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The Blue Letter Bible

1 Samuel 20 :: New King James Version (NKJV)

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Jonathan’s Loyalty to David
Jonathan’s Covenant with David

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:1

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:1 - Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and went and said to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:2

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:2 - So Jonathan said to him, “By no means! You shall not die! Indeed, my father will do nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:3

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:3 - Then David took an oath again, and said, “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But truly, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:4

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:4 - So Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:5

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:5 - And David said to Jonathan, “Indeed tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:6

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:6 - “If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked permission of me that he might run over to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:7

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:7 - “If he says thus: ‘It is well,’ your servant will be safe. But if he is very angry, be sure that evil is determined by him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:8

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:8 - “Therefore you shall deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you. Nevertheless, if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:9

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:9 - But Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I knew certainly that evil was determined by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:10

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:10 - Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me, or what if your father answers you roughly?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:11

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:11 - And Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” So both of them went out into the field.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:12

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:12 - Then Jonathan said to David: “The LORD God of Israel is witness! When I have sounded out my father sometime tomorrow, or the third day, and indeed there is good toward David, and I do not send to you and tell you,

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:13

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:13 - “may the LORD do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will report it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And the LORD be with you as He has been with my father.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:14

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:14 - “And you shall not only show me the kindness of the LORD while I still live, that I may not die;

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:15

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:15 - “but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever, no, not when the LORD has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:16

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:16 - So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “Let the LORD require it at the hand of David’s enemies.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:17

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:17 - Now Jonathan again caused David to vow, because he loved him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:18

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:18 - Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:19

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:19 - “And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed; and remain by the stone Ezel.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:20

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:20 - “Then I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target;

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:21

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:21 - “and there I will send a lad, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to the lad, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them and come’—then, as the LORD lives, there is safety for you and no harm.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:22

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:22 - “But if I say thus to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you’—go your way, for the LORD has sent you away.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:23

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:23 - “And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed the LORD be between you and me forever.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:24

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:24 - Then David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:25

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:25 - Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose,[fn] and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:26

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:26 - Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him; he is unclean, surely he is unclean.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:27

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:27 - And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:28

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:28 - So Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:29

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:29 - “And he said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:30

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:30 - Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:31

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:31 - “For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:32

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:32 - And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be killed? What has he done?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:33

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:33 - Then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:34

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:34 - So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:35

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:35 - And so it was, in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad was with him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:36

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:36 - Then he said to his lad, “Now run, find the arrows which I shoot.” As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:37

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:37 - When the lad had come to the place where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out after the lad and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:38

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:38 - And Jonathan cried out after the lad, “Make haste, hurry, do not delay!” So Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:39

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:39 - But the lad did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:40

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:40 - Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad, and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.”

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:41

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:41 - As soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another; and they wept together, but David more so.

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Unchecked Copy Box 1Sa 20:42

Unchecked Copy Box1Sa 20:42 - Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever.’ ” So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.
See the NKJV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NKJV Footnotes
Following Masoretic Text, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate; Septuagint reads he sat across from Jonathan.
NKJV

New King James Version, © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

The text of the New King James Version (NKJV) appearing on or deriving from this or any other web page is for personal use only. Any other use of the NKJV must be in conformity with the Quotation Policy for the New King James Version. For more information about the New King James Version, the Quotation Policy, and for inquiries about permission to use the New King James Version, go to Thomas Nelson, Inc..

For more information on this translation, see the NKJV Preface.

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1 Samuel Chapter 20 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New Living Translation New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras