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¹Now Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David, but Jonathan, Saul's son, greatly delighted in David.

²So he told David, "Saul my father is seeking to kill you. Now then, please be on guard in the morning, and stay in a secret place and hide yourself.

³As for me, I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will speak with my father about you, and if I learn anything, then I will tell you."

⁴Then Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul his father and said to him, "May the king not sin against his servant David, since he has not sinned against you, and since his deeds have been very beneficial to you.

⁵For he took his life in his hand and killed the Philistine, and the LORD brought about a great victory for all Israel; you saw it and rejoiced. Why then would you sin against innocent blood by killing David without a cause?"

⁶Saul listened to Jonathan and swore [an oath], "As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death."

⁷So Jonathan called David and told him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence [serving him] as previously.

⁸Then there was war again, and David went out and fought with the Philistines and defeated them with a great slaughter, and they fled before him.

⁹Then an evil spirit from the LORD came on Saul as he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp with his hand.

¹⁰Saul tried to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he escaped from Saul's presence, so that Saul only stuck the spear into the wall. Then David fled and escaped that night.

¹¹Then Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch for him, so that he might kill him in the morning. But Michal, David's wife, told him, "If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed."

¹²So Michal let David down through the window, and he fled and escaped.

¹³And Michal took the household idol and laid it on the bed, put a pillow of goats' hair at its head, and covered it with clothes.

¹⁴And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, "He is sick."

¹⁵Then Saul sent the messengers [again] to see David, saying, "Bring him up to me on his bed [if necessary], so that I may kill him."

¹⁶When the messengers came in, there was the household idol on the bed with a quilt of goats' hair at its head.

¹⁷Saul said to Michal, "Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?" Michal answered Saul, "He said to me, 'Let me go! Why should I kill you?'"

¹⁸So David fled and escaped and came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him everything that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and stayed in Naioth.

¹⁹Saul was told, "David is at Naioth in Ramah."

²⁰Then Saul sent messengers to take David; but when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing and presiding over them, the Spirit of God came on the messengers of Saul; and they also prophesied.

²¹When Saul was informed, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. So Saul sent messengers again, the third time, and they prophesied as well.

²²Then Saul went to Ramah himself and came to the great well that is in Secu; and he asked, "Where are Samuel and David?" And he was told, "They are at Naioth [with the prophets] in Ramah."

²³So he went on to Naioth in Ramah; and the Spirit of God came upon him too, and he went along continually prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

²⁴He also took off his [royal] robes [and armor] and prophesied before Samuel and lay down naked all that day and night. So they say, "Is Saul also among the prophets?"

¹David fled from Naioth in Ramah and he came and said to Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my guilt? What is my sin before (against) your father, that he is seeking my life?"

²Jonathan said to him, "Far from it! You shall not die. My father does nothing important or insignificant without telling me. So why would he hide this thing from me? It is not so!"

³But David vowed again, saying "Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your sight, and he has said, 'Do not let Jonathan know this, or he will be worried.' But truly as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, there is hardly a step between me and death."

⁴Then Jonathan said to David, "Whatever you say, I will do for you."

⁵David said to Jonathan, "Behold, tomorrow is the New Moon [observance], and I should sit at the table to eat [the sacrificial meal] with the king; but let me go, so that I may hide myself in the field until the third evening.

⁶If your father misses me at all, then say, 'David earnestly asked permission from me to go to Bethlehem, his city, because it is the yearly sacrifice there for the entire family.'

⁷If he says, 'All right,' your servant will be safe; but if he is very angry, then be certain that he has decided on evil.

⁸Therefore show kindness to your servant, because you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you. But if there is iniquity (guilt) in me, kill me yourself; for why should you bring me to your father [to be killed]?"

⁹Jonathan said, "Far be it from [happening to] you! In fact, if I indeed learn that my father has decided to harm you, would I not tell you about it?"

¹⁰Then David said to Jonathan, "Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?"

¹¹Jonathan said to David, "Come, let us go out into the field [to talk]." So they went out to the field.

¹²Then Jonathan said to David, "The LORD, the God of Israel, is my witness! When I have sounded out my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if he has a good feeling toward you, shall I not then send word to you and make it known to you?

¹³But if it pleases my father to do you harm, may the LORD do so to Jonathan, and more if I do not let you know about it and send you away, so that you may go in safety. And may the LORD be with you as He has been with my father.

¹⁴If I am still alive, will you not show me the lovingkindness and faithfulness of the LORD, so that I will not die?

¹⁵"You shall never cut off your lovingkindness and faithfulness from my house, not even when the LORD cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth."

¹⁶So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David. [ He added,] "May the LORD require it at the hands of David's enemies. [that is, hold them accountable for any harm they inflict on David]."

