And Saul told Jonathan his son and all his servants to kill David. But Jonathan, Saul's son, took great delight in David.

And  ¹Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father is seeking to kill you. Now therefore be on guard in the morning, and stay in some secret place, and hide yourself.

And I will go out and stand by my father's side in the field where you are. And I will speak about you to my father; and if I learn anything, I will tell you.

So Jonathan spoke well about David to Saul his father and said to him, May the king not sin against his servant David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have been very good for you.

For he risked his life when he struck down the Philistine, and Jehovah accomplished a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood by having David killed without cause?

And Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan; and Saul swore, As Jehovah lives, he shall not be put to death.

Then Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.

And there was war again. And David went out and fought against the Philistines. And he struck them with a great slaughter, and they fled from before him.

Then there came an evil spirit from Jehovah upon Saul, and he sat in his house with his spear in his hand while David played the lyre by hand.

And Saul sought to strike David even to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul's presence. And  ¹Saul struck the wall with his spear, but David fled and escaped that night.

Then Saul sent messengers to David's house to watch him and kill him in the morning. And Michal, David's wife, told him, saying, If you do not save your life tonight, in the morning you will be killed.

So Michal let David down through the window, and he went away and fled and escaped.

Then Michal took the teraphim and laid it in the bed. And she put a net of goats' hair on its head and covered it with clothing.

And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick.

And Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me on his bed that I may kill him.

And when the messengers went in, there was the teraphim in the bed with a net of goats' hair on its head.

Then Saul said to Michal, Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go so that he has slipped away? And Michal said to Saul, He said to me, Let me go; why should I kill you?

So David fled and slipped away and came to Samuel at Ramah, and he told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt at Naioth.

Then it was told Saul, saying, David is now at Naioth in Ramah.

So Saul sent messengers to seize David; and when they saw the company of prophets prophesying and Samuel standing and presiding over them, the Spirit of God came upon Saul's messengers, and they also prophesied.

And it was told Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul again sent messengers the third time, and they also prophesied.

Then he himself went to Ramah. And he came to the great well that is in Secu; and he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And someone said, They are now at Naioth in Ramah.

So he went there, toward Naioth in Ramah. And the Spirit of God came upon him as well, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

And he also stripped off his clothes and also prophesied before Samuel, and he lay naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?

Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said to Jonathan, What have I done? What is my iniquity, or what is my sin before your father, that he is seeking my life?

And he said to him, Far from it! You shall not die. My father does nothing great or small that he does not disclose to me. So why should my father hide this matter from me? Such would not happen.

Then David swore again and said, Your father fully knows that I have found favor in your sight; so he says, Do not let Jonathan know about this; otherwise, he will be grieved. But truly as Jehovah lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.

And Jonathan said to David, Whatever you say, I will do for you.

And David said to Jonathan, It is the new moon tomorrow, and I am to sit with the king at the meal. But let me go, and I will hide myself in the field until the following evening.

If your father misses me at all, you shall say, David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem his city, for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all his family.

If he says in this way, Fine; then your servant will have peace. But if he becomes angry at all, know that evil has been determined by him.

Deal kindly then with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Jehovah with you. But if there is any iniquity in me, you kill me. Why then should you bring me to your father?

And Jonathan said, Far be it from you! For if I knew at all that evil has been determined by my father to come upon you, would I not tell it to you?

Then David said to Jonathan, Who will tell me whether or not your father has responded to you harshly?

And Jonathan said to David, Come and let us go out into the field. And they both went out into the field.

And Jonathan said to David, By Jehovah, the God of Israel: When I search out my father about this time tomorrow, or on the following day, and if he is good toward David, I will surely send word to you and disclose it to you.

May Jehovah do so to Jonathan, and even more, if it pleases my father to do you evil, and I do not disclose it to you and send you away to go in peace. And may Jehovah be with you as He was with my father.

And while I am still alive, do show me the lovingkindness of Jehovah, that I may not die;

And never cut off your lovingkindness from my house, not even when Jehovah has cut off David's enemies to the man from the face of the earth.

So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, And Jehovah will require it at the hand of David's enemies.

And Jonathan made David swear again by his love for him, for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

Then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon; and you will be missed, for your seat will be empty.

