22. But if I say to the youth, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then go, for the Lord has sent you away.
23. And as for the matter of which you and I have spoken, behold, the Lord is between you and me forever.”
24. So David hid himself in the field. And when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food.
25. The king sat on his seat, as at other times, on the seat by the wall. Jonathan sat opposite, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty.
26. Yet Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him. He is not clean; surely he is not clean.”
27. But on the second day, the day after the new moon, David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has not the son of Jesse come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”
28. Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem.