Then David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my guilt and what is my sin before your father that he is trying to kill me? And he said to him, "Far from it! You will not die! Look, my father does not do anything large or small unless he reveals it to me. Why should my father hide this thing or anything from me?" Then David took an oath again and said, "Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he thought, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he worry.’ But as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, surely there is merely a step between me and death!" Then Jonathan said to David, "Whatever you wish, I will do for you." David said to Jonathan, "Look, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should certainly sit with the king to eat. You must send me away so that I can hide myself in the field until the third evening. If your father misses me at all, then you must say, ‘David earnestly asked from me to run to Bethlehem his city, for the yearly sacrifice is there for all the clan.’ If he says ‘Good,’ it will mean peace for your servant; but if he is very angry, know that he has decided to do me harm. So you must show loyal love to your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you. But if there is guilt in me, then kill me yourself! But why should you bring me to your father?" Then Jonathan said, "Far be it from you! For if I know for certain that my father decided evil should come upon you, would I not have told it to you?" Then David said to Jonathan, "Who will tell me if what your father answers you is harsh?" And Jonathan said to David, "Come, let us go out to the field." So the two of them went out to the field.

Then Jonathan said to David, "Yahweh the God of Israel is my witness that I will question my father by this time the day after tomorrow. And look, if he is well disposed toward you, will I not send word to you and disclose it to you? So may Yahweh punish Jonathan and more if my father decides to do you harm and if I fail to disclose it to you and send word to you that you can go safely. And may Yahweh be with you, as he has been with my father. And not while I am still alive, will you not show the loyal love of Yahweh with me, that I may not die? And do not cut off your loyal love from my family forever, not even when Yahweh exterminates each of the enemies of David from the face of the earth." So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "May Yahweh call the enemies of David to account." And Jonathan again made David swear an oath, because he loved him; for with the love of his soul he loved him.

Then Jonathan said to him, "Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your seat will stay empty. On the third day you must go down quickly and go to the place where you hid yourself on the day all this started and remain beside the stone Ezel. I will shoot three arrows to the side as if I were shooting at a target. Then I will send word to my servant, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ If I clearly say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring it,’ then come, for it means peace for you. And there is no problem, as Yahweh lives. But if I say this to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ go, for Yahweh has sent you away. And as for the matter about which you and I spoke, look, Yahweh is between you and me forever."

So David hid himself in the field. When the new moon came, the king was seated at the feast. The king sat at his seat as before, the seat by the wall, and Jonathan got up, and Abner sat beside Saul, but David’s place was empty. But Saul said nothing on that day, for he thought, "Something happened to him. He is not ceremonially clean; surely he is not clean." And then on the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David’s place was empty. So Saul asked Jonathan his son, "Why did the son of Jesse not come either yesterday or today to the feast?" Jonathan answered Saul, "David earnestly asked permission from me to go up to Bethlehem. He said, ‘Send me away, please, for our clan sacrifice is in the city, and my brother commanded me to be present. So then, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me slip away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the table of the king." Then Saul became angry at Jonathan and said to him, "You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your 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! So then, send and bring him to me, for he will surely die!" But Jonathan answered his father Saul and said to him, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?" Then Saul hurled his spear at him to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father had decided to kill David.

Jonathan got up from the table enraged, and did not eat on the second day of the new moon because he was upset about David, because his father had disgraced him. And then in the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a young boy was with him. He said to his servant, "Run, please find the arrows that I am shooting!" The boy ran, and he shot the arrow to pass over him. When the boy came up to the place of the arrow that Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called out after the boy and said, "Is not the arrow beyond you?" Then Jonathan called out after the boy, "Quick, hurry, do not linger!" And Jonathan’s servant collected the arrows and came to his master. But the boy did not know anything about this; only Jonathan and David knew the matter. Jonathan gave his weapons to his servant and said to him, "Go, bring them to the city." The boy left, and then David got up from the south side, and he fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed each other and wept together, but David wept the most. Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, because we have sworn, the two of us, an oath in the name of Yahweh, saying, "Yahweh will be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring forever." Then he got up and left, and Jonathan went into the city.

