1
And Daviyd fled from Navayot in HaRamah and came and said before Yonatan, “What have I done? What is my crookedness? And what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my being?”
2
And he said to him, “Far be it! You shall not die. See, my father does not do a great thing or a small thing without uncovering my ear. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so.”
3
And Daviyd swore again and said, “Knowing, your father knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Let Yonatan not know this, lest he be grieved.’ But truly, as Yahuah lives and as your being lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
4
And Yonatan said to Daviyd, “Whatever your being says, I will do for you.”
5
And Daviyd said to Yonatan, “See, tomorrow is the new moon, and sitting, I should surely sit with the king to eat. But send me away, and I will hide myself in the field until the third evening.
6
If your father indeed misses me, then you shall say, ‘Asking, Daviyd asked of me that he might run to Beit-Lechem his city, for there is a sacrifice there for all the family.’
7
If thus he says, ‘Good,’ then there is shalom for your servant. But if burning, his anger burns, know that evil is determined by him.
8
And deal in covenant-faithfulness with your servant, for into a covenant of Yahuah you have brought your servant with you. But if there is crookedness in me, put me to death yourself. And why should you bring me to your father?”
9
And Yonatan said, “Far be it from you! For if knowing, I knew that evil had been determined by my father to come upon you, would I not declare it to you?”
10
And Daviyd said to Yonatan, “Who will declare it to me if your father answers you harshly?”
11
And Yonatan said to Daviyd, “Come, and let us go out to the field.” And the two of them went out to the field.
12
And Yonatan said to Daviyd, “Yahuah, Elohim of Yisra’el, be witness. When I have searched out my father about this time tomorrow or on the third day, and see, there is good toward Daviyd, shall I not then send to you and uncover your ear?
13
Thus may Yahuah do to Yonatan, and thus may He add, if it is good in the eyes of my father to do evil to you and I do not uncover your ear and send you away, that you may go in shalom. And may Yahuah be with you as He was with my father.
14
And not only while I still live shall you show me the covenant-faithfulness of Yahuah, that I do not die,
15
but you shall not cut off your covenant-faithfulness from my house forever, not even when Yahuah cuts off every one of the enemies of Daviyd from upon the face of the earth.”
16
And Yonatan cut a covenant with the house of Daviyd, saying, “May Yahuah seek it from the hand of the enemies of Daviyd.”
17
And Yonatan caused Daviyd to swear again because of his love for him, for as he loved his own being, he loved him.
18
And Yonatan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you shall be missed, because your seat will be empty.
19
And on the third day you shall go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself on the day of the deed, and remain beside the stone Ezel.
20
And I will shoot three arrows to its side, as though I were shooting at a mark.
21
And see, I will send the young man, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If saying, I say to the young man, ‘See, the arrows are on this side of you; take them,’ then come, for there is shalom for you and there is no matter, as Yahuah lives.
22
But if thus I say to the young man, ‘See, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, for Yahuah has sent you away.
23
And concerning the word that you and I have spoken, see, Yahuah is between me and you forever.”
24
And Daviyd hid himself in the field. And the new moon came, and the king sat down to eat bread.
25
And the king sat upon his seat as time after time, upon the seat by the wall. And Yonatan rose, and Avner sat beside Shaul, and the place of Daviyd was empty.
26
And Shaul did not speak anything on that day, for he said, “It is an occurrence; he is not clean. Surely he is not clean.”
27
And it came to pass on the next day, the second of the new moon, that the place of Daviyd was empty. And Shaul said to Yonatan his son, “Why has the son of Yishai not come to the bread, either yesterday or today?”
28
And Yonatan answered Shaul, “Asking, Daviyd asked of me to go to Beit-Lechem.
29
And he said, ‘Please send me away, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother himself commanded me. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me slip away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the table of the king.”
30
And the anger of Shaul burned against Yonatan, and he said to him, “Son of a rebellious and twisted ishah! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Yishai to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?
31
For all the days that the son of Yishai lives upon the earth, you and your kingdom shall not be established. And now send and take him to me, for he is a son of death.”
32
And Yonatan answered Shaul his father and said to him, “Why shall he be put to death? What has he done?”
33
And Shaul hurled the spear at him to strike him. And Yonatan knew that it had been determined by his father to put Daviyd to death.
34
And Yonatan rose from the table in burning anger and did not eat bread on the second day of the new moon, for he was grieved for Daviyd, because his father had put him to shame.
35
And it came to pass in the morning that Yonatan went out to the field at the appointed time with Daviyd, and a young man was with him.
36
And he said to his young man, “Run, please, find the arrows that I shoot.” The young man ran, and he shot the arrow beyond him.
37
And when the young man came to the place of the arrow that Yonatan had shot, Yonatan called after the young man and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”
38
And Yonatan called after the young man, “Hurry! Make haste! Do not stand!” And the young man of Yonatan gathered the arrows and came to his master.
39
But the young man did not know anything. Only Yonatan and Daviyd knew the matter.
40
And Yonatan gave his weapons to the young man who belonged to him and said to him, “Go, bring them to the city.”
41
And the young man went. And Daviyd rose from beside the south and fell upon his face to the earth and bowed himself three times. And they kissed each ish his companion, and they wept, each ish with his companion, until Daviyd exceeded.
42
And Yonatan said to Daviyd, “Go in shalom, since the two of us have sworn in the name of Yahuah, saying, ‘Yahuah shall be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever.’” And he rose and went, and Yonatan came into the city.