Old/New Testament
19 Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his servants to figure out a way to kill David, but Jonathan was very fond of David.
In the friendship between Jonathan and David, Jonathan stands to lose everything he has if David becomes king, yet he betrays family and ambition by befriending him. These two young men make a pact to protect and love each other in life; and if something should happen to Jonathan, David agrees to honor Jonathan’s descendants out of the love he bears for Jonathan. Later that promise results in David elevating one of Jonathan’s sons to the king’s table. In a time when any reminders of the previous regime would have been distracting and even dangerous, David shows he can do more than just be strategic and political.
Love knocks down barriers and makes us set aside our selfish concerns. This friendship has long been counted as a model for how two people might love and serve each other.
Jonathan (warning David): 2 My father wants you dead. Watch out tomorrow morning. Think of a safe place to hide that nobody knows about. 3 I will go into the field near where you are hiding, and I will speak on your behalf to my father. If I learn anything, I will tell you.
4 Jonathan spoke generously on behalf of his friend to his father, Saul.
Jonathan: The king should not sin against his servant David, who has never sinned against you. Indeed his achievements have been of real service to you and your kingdom. 5 He faced death when he fought against the Philistine, and the Eternal One gave David a great victory for all of Israel. When you saw it then, you were filled with joy. Why would you now sin against an innocent person like David by killing him without a proper cause?
Saul (considering this counsel): 6 As the Eternal One lives, David should not be murdered.
7 Jonathan found David and told him everything that had happened, and then Jonathan brought David back into the service of Saul the king.
8 Once again there was war between Israel and the Philistines, and David went out to fight them. He crushed them and made them flee.
9 Again the Eternal sent an evil spirit to disturb Saul as he sat at home, spear in hand, listening to David play music; 10 again Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear, but Saul missed him and the spear stuck into the wall. David escaped that night and ran to his home.
11 Saul dispatched some of his officers to watch David’s house so that they could kill him the next day. David’s wife Michal warned him.
Michal: If you don’t save yourself tonight, tomorrow morning you’ll be killed.
12 So Michal lowered David down through the window, and he escaped. 13 Then she laid a large idol on the bed, made it a wig of goat’s hair, and covered it with clothes. 14 When Saul’s officers came to take David to the king, she told them, “He’s sick.”
15 Hearing this report, Saul ordered his officers to return and see David for themselves. He would not be deterred.
Saul: Even if you have to carry him to me in his bed, do it so I can kill him.
16 When the officers returned, they threw back the blankets and, instead of David, they discovered the idol with its goat-hair wig in the bed. So they took Michal to Saul.
Saul (to Michal): 17 Why have you betrayed me like this, daughter, and let my enemy escape?
Michal (lying): He said to me, “Let me go. Don’t make me kill you.”
18 David fled to Samuel in Ramah, and he told him everything that had happened. Samuel took David to the town of Naioth, and they lived there.
19 Saul soon learned that David was at Naioth in Ramah, 20 so he sent officers to arrest him and bring him back. But when they came, they found a group of prophets in a prophetic trance with Samuel standing and leading them, and the Spirit of the True God entered Saul’s officers so that they, too, were caught up and prophesied.
21 When Saul heard this news, he sent other officers who were also affected in this way. He sent a third set of officers, and again, the same thing happened when they encountered Samuel and the prophets.
22 So finally Saul went, himself, to Ramah. When he arrived at the large cistern at Secu, he asked where he might find Samuel and David and was told they were at Naoith in Ramah. 23 As Saul traveled, the Spirit of God entered him, and he, too, fell into a constant prophetic trance. When he reached Naoith in Ramah, 24 he stripped off all his clothes and fell into a prophetic ecstasy before Samuel, lying naked all that day and night. (This is another way the saying arose, “Is Saul also one of the prophets?”)
20 David ran for his life. He left Naioth in Ramah and found Jonathan.
David: What have I done? Of what am I guilty? What crime have I committed against your father to make him want to kill me?
