1 Samuel 20:12-17

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 

1 Samuel 20:41-42

20:41 When the servant had left, David got up from beside the mound, ⁸  knelt ⁹  with his face to the ground, and bowed three times. Then they kissed each other and they both wept, especially David. 20:42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn together in the name of the Lord saying, ‘The Lord will be between me and you and between my descendants and your descendants forever.’”

David Goes to Nob

(21:1)

¹⁰ Then David ¹¹  got up and left, while Jonathan went back to the city.

[20:12]  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).

[20:12]  ² tn Heb “and uncover your ear.”

[20:13]  ³ tn Heb “uncover your ear.”

[20:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “in peace.”

[20:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “cut.” The object of the verb (“covenant”) must be supplied.

[20:16]  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.

[20:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “for [with] the love of his [own] life he loved him.”

[20:41]  ⁸ tc The translation follows the LXX in reading “the mound,” rather than the MT’s “the south.” It is hard to see what meaning the MT reading “from beside the south” would have as it stands, since such a location lacks specificity. The NIV treats it as an elliptical expression, rendering the phrase as “from the south side of the stone (rock NCV).” This is perhaps possible, but it seems better to follow the LXX rather than the MT here.

[20:41]  ⁹ tn Heb “fell.”

[20:42]  ¹⁰ sn Beginning with 20:42b, the verse numbers through 21:15 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 20:42b ET = 21:1 HT, 21:1 ET = 21:2 HT, 21:2 ET = 21:3 HT, etc., through 21:15 ET = 21:16 HT. With 22:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.

[20:42]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.