CHAPTER 20
1 Forsooth David fled from Naioth, which is in Ramah, and came and spake before Jonathan, What have I done? what is my wickedness, and what is my sin against thy father, for he seeketh my life?
2 And Jonathan said to him, Far be it from thee, thou shalt not die, for my father shall not do anything great either little, no but he show first to me; therefore, my father kept privy from me this word only, forsooth it shall not be. And again he swore to David.
3 And David said, Truly thy father knoweth, that I have found grace in thine eyes, and he shall say, Jonathan know not this, lest peradventure he be sorry; certainly the Lord liveth, and thy soul liveth, for, that I say so, I and death be parted only by one degree.
4 And Jonathan said to David, Whatever thing thy soul shall say to me, I shall do it to thee.
5 And David said to Jonathan, Lo! calends be tomorrow, that is the feast of the new moon, and by custom I am wont to sit by the king to eat; therefore suffer thou me, that I be hid in the field till to [the] eventide of the third day.
6 And if thy father beholdeth, and asketh after me, thou shalt answer to him, David prayed me, that he might go at once into Bethlehem, his city, for solemn sacrifices be now there to all [the] men of his lineage.
7 If he saith, Well, peace shall be to thy servant; forsooth if he is wroth, know thou, that his malice is filled.
8 Therefore do thou mercy into thy servant, for thou hast made me thy servant to make with thee bond of peace of the Lord; but if any wicked-ness is in me, slay thou me, and bring thou not in me to thy father.
9 And Jonathan said, Far be this from me, for it may not be done, that I tell not to thee, if I know certainly, that the malice of my father is filled against thee.
10 And David answered to Jonathan, Who shall tell me, if in case thy father answereth hard [to thee] anything of me?
11 And Jonathan said to David, Come thou, and go we forth into the field. And when they both had gone into the field,
12 Jonathan said to David, Thou Lord God of Israel, if I inquire the sentence of my father tomorrow, either in the next day after, and any good thing be said of thee, David, and I send not at once to thee, and make it known to thee,
13 God do these things to Jonathan, and add these things. And if the malice of my father continue against thee, I shall show it to thine ear, and I shall deliver thee, that thou go in peace; and the Lord be with thee, as he was with my father.
14 And if I live, do thou the mercies of the Lord to me; forsooth if I am dead,
15 take thou not away thy mercy from mine house unto without end; and if I do it not, when the Lord shall draw out by the root the enemies of David, each man from the land, take he away Jonathan from his house, and seek the Lord of the hand of the enemies of David.
16 Therefore Jonathan made [a] bond of peace with the house of David, and the Lord sought it of the hand of [the] enemies of David.
17 And Jonathan added to swear steadfastly to David, for he loved him; for he loved so David, as his own soul.
18 And Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the first day of the month, that is solemn, and thou shalt be sought after;
19 and thy sitting shall be asked of till after the morrow. Therefore thou shalt go down hastily, and thou shalt come into a place, where thou shalt be hid in the day, when it is leaveful to work; and thou shalt sit beside the stone, that is called Ezel.
20 And I shall shoot three arrows beside that stone, and I shall cast as exercising, either playing me at a sign.
21 I shall send my child, and I shall say to him, Go thou, and bring to me the arrows. If I say to the child, Lo! the arrows be on this side of thee, take thou those [or them]; then come thou to me, for peace is to thee, and nothing is of evil, the Lord liveth.
22 But if I speak thus to the child, Lo! the arrows be beyond thee; go thou in peace, for the Lord hath delivered thee.
23 Certainly of the word that thou and I have spoken, that is, of the bond of peace betwixt us and our heirs, the Lord be witness betwixt me and thee till into without end.
24 Therefore David was hid in the field; and the calends or solemn feast came, and the king sat to eat bread.
25 And when the king had set on his chair by custom, which chair was beside the wall, Jonathan rose, and sat after Abner, and Abner sat at the side of Saul, and the place of David appeared void.
26 And Saul spake not anything in that day; for he thought, that in hap it befelled to him, that he was not clean, neither purified.
27 And when the second day after the calends had shined, again the place of David appeared void. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why cometh not the son of Jesse, neither yesterday, neither today, to eat?
28 And Jonathan answered to Saul, He prayed me meekly that he should go into Bethlehem;
29 and he said, Suffer thou me, for solemn sacrifice is in my city; one of my brethren [hath] called me; now therefore, if I [have] found grace in thine eyes, I shall go soon, and I shall see my brethren; for this cause he cometh not to the table of the king.
30 And Saul was wroth against Jonathan, and said to him, Thou son of the woman willfully ravishing a man, whether I know not, that thou lovest the son of Jesse into thy [own] confusion or shame, and into the confusion of thy shameful mother?
31 For in all the days in which the son of Jesse liveth on [the] earth, thou shalt not be stablished, neither thy realm; therefore right now or anon send thou, and bring him to me, for he is the son of death.
32 And Jonathan answered to Saul his father, and said, Why shall he die? what hath he done?
33 And Saul took a spear, that he should smite him, and Jonathan under-stood, that it was determined of his father, that David should be slain.
34 Then Jonathan rose from the table in full fierce wrath, and he ate not bread in the second day of calends; for he was sorry for David, for his father had shamed him.
35 And when the morrowtide had shined, Jonathan came into the field, and a little child with him, by the covenant made of David.
36 And Jonathan said to his child, Go thou, and bring to me the arrows that I shoot. And when the child had run forth, he shot another arrow beyond the child.
37 Therefore when the child came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried behind the back of the child, and said, Lo! the arrow is not there, certainly it is beyond thee.
38 And Jonathan cried again behind the back of the child, Haste thou swiftly, stand thou not. Soothly the child gathered up the arrows of Jonathan, and brought them to his lord,
39 and utterly the child knew not what was done; for only Jonathan and David knew the thing.
40 Then Jonathan gave his bow and arrows to the child, and said to him, Go thou, bear these into the city.
41 And when the child had gone, David rose from the place that went to the south; and he felled low upon the earth, and worshipped or honour-ed the third time, and they kissed themselves together, and wept together; but David wept more.
42 Then Jonathan said to David, Go thou in peace; whatever things we both have sworn in the name of the Lord, and said, The Lord be betwixt me and thee, and betwixt my seed and thy seed, till into without end, be steadfast. And David rose up, and went forth, but and Jonathan went into the city.