And when you have waited three days, you shall go far down and come to the place where you hid yourself while all this was happening; and you shall remain at the stone Ezel.

And I will shoot three arrows to its side, as though I were shooting at a mark.

And just then I will send a boy, saying, Go; find the arrows. If I say to the boy, The arrows are there to this side of you; gather them; then come, for you have peace and there is no problem, as Jehovah lives.

But if I speak in this way to the young man, The arrows are there beyond you; then go, for Jehovah has sent you away.

And concerning this matter that I and you have spoken of, it is Jehovah who is between me and you forever.

So David hid himself in the field. And when the new moon came, the king sat at the meal to eat.

And the king sat on his seat as at other times, on his seat near the wall; and Jonathan rose up, and Abner sat down beside Saul, but David's place was empty.

But Saul said nothing that day about it, for he thought, Something has happened to him; he is not clean; surely he is not clean.

And on the day after the new moon, the second day, David's place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why has the son of Jesse come neither yesterday nor today to the meal?

And Jonathan answered Saul, David asked leave of me earnestly to go to Bethlehem.

And he said, Let me go, I beg you; for our family has a sacrifice in that city, and my brother commanded me to be there. So now if I have found favor in your sight, let me slip away to see my brothers. Therefore he has not come to the king's table.

And Saul's anger burned 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?

For as long as the son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now therefore send someone and bring him to me, for he is as good as dead.

And Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, Why must he be put to death? What has he done?

But Saul threw his spear at him in order to strike him down. So Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to put David to death.

And Jonathan rose up from the table in burning anger and did not eat any food on the second day of the new moon, for he was grieved about David because his father had shamed him.

Then in the morning Jonathan went forth to the field for the appointment with David, and a small boy was with him.

And he said to his boy, Run and find the arrows that I am shooting. While the boy was running, he shot the arrow beyond him.

And when the boy came to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called out after the boy and said, The arrow is there beyond you.

And Jonathan called out to the boy, Hurry up quickly; do not stay there. And Jonathan's boy gathered the arrows and came to his master.

And the boy knew nothing; only Jonathan and David knew the matter.

Then Jonathan gave his equipment to his boy and said to him, Go; bring them to the city.

And when the boy went, David rose up from his hiding place toward the south and fell on his face to the ground; and he bowed himself three times. And they kissed each other; and they wept for each other, but David more greatly.

And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, because both of us have sworn in the name of Jehovah, saying, May Jehovah be between me and you and between my seed and your seed forever. Then  ¹David rose up and left, and Jonathan went into the city.

And David went to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, Why are you alone, and no one with you?

And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has charged me with some matter, and he said to me, Let no man know anything about the matter that I have sent you on and charged you with. So I have made an appointment with my young men at such and such a place.

Now then what do you have on hand? Give five loaves of bread into my hand, or whatever there is to be found.

And the priest answered David and said, There is no common bread on hand; yet there is holy bread, but only if the young men have kept themselves from women.

And David answered the priest and said to him, Women have indeed been kept from us, as previously when I went forth; and the vessels of the young men were holy, even if it was a common journey. How much more then today will their vessels be holy!

So the priest gave him what was holy, for there was no bread there except the  ¹bread of the Presence, which was taken from before Jehovah, to be replaced by hot bread at the time it was taken.

Now one of Saul's servants was there that day, detained before Jehovah. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of the shepherds that belonged to Saul.

And David said to Ahimelech, And is there not a spear or a sword here on hand? For I have brought neither my sword nor my equipment with me, for the king's matter was urgent.

And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take it, take it; for there is no other here but that one. And David said, There is none like it; give it to me.

Then David rose up and fled that day from before Saul, and he went to Achish the king of Gath.

But the servants of Achish said to him, Is this not David the king of the land? Is this not him of whom they sang to one another in dances, saying,
Saul has struck down his thousands;
But David, his ten thousands?

And David took these words to heart and feared Achish the king of Gath greatly.

So he disguised his sanity in their sight and acted like a madman before them, and he made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard.

And Achish said to his servants, Look, you see that the man is mad. Why have you brought him to me?

Do I lack madmen that you have brought this one to me to be a madman before me? Shall this one come into my house?