2. “Never!” he said to him. “You will not die! Behold, my father does nothing great or small without disclosing it to me. So why should my father hide this matter from me? It cannot be.”
3. Then David swore again saying, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes. So he must have thought, ‘Let’s not let Jonathan know about this, else he will be grieved.’ But truly as Adonai lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”
4. Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you say, I will do for you!”
5. So David said to Jonathan, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, when I am supposed to sit down with the king to eat. Instead, let me go hide myself in the countryside until the third evening.
6. If your father misses me at all, then say: ‘David earnestly asked my permission to run to Beth-lehem, his town, for it is the annual sacrifice there for the whole family.’
7. If he says thus, ‘Very well,’ then your servant is safe; but if he becomes very angry, then know that he is determined to harm me.
8. Therefore deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Adonai with you. But if there is any iniquity in me, then kill me yourself! Why should you bring me to your father?”
9. Jonathan replied, “Far be it from you! For if I know for sure that my father has determined evil to come on you, then wouldn’t I tell you about it?”
10. Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
11. Jonathan said to David, “Come, let’s go out to the field.” So they both went out to the field.
12. Then Jonathan said to David, “By Adonai, God of Israel, I will sound out my father about this time tomorrow or the day after. Look, if it is good toward David, wouldn’t I then send word to you and disclose it to you?
13. May Adonai do so to Jonathan and even worse, should my father intend to do you evil, if I don’t disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in shalom. So may Adonai be with you as He has been with my father.
14. “Now if I am still alive, wouldn’t you show me the loyal love of Adonai so I wouldn’t die?
15. Yet also, don’t cut off your loyal love from my household ever—not even when Adonai cuts off all of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
16. So Jonathan cut a covenant with the house of David, “So may Adonai requite David’s enemies.”
17. Jonathan made David swear again because of the love he had for him, for he loved him as he loved himself.
18. Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the New Moon. You’ll be missed because your seat will be empty.
19. On the third day, you must go down quickly and come to the place where you hid as you did on that day, and remain close to the stone Ezel.
20. I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target.
21. Now look, I will send a lad saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I specifically say to the lad, ‘See, the arrows are on this side of you—get them,’ then come; for it is safe for you and no danger, as Adonai lives.
22. But if I say to the boy: ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go your way, for Adonai has released you.