when the Lord defeats all your enemies, you must always remember that our agreement was also for my children.’
16Jonathan made this agreement with David and his family and he said: ‘I pray that the Lord will punish all of David's enemies.’
17Jonathan asked David to promise it again, because he loved David as much as he loved himself. 18Then Jonathan said to David: ‘Tomorrow is the New-moon-feast and my father will see that you are not there because your seat will be empty. 19And the next day you must go and hide in the same place where you have hidden before. You must sit down at the Ezel Stone. 20I will then shoot 3 arrows past the stone and pretend that I am shooting at something. 21Then I will send the boy who is with me to go and get the arrows. If I shout and tell the boy that the arrows are between me and him and he must bring them, then you can come because there are no problems, as sure as God lives. 22But if I tell the boy: “The arrows are further away,” then you must go because then the Lord sends you away. 23But you must remember what we said to each other, you and I. Do not forget it. The Lord will always be our Witness that we have an agreement.’
24David hid in the field. It was the New-moon-feast and the king sat down at the table to eat. 25He sat at the place where he always sat, next to the wall. Jonathan was standing and Abner sat next to Saul. David's place was empty. 26Saul said nothing that day, because he thought something had happened to David that made him impure. 27But the next day, the 2nd day of the New-moon-feast, David's place was empty again. Saul asked Jonathan, his son: ‘Why did the son of Jesse not come to eat, today or yesterday?’
28Jonathan said to Saul: ‘David begged me and asked if he could go to Bethlehem. 29David asked me to let him go, because their family had to sacrifice an offering and his brother said he must go. He asked me to be good to him and let him go so he could see his brothers. That is why David did not come to the king's table.’
30Saul was angry with Jonathan. He said: ‘You are like the son of a bad and unfaithful woman. I know that you want to help the son of Jesse against me. You have brought shame to yourself and to your mother. 31You will not become king while the son of Jesse lives. Send men to get him. He must die.’
32Jonathan asked his father Saul: ‘Why must he die? What has he done?’ 33Saul threw his spear at Jonathan. He wanted to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father had decided to kill David. 34Jonathan was very angry and he got up and he left the table. He did not eat on that 2nd day of the New-moon-feast. He was sad because of the bad things that his father had said about David. 35Jonathan went out to the field the next morning, to the place where he had told David to wait for him. There was a young servant boy with Jonathan. 36Jonathan said to the boy: ‘You must run and find the arrows that I shoot.’ The boy ran and Jonathan shot an arrow past the boy. 37When the boy came to the place where Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan shouted to him: ‘The arrow is further away, past you.’ 38And Jonathan shouted to the boy: ‘You must hurry. You must run, and you must not stop.’
The boy picked up the arrow and he came to Jonathan. 39The boy knew nothing, but Jonathan and David knew what Jonathan's words meant. 40Jonathan took his weapons and he gave them to the boy and told him: ‘Go, and take this back to town.’
41When the boy was gone, David came out from behind the Ezel Stone where he was hiding. He bowed 3 times with his face to the ground. David and Jonathan kissed and they cried. David was very sad. 42Then Jonathan said to David: ‘I pray that God will give you peace. We have promised each other that we will always be friends and we said the Lord was our Witness. We said: “We pray that God will always be our witness that we have made an agreement about us and our descendants.” ’
David went away and Jonathan went into the town.
