12. and Jonathan said to David, “May the Lord God of Israel be our witness! At this time tomorrow and on the following day I will question my father. If his attitude towards you is good, I will send you word.
13. If he intends to harm you, may the Lord strike me dead if I don't let you know about it and get you safely away. May the Lord be with you as he was with my father!
14. And if I remain alive, please keep your sacred promise and be loyal to me; but if I die,
15. show the same kind of loyalty to my family for ever. And when the Lord has completely destroyed all your enemies,
16. may our promise to each other still be unbroken. If it is broken, the Lord will punish you.”
17. Once again Jonathan made David promise to love him, for Jonathan loved David as much as he loved himself.
18. Then Jonathan said to him, “Since tomorrow is the New Moon Festival, your absence will be noticed if you aren't at the meal.
19. The day after tomorrow your absence will be noticed even more; so go to the place where you hid the other time, and hide behind the pile of stones there.
20. I will then shoot three arrows at it, as though it were a target.
21. Then I will tell my servant to go and find them. And if I tell him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them,’ that means that you are safe and can come out. I swear by the living Lord that you will be in no danger.
22. But if I tell him, ‘The arrows are on the other side of you,’ then leave, because the Lord is sending you away.
23. As for the promise we have made to each other, the Lord will make sure that we will keep it for ever.”
24. So David hid in the fields. At the New Moon Festival, King Saul came to the meal
25. and sat in his usual place by the wall. Abner sat next to him, and Jonathan sat opposite him. David's place was empty,
26. but Saul said nothing that day, because he thought, “Something has happened to him, and he is not ritually pure.”
27. On the following day, the day after the New Moon Festival, David's place was still empty, and Saul asked Jonathan, “Why didn't David come to the meal either yesterday or today?”