Jonathan: 2 Impossible! Don’t worry about it. You’re not going to die. My father doesn’t make any decision, large or small, without telling me. And why would my father hide this from me? It is not so.
David: 3 But your father knows we are friends, and he has said, “Don’t tell Jonathan about this; he will be upset.” I swear to you, as the Eternal lives—and as you live—I am on the verge of being killed.
Jonathan: 4 Whatever you ask, I will do for you.
David: 5 Look. Tomorrow is the new moon, and I should be sitting with the king at his table. But let me go and hide myself in the field until three days have passed. 6 If your father asks about me, tell him that I asked to return to my hometown, Bethlehem, for an annual family sacrifice. 7 If he says, “Fine,” then all will be well with your servant. But if he is angry, you will know that he intends to harm me. 8 So deal kindly with your servant, for you have made a sacred covenant with me, your servant. But if I am guilty, then kill me yourself. Why should you have to bring me in front of your father?
Jonathan: 9 That will never happen. If I knew my father planned to hurt you, wouldn’t I tell you?
David: 10 So who will tell me if your father gives you a good or bad answer?
Jonathan: 11 Let’s go out to the field.
They went out to the field so that David could find a place to lie low.
Jonathan (to David): 12 Let the Eternal God of Israel be my witness; this is my vow. When I have talked to my father, about this time tomorrow or no later than the third day, if he acts friendly about you, won’t I send an answer to you? 13 But if my father plans to harm you, then may the Eternal do to me what he plans for you—and more—if I don’t let you know and send you away to safety.
May the Eternal One be with you, as He has been with my father. 14 If I live, then show to me the faithful love of the Eternal that I may not die. 15 Do not ever take your faithful love away from my descendants, not even if the Eternal were to remove all the enemies of the house of David from the face of the earth.
16 With these words, Jonathan made a covenant with David and his descendants.
Jonathan: May the Eternal One guarantee this promise by the hands of David’s enemies.
17 And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for Jonathan loved him more than life itself.
Jonathan: 18 Tomorrow is the festival of the new moon. People will notice you are gone because your place will be empty. 19 On the day after tomorrow, you will be greatly missed. On that day, quickly go down to that place where you hid yourself the first time and wait by the stone Ezel. 20 I will shoot three arrows to the side of the stone, as if I’m shooting at a target. 21 Then I will send a boy after them, saying, “Go find the arrows.” If I tell him, “Look, the arrows are on this side of you,” then come back, for as the Eternal One lives, you are not in any danger. 22 But if I tell the boy, “No, the arrows are beyond you,” then flee, because the Eternal has shown you that you must leave. 23 But as for the agreement that we have spoken together, the Eternal One is witness to it forever.
24 So David hid himself in the field.
When the new moon festival began and the king sat down to eat, 25 he took his usual seat in a place of safety with his back to the wall. Abner, his general, sat at the king’s side; Jonathan stood, but David’s seat was empty. 26 That first night, Saul said nothing. He thought that perhaps David had somehow become ritually unclean, and he could not attend a sacred feast. 27 But on the next day, the second day of the feast of the new moon, when David’s seat remained empty, Saul spoke to Jonathan.
Saul: Why hasn’t the son of Jesse joined us at the feast these past two days?
Jonathan: 28 David asked me if he could go to Bethlehem. 29 “Please allow me to go,” he said. “Our family is sacrificing in the city, and my brother has insisted that I come. So if you think highly of me, I ask that you let me go there and see my brothers.” That is why he is not at the king’s table.
30 Saul, not fooled for a moment, became very angry with Jonathan.
Saul: You son of a degenerate and rebellious woman! Do you think I don’t know that you have befriended the son of Jesse? This is just as shameful for you as your mother’s nakedness was. 31 As long as David walks the earth, you will never rule this kingdom. Now send for him. Bring him here to me, because he will most certainly die.
