12. Jonathan said before David: "O Lord, God of Israel, if I will discover a decision by my father, tomorrow, or the day after, and if there will be anything good concerning David, and yet I do not immediately send to you and make it known to you,
13. may the Lord do these things to Jonathan, and may he add these other things. But if my father will have persevered in malice against you, I will reveal it to your ear, and I will send you away, so that you may go in peace, and so that the Lord may be with you, just as he was with my father.
14. And if I live, you shall show the mercy of the Lord to me. Yet truly, if I die,
15. you shall not take away your mercy from my house, even forever, when the Lord will have rooted out the enemies of David, each and every one of them, from the earth. May he take Jonathan from his house, and may the Lord require it from the hands of the enemies of David."
16. Therefore, Jonathan formed a covenant with the house of David. And the Lord required it from the hands of the enemies of David.
17. And Jonathan continued to swear to David, because he loved him. For he loved him like his own soul.
18. And Jonathan said to him: "Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be sought.
19. For your seat will be empty until the day after tomorrow. Therefore, you shall descend quickly, and you shall go to the place where you are to be hidden, on a day when it is lawful to work, and you shall remain beside the stone that is called Ezel.
20. And I will shoot three arrows near it, and I will cast them as if I were practicing for myself toward a mark.
21. Also, I will send a boy, saying to him, 'Go and bring the arrows to me.'
22. If I will say to the boy, 'Behold, the arrows are before you, take them up,' you shall approach before me, because there is peace for you, and there is nothing evil, as the Lord lives. But if I will have spoken to the boy in this way, 'Behold, the arrows are away from you,' then you shall go away in peace, for the Lord has released you.
23. Now about the word that you and I have spoken, may the Lord be between you and me, even forever."
24. Therefore, David was hidden in the field. And the new moon came, and the king sat down to eat bread.
25. And when the king had sat down on his chair, (according to custom) which was beside the wall, Jonathan rose up, and Abner sat beside Saul, and David's place appeared empty.
26. And Saul did not say anything on that day. For he was thinking that perhaps something happened to him, so that he was not clean, or not purified.
27. And when the second day after the new moon had begun to dawn, David's place again appeared empty. And Saul said to Jonathan, his son, "Why has the son of Jesse not arrived to eat, neither yesterday, nor today?"
28. And Jonathan responded to Saul, "He petitioned me earnestly that he might go to Bethlehem,
29. and he said: 'Permit me. For there is a solemn sacrifice in the city. One of my brothers has summoned me. Now therefore, if I have found favor in your eyes, I will go quickly, and I will see my brothers.' For this reason, he has not come to the table of the king."