1 Samuel 20

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 David fled from the sheds near 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?"	1 Then David fled from Naioth, which is in Ramah, and he went and said before Jonathan: “What have I done? What is my iniquity, or what is my sin, against your father, so that he would seek my life?”
2 Jonathan answered him: "Heaven forbid that you should die! My father does nothing, great or small, without disclosing it to me. Why, then, should my father conceal this from me? This cannot be so!"	2 And he said to him: “May this not be! You shall not die. For my father will not do anything, great or small, without first revealing it to me. Therefore, has my father concealed this word solely from me? By no means shall this be!”
3 But David replied: "Your father is well aware that I am favored with your friendship, so he has decided, 'Jonathan must not know of this lest he be grieved.' Nevertheless, as the LORD lives and as you live, there is but a step between me and death."	3 And he swore again to David. And David said: “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your sight, and so he will say, ‘Let Jonathan not know this, lest he be saddened.’ So truly, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, there is only one step (if I may say it) separating me from death.”
4 Jonathan then said to David, "I will do whatever you wish."	4 And Jonathan said to David, “Whatever your soul will tell me, I will do for you.”
5 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.	5 Then David said to Jonathan: “Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I am accustomed to sit in a seat beside the king to eat. Therefore, permit me that I may be hidden in the field, until the evening of the third day.
6 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.'	6 If your father, looking around, will seek me, you shall respond to him: ‘David asked me if he may hurry to Bethlehem, his own city. For there are solemn sacrifices in that place for all of his tribe together.’
7 If he says, 'Very well,' your servant is safe. But if he becomes quite angry, you can be sure he has planned some harm.	7 If he will say, ‘It is well,’ then your servant will have peace. But if he will be angry, know that his malice has reached its height.
8 Do this kindness for your servant because of the LORD'S bond between us, into which you brought me: if I am guilty, kill me yourself! Why should you give me up to your father?"	8 Therefore, show mercy to your servant. For you have brought me, your servant, into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if there is any iniquity in me, you may kill me, and you shall not lead me in to your father.”
9 But Jonathan answered: "Not I! If ever I find out that my father is determined to inflict injury upon you, I will certainly let you know."	9 And Jonathan said: “May this be far from you. For certainly, if I ever realized that any wickedness was determined by my father against you, I would not be able to do anything other than report it to you.”
10 David then asked Jonathan, "Who will tell me if your father gives you a harsh answer?"	10 And David responded to Jonathan, “Who will repeat it to me, if your father may perhaps answer you harshly about me?”
11 (Jonathan replied to David, "Come, let us go out into the field." When they were out in the open country together,	11 And Jonathan said to David, “Come, and let us go out into the field.” And when they both had gone out into the field,
12 Jonathan said to David: "As the LORD, 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 send you the information.	12 Jonathan said before David: “O Lord, God of Israel, if I will discover a decision by my father, tomorrow, or the day after, and if there will be anything good concerning David, and yet I do not immediately send to you and make it known to you,
13 Should it please my father to bring any injury upon you, may the LORD do thus and so to Jonathan if I do not apprise you of it and send you on your way in peace. May the LORD be with you even as he was with my father.	13 may the Lord do these things to Jonathan, and may he add these other things. But if my father will have persevered in malice against you, I will reveal it to your ear, and I will send you away, so that you may go in peace, and so that the Lord may be with you, just as he was with my father.
14 Only this: if I am still alive, may you show me the kindness of the LORD. But if I die,	14 And if I live, you shall show the mercy of the Lord to me. Yet truly, if I die,
15 never withdraw your kindness from my house. And when the LORD exterminates all the enemies of David from the surface of the earth,	15 you shall not take away your mercy from my house, even forever, when the Lord will have rooted out the enemies of David, each and every one of them, from the earth. May he take Jonathan from his house, and may the Lord require it from the hands of the enemies of David.”
16 the name of Jonathan must never be allowed by the family of David to die out from among you, or the LORD will make you answer for it."	16 Therefore, Jonathan formed a covenant with the house of David. And the Lord required it from the hands of the enemies of David.
17 And in his love for David, Jonathan renewed his oath to him, because he loved him as his very self.)	17 And Jonathan continued to swear to David, because he loved him. For he loved him like his own soul.
18 Jonathan then said to him: "Tomorrow is the new moon; and you will be missed, since your place will be vacant.	18 And Jonathan said to him: “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be sought.
19 On the following 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.	19 For your seat will be empty until the day after tomorrow. Therefore, you shall descend quickly, and you shall go to the place where you are to be hidden, on a day when it is lawful to work, and you shall remain beside the stone that is called Ezel.
20 On the third day of the month I will shoot arrows, as though aiming at a target.	20 And I will shoot three arrows near it, and I will cast them as if I were practicing for myself toward a mark.
21 I will then send my attendant to go and 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 LORD lives, there will be nothing to fear.	21 Also, I will send a boy, saying to him, ‘Go and bring the arrows to me.’
22 But if I say to the boy, 'Look, the arrow is beyond you,' go, for the LORD sends you away.	22 If I will say to the boy, ‘Behold, the arrows are before you, take them up,’ you shall approach before me, because there is peace for you, and there is nothing evil, as the Lord lives. But if I will have spoken to the boy in this way, ‘Behold, the arrows are away from you,’ then you shall go away in peace, for the Lord has released you.
23 However, in the matter which you and I have discussed, the LORD shall be between you and me forever."	23 Now about the word that you and I have spoken, may the Lord be between you and me, even forever.”
24 So David hid in the open country. On the day of the new moon, when the king sat at table to dine,	24 Therefore, David was hidden in the field. And the new moon came, and the king sat down to eat bread.
25 taking his usual place against the wall, Jonathan sat facing him, while Abner sat at the king's side, and David's place was vacant.	25 And when the king had sat down on his chair, (according to custom) which was beside the wall, Jonathan rose up, and Abner sat beside Saul, and David’s place appeared empty.
26 Saul, however, said nothing that day, for he thought, "He must have become unclean by accident, and not yet have been cleansed."	26 And Saul did not say anything on that day. For he was thinking that perhaps something happened to him, so that he was not clean, or not purified.
27 On the next day, the second day of the month, David's place was vacant. Saul inquired of his son Jonathan, "Why has the son of Jesse not come to table yesterday or today?"	27 And when the second day after the new moon had begun to dawn, David’s place again appeared empty. And Saul said to Jonathan, his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not arrived to eat, neither yesterday, nor today?”
28 Jonathan answered Saul: "David urgently asked me to let him go to his city, Bethlehem.	28 And Jonathan responded to Saul, “He petitioned me earnestly that he might go to Bethlehem,
29 'Please let me go,' he begged, 'for we are to have a clan sacrifice in our city, and my brothers insist on my presence. Now, therefore, 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."	29 and he said: ‘Permit me. For there is a solemn sacrifice in the city. One of my brothers has summoned me. Now therefore, if I have found favor in your eyes, I will go quickly, and I will see my brothers.’ For this reason, he has not come to the table of the king.”
30 But Saul was extremely angry with Jonathan and said to him: "Son of a rebellious woman, do I not know that, to your own shame and to the disclosure of your mother's shame, you are the companion of Jesse's son?	30 Then Saul, becoming angry against Jonathan, said to him: “You son of a woman wantonly seizing a man! Could I be ignorant that you love the son of Jesse, to your own shame, and to the shame of your disgraceful mother?
31 Why, as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the earth, you cannot make good your claim to the kingship! So send for him, and bring him to me, for he is doomed."	31 For all the days that the son of Jesse moves upon earth, neither you, nor your kingdom, will be secure. And so, send and bring him to me, here and now. For he is a son of death.”
32 But Jonathan asked his father Saul: "Why should he die? What has he done?"	32 Then Jonathan, answering his father Saul, said: “Why should he die? What has he done?”
33 At this Saul brandished his spear to strike him, and thus Jonathan learned that his father was resolved to kill David.	33 And Saul picked up a lance, so that he might strike him. And Jonathan understood that it had been decided by his father that David be put to death.
34 Jonathan sprang up from the table in great anger and took no food that second day of the month, for he was grieved on David's account, since his father had railed against him.	34 Therefore, Jonathan rose up from the table in a rage of anger. And he did not eat bread on the second day after the new moon. For he was saddened over David, because his father had confounded him.
35 The next morning Jonathan went out into the field with a little boy for his appointment with David.	35 And when the morning had begun to dawn, Jonathan went into the field according to the agreement with David, and a young boy was with him.
36 There he said to the boy, "Run and fetch the arrow." And as the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him in the direction of the city.	36 And he said to his boy, “Go, and bring to me the arrows that I shoot.” And when the boy had run, he shot another arrow away from the boy.
37 When the boy made for the spot where Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan called after him, "The arrow is farther on!"	37 And so, the boy went to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot. And Jonathan cried out, from behind the back of boy, and said: “Behold, the arrow is there, farther away from you.”
38 Again he called to his lad, "Hurry, be quick, don't delay!" Jonathan's boy picked up the arrow and brought it to his master.	38 And Jonathan cried out again, from behind the back of the boy, saying, “Go quickly! Do not stand still!” Then Jonathan’s boy collected the arrows, and he brought them to his lord.
39 The boy knew nothing; only Jonathan and David knew what was meant.	39 And he did not understand at all what was happening. For only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to this boy of his and said to him, "Go, take them to the city."	40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy, and he said to him, “Go, and carry them into the city.”
41 When the boy had left, David rose from beside the mound and prostrated himself on the ground three times before Jonathan in homage. They kissed each other and wept aloud together.	41 And when the boy had gone away, David rose up from his place, which turned toward the south, and falling prone on the ground, he reverenced three times. And kissing one another, they wept together, but David more so.
42 At length Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, in keeping with what we two have sworn by the name of the LORD: 'The LORD shall be between you and me, and between your posterity and mine forever.'"	42 Then Jonathan said to David: “Go in peace. And let us both keep all that we have ever sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘May the Lord be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, even forever.’ ”
	43 And David rose up and went away. But Jonathan entered into the city.