Jonathan: 32 Why should David be put to death? What offense has he committed?
33 At that, Saul threw his spear at him, fully intending to hit him, so Jonathan knew that it was truly his father’s intention to have David killed. 34 Jonathan left the table in a rage, without eating a bite on the second day of the festival. He was grieved because of David and because his father had disgraced him.
35 In the morning, Jonathan took his bow and went out into the field, as he had arranged with David, and he brought a small boy with him.
Jonathan (to the boy): 36 Run and find the arrows that I shoot.
The boy ran, and Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him. 37 When the boy reached the place where the arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out.
Jonathan: Isn’t the arrow beyond you? 38 Hurry! Be quick about it. Don’t hang around out there!
So Jonathan’s young servant gathered the arrows and returned to his master. 39 He knew nothing, of course; only Jonathan and David knew what had just transpired. 40 Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and told him to take them back to the city.
41 As soon as the boy left, David rose from his hiding place south of the stone and prostrated himself before Jonathan. He bowed to Jonathan three times, and then David and Jonathan kissed each other. Both of them wept, but David wept more.
Jonathan (to David): 42 Go in peace and safety, since we have both sworn in the name of the Eternal One, “He will mediate between me and you, and between our descendants, forever.”
David got up from the ground and left, and Jonathan returned to the city.
In the law of Moses, people are commanded to love their neighbors as themselves; and Jonathan does just that, loving David as he does himself. David’s love for Jonathan is also clear. When they are parted here, David is filled with sadness. Although both of them weep, David weeps more; and when Saul and Jonathan are later killed in battle, David celebrates and remembers their friendship in one of the most beautiful songs in the Bible. These two demonstrate exactly what it means to follow the command of the law and love unselfishly.
21 David went to a place called Nob, where he visited the priest Ahimelech, who came forward fearfully to meet him.
Ahimelech: Why are you here alone, without anyone else?
David: 2 The king has given me a mission that is not to be revealed to anyone else, and my servants are waiting for me at a place where I have sent them. 3 Now what do you have here to eat? Let me have five loaves of bread or whatever you have.
Ahimelech: 4 I have no ordinary bread—only the holy bread. You may take it, if your men have not recently had sexual intercourse.
David: 5 Of course. They have stayed away from women since we have been on the road, three days now. If their bodies must be kept pure even when we go on a typical journey, how much more must they be kept pure when we are on a mission like this one?
6 The priest gave him consecrated bread since the bread of the Presence was replaced when other fresh, hot bread was brought before the Eternal One and no other bread was available.
7 Now one of Saul’s servants, Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds, was waiting before the Eternal that day.
David (to Ahimelech): 8 Isn’t there a sword or spear here? I left so swiftly on my errand for the king that I did not bring my sword or weapons with me.
Ahimelech: 9 We have no weapons here except the sword of Goliath, the Philistine you killed in the valley of Elah. Look, you’ll find it wrapped in a cloth behind the sacred vest. You may take that, if you like, for that is the only weapon here.
David: It is one of a kind. Let me take it.
10 So David left and fled that same day from Saul and went to Saul’s enemy, King Achish of Gath. 11 The king’s servants reminded the king,
Servants: Isn’t this David who some claim to be the very ruler of the land? Didn’t they sing about him while they celebrated and danced?
Saul has slain his thousands
and David, his tens of thousands.
12 When David heard that these were the kinds of things people were saying about him, he was afraid of what Achish, the king of Gath, might do, 13 so he acted differently when they were around and even pretended to be insane. He scarred the doors at the city’s gates with his fingernails and drooled into his beard.
Achish (to his servants): 14 Look at him. Can’t you see this man is crazy? Why have you brought him to me here in my house? 15 Don’t I have enough crazy people around here already, or did you think I might need yet another?
