1 Samuel 20:18-42

Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon [festival], and you will be missed because your seat will be empty. When you have stayed for three days, you shall go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself on that eventful day [when my father tried to kill you], and shall stay by the stone Ezel. I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I shot at a target. And I will send a boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I specifically say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you, get them,’ then come [back to my father’s table]; for it is safe for you and there is no danger, as the LORD lives. But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, for the LORD has sent you away. As for the agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, the LORD is between you and me forever [making sure that we each keep our word].” So David hid in the field; and when the New Moon [festival] came, the king sat down to eat food. The king sat on his seat as on previous occasions, on his seat by the wall; then Jonathan stood up, and Abner [his commander] sat down by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty. Yet Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “It is an incident [of some kind] and he is not [ceremonially] clean—surely he is unclean.” But on the next day, the second day of the new moon, David’s place was empty [again]; and Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today?” Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. He said, ‘Please let me go because our family is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to attend. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me slip away so that I may see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.” Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a wayward, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse [over me] to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you [as heir to the throne] nor your kingdom will be established. So now, send [someone] and bring him to me, for he must die.” Jonathan answered Saul his father, “Why must he be put to death? What has he done?” Then Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him down, so Jonathan knew [without any doubt] that his father had decided to put David to death. Then Jonathan stood up from the table in the heat of anger, and ate no food on that second day of the new moon (month), for he grieved and worried about David because his father had dishonored him. In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the meeting with David, and a young boy was with him. And he said to his boy, “Run, please find the arrows which I am about to shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow past him. When the boy came to the place where Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan called to him, “Is the arrow not beyond you?” And Jonathan called out after the boy, “Hurry, be quick, do not stay!” So Jonathan’s boy picked up the arrow and came back to his master. But the boy was not aware of anything; only Jonathan and David knew about the matter. Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, “Go, take them to the city.” As soon as the boy was gone, David got up from the south side [beside the mound of stones] and fell on his face to the ground [in submission and respect], and bowed three times. Then they kissed one another and wept together, but David wept more. Jonathan told David, “Go in safety, inasmuch as we have sworn to each other in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and yours forever.’ ” Then he stood and left, while Jonathan went into the city.