16. and called David’s enemies to account.” So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David.
17. Jonathan once again took an oath with David, because he loved him. In fact Jonathan loved him as much as he did his own life.
18. Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will be empty.
19. On the third day you should go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself the day this all started. Stay near the stone Ezel.
20. I will shoot three arrows near it, as though I were shooting at a target.
21. When I send a boy after them, I will say, “Go and find the arrows.” If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them,’ then come back. For as surely as the Lord lives, you will be safe and there will no problem.
22. But if I say to the boy, “Look, the arrows are on the other side of you,’ get away. For in that case the Lord has sent you away.
23. With regard to the matter that you and I discussed, the Lord is the witness between us forever!”
24. So David hid in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat his meal.
25. The king sat down in his usual place by the wall, with Jonathan opposite him and Abner at his side. But David’s place was vacant.
26. However, Saul said nothing about it that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to make him ceremonially unclean. Yes, he must be unclean.”
27. But the next morning, the second day of the new moon, David’s place was still vacant. So Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why has Jesse’s son not come to the meal yesterday or today?”
28. Jonathan replied to Saul, “David urgently requested that he be allowed to go to Bethlehem.
29. He said, ‘Permit me to go, for we are having a family sacrifice in the city, and my brother urged me to be there. So now, if I have found favor with you, let me go to see my brothers.’ For that reason he has not come to the king’s table.”
30. Saul became angry with Jonathan and said to him, “You stupid traitor! Don’t I realize that to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness you have chosen this son of Jesse?