20. “And let me shoot three arrows to the side of it as though shooting at a target,
21. and see, I shall send the youth, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to the youth, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you, get them and come,’ then, as יהוה lives, there is safety for you and no concern.
22. “But if I say thus to the youth, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ go your way, for יהוה has sent you away.
23. “And as for the word which you and I have spoken of, see, יהוה is between you and me forever.”
24. And Dawiḏ hid in the field. And when the New Moon came, the sovereign sat down by the food to eat.
25. And the sovereign sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall, with Yehonathan standing, and Aḇnĕr sitting by Sha’ul’s side, but the place of Dawiḏ was empty.
26. But Sha’ul spoke not a word that day, for he thought, “It is an accident; he is not clean, for he has not been cleansed.”
27. And it came to be the next day, the second day of the month, that Dawiḏ’s place was empty. And Sha’ul said to Yehonathan his son, “Why has the son of Yishai not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”
28. And Yehonathan answered Sha’ul, “Dawiḏ earnestly asked my permission to go to Bĕyth Leḥem.
29. “And he said, ‘Please let me go, for our clan has a slaughtering in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favour in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the sovereign’s table.”
30. Then the displeasure of Sha’ul burned against Yehonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Yishai to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?
31. “For as long as the son of Yishai lives on the earth, you shall not be established, you and your reign. And now, send and bring him to me, for he is a son of death.”
32. And Yehonathan answered Sha’ul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”
33. At that, Sha’ul hurled a spear at him to smite him. Then Yehonathan knew that his father had resolved to put Dawiḏ to death.
34. And Yehonathan rose up from the table in the heat of displeasure, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for Dawiḏ, because his father put him to shame.
35. And it came to be, in the morning, that Yehonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with Dawiḏ, and a small youth was with him.
36. And he said to the youth, “Now run, find the arrows which I shoot.” As the youth ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.
37. And when the youth came to the place where the arrow was which Yehonathan had shot, Yehonathan called out after the youth and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”