18. Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.
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.
20. Then I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target;
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.
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.
23. And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed the Lord be between you and me forever.”
24. Then David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast.
25. Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty.
26. Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him; he is unclean, surely he is unclean.”
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?”
28. So Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem.
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.”