9. And Jonathan said, Far be it from you! If I knew that evil was determined for you by my father, would I not tell you?
10. Then said David to Jonathan, Who will tell me if your father answers you roughly?
11. Jonathan said, Come, let us go into the field. So they went into the field.
12. Jonathan said to David, The Lord, the God of Israel, be witness. When I have sounded out my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if he is well inclined toward David, and I do not send and let you know it,
13. The Lord do so, and much more, to Jonathan. But if it please my father to do you harm, then I will disclose it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And may the Lord be with you as He has been with my father.
14. While I am still alive you shall not only show me the loving-kindness of the Lord, so that I die not,
15. But also you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever–no, not even when the Lord has cut off every enemy of David from the face of the earth.
16. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, And the Lord will require that this covenant be kept at the hands of David's enemies.
17. And Jonathan caused David to swear again by his love for him, for Jonathan loved him as he loved his own life.
18. Then Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the New Moon festival; and you will be missed, for your seat will be empty.
19. On the third day you will go quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself when the matter was in hand, and remain by the stone Ezel.
20. And I will shoot three arrows on the side of it, as though I shot at a mark.
21. And I will send a lad, saying, Go, find the arrows. If I expressly say to the lad, Look, the arrows are on this side of you, take them–then you are to come, for it is safe for you and there is no danger, as the Lord lives.
22. But if I say to the youth, Look, the arrows are beyond you–then go, for the Lord has sent you away.
23. And as touching the matter of which you and I have spoken, behold, the Lord is between you and me forever.
24. So David hid himself in the field, and when the New Moon [festival] came, the king sat down to eat food.
25. The king sat, as at other times, on his seat by the wall, and Jonathan sat opposite, and Abner sat by Saul's side, but David's place was empty.
26. Yet Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, Something has befallen him and he is not clean–surely he is not clean.
27. But on the morrow, the second day after the new moon, David's place was empty; and Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?