CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>1 Samuel 20 New American Bible</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/1_samuel/20.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/1_samuel/20-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NABRE</a> > 1 Samuel 20</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../1_samuel/19.htm" title="1 Samuel 19">◄</a> 1 Samuel 20 <a href="../1_samuel/21.htm" title="1 Samuel 21">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch09020" class="chapter"> <h1 id="cn09020" class="cn"></h1> <p class="pf"><span class="hemb">David Consults with Jonathan.</span> <span id="v09020001" class="ver">1</span>David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and went to Jonathan. “What have I done?” he asked him. “What crime or what offense does your father hold against me that he seeks my life?”<a id="ren09020001-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en09020001-a">a</a> <span id="v09020002" class="ver">2</span>Jonathan answered him: “Heaven forbid that you should die! My father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. Why, then, should my father conceal this from me? It cannot be true!” <span id="v09020003" class="ver">3</span>But David replied: “Your father is well aware that I am favored with your friendship, so he has decided, ‘Jonathan must not know about this or he will be grieved.’ Nevertheless, as the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.” <span id="v09020004" class="ver">4</span>Jonathan then said to David, “I will do whatever you say.” <span id="v09020005" class="ver">5</span>David answered: “Tomorrow is the new moon, when I should in fact dine with the king. Let me go and hide in the open country until evening.<a id="ren09020005-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en09020005-b">b</a> <span id="v09020006" class="ver">6</span>If it turns out that your father misses me, say, ‘David urged me to let him go on short notice to his city Bethlehem, because his whole clan is holding its seasonal sacrifice there.’<a id="ren09020006-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en09020006-c">c</a> <span id="v09020007" class="ver">7</span>If he says, ‘Very well,’ your servant is safe. But if he becomes quite angry, you can be sure he has planned some harm. <span id="v09020008" class="ver">8</span><a id="ren09020008-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en09020008-d">d</a> Do this kindness for your servant because of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>’s covenant into which you brought us: if I am guilty, kill me yourself! Why should you give me up to your father?” <span id="v09020009" class="ver">9</span>But Jonathan answered: “Not I! If ever I find out that my father is determined to harm you, I will certainly let you know.” <span id="v09020010" class="ver">10</span>David then asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father gives you a harsh answer?”</p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Mutual Agreement.</span> <span id="v09020011" class="ver">11</span>Jonathan replied to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” When they were out in the open country together, <span id="v09020012" class="ver">12</span>Jonathan said to David: “As the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, the God of Israel, lives, I will sound out my father about this time tomorrow. Whether he is well disposed toward David or not, I will inform you. <span id="v09020013" class="ver">13</span><a id="ren09020013-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en09020013-e">e</a> Should it please my father to bring any harm upon you, may the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> do thus to Jonathan and more,<a id="rfn09020013-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn09020013-1">*</a> if I do not inform you of it and send you on your way in peace. May the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> be with you even as he was with my father. <span id="v09020014" class="ver">14</span>Only this: if I am still alive, may you show me the kindness of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>. But if I die, <span id="v09020015" class="ver">15</span>never cut off your kindness from my house. And when the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> cuts off all the enemies of David from the face of the land, <span id="v09020016" class="ver">16</span>the name of Jonathan must never be cut off from the family of David, or the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> will make you answer for it.” <span id="v09020017" class="ver">17</span>And in his love for David, Jonathan renewed his oath to him, because he loved him as he loved himself.</p> <p><span id="v09020018" class="ver">18</span>Jonathan then said to him: “Tomorrow is the new moon; you will be missed, since your place will be vacant. <span id="v09020019" class="ver">19</span>On the third day you will be missed all the more. Go to the spot where you hid on the other occasion and wait near the mound there.<a id="ren09020019-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en09020019-f">f</a> <span id="v09020020" class="ver">20</span>On the third day of the month I will shoot arrows to the side of it, as though aiming at a target. <span id="v09020021" class="ver">21</span>I will then send my attendant to recover the arrows. If in fact I say to him, ‘Look, the arrow is this side of you; pick it up,’ come, for you are safe. As the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> lives, there will be nothing to fear. <span id="v09020022" class="ver">22</span>But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrow is beyond you,’ go, for the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> sends you away. <span id="v09020023" class="ver">23</span>However, in the matter which you and I have discussed, the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> shall be between you and me forever.” <span id="v09020024" class="ver">24</span>So David hid in the open country.</p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">David’s Absence.</span> On the day of the new moon, when the king sat down at the feast to dine, <span id="v09020025" class="ver">25</span>he took his usual place against the wall. Jonathan sat facing him, while Abner sat at the king’s side. David’s place was vacant. <span id="v09020026" class="ver">26</span><a id="ren09020026-g" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en09020026-g">g</a> Saul, however, said nothing that day, for he thought, “He must have become unclean by accident.”<a id="rfn09020026-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn09020026-1">*</a> <span id="v09020027" class="ver">27</span>On the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was still vacant. So Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to table yesterday or today?” <span id="v09020028" class="ver">28</span>Jonathan explained to Saul: “David pleaded with me to let him go to Bethlehem. <span id="v09020029" class="ver">29</span>‘Please let me go,’ he begged, ‘for we are having a clan sacrifice in our city, and my brothers insist on my presence. Now then, if you think well of me, give me leave to visit my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.” <span id="v09020030" class="ver">30</span>But Saul grew angry with Jonathan and said to him: “Son of a rebellious woman, do I not know that, to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness, you are the companion of Jesse’s son? <span id="v09020031" class="ver">31</span>For as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the earth, you cannot make good your claim to the kingship!<a id="rfn09020031-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn09020031-1">*</a> Now send for him, and bring him to me, for he must die.”<a id="ren09020031-h" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en09020031-h">h</a> <span id="v09020032" class="ver">32</span>But Jonathan argued with his father Saul: “Why should he die? What has he done?” <span id="v09020033" class="ver">33</span>At this Saul brandished his spear to strike him, and thus Jonathan learned that his father was determined to kill David.<a id="ren09020033-i" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en09020033-i">i</a> <span id="v09020034" class="ver">34</span>Jonathan sprang up from the table in a rage and ate nothing that second day of the month, because he was grieved on David’s account, and because his father had humiliated him.</p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Jonathan’s Farewell.</span> <span id="v09020035" class="ver">35</span>The next morning Jonathan, accompanied by a young boy, went out into the field for his appointment with David. <span id="v09020036" class="ver">36</span>There he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows.” And as the boy ran, he shot an arrow past him. <span id="v09020037" class="ver">37</span>When the boy made for the spot where Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan called after him, “The arrow is farther on!” <span id="v09020038" class="ver">38</span>Again he called to the boy, “Hurry, be quick, don’t delay!” Jonathan’s boy picked up the arrow and brought it to his master. <span id="v09020039" class="ver">39</span>The boy suspected nothing; only Jonathan and David knew what was meant. <span id="v09020040" class="ver">40</span>Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, “Go, take them to the city.” <span id="v09020041" class="ver">41</span>When the boy had gone, David rose from beside the mound and fell on his face to the ground three times in homage. They kissed each other and wept aloud together. <span id="v09020042" class="ver">42</span><a id="ren09020042-j" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en09020042-j">j</a> At length Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, in keeping with what the two of us have sworn by the name of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>: ‘The <span class="tetr">Lord</span> shall be between you and me, and between your offspring and mine forever.’ ”</p> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../1_samuel/19.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="1 Samuel 19"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="1 Samuel 19" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../1_samuel/21.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="1 Samuel 21"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="1 Samuel 21" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhchap.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>