The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal. And Reaiah the son of Shobal fathered Jahath, and Jahath fathered Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the Zorathites. And these were the sons of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash. And the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi, and Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer was the father of Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, the father of Bethlehem. And Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives: Helah and Naarah. And Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah. The sons of Helah: Zereth, Izhar, and Ethnan. And Koz fathered Anub, Zobebah, and the clans of Aharhel, the son of Harum. And Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. And his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain." And Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that you would surely bless me and enlarge my border. And may your hand be with me, that you would keep me from evil so that it might not harm me!" And God granted what he asked. Chelub, the brother of Shuhah, fathered Mehir. He was the father of Eshton. And Eshton fathered Beth-Rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah, the father of the city of Nahash. These are the men of Recah. The sons of Kenaz: Othniel and Seraiah. And the sons of Othniel: Hathath. And Meonothai fathered Ophrah; and Seraiah fathered Joab, the father of Ge-Harashim, because they were craftsmen. The sons of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam. And the sons of Elah: Kenaz. The sons of Jehallelel: Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel. The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. And she became pregnant with Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa. And his Judahite wife bore Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah. And these were the sons of Bithiah daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered married. The sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham, were the fathers of Keilah the Garmite and Eshtemoa the Maacathite. The sons of Shimon: Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-Hanan, and Tolon. The sons of Ishi: Zoheth and Ben-Zoheth. The sons of Shelah, the son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of linen workers at Beth Ashbea; and Jokim, and the men of Cozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who ruled in Moab and returned to Lehem. (Now the records are ancient). These were the potters and inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah. They lived there with the king in his service.

The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Shaul. Shallum his son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son. The sons of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his son. Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children. But all their families did not multiply like the men of Judah. And they lived in Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar Shual, Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad, Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag, Beth-Marcaboth, Hazar-Susim, Beth-Biri, and Shaaraim. These were their cities until David reigned. And their villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Token, and Ashan, five cities and all their villages that surrounding these cities as far as Baal. These were their settlements, and they kept a genealogical record for them.

Meshobab, Jamlech, and Joshah the son of Amaziah, Joel, and Jehu the son of Joshibiah, son of Seraiah, son of Asiel. And Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah, and Ziza the son of Shiphi, son of Allon, son of Jedaiah, son of Shimri, son of Shemaiah. These mentioned by name were leaders in their families, and their fathers’ households increased greatly. And they went to the entrance of Gedor, up to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks. And they found fertile and good pasture, and the land was very broad, quiet, and at ease, for the former inhabitants there were from Ham. These, mentioned by name, came in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and attacked their tents and the Meunites who were found there. And they devoted them to destruction to this day, and they settled among them because there was pasture there for their flocks. And some of them from the Simeonites went to Mount Seir, five hundred men. And Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi, were under their leadership. And they destroyed the remainder of the Amalekites who had escaped, and they have lived there to this day.

For the music director, according to The Silent Dove of Distant Lands.

Of David. A miktam.

When the Philistines seized him in Gath.

For the music director, according to Do Not Destroy.

Of David. A miktam.

When he fled from Saul into the cave.

A maskil of David.

When he was in the cave. A prayer.

Now it happened that in Iconium they entered together into the synagogue of the Jews and spoke in such a way that a large number of both Jews and Greeks believed. But the Jews who were disobedient stirred up and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against the brothers. So they stayed there for a considerable time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who testified to the message of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be performed through their hands. But the population of the city was divided, and some were with the Jews and some with the apostles. So when an inclination took place on the part of both the Gentiles and the Jews, together with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, they became aware of it and fled to the Lycaonian cities—Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding region. And there they were continuing to proclaim the good news.

And in Lystra a certain man was sitting powerless in his feet, lame from birth, who had never walked. This man listened while Paul was speaking. Paul, looking intently at him and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, "Stand upright on your feet!" And he leaped up and began walking. And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices in the Lycaonian language, saying, "The gods have become like men and have come down to us!" And they began calling Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, because he was the principal speaker. And the priest of the temple of Zeus that was just outside the city brought bulls and garlands to the gates and was wanting to offer sacrifice, along with the crowds. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard about it, they tore their clothing and rushed out into the crowd, shouting and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, proclaiming the good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things that are in them— who in generations that are past permitted all the nations to go their own ways. And yet he did not leave himself without witness by doing good, giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying you with food and your hearts with gladness." And although they said these things, only with difficulty did they dissuade the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.

But Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium, and when they had won over the crowds and stoned Paul, they dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the city. And on the next day he departed with Barnabas for Derbe.

And after they had proclaimed the good news in that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying, "Through many persecutions it is necessary for us to enter into the kingdom of God." And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, after praying with fasting, they entrusted them to the Lord, in whom they had believed. And they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And after they proclaimed the message in Perga, they went down to Attalia, and from there they sailed away to Antioch where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had completed. And when they arrived and called the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles. And they stayed no little time with the disciples.