- First Book of Samuel (First Book of Kings)
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chapter 20
1
But
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?
2 And 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.
3 And 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.
4 And Jonathan said to David: Whatsoever thy soul shall
say to me, I will do for thee.
5 And David said to Jonathan: Behold to morrow 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.
6 If 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.
7 If 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.
8 Deal 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.
9 And 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.
10 And David answered Jonathan: Who shall bring me
word, if thy father should answer thee harshly concerning me?
11 And 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,
12 Jonathan said to David: O Lord God of Israel, if I
shall discover my father's mind, to morrow 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,
13 May 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.
14 And if I live, thou shalt shew me the kindness of
the Lord: but if I die,
15 Thou 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.
16 Jonathan therefore made a covenant with the house of
David: and the Lord required it at the hands of David's enemies.
17 And Jonathan swore again to David, because he loved
him: for he loved him as his own soul.
18 And Jonathan said to him: To morrow is the new moon,
and thou wilt be missed:
19 For 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.
20 And I will shoot three arrows near it, and will
shoot as if I were exercising myself at a mark.
21 And I will send a boy, saying to him: Go and fetch
me the arrows.
22 If 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.
23 And concerning the word which I and thou have
spoken, the Lord be between thee and me for ever.
24 So David was hid in the field, and the new moon
came, and the king sat down to eat bread.
25 And 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.
26 And Saul said nothing that day, for he thought it
might have happened to him, that he was not clean, nor purified.
27 And 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 to day?
28 And Jonathan answered Saul: He asked leave of me
earnestly to go to Bethlehem,
29 And 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.
30 Then 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?
31 For 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.
32 And Jonathan answering Saul his father, said: Why
shall he die: what hath he done?
33 And Saul caught up a spear to strike him. And
Jonathan understood that it was determined by his father to kill David.
34 So 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.
35 And when the morning came, Jonathan went into the
field, according to the appointment with David, and a little boy with him.
36 And 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.
37 The 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.
38 And 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:
39 And he knew not at all what was doing: for only
Jonathan and David knew the matter.
40 Jonathan therefore gave his arms to the boy, and
said to him: Go, and carry them into the city.
41 And 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.
42 And 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.
43 And David arose, and departed: and Jonathan went
into the city.
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