29 Jesus was becoming more and more popular, and the crowds swelled wherever He went. He wasn’t impressed.
Jesus: This generation is evil. These people are seeking signs and spectacles, but I’m not going to play their game. The only sign they will be given is the sign of Jonah. 30 Just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
31 The queen of Ethiopia will stand to condemn the people of this generation on the day of judgment. She, an outsider, came from so far away to hear the wisdom given to Solomon, but now, something greater than Solomon is here: how are the people of this generation responding?
32 Similarly, the people of Nineveh will stand to condemn the people of this generation on the day of judgment. They, outsiders, responded and changed because of the preaching of Jonah, but now, something greater than Jonah is here: how are the people of this generation responding?
33 You need a light to see. Only an idiot would light a lamp and then put it beneath the floor or under a bucket. No, any intelligent person would put the lamp on a table so everyone who comes in the house can see. 34 Listen, your eye, your outlook, the way you see is your lamp. If your way of seeing is functioning well, then your whole life will be enlightened. But if your way of seeing is darkened, then your life will be a dark, dark place. 35 So be careful, people, because your light may be malfunctioning. 36 If your outlook is good, then your whole life will be bright, with no shadowy corners, as when a radiant lamp brightens your home.
Jesus is fearless with Pharisees and scholars. To get through to them He agrees to eat in the home of a Pharisee where a religious scholar has also been invited.
37 A Pharisee interrupted His speech with an invitation to dinner. Jesus accepted the invitation and took His place at his table. 38 The Pharisee was offended that Jesus didn’t perform the ceremonial handwashing before eating—something Pharisees were fastidious about doing.
Jesus: 39 You Pharisees are a walking contradiction. You are so concerned about external things—like someone who washes the outside of a cup and bowl but never cleans the inside, which is what counts! Beneath your fastidious exterior is a mess of extortion and filth.
40 You guys don’t get it. Did the potter make the outside but not the inside too? 41 If you were full of goodness within, you could overflow with generosity from within, and if you did that, everything would be clean for you.
42 Woe to you, Pharisees! Judgment will come on you! You are fastidious about tithing—keeping account of every little leaf of mint and herb—but you neglect what really matters: justice and the love of God! If you’d get straight on what really matters, then your fastidiousness about little things would be worth something.
43 Woe to you, Pharisees! Judgment will come on you! What you really love is having people fawn over you when you take the seat of honor in the synagogue or when you are greeted in the public market.
44 Wake up! See what you’ve become! Woe to you; you’re like a field full of unmarked graves. People walk on the field and have no idea of the corruption that’s a few inches beneath their feet.
Scholar (sitting at Jesus’ table): 45 Rabbi, if You insult the Pharisees, then You insult us too.
Jesus: 46 Well, now that you mention it, watch out, all you religious scholars! Judgment will come on you too! You load other people down with unbearable burdens of rules and regulations, but you don’t lift a finger to help others. 47-48 Woe to you; you don’t fool anybody! You seem very religious—honoring the prophets by building them elaborate memorial tombs. Come to think of it, that’s very fitting, since you’re so much like the people who killed the prophets! They killed the prophets; you build their tombs—you’re all in the same family business!
49 This is why the Wisdom of God said, “I will send these people My prophets and emissaries,[a] and these people will kill and persecute many of them.” 50 As a result, this generation will be held accountable for the blood of all the prophets shed from the very beginning of time, 51 from Abel’s blood to Zechariah’s blood, who was killed in the temple itself between the altar and the holy place. I’m serious: this generation will be held accountable.
52 So, religious scholars, judgment will come on you! You’re supposed to be teachers, unlocking the door of knowledge and guiding people through it. But the fact is, you’ve never even passed through the doorway yourselves. You’ve taken the key, left the door locked tight, and stood in the way of everyone who sought entry.
53 After that dinner, things were never the same. The religious scholars and Pharisees put constant pressure on Jesus, 54 trying to trap Him and trick Him into saying things they could use to bring Him down.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.