¹⁷Jonathan made David vow again because of his love for him, for Jonathan loved him as himself.

¹⁸Then Jonathan said to David, "Tomorrow is the New Moon [festival], and you will be missed because your seat will be empty.

¹⁹When you have stayed for three days, you shall go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself on that eventful day [when my father tried to kill you], and shall stay by the stone Ezel.

²⁰I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I shot at a target.

²¹And I will send a boy, saying, 'Go, find the arrows.' If I specifically say to the boy, 'Look, the arrows are on this side of you, get them,' then come [back to my father's table]; for it is safe for you and there is no danger, as the LORD lives.

²²But if I say to the boy, 'Look, the arrows are beyond you,' then go, for the LORD has sent you away.

²³As for the agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, the LORD is between you and me forever [making sure that we each keep our word]."

²⁴So David hid in the field; and when the New Moon [festival] came, the king sat down to eat food.

²⁵The king sat on his seat as on previous occasions, on his seat by the wall; then Jonathan stood up, and Abner [his commander] sat down by Saul's side, but David's place was empty.

²⁶Yet Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, "It is an incident [of some kind] and he is not [ceremonially] clean—surely he is unclean."

²⁷But on the next day, the second day of the new moon, David's place was empty [again]; and Saul said to Jonathan his son, "Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today?"

²⁸Jonathan answered Saul, "David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem.

²⁹He said, 'Please let me go because our family is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to attend. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me slip away so that I may see my brothers.' That is why he has not come to the king's table."

³⁰Then Saul's anger burned against Jonathan and he said to him, "You son of a wayward, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse [over me] to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?

³¹For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you [as heir to the throne] nor your kingdom will be established. So now, send [someone] and bring him to me, for he must die."

³²Jonathan answered Saul his father, "Why must he be put to death? What has he done?"

³³Then Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him down, so Jonathan knew [without any doubt] that his father had decided to put David to death.

³⁴Then Jonathan stood up from the table in the heat of anger, and ate no food on that second day of the new moon (month), for he grieved and worried about David because his father had dishonored him.

³⁵In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the meeting with David, and a young boy was with him.

³⁶And he said to his boy, "Run, please find the arrows which I am about to shoot." As the boy ran, he shot an arrow past him.

³⁷When the boy came to the place where Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan called to him, "Is the arrow not beyond you?"

³⁸And Jonathan called out after the boy, "Hurry, be quick, do not stay!" So Jonathan's boy picked up the arrow and came back to his master.

³⁹But the boy was not aware of anything; only Jonathan and David knew about the matter.

⁴⁰Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy and said to him, "Go, take them to the city."

⁴¹As soon as the boy was gone, David got up from the south side [beside the mound of stones] and fell on his face to the ground [in submission and respect], and bowed three times. Then they kissed one another and wept together, but David wept more.

⁴²Jonathan told David, "Go in safety, inasmuch as we have sworn to each other in the name of the LORD, saying, 'The LORD shall be between me and you, and between my descendants and yours forever.'" Then he stood and left, while Jonathan went into the city.

¹Then David went to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came trembling [in fear] to meet David and said to him, "Why are you alone, and no one with you?"

²David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has commissioned me with a matter and has told me, 'Let no one know anything about the matter for which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you. I have directed the young men to a certain place.'

³Now what [food] do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found."

⁴The priest answered David, "There is no ordinary (unconsecrated) bread on hand, but there is consecrated bread; [you may have it] if only the young men have kept themselves from women."

⁵David answered the priest, "Be assured that women have been kept from us in these three days since I set out, and the bodies of the young men were consecrated (ceremonially clean), although it was an ordinary (unconsecrated) journey; so how much more will their vessels be holy today?"

⁶So the priest gave him the consecrated bread; for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence which was removed from before the LORD in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away.

⁷Now one of Saul's servants was there that day, detained before the LORD; his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's shepherds.

⁸David said to Ahimelech, "Do you not have a sword or spear here on hand? For I brought neither my sword nor my [other] weapons with me, because the king's business was urgent."

⁹Then the priest said, "The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you would take it for yourself, do so. For there is no other here except for it." And David said, "There is none like that; give it to me."

¹⁰Then David arose and fled from Saul that day, and went to Achish king of Gath.

¹¹The servants of Achish said to him, "Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing in praise of this one as they danced, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands'?"

¹²David took these words to heart and was greatly afraid of Achish king of Gath.

¹³So [fearing for his life] he changed his behavior in their sight, and acted insanely in their hands, and he scribbled on the doors of the gate, and drooled on his beard.

¹⁴Then Achish said to his servants, "Look, you see that the man is insane. Why have you brought him to me?

¹⁵Do I lack madmen, that you bring this one to behave like a madman in my presence? Shall this one come into my house?"