1 Samuel 20-22

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Jonathan Protects David

20 David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done?^(A) What did I do wrong? How have I sinned against your father so that he wants to take my life?”

² Jonathan said to him, “No, you won’t die. Listen, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without telling me.^[a] So why would he hide this matter from me? This can’t be true.”

³ But David said, “Your father certainly knows that you have come to look favorably on me. He has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or else he will be grieved.’” David also swore, “As surely as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”^(B)

⁴ Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”

⁵ So David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon,^(C) and I’m supposed to sit down and eat with the king.^(D) Instead, let me go, and I’ll hide in the field until the third night.^{(E) 6} If your father misses me at all, say, ‘David urgently requested my permission to quickly go to his town Bethlehem^(F) for an annual sacrifice^(G) there involving the whole clan.’ ⁷ If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant is safe, but if he becomes angry, you will know he has evil intentions. ⁸ Deal faithfully with your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the Lord.^(H) If I have done anything wrong,^(I) then kill me yourself; why take me to your father?”

⁹ “No!” Jonathan responded. “If I ever find out my father has evil intentions against you, wouldn’t I tell you about it?”

¹⁰ So David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”

¹¹ He answered David, “Come on, let’s go out to the field.” So both of them went out to the field. ¹² “By the Lord, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. If I find out that he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you?^{[b] 13} If my father intends to bring evil on you, may God punish Jonathan and do so severely^(J) if I do not tell you^[c] and send you away so you may go in peace. May the Lord be with you,^(K) just as He was with my father. ¹⁴ If I continue to live, treat me with the Lord’s faithful love, but if I die, ¹⁵ don’t ever withdraw your faithful love from my household—not even when the Lord cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”^{(L) 16} Then Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David,^(M) saying, “May the Lord hold David’s enemies accountable.”^{[d](N) 17} Jonathan once again swore to David^[e] in his love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.^(O)

¹⁸ Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the New Moon;^(P) you’ll be missed because your seat will be empty. ¹⁹ The following day hurry down and go to the place where you hid on the day this incident began and stay beside the rock Ezel. ²⁰ I will shoot three arrows beside it as if I’m aiming at a target. ²¹ Then I will send the young man and say, ‘Go and find the arrows!’ Now, if I expressly say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you—get them,’ then come, because as the Lord lives, it is safe for you and there is no problem. ²² But if I say this to the youth: ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you!’^(Q) then go, for the Lord is sending you away. ²³ As for the matter you and I have spoken about,^(R) the Lord will be a witness^[f] between you and me forever.”^{(S) 24} So David hid in the field.

At the New Moon, the king sat down to eat the meal. ²⁵ He sat at his usual place on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat facing him^[g] and Abner took his place beside Saul, but David’s place was empty.^{(T) 26} Saul did not say anything that day because he thought, “Something unexpected has happened; he must be ceremonially unclean—yes, that’s it, he is unclean.”^(U)

²⁷ However, the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why didn’t Jesse’s son come to the meal either yesterday or today?”

²⁸ Jonathan answered, “David asked for my permission to go to Bethlehem.^{(V) 29} He said, ‘Please let me go because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the town, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if you are pleased with me, let me go so I can see my brothers.’ That’s why he didn’t come to the king’s table.”

³⁰ Then Saul became angry with Jonathan and shouted, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you are siding with Jesse’s son to your own shame and to the disgrace of your mother?^{[h] 31} Every day Jesse’s son lives on earth you and your kingship are not secure. Now send for him and bring him to me—he deserves to die.”^(W)

³² Jonathan answered his father back: “Why is he to be killed? What has he done?”^(X)

³³ Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan to kill him,^(Y) so he knew that his father was determined to kill David.^{(Z) 34} He got up from the table in fierce anger and did not eat any food that second day of the New Moon, for he was grieved because of his father’s shameful behavior toward David.

³⁵ In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointed meeting with David. A small young man was with him. ³⁶ He said to the young man, “Run and find the arrows I’m shooting.”^(AA) As the young man ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷ He came to the location of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, but Jonathan called to him and said, “The arrow is beyond you, isn’t it?”^{(AB) 38} Then Jonathan called to him, “Hurry up and don’t stop!” Jonathan’s young man picked up the arrow and returned to his master. ³⁹ He did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement. ⁴⁰ Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the young man who was with him and said, “Go, take it back to the city.”

⁴¹ When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone Ezel, fell with his face to the ground, and bowed three times.^(AC) Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept with each other, though David wept more.^(AD)

⁴² Jonathan then said to David, “Go in the assurance the two of us pledged in the name of the Lord when we said: The Lord will be a witness between you and me and between my offspring and your offspring forever.”^[i](AE) Then David left, and Jonathan went into the city.

David Flees to Nob

21 David went to Ahimelech^(AF) the priest at Nob.^(AG) Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?”

² David answered Ahimelech the priest, “The king gave me a mission, but he told me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or what I have ordered you to do.’ I have stationed my young men at a certain place. ³ Now what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever can be found.”

⁴ The priest told him, “There is no ordinary bread on hand. However, there is consecrated bread,^(AH) but the young men may eat it^[j] only if they have kept themselves from women.”^(AI)

⁵ David answered him, “I swear that women are being kept from us, as always when I go out to battle.^(AJ) The young men’s bodies^[k] are consecrated^(AK) even on an ordinary mission, so of course their bodies are consecrated today.” ⁶ So the priest gave him the consecrated bread,^(AL) for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence^(AM) that had been removed from the presence of the Lord. When the bread was removed, it had been replaced with warm bread.

⁷ One of Saul’s servants, detained before the Lord, was there that day. His name was Doeg the Edomite,^(AN) chief of Saul’s shepherds.

⁸ David said to Ahimelech, “Do you have a spear or sword on hand? I didn’t even bring my sword or my weapons since the king’s mission was urgent.”

⁹ The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine,^(AO) whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want to take it for yourself, then take it, for there isn’t another one here.”

“There’s none like it!” David said. “Give it to me.”

David Flees to Gath

¹⁰ David fled that day from Saul’s presence and went to King Achish of Gath.^{(AP) 11} But Achish’s servants said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Don’t they sing about him during their dances:

¹² David took this to heart^[l] and became very afraid of King Achish of Gath, ¹³ so he pretended to be insane in their presence.^(AR) He acted like a madman around them,^[m] scribbling^[n] on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

¹⁴ “Look! You can see the man is crazy,” Achish said to his servants. “Why did you bring him to me? ¹⁵ Do I have such a shortage of crazy people that you brought this one to act crazy around me? Is this one going to come into my house?”^(AS)

Saul’s Increasing Paranoia

22 So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam.^(AT) When David’s brothers and his father’s whole family heard, they went down and joined him there. ² In addition, every man who was desperate, in debt, or discontented rallied around him, and he became their leader. About 400 men were with him.^(AU)

³ From there David went to Mizpeh of Moab where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God will do for me.” ⁴ So he left them in the care of the king of Moab, and they stayed with him the whole time David was in the stronghold.

⁵ Then the prophet Gad^(AV) said to David, “Don’t stay in the stronghold. Leave and return to the land of Judah.” So David left and went to the forest of Hereth.

⁶ Saul heard that David and his men had been discovered. At that time Saul was in Gibeah, sitting under the tamarisk tree^(AW) at the high place. His spear was in his hand, and all his servants were standing around him. ⁷ Saul said to his servants, “Listen, men of Benjamin: Is Jesse’s son going to give all of you fields and vineyards? Do you think he’ll make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds?^{(AX) 8} That’s why all of you have conspired against me! Nobody tells me^[o] when my own son makes a covenant with Jesse’s son.^(AY) None of you cares about me^(AZ) or tells me^[p] that my son has stirred up my own servant to wait in ambush for me, as is the case today.”

⁹ Then Doeg the Edomite,^(BA) who was in charge of Saul’s servants, answered: “I saw Jesse’s son come to Ahimelech son of Ahitub at Nob.^{(BB) 10} Ahimelech inquired of the Lord for him^(BC) and gave him provisions.^(BD) He also gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”^(BE)

Slaughter of the Priests

¹¹ The king sent messengers to summon Ahimelech the priest, son of Ahitub, and his father’s whole family, who were priests in Nob. All of them came to the king. ¹² Then Saul said, “Listen, son of Ahitub!”

“I’m at your service,^(BF) my lord,” he said.

¹³ Saul asked him, “Why did you and Jesse’s son conspire against me? You gave him bread and a sword and inquired of God for him, so he could rise up against me and wait in ambush, as is the case today.”^(BG)

¹⁴ Ahimelech replied to the king: “Who among all your servants is as faithful as David?^(BH) He is the king’s son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard, and honored in your house. ¹⁵ Was today the first time I inquired of God for him?^(BI) Of course not! Please don’t let the king make an accusation against your servant or any of my father’s household, for your servant didn’t have any idea^[q] about all this.”

¹⁶ But the king said, “You will die, Ahimelech—you and your father’s whole family!”

¹⁷ Then the king ordered the guards standing by him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord^(BJ) because they sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they didn’t tell me.”^[r] But the king’s servants would not lift a hand to execute the priests of the Lord.

¹⁸ So the king said to Doeg, “Go and execute the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite went and executed the priests himself. On that day, he killed 85 men^(BK) who wore linen ephods.^{(BL) 19} He also struck down Nob, the city of the priests, with the sword—both men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep.^(BM)

²⁰ However, one of the sons of Ahimelech son of Ahitub escaped. His name was Abiathar,^(BN) and he fled to David.^{(BO) 21} Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord. ²² Then David said to Abiathar, “I knew that Doeg the Edomite^(BP) was there that day and that he was sure to report to Saul. I myself am responsible for^[s] the lives of everyone in your father’s family. ²³ Stay with me. Don’t be afraid, for the one who wants to take my life wants to take your life.^(BQ) You will be safe with me.”