1 Samuel 20:1

1 David now fled from Naioth in Ramah and found Jonathan. “What have I done?” he exclaimed. “What is my crime? How have I offended your father that he is so determined to kill me?”

1 Samuel 20:1 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 20:1

And David fled from Naioth in Ramah
While Saul was prophesying, or lay in a trance there:

and came;
to Gibeah, where Saul dwelt, and had his palace, and kept his court:

and said before Jonathan;
whom he found there, and for whose sake he thither fled to have his advice, and to use his interest with his father, and be his friend at court:

what have I done? what [is] mine iniquity? and what [is] my sin before
thy father, that he seeketh my life?
surely, as if he should say, I must have been guilