1st Shamu'AL (1 Samuel) — 20
Yunathan Helps Daud
1 Daud now fled from Naiuth in Ramah and found Yunathan. “What have I done?” he exclaimed. “What is my crime? How have I offended your father that he is so determined to kill me?”
2 “Yunathan protested; that is not true, “you are not going to die, my father always tells me everything he’s going to do, even the little things. I know my father would not hide something like this from me!”
3 Then Daud took an oath before Yunathan and said, “Your father knows perfectly well about our friendship, so he has said to himself, ‘I will not tell Yunathan, why should I hurt him?’ But I swear to you that I am only a step away from death! I swear it by 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH and by your own soul!”
4 “Tell me what I can do to help you,” Yunathan exclaimed.
5 Daud replied, “Tomorrow we celebrate the new moon festival. I have always eaten with the king on this occasion, but tomorrow I will hide in the field and stay there until the evening of the third day.
6 If your father asks where I am, tell him I asked permission to go home to Bathlaham for an annual family sacrifice.
7 If he says, ‘Fine!’ you will know all is well. But if he is angry and loses his temper, you will know he is determined to kill me.
8 Show me this loyalty as my sworn friend, for we made a solemn pact before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH or kill me yourself if I have sinned against your father. But please do not betray me to him!”
9 “Yunathan said to Daud, “you know that if I had the slightest notion my father was planning to kill you, I would tell you at once.”
10 Then Daud asked, “How will I know whether or not your father is angry?”
11 “Come out to the field with me,” Yunathan replied. And they went out there together.
12 Then Yunathan told Daud, “I promise by 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH the 𐤀𐤋𐤅𐤄_ALUAH of Yashar'AL, that by this time tomorrow, or the next day at the latest, I will talk to my father and let you know at once how he feels about you. If he speaks favorably about you, I will let you know.
13 But if he is angry and wants you killed, may 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH strike me and even kill me if I do not warn you so you can escape and live. May 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH be with you as He used to be with my father.
14 And may you treat me with the faithful love of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH as long as I live. But if I die,
15 treat my family with this faithful love, even when 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH destroys all your enemies from the face of the Arath.”
16 So Yunathan made a solemn pact with Daud, saying, “May 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH destroy all your enemies!”
17 And Yunathan made Daud reaffirm his vow of friendship again, for Yunathan loved Daud as he loved himself.
18 Then Yunathan said, “Tomorrow we celebrate the new moon festival. You will be missed when your place at the table is empty.
19 The day after tomorrow, toward evening, go to the place where you hid before, and wait there by the stone pile.
20 I will come out and shoot three arrows to the side of the stone pile as though I were shooting at a target.
21 Then I will send a boy to bring the arrows back. If you hear me tell him, ‘They are on this side,’ then you will know, as surely as 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH lives, that all is well, and there is no trouble.
22 But if I tell him, ‘Go farther, the arrows are still ahead of you,’ then it will mean that you must leave immediately, for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH is sending you away.
23 And may 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH make us keep our promises to each other, for he has witnessed them.”
24 So Daud hid himself in the field, and when the new moon festival began, the king sat down to eat.
25 He sat at his usual place against the wall, with Yunathan sitting opposite him and Abner beside him. But Daud’s place was empty.
26 Shaul didn’t say anything about it that day, for he said to himself, “Something must have made Daud ceremonially unclean.”
27 But when Daud’s place was empty again the next day, Shaul asked Yunathan, “Why not the son of Yassa been here for the meal either yesterday or today?”
28 Yunathan replied, “Daud earnestly asked me if he could go to Bathlaham.
29 He said, ‘Please let me go, for we are having a family sacrifice. My brother demanded that I be there. So please let me get away to see my brothers.’ That’s why he is not here at the king’s table.”
30 Saul boiled with rage at Yunathan. “You stupid son of a whore!” he swore at him. “Do you think I do not know that you want him to be king in your place, shaming yourself and your mother?
31 As long as that son of Yassa is alive, you will never be king, now go and get him so I can kill him!”
32 “But why should he be put to death?” Yunathan asked his father. “What has he done?”
33 Then Shaul hurled his spear at Yunathan, intending to kill him. So at last Yunathan realized that his father was really determined to kill Daud.
34 Yunathan left the table in fierce anger and refused to eat on that second day of the festival, for he was crushed by his father’s shameful behavior toward Daud.
35 The next morning, as agreed, Yunathan went out into the field and took a young boy with him to gather his arrows.
36 “Start running,” he told the boy, “so you can find the arrows as I shoot them.” So the boy ran, and Yunathan shot an arrow beyond him.
37 When the boy had almost reached the arrow, Yunathan shouted, “The arrow is still ahead of you.
38 Hurry, hurry, do not wait.” So the boy quickly gathered up the arrows and ran back to his master.
39 He suspected nothing; only Yunathan and Daud understood the signal.
40 Then Yunathan gave his bow and arrows to the boy and told him to take them back to town.
41 As soon as the boy was gone, Daud came out from where he had been hiding near the stone pile. Then Daud bowed three times to Yunathan with his face to the ground. Both of them were in tears as they embraced each other and said good-bye, especially Daud.
42 At last Yunathan said to Daud, “Go in Shalum, for we have sworn loyalty to each other in the Name of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH. And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄_YAHUAH is the witness of the bond between us and our children forever.” Then Daud left, and Yunathan returned to the town.