1 Samuel 20:12-23

20:12 Jonathan said to David, “The Lord God of Israel is my witness. ¹  I will feel out my father about this time the day after tomorrow. If he is favorably inclined toward David, will I not then send word to you and let you know? ²  20:13 But if my father intends to do you harm, may the Lord do all this and more to Jonathan, if I don’t let you know ³  and send word to you so you can go safely on your way. ⁴  May the Lord be with you, as he was with my father. 20:14 While I am still alive, extend to me the loyalty of the Lord, or else I will die! 20:15 Don’t ever cut off your loyalty to my family, not even when the Lord has cut off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth 20:16 and called David’s enemies to account.” So Jonathan made a covenant ⁵  with the house of David. ⁶  20:17 Jonathan once again took an oath with David, because he loved him. In fact Jonathan loved him as much as he did his own life. ⁷  20:18 Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will be empty. 20:19 On the third day ⁸  you should go down quickly ⁹  and come to the place where you hid yourself the day this all started. ¹⁰  Stay near the stone Ezel. 20:20 I will shoot three arrows near it, as though I were shooting at a target. 20:21 When I send a boy after them, I will say, “Go and find the arrows.” If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; ¹¹  get them,’ then come back. For as surely as the Lord lives, you will be safe and there will no problem. 20:22 But if I say to the boy, “Look, the arrows are on the other side of you,’ ¹²  get away. For in that case the Lord has sent you away. 20:23 With regard to the matter that you and I discussed, the Lord is the witness between us forever!” ¹³ 

¹ tc The Hebrew text has simply “the Lord God of Israel.” On the basis of the Syriac version, many reconstruct the text to read “[is] my witness,” which may have fallen out of the text by homoioarcton (an error which is entirely possible if עֵד, ’ed, “witness,” immediately followed ַָדוִד, “David,” in the original text).

² tn Heb “and uncover your ear.”

³ tn Heb “uncover your ear.”

⁴ tn Heb “in peace.”

⁵ tn Heb “cut.” The object of the verb (“covenant”) must be supplied.

⁶ tn The word order is different in the Hebrew text, which reads “and Jonathan cut with the house of David, and the Lord will seek from the hand of the enemies of David.” The translation assumes that the main clauses of the verse have been accidentally transposed in the course of transmission. The first part of the verse (as it stands in MT) belongs with v. 17, while the second part of the verse actually continues v. 15.

⁷ tn Heb “for [with] the love of his [own] life he loved him.”

⁸ tc Heb “you will do [something] a third time.” The translation assumes an emendation of the verb from שִׁלַּשְׁתָּ (shillashta, “to do a third time”) to שִׁלִּישִׁית (shillishit, “[on the] third [day]”).

⁹ tn Heb “you must go down greatly.” See Judg 19:11 for the same idiom.

¹⁰ tn Heb “on the day of the deed.” This probably refers to the incident recorded in 19:2.

¹¹ tn Heb “from you and here.”

¹² tn Heb “from you and onward.”

¹³ tc Heb “the Lord [is] between me and between you forever.” The translation assumes that the original text read עֵד עַד־עוֹלָם (’ed ’ad-’olam), “a witness forever,” with the noun “a witness” accidentally falling out of the text by haplography. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 338.