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1 S A MU EL 2 1
faithful love, even when the Lord destroys all
your enemies from the face of the earth.”
16 So Jonathan made a solemn pact with David,* saying, “May the Lord destroy all your
enemies!” 17 And Jonathan made David reaffirm
his vow of friendship again, for Jonathan loved
David as he loved himself.
18 Then Jonathan said, “Tomorrow we celebrate the new moon festival. You will be missed
when your place at the table is empty. 19 The
day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the
place where you hid before, and wait there by
the stone pile.* 20 I will come out and shoot three
arrows to the side of the stone pile as though I
were shooting at a target. 21 Then 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. 22 But 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. 23 And may the
Lord make us keep our promises to each other,
for he has witnessed them.”
24 So David hid himself in the field, and when
the new moon festival began, the king sat down
to eat. 25 He sat at his usual place against the wall,
with Jonathan sitting opposite him* and Abner
beside him. But David’s place was empty. 26 Saul
didn’t say anything about it that day, for he said
to himself, “Something must have made David
ceremonially unclean.” 27 But 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?”
28 Jonathan replied, “David earnestly asked
me if he could go to Bethlehem. 29 He 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.”
30 Saul 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? 31 As long as that son of Jesse is alive,
you’ll never be king. Now go and get him so I
can kill him!”
32 “But why should he be put to death?” Jonathan asked his father. “What has he done?”
33 Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan, intending to kill him. So at last Jonathan realized
that his father was really determined to kill
David.
34 Jonathan 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.
35 The next morning, as agreed, Jonathan
went out into the field and took a young boy
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with him to gather his arrows. 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. 37 When the boy had
almost reached the arrow, Jonathan shouted,
“The arrow is still ahead of you. 38 Hurry, hurry,
don’t wait.” So the boy quickly gathered up
the arrows and ran back to his master. 39 He, of
course, suspected nothing; only Jonathan and
David understood the signal. 40 Then Jonathan
gave his bow and arrows to the boy and told him
to take them back to town.
41 As 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.
42 At 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.*
David Runs from Saul
1*David went to the town of Nob to
see Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech
trembled when he saw him. “Why are you
alone?” he asked. “Why is no one with you?”
2 “The king has sent me on a private matter,”
David said. “He told me not to tell anyone why I
am here. I have told my men where to meet me
later. 3 Now, what is there to eat? Give me five
loaves of bread or anything else you have.”
4 “We don’t have any regular bread,” the
priest replied. “But there is the holy bread,
which you can have if your young men have not
slept with any women recently.”
5 “Don’t worry,” David replied. “I never allow
my men to be with women when we are on a
campaign. And since they stay clean even on
ordinary trips, how much more on this one!”
6 Since there was no other food available,
the priest gave him the holy bread—the Bread of
the Presence that was placed before the Lord
in the Tabernacle. It had just been replaced that
day with fresh bread.
7 Now Doeg the Edomite, Saul’s chief herdsman, was there that day, having been detained
before the Lord.*
8 David asked Ahimelech, “Do you have a
spear or sword? The king’s business was so
urgent that I didn’t even have time to grab a
weapon!”
21
20:16 Hebrew with the house of David. 20:19 Hebrew
the stone Ezel. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
20:25 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads with Jonathan
standing. 20:30 Hebrew You son of a perverse and rebellious
woman. 20:41 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads near the
south edge. 20:42 This sentence is numbered 21:1 in Hebrew
text. 21:1 Verses 21:1-15 are numbered 21:2-16 in Hebrew
text. 21:7 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.