1David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my soul?"2He said to him, "Far be it! You shall not die. Behold, my father will do neither a great matter nor a small matter without uncovering it to my ear. Why should my father hide this matter from me? It is not so."3David swore again and said, "Your father knows for certain that I have found favor in your eyes." Then he said, "Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. Yet as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, it is but a step between me and death."4Jonathan said to David, "Tell me what your heart desires, and I will do it for you."5David answered Jonathan, "Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am expected to dine with the king. Send me away, and I will hide in the field until the third evening.6If your father misses me, say, 'David earnestly requested leave from me to run to Bethlehem his city, for there is the annual sacrifice for all the family.'7If he replies, 'Very well,' then your servant is safe; but if he becomes angry, you will know that harm is determined against him.8Show kindness to your servant, for you brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with yourself. Yet if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself, and why bring me to your father?"9Jonathan said, "Far be it from you! If I knew for certain that evil had ended from my father toward you, would I not tell you?"10David asked Jonathan, "Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?"11Jonathan said to David, "Come, let us go out into the field." So the two of them went out into the field.12Jonathan said to David, "By the LORD, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father tomorrow or the next day. If he is well disposed toward you, I will send word and tell you.13May the LORD deal with Jonathan and more also if my father intends you harm and I do not disclose it to you and send you away in safety. May the LORD be with you as he was with my father.14But if I am still alive, show me the LORD's kindness so that I do not die,15and never cut off your kindness from my house forever, nor when the LORD cuts off every enemy of David, a man from the face of the ground."16So Jonathan cut a covenant with the house of David, and the LORD sought it from the hand of David's enemies.17Jonathan made David swear again because of his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own life.18Jonathan said to him, "Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your place will be empty.19On the third day go down far and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed; stay beside the stone Ezel.20I will shoot three arrows to the side of it as though I were shooting at a target.21Then I will send the boy to find the arrows. If I call to him, 'Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them,' then as the LORD lives, you are safe and there is nothing amiss.22But if I say to the boy, 'Look, the arrows are beyond you,' then go, for the LORD has sent you away.23As for the matter we have spoken, the LORD is witness between you and me forever."24David hid in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat the meal.25The king sat in his place by the wall as usual, Jonathan sat opposite, and Abner sat beside Saul, but David's place was empty.26Saul said nothing that day, supposing that David was ceremonially unclean.27On the second day of the month David's place was still empty, and Saul said to Jonathan his son, "Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal either yesterday or today?"28Jonathan answered Saul, "David earnestly requested leave from me to go to Bethlehem."29He said, 'Please let me go, for our family is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me slip away to see my brothers.' That is why he has not come to the king's table.30Saul's anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, "Son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?31As long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Therefore send and bring him to me, for he must die."32Jonathan answered his father Saul, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?"33Saul cast the spear at him to strike him, and Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death.34Jonathan rose from the table in burning anger and ate no food on the second day of the month, because he was grieved for David, since his father had humiliated him.35In the morning Jonathan went out into the field for the appointed meeting with David, taking a small boy with him.36He said to his youth, "Run, find the arrows that I shoot, please." As the youth ran, he shot the arrow beyond him.37When the youth came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the youth and said, "Is not the arrow beyond you?"38Then Jonathan called after the youth, "Hurry, make haste, do not stand still!" The youth of Jonathan gathered the arrows and came to his lord.39The boy knew nothing; only Jonathan and David understood the meaning.40Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and told him, "Go, carry them back to the city."41After the boy had gone, David rose from beside the stone, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then they kissed each other and wept together until David could weep no more.42Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, 'The LORD shall be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring forever.'" Then David set out, and Jonathan returned to the city.