Atlas Biblica

    1 Samuel · 42 verses

    1 Samuel 20

    Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.

    The chapter

    What happens here

    Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

    At the royal table, Saul first explains David’s empty seat by supposing that David is ceremonially unclean; the spear comes only after Jonathan asks the perfectly ordinary question of what David has done.

    A covenant, a field, and a stone with a namevv. 1–23

    David flees from Naioth and arrives with death only a step away, while Jonathan refuses to believe that Saul means him harm. The two friends devise a neat little test involving an absent diner, an annual sacrifice at Bethlehem, and three arrows beside the stone Ezel. The stone receives a name, a south side, and no explanation whatever; it is simply where the arrows will do their speaking. Jonathan binds himself to David and to David’s household, and the arrangement is made under the LORD’s witness.

    The empty place at suppervv. 24–34

    David hides in the field, and the New Moon meal proceeds with the king in his usual place, Jonathan opposite him, Abner beside him, and David’s place empty. Saul says nothing at first, which is almost comically mild for a deadly plot: perhaps David is unclean. On the second day, Jonathan gives the agreed explanation about Bethlehem and the clan sacrifice. Saul’s anger then burns through the furniture of the conversation. He demands David’s death, Jonathan asks what David has done, and Saul answers by hurling his spear at Jonathan. Jonathan leaves the table without eating, grieved by his father’s treatment of David.

    The arrow beyondvv. 35–42

    In the morning Jonathan goes out to the field with a small boy and shoots the arrow beyond him. The boy knows nothing of the arrangement, which is just as well; Jonathan calls out that the arrow is beyond him, and the message is plain. Once the boy has gone back to the city with the equipment, David rises from the south side of Ezel. He and Jonathan bow, kiss, and weep together, David weeping more. Then David departs, and Jonathan returns to the city.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. 1 Sam 20:1Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? How have I sinned against your father, that he wants to take my life?”

    2. 1 Sam 20:2“Far from it!” Jonathan replied. “You will not die. Indeed, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This cannot be true!”

    3. 1 Sam 20:3But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”

    4. 1 Sam 20:4Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you desire, I will do for you.”

    5. 1 Sam 20:5So David told him, “Look, tomorrow is the New Moon, and I am supposed to dine with the king. Instead, let me go and hide in the field until the third evening from now.

    6. 1 Sam 20:6If your father misses me at all, tell him, ‘David urgently requested my permission to hurry to Bethlehem, his hometown, because there is an annual sacrifice for his whole clan.’

    7. 1 Sam 20:7If he says, ‘Good,’ then your servant is safe, but if he is enraged, you will know he has evil intentions.

    8. 1 Sam 20:8Therefore show kindness to your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”

    9. 1 Sam 20:9“Never!” Jonathan replied. “If I ever found out that my father had evil intentions against you, would I not tell you?”

    10. 1 Sam 20:10Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”

    11. 1 Sam 20:11“Come,” he replied, “let us go out to the field.” So the two of them went out into the field,

    12. 1 Sam 20:12and Jonathan said, “By the LORD, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. If he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you?

    13. 1 Sam 20:13But if my father intends to bring evil on you, then may the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if I do not tell you and send you on your way in safety. May the LORD be with you, just as He has been with my father.

    14. 1 Sam 20:14And as long as I live, treat me with the LORD’s loving devotion, that I may not die,

    15. 1 Sam 20:15and do not ever cut off your loving devotion from my household—not even when the LORD cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”

    16. 1 Sam 20:16So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD hold David’s enemies accountable.”

    17. 1 Sam 20:17And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.

    18. 1 Sam 20:18Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.

    19. 1 Sam 20:19When you have stayed three days, hurry down to the place you hid on the day this trouble began, and remain beside the stone Ezel.

    20. 1 Sam 20:20I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as if I were aiming at a target.

    21. 1 Sam 20:21Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ Now, if I expressly say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them,’ then come, because as surely as the LORD lives, it is safe for you, and there is no danger.

    22. 1 Sam 20:22But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ then you must go, for the LORD has sent you away.

    23. 1 Sam 20:23And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”

    24. 1 Sam 20:24So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat.

    25. 1 Sam 20:25He sat in his usual place by the wall, opposite Jonathan and beside Abner, but David’s place was empty.

    26. 1 Sam 20:26Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.”

    27. 1 Sam 20:27But on the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?”

    28. 1 Sam 20:28Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem,

    29. 1 Sam 20:29saying, ‘Please let me go, because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”

    30. 1 Sam 20:30Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you?

    31. 1 Sam 20:31For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!”

    32. 1 Sam 20:32“Why must he be put to death?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?”

    33. 1 Sam 20:33Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David.

    34. 1 Sam 20:34Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger and did not eat any food that second day of the month, for he was grieved by his father’s shameful treatment of David.

    35. 1 Sam 20:35In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a small boy was with him.

    36. 1 Sam 20:36He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” And as the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.

    37. 1 Sam 20:37When the boy reached the place where Jonathan’s arrow had fallen, Jonathan called to him, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?”

    38. 1 Sam 20:38Then Jonathan cried out, “Hurry! Make haste! Do not delay!” So the boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master.

    39. 1 Sam 20:39But the boy did not know anything; only Jonathan and David knew the arrangement.

    40. 1 Sam 20:40Then Jonathan gave his equipment to the boy and said, “Go, take it back to the city.”

    41. 1 Sam 20:41When the young man had gone, David got up from the south side of the stone, fell facedown, and bowed three times. Then he and Jonathan kissed each other and wept together—though David wept more.

    42. 1 Sam 20:42And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 236 passages were voted onto 37 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 5Numbers 10:10And on your joyous occasions, your appointed feasts, and the beginning of each month, you are to blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and peace offerings to serve as a reminder for you before your God. I am the LORD your God.”
    • 82 Samuel 14:32“Look,” said Absalom, “I sent for you and said, ‘Come here. I want to send you to the king to ask: Why have I come back from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.’ So now, let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”
    • 81 Samuel 18:3Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
    • 142 Samuel 9:3So the king asked, “Is there anyone left of the house of Saul to whom I can show the kindness of God?” Ziba answered, “There is still Jonathan’s son, who is lame in both feet.”
    • 17Proverbs 18:24A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who stays closer than a brother.
    • 32Matthew 27:23“Why?” asked Pilate. “What evil has He done?” But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify Him!”
    • 21 Samuel 9:15Now on the day before Saul’s arrival, the LORD had revealed to Samuel,
    • 2John 17:8For I have given them the words You gave Me, and they have received them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me.
    • 51 Samuel 19:2so he warned David, saying, “My father Saul intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning; find a secret place and hide there.
    • 5Numbers 28:11At the beginning of every month, you are to present to the LORD a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, all unblemished,
    • 81 Samuel 23:18So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home.
    • 13Ruth 1:17Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”
    • 131 Chronicles 22:16in gold and silver, bronze and iron—craftsmen beyond number. Now begin the work, and may the LORD be with you.”
    • 131 Samuel 17:37David added, “The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” “Go,” said Saul, “and may the LORD be with you.”
    • 13Joshua 1:5No one shall stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so will I be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
    • 131 Chronicles 22:11Now, my son, may the LORD be with you, and may you succeed in building the house of the LORD your God, as He said you would.

    Onward

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