1And David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my iniquity and what is my sin before your father? For he seeks my vital life force."2And he said to him, "Far be it! You shall not die. Behold, my father will not do a great matter or a small matter without revealing it to my ears. And why should my father hide this matter from me? There is no such thing."3And David swore again and said, "Your father knows—knows that I have found favor in your eyes—and he said, 'May Jonathan not know this, lest he be grieved.' But truly, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, there is only as much between me and death as a transgression."4And Jonathan said to David, "What does your vital life force say? And I will do it for you."5And David said to Jonathan, "Look, the new moon is tomorrow, and I sit with the king to eat, but you send me away and I will hide myself in the field until the evening of the third day."6If he misses me, your father will miss me, and you say, "He asked me to run to David in his city Bethlehem, for there are the days for sacrificing for all the family."7If he thus says, "Good, peace to your servant," and if it burns it will burn to him, know that the evil has finished from his People.8And show steadfast love to your servant, for you have brought your servant into the covenant of the LORD with you. And if there is iniquity in me, you kill me yourself and unto your father—why then do you bring me?9And Jonathan said, "Far be it from you! If I knew that evil was planned by my father against you, then I would tell you."10And David said to Jonathan, "Who will tell me? Or what if your father answers you harshly?"11Jonathan said to David, "Come, and let us go out to the field." And the two of them went out to the field.12And Jonathan said to David, "The LORD God of Israel is witness: when I inquire of my father at this time tomorrow, the third day, behold, if it is good for David, and not then—I will send to you and uncover your ear."13Thus may the LORD do to Jonathan, and thus may he add. For if it seems good to my father to do harm to you, then I will uncover your ear and send you away, and you will go in peace. And may the LORD be with you, just as he was with my father.14And no, if I am still alive, may you not do with me the steadfast love of the LORD, so that I do not die.15And do not cut off your steadfast love from my house forever, and not when the LORD cuts off the enemies of David, every one from the face of the earth.16And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, and the LORD rescued him from the hand of David's enemies.17And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, because he loved him with the love of his soul.18And Jonathan said to him, "Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will be missed."19And on the third day you shall go down early and come to the place where you hid there on the day of the cultic, and you shall sit beside the cultic stone the Ezel.20And I will shoot three arrows beside it, as though shooting at a target for me.21And behold, I will send the boy to you; find the arrows. If he says, say to the boy, "Behold, the arrows are from you, and behold, take and come," because it is peace to you and no living word from the LORD.22And if he says to the lad in this way, "Behold, the arrows are from you and beyond," go your way, for the LORD has sent you.23And the word that we spoke, I and you, behold, the LORD is between me and you forever.24And David hid in the field. It was the new moon, and the king sat down to eat bread.25And the king sat on his seat as usual, on the seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat beside Saul, and David’s place was empty.26And Saul did not speak a word at all on that day, for he said, "It is a chance event; he is without ritually clean, for he is not ritually clean."27And it was on the day after the second new moon, and Saul noticed that David was missing. And Saul said to his son Jonathan, "Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today?"28And Jonathan answered Saul: "David asked about from my standing until the house of Bethlehem."29And he said, "Send me away, please, for there is a sacrificial feast for our clan in the city, and my brother has commanded me to come. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, let me slip away, please, and see my brother. For this reason he did not come to the king's table."30And the anger of Saul burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, "Son of a wanderer of rebellion! Have I not known that you have chosen for the son of Jesse your shame and the shame of your mother's nakedness?"31For all the days that the son of Jesse lives on the ground, you will not be established, you and your kingdom. And now send and take him to me, for he is a son of death.32And Jonathan answered his father Saul and said to him, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?"33And Saul hurled the spear at him to strike him, and Jonathan knew that it was decided from his father to put David to death.34And Jonathan arose from the table in burning anger and did not eat on the day of the new moon the second bread, for he was grieved for David because his father had shamed him.35And it was in the morning, and Jonathan went out to the field at the appointed time for David, and a small boy with him.36And he said to his boy, "Run, find the arrows that I shoot." The boy ran, and he shot the arrow to pass him by.37And the boy came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan shot, and Jonathan called after the boy and said, "Is not the arrow beyond you?"38And Jonathan called after the boy, "Hurry, come quickly; do not stand still!" And Jonathan's boy picked up the arrows and came to his lord.39And the boy did not know anything, but Jonathan and David knew the matter.40And Jonathan gave his implements to his boy and said to him, "Go, bring them to the City of refuge."41The boy came, and David arose from beside the south and fell on his face to the ground and prostrated himself three times. And they kissed, each his companion, and they wept, each his companion, until David made great.42And Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, as we two swore—we, in the name of the LORD—saying, 'The LORD will be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, until eternity.'"