20. On the third day of the month I will shoot arrows to the side of it, as though aiming at a target.
21. I will then send my attendant to recover the arrows. If in fact I say to him, ‘Look, the arrow is this side of you; pick it up,’ come, for you are safe. As the Lord lives, there will be nothing to fear.
22. But if I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrow is beyond you,’ go, for the Lord sends you away.
23. However, in the matter which you and I have discussed, the Lord shall be between you and me forever.”
24. So David hid in the open country. On the day of the new moon, when the king sat down at the feast to dine,
25. he took his usual place against the wall. Jonathan sat facing him, while Abner sat at the king’s side. David’s place was vacant.
26. Saul, however, said nothing that day, for he thought, “He must have become unclean by accident.”
27. On the next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was still vacant. So Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to table yesterday or today?”
28. Jonathan explained to Saul: “David pleaded with me to let him go to Bethlehem.
29. ‘Please let me go,’ he begged, ‘for we are having a clan sacrifice in our city, and my brothers insist on my presence. Now then, if you think well of me, give me leave to visit my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
30. But Saul grew angry with Jonathan and said to him: “Son of a rebellious woman, do I not know that, to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness, you are the companion of Jesse’s son?
31. For as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the earth, you cannot make good your claim to the kingship! Now send for him, and bring him to me, for he must die.”
32. But Jonathan argued with his father Saul: “Why should he die? What has he done?”