1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came to Jonathan. "What have I done?" he said. "What is my offense? What is my sin against your father, that he wants to take my life?"
2 He said to him, "Never! You will not die. My father does nothing, big or small, without letting me know. Why would my father hide this from me? It is not so."
3 But David swore once more, "Your father knows full well that I have found favor in your sight, and he thinks, 'Jonathan must not know about this, or he will be hurt.' Yet as surely as the LORD lives and you live, there is only a step between me and death."
4 Jonathan said to David, "Whatever you want, I will do it for you."
5 David told Jonathan, "Tomorrow is the new moon, and I ought to sit at the meal with the king. Let me go, and I will hide in the field until the evening of the third day.
6 If your father notices that I am missing, say, 'David begged me to let him hurry to Bethlehem, his town, because the whole clan has its yearly sacrifice there.'
7 If he says, 'Very well,' your servant is safe. But if he flies into a rage, you will know he has made up his mind to do harm.
8 Deal kindly, then, with your servant, since you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you. If there is guilt in me, kill me yourself; why take me to your father?"
9 Jonathan said, "Never think it! If I knew for sure that my father had made up his mind to bring harm on you, would I not tell you?"
10 David said to Jonathan, "Who will let me know if your father answers you harshly?"
11 Jonathan told David, "Come, let us go out to the field." The two of them went out to the field.
12 Jonathan said to David, "The LORD, the God of Israel, be witness! When I have sounded out my father by this time tomorrow, or the day after, if he is favorable toward David, will I not send word to you then and let you know?
13 If my father means to do you harm, may the LORD do so to Jonathan, and more besides, if I do not let you know and send you off to go safely on your way. And may the LORD be with you as he was with my father.
14 And if I am still alive, will you not show me the steadfast love of the LORD, so that I do not die?
15 And never cut off your kindness from my house, not even when the LORD has cut off David's enemies, every one, from the face of the earth."
16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David: "May the LORD call David's enemies to account."
17 Jonathan had David swear once again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
18 Jonathan told him, "Tomorrow is the new moon; you will be missed, since your seat will be empty.
19 On the third day go down quickly to the place where you hid on the day of that business, and wait by the stone Ezel.
20 I will shoot three arrows off to one side of it, as if I were shooting at a mark.
21 Then I will send the boy: 'Go and find the arrows.' If I tell the boy, 'Look, the arrows are on this side of you; pick them up,' then come, for you are safe; there is nothing wrong, as the LORD lives.
22 But if I say to the youngster, 'Look, the arrows are farther on,' then go, for the LORD is sending you away.
23 As for what you and I have said to each other, the LORD is between you and me for ever."
24 So David hid in the field. The new moon came, and the king sat down to the meal to eat.
25 The king sat in his usual seat, the seat by the wall. Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat beside Saul, but David's place was empty.
26 Saul said nothing that day, because he thought, "Something has happened to him; he is not clean. That must be it; he is not clean."
27 But the next day, the second of the month, David's place was empty again. Saul asked his son Jonathan, "Why has Jesse's son not come to the meal, yesterday or today?"
28 Jonathan answered Saul, "David begged me to let him go to Bethlehem.
29 He said, 'Please let me go, because our clan has a sacrifice in the town, and my brother has told me to be there. Now if I have found favor in your sight, let me slip off and see my brothers.' That is why he has not come to the king's table."
30 Saul's anger blazed against Jonathan. He said to him, "You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have sided with Jesse's son, to your own shame and the shame of your mother's nakedness?
31 As long as Jesse's son lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingship will stand. Now send and fetch him to me; he is a dead man."
32 Jonathan answered his father Saul, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?"
33 Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him down, and Jonathan knew that his father had made up his mind to kill David.
34 Jonathan got up from the table in a burning rage and ate nothing on the second day of the month, for he was hurt on David's account, because his father had humiliated him.
35 In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the meeting with David, a small boy with him.
36 He told his boy, "Run and find the arrows I am shooting." The boy ran, and he shot the arrow past him.
37 When the boy reached the spot where the arrow Jonathan had shot lay, Jonathan called out after the boy, "Is the arrow not farther on, past you?"
38 Jonathan called out after the boy, "Hurry! Quick! Do not stand there!" Jonathan's boy picked up the arrows and came back to his master.
39 The boy had no idea of anything; only Jonathan and David knew what it meant.
40 Jonathan handed his gear to his boy and told him, "Go, take it to the town."
41 The boy left, and David got up from beside the south side of the stone, fell face down on the ground, and bowed three times. They kissed each other and wept together, David most of all.
42 Jonathan told David, "Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the LORD's name, 'The LORD will be between me and you and between my offspring and your offspring for ever.'" Then David got up and left, and Jonathan went into the town.