¹Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and went and said to Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?” ²So Jonathan said to him, “By no means! You shall not die! Indeed, my father will do nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!” ³Then David took an oath again, and said, “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But truly, as the Lᴏʀᴅ lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.” ⁴So Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you yourself desire, I will do it for you.” ⁵And David said to Jonathan, “Indeed tomorrow is the New Moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go, that I may hide in the field until the third day at evening. ⁶If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked permission of me that he might run over to Bethlehem, his city, for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’ ⁷If he says thus: ‘It is well,’ your servant will be safe. But if he is very angry, then be sure that evil is determined by him. ⁸Therefore you shall deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lᴏʀᴅ with you. Nevertheless, if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?” ⁹But Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I knew certainly that evil was determined by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you?” ¹⁰Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me, or what if your father answers you roughly?” ¹¹And Jonathan said to David, “Come, and let us go out into the field.” So both of them went out into the field. ¹²Then Jonathan said to David: “The Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel is witness! When I have sounded out my father sometime tomorrow, or the third day, and indeed there is good toward David, and I do not send to you and tell you, ¹³may the Lᴏʀᴅ do so and much more to Jonathan. But if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will report it to you and send you away, that you may go in safety. And the Lᴏʀᴅ be with you as He has been with my father. ¹⁴And you shall not only show me the kindness of the Lᴏʀᴅ while I still live, that I may not die; ¹⁵but you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever, no, not when the Lᴏʀᴅ has cut off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.” ¹⁶So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “Let the Lᴏʀᴅ require it at the hand of David’s enemies.” ¹⁷Now Jonathan again caused David to vow, because he loved him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul. ¹⁸Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon; and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. ¹⁹And when you have stayed three days, go down quickly and come to the place where you hid on the day of the deed; and remain by the stone Ezel. ²⁰Then I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a target; ²¹and there I will send a lad, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I expressly say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; get them and come’—then, as the Lᴏʀᴅ lives, there is safety for you and no harm. ²²But if I say thus to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you’—go your way, for the Lᴏʀᴅ has sent you away. ²³And as for the matter which you and I have spoken of, indeed the Lᴏʀᴅ be between you and me forever.” ²⁴Then David hid in the field. And when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat the feast. ²⁵Now the king sat on his seat, as at other times, on a seat by the wall. And Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty. ²⁶Nevertheless Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him; he is unclean, surely he is unclean.” ²⁷And it happened the next day, the second day of the month, that David’s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?” ²⁸So Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem. ²⁹And he said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.” ³⁰Then Saul’s anger was aroused 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? ³¹For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Now therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.” ³²And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be killed? What has he done?” ³³Then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him, by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to kill David. ³⁴So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David, because his father had treated him shamefully. ³⁵And so it was, in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad was with him. ³⁶Then he said to his lad, “Now run, find the arrows which I shoot.” As the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷When the lad had come to the place where the arrow was which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried out after the lad and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?” ³⁸And Jonathan cried out after the lad, “Make haste, hurry, do not delay!” So Jonathan’s lad gathered up the arrows and came back to his master. ³⁹But the lad did not know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew of the matter. ⁴⁰Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad, and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.” ⁴¹As soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another; and they wept together, but David more so. ⁴²Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the Lᴏʀᴅ, saying, ‘May the Lᴏʀᴅ be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants, forever.’ ” So he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.

¹And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. ²For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. ³I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. ⁴And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, ⁵that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. ⁶However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, ⁸which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” ¹⁰But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. ¹¹For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. ¹³These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. ¹⁴But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. ¹⁶For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

¹Remember, O Lᴏʀᴅ, what has come upon us; Look, and behold our reproach! ²Our inheritance has been turned over to aliens, And our houses to foreigners. ³We have become orphans and waifs, Our mothers are like widows. ⁴We pay for the water we drink, And our wood comes at a price. ⁵They pursue at our heels; We labor and have no rest. ⁶We have given our hand to the Egyptians And the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. ⁷Our fathers sinned and are no more, But we bear their iniquities. ⁸Servants rule over us; There is none to deliver us from their hand. ⁹We get our bread at the risk of our lives, Because of the sword in the wilderness. ¹⁰Our skin is hot as an oven, Because of the fever of famine. ¹¹They ravished the women in Zion, The maidens in the cities of Judah. ¹²Princes were hung up by their hands, And elders were not respected. ¹³Young men ground at the millstones; Boys staggered under loads of wood. ¹⁴The elders have ceased gathering at the gate, And the young men from their music. ¹⁵The joy of our heart has ceased; Our dance has turned into mourning. ¹⁶The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! ¹⁷Because of this our heart is faint; Because of these things our eyes grow dim; ¹⁸Because of Mount Zion which is desolate, With foxes walking about on it. ¹⁹You, O Lᴏʀᴅ, remain forever; Your throne from generation to generation. ²⁰Why do You forget us forever, And forsake us for so long a time? ²¹Turn us back to You, O Lᴏʀᴅ, and we will be restored; Renew our days as of old, ²²Unless You have utterly rejected us, And are very angry with us!

¹To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lᴏʀᴅ. An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. ²For he flatters himself in his own eyes, When he finds out his iniquity and when he hates. ³The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good. ⁴He devises wickedness on his bed; He sets himself in a way that is not good; He does not abhor evil. ⁵Your mercy, O Lᴏʀᴅ, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. ⁶Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O Lᴏʀᴅ, You preserve man and beast. ⁷How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. ⁸They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. ⁹For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light. ¹⁰Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You, And Your righteousness to the upright in heart. ¹¹Let not the foot of pride come against me, And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away. ¹²There the workers of iniquity have fallen; They have been cast down and are not able to rise.