大卫与约拿单
1大卫从拉玛的拿约逃出来去见约拿单，问他：“我做了什么？犯了什么罪？我什么地方对不起你父亲，他竟追杀我？” 2约拿单答道：“绝无此事，你不会死的！我父亲事无大小都会告诉我的，他不会瞒着我这件事，不会的。” 3大卫发誓说：“你父亲深知你恩待我，他为了不使你伤心，才瞒着你。但我凭永活的耶和华和你的性命起誓，我离死亡仅一步之遥！” 4约拿单说：“你有什么需要？我一定相助。” 5大卫答道：“明天是初一，我本该跟王一起用餐，请让我躲到田间，直到第三天晚上。 6如果你父亲问起我，你就说我恳求你允许我回到故乡伯利恒，因为我全家正在那里献年祭。 7如果你父亲说‘好吧’，仆人就平安无事了。如果他发怒，就表示他决意要杀我。 8请你善待仆人，因你与我在耶和华面前立了盟约。如果我有罪，就请你亲手杀了我，何必把我交给你父亲呢？” 9约拿单答道：“我决不会这样做。如果我知道我父亲决意要杀你，我怎能不通知你呢？” 10大卫说：“你父亲若向你发怒，谁来告诉我呢？” 11约拿单说：“我们一起到田野去吧。”于是，二人一起去了田野。
12约拿单对大卫说：“愿以色列的上帝耶和华作证，明天或后天这个时侯我就会打探到我父亲的意思，如果他善意待你，我会派人通知你。 13如果他有意杀你，而我却不告诉你让你安然逃走，愿耶和华重重地惩罚我。愿耶和华与你同在，像从前与我父亲同在一样。 14在我有生之年，请你照耶和华的慈爱恩待我，免我一死。 15在我死后，即使耶和华把你所有的仇敌都毁灭了，请你仍旧恩待我的后人。” 16于是，约拿单与大卫家立下盟约，说：“倘若大卫不守盟约，愿耶和华借着仇敌惩罚他。” 17约拿单因为像爱自己一样爱大卫，便叫他再次起誓。 18约拿单说：“明天是初一，人们会注意到你缺席。 19到了后天，你要赶快去上次出事时躲藏的以色磐石那里。 20我会朝磐石的旁边射三箭，好像射靶子。 21然后，我会叫一个少年把箭拾回来。如果你听到我对他说，‘箭就在你旁边，把箭拾回来。’那就表示你可以回来了，我凭永活的耶和华起誓，你必平安无事。 22但如果我对少年说，‘箭就在你前面。’你就要离开，因为是耶和华要你离开。 23至于我们之间所立的约，耶和华永远为我们作证。”
24于是，大卫就躲到田野。初一到了，扫罗王入席吃饭， 25他照常坐在靠墙的位置，约拿单坐在对面，押尼珥坐在王的身边，大卫的位子空着。 26那一天，扫罗并没有说什么，他以为大卫可能遇到了使自己不洁净的事，不能赴宴。 27可是到了第二天，大卫的座位还是空的，扫罗就问儿子约拿单：“耶西的儿子为什么这两天都不来赴宴呢？” 28约拿单答道：“大卫恳求我让他回到伯利恒， 29因为他家要在城中献祭，他的哥哥要他去。他求我恩准他去见他的哥哥们。所以，他没有来参加王的宴席。”
30扫罗向约拿单发怒，对他说：“你这邪恶叛逆妇人所生之子！难道我不知道你是站在耶西的儿子那边吗？你这样做不但自取其辱，也使你母亲蒙羞。 31只要耶西的儿子活在世上，你和你的王位就不得安稳。你派人把他抓到我这里，他非死不可。” 32约拿单问：“为什么要杀他？他做了什么？”
33扫罗气得把矛掷向约拿单，想要杀他。约拿单知道父亲决意要杀大卫。 34他怒气冲冲地离席，整天不肯进食，因为他看见父亲如此卑劣地对待大卫，心里非常难过。 35第二天早晨，约拿单按照和大卫的约定带着一个少年来到田野。 36约拿单对少年说：“你跑去把我射的箭拾回来。”少年就向前跑去，约拿单把箭射在他前面。 37少年跑到落箭之处的时候，约拿单就大声叫道：“箭不是在你的前面吗？ 38快快去，不要耽延。”少年连忙把箭拾起来，回到主人那里。 39他不知道主人的用意，只有约拿单和大卫知道。 40约拿单把弓箭交给那少年，吩咐他带回城中。 41少年离开以后，大卫就从磐石南面出来，伏地拜了三拜。二人彼此亲吻，抱头痛哭，大卫更是泣不成声。 42约拿单说：“我们已凭耶和华的名起誓，有耶和华在你我和你我的子孙之间永远为我们的盟约作证，你就安心去吧。”大卫便起身离开，约拿单也回城去了。
David and Jonathan
1Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?”
2“Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!”
3But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the Lord lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”
4Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.”
5So David said, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon feast, and I am supposed to dine with the king; but let me go and hide in the field until the evening of the day after tomorrow. 6If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David earnestly asked my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because an annual sacrifice is being made there for his whole clan.’ 7If he says, ‘Very well,’ then your servant is safe. But if he loses his temper, you can be sure that he is determined to harm me. 8As for you, show kindness to your servant, for you have brought him into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I am guilty, then kill me yourself! Why hand me over to your father?”
9“Never!” Jonathan said. “If I had the least inkling that my father was determined to harm you, wouldn’t I tell you?”
10David asked, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
11“Come,” Jonathan said, “let’s go out into the field.” So they went there together.
12Then Jonathan said to David, “I swear by the Lord, the God of Israel, that I will surely sound out my father by this time the day after tomorrow! If he is favorably disposed toward you, will I not send you word and let you know? 13But if my father intends to harm you, may the Lord deal with Jonathan, be it ever so severely, if I do not let you know and send you away in peace. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father. 14But show me unfailing kindness like the Lord’s kindness as long as I live, so that I may not be killed, 15and do not ever cut off your kindness from my family—not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the Lord call David’s enemies to account.” 17And Jonathan had David reaffirm his oath out of love for him, because he loved him as he loved himself.
18Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon feast. You will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid when this trouble began, and wait by the stone Ezel. 20I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as though I were shooting at a target. 21Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them here,’ then come, because, as surely as the Lord lives, you are safe; there is no danger. 22But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, because the Lord has sent you away. 23And about the matter you and I discussed—remember, the Lord is witness between you and me forever.”
24So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon feast came, the king sat down to eat. 25He sat in his customary place by the wall, opposite Jonathan,20:25 Septuagint; Hebrew wall. Jonathan arose and Abner sat next to Saul, but David’s place was empty. 26Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something must have happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.” 27But the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was empty again. Then Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”
28Jonathan answered, “David earnestly asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. 29He said, ‘Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
30Saul’s anger flared up at Jonathan and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Don’t I know that you have sided with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31As long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send someone to bring him to me, for he must die!”
32“Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” Jonathan asked his father. 33But Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. Then Jonathan knew that his father intended to kill David.
34Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger; on that second day of the feast he did not eat, because he was grieved at his father’s shameful treatment of David.
35In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for his meeting with David. He had a small boy with him, 36and he said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37When the boy came to the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called out after him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” 38Then he shouted, “Hurry! Go quickly! Don’t stop!” The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master. 39(The boy knew nothing about all this; only Jonathan and David knew.) 40Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and said, “Go, carry them back to town.”
41After the boy had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together—but David wept the most.
42Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’ ” Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.20:42 In Hebrew texts this sentence (20:42b) is numbered 21:1.
