1 Samuel 20:21

21 Then 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.

1 Samuel 20:21 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 20:21

And, behold, I will send a lad
That attended on him, and carried his bow and arrows, and fetched his arrows when he had shot them:

[saying], go, find out the arrows;
where they are fallen, and return them:

if I expressly say unto the lad, behold, the arrows [are] on this side
of thee, take them;
on one side of him, whether the one or the other, which he would bid him take up, and bring them to him:

then come thou;
David, out of the place where he hid himself:

for [there is] peace to thee, and no hurt, [as] the Lord liveth;
he might appear, and not be afraid of being seen by any, since by this sign he might be assured that Saul was well affected to him, and would show him favour, and do him no injury; and that he might promise himself prosperity and safety, and be assured of it for the present.

1 Samuel 20:21 In-Context

19 When 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 I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as if I were aiming at a target.

21 Then 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 But 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 And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”