Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options

1 Samuel 20:1-8
New English Translation

Jonathan Seeks to Protect David

20 David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked,[a] “What have I done? What is my offense?[b] How have I sinned before your father, that he is seeking my life?”

2 Jonathan[c] said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing[d] large or small without making me aware of it.[e] Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!”

3 Taking an oath, David again[f] said, “Your father is very much aware of the fact[g] that I have found favor with you, and he has thought,[h] ‘Don’t let Jonathan know about this, or he will be upset.’ But as surely as the Lord lives and you live, there is about one step between me and death!” 4 Jonathan replied to David, “Tell me what I can do for you.”[i]

5 David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to join the king for a meal.[j] You must send me away so I can hide in the field until the third evening from now. 6 If your father happens to miss me, you should say, ‘David urgently requested me to let him go[k] to his town Bethlehem, for there is an annual sacrifice there for his entire family.’ 7 If he should then say, ‘That’s fine,’[l] then your servant is safe. But if he becomes very angry, be assured that he has decided to harm me.[m] 8 You must be loyal[n] to your servant, for you have made a covenant with your servant in the Lord’s name.[o] If I am guilty,[p] you yourself kill me! Why bother taking me to your father?”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 20:1 tn Heb “and he came and said before Jonathan.”
  2. 1 Samuel 20:1 tn Heb “What is my guilt?”
  3. 1 Samuel 20:2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  4. 1 Samuel 20:2 tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew mss, and the ancient versions in reading “he will not do,” rather than the Kethib of the MT (“do to him”).
  5. 1 Samuel 20:2 tn Heb “without uncovering my ear.”
  6. 1 Samuel 20:3 tc The LXX and the Syriac Peshitta lack the word “again.”
  7. 1 Samuel 20:3 tn The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
  8. 1 Samuel 20:3 tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself. So also in v. 25.
  9. 1 Samuel 20:4 tn Heb “whatever your soul says, I will do for you.”
  10. 1 Samuel 20:5 tn Heb “and I must surely sit with the king to eat.” The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
  11. 1 Samuel 20:6 tn Heb “to run.”
  12. 1 Samuel 20:7 tn Heb “good.”
  13. 1 Samuel 20:7 tn Heb “know that the evil is completed from with him.”
  14. 1 Samuel 20:8 tn Heb “and you must do loyalty.”
  15. 1 Samuel 20:8 tn Heb “for into a covenant of the Lord you have brought your servant with you.”
  16. 1 Samuel 20:8 tn Heb “and if there is in me guilt.”
Next
1 Samuel 19
1 Samuel 21
Next
dropdown
New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.