May 21st

And he said to him, “Far from it, you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without revealing it in my ear. So why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!”

Yet David swore again, saying, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your sight, and he has said, ‘Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.’ But truly as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, there is hardly a step between me and death.”

Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever your soul says, I will do for you.”

So David said to Jonathan, “Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I ought to sit down to eat with the king. But let me go, that I may hide myself in the field until the third evening.

If your father misses me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem his city because it is the yearly sacrifice there for the whole family.’

If he says, ‘It is good,’ your servant will have peace; but if he is very angry, know that he has decided on evil.

Therefore show lovingkindness to your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you. But if there is iniquity in me, put me to death yourself; for why then should you bring me to your father?”

And Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! For if I should indeed come to know that evil has been decided by my father to come upon you, then would I not tell you about it?”

Then David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”

And Jonathan said to David, “Come, and let us go out into the field.” So both of them went out to the field.

Then Jonathan said to David, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, be witness! When I have examined my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if there is good feeling toward David, shall I not then send to you and reveal it in your ear?

If it please my father to do you harm, may Yahweh do so to Jonathan and more also, if I do not reveal it in your ear and send you away, that you may go in peace. And may Yahweh be with you as He has been with my father.

And if I am still alive, will you not show me the lovingkindness of Yahweh, that I may not die?

You shall not cut off your lovingkindness from my house forever, not even when Yahweh cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth.”

So Jonathan cut a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May Yahweh require it at the hands of David’s enemies.”

And Jonathan made David swear again because of his love for him, because he loved him as he loved his own soul.

Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed because your seat will be missing.

When you have stayed for three days, you shall go down quickly and come to the place where you hid yourself on that eventful day, and you shall remain by the stone Ezel.

And I will shoot three arrows to the side, as though I sent them towards a target.

And behold, I will send the young man, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I specifically say to the young man, ‘Behold, the arrows are on this side of you, get them,’ then come, for there is peace for you and no harm, as Yahweh lives.

But if I say to the youth, ‘Behold, the arrows are beyond you,’ go, for Yahweh has sent you away.

As for the agreement of which you and I have spoken, behold, Yahweh is between you and me forever.”

So David hid in the field; and when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food.

And the king sat on his seat as usual, the seat by the wall; then Jonathan rose up, and Abner sat down by Saul’s side, but David’s place was missing.

Nevertheless Saul did not speak anything that day, for he said, “It is an accident; he is not clean; surely he is not clean.”

Now it happened the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David’s place was missing; so Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to the meal, either yesterday or today?”

Jonathan then answered Saul, “David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem,

and he said, ‘Please send me on my way, since our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to attend. So now, if I have found favor in your sight, please let me get away that I may see my brothers.’ For this reason he has not come to the king’s table.”

Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you are choosing the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?

For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. So now, send and bring him to me, for he must surely die.”

But Jonathan answered Saul his father and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”

Then Saul hurled his spear at him to strike him down; so Jonathan knew that his father had decided to put David to death.

Then Jonathan arose from the table in burning anger and did not eat food on the second day of the new moon, for he was grieved over David because his father had dishonored him.

Now it happened in the morning that Jonathan went out into the field for the appointment with David, and a very young man was with him.

And he said to his young man, “Run, find now the arrows which I am about to shoot.” As the young man was running, he shot an arrow past him.

When the young man reached the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the lad and said, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”

And Jonathan called after the young man, “Hurry, be quick, do not stay!” And Jonathan’s young man gathered up the arrow and came to his master.

But the young man did not know of anything; only Jonathan and David knew about the matter.

Then Jonathan gave his weapons to his young man and said to him, “Go, bring them to the city.”

When the young man was gone, David rose from the south side and fell on his face to the ground and bowed three times. And they kissed each other and wept together, but David wept more.

And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, inasmuch as we have sworn to each other in the name of Yahweh, saying, ‘Yahweh will be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed forever.’ ” Then he rose and departed, while Jonathan went into the city.

Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”

And David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commanded me with a matter and has said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commanded you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place.’

So now, what do you have on hand? Give five loaves of bread into my hand, or whatever can be found.”

And the priest answered David and said, “There is no ordinary bread on hand, but there is consecrated bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.”

And David answered the priest and said to him, “Surely women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then today will their vessels be holy?”

So the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence which was removed from before Yahweh, in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away.

Now one of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.

And David said to Ahimelech, “Now is there not a spear or a sword on hand? For I brought neither my sword nor my weapons in my hand because the king’s matter was urgent.”

Then the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the valley of Elah, behold, it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you would take it for yourself, take it. For there is no other except it here.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”

Then David arose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.

But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing of this one as they danced, saying,

And David took these words to heart and greatly feared Achish king of Gath.

So he disguised his sanity in their sight and acted insanely in their hands and scribbled on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down into his beard.

Then Achish said to his servants, “Behold, you see the man behaving as a madman. Why do you bring him to me?

Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this one to act the madman before me? Shall this one come into my house?”

After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias).

Now a large crowd was following Him, because they were seeing the signs which He was doing on those who were sick.

Then Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He was sitting down with His disciples.

Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.

Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, *said to Philip, “Where should we buy bread, so that these people may eat?”

And this He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was going to do.

Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.”

One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, *said to Him,

“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these for so many people?”

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish, as much as they wanted.

And when they were filled, He *said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing will be lost.”

So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had done, they were saying, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

So Jesus, knowing that they were going to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.

Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea,

and after getting into a boat, they began to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.

And the sea *was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.

Then, when they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they *saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened.

But He *said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

On the next day, the crowd which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus had not entered with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone.

Other small boats came from Tiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?”

Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, set His seal.”

Therefore they said to Him, “What should we do, so that we may work the works of God?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform?

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ”

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses has not given you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”