21. Then I will send out a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ Now, if I tell the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are next to you; get them,’ then come ⌊back with me⌋. You will be safe, and there will be no trouble. I swear it, as the Lord lives.
22. But if I tell the boy, ‘The arrows are next to you,’ then go, because the Lord has sent you away.
23. We have made a promise to each other, and the Lord is ⌊a witness⌋ between you and me forever.”
24. So David hid in the countryside. When the New Moon Festival came, King Saul sat down to eat the festival meal.
25. He sat in his usual seat by the wall, while Jonathan stood. Abner sat beside Saul, but David’s place was empty.
26. Saul didn’t say anything that day, thinking, “Something has happened to him so that he’s unclean. He must be unclean.”
27. But on the second day of the month, David’s place was still empty.Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t Jesse’s son come to the meal either yesterday or today?”
28. Jonathan answered Saul, “David repeatedly begged me ⌊to let him go⌋ to Bethlehem.
29. David said to me ‘Please let me go. Our relatives will offer a sacrifice in the city, and my brother ordered me to be there. If you will permit it, please let me go to see my brothers.’ This is why he hasn’t come to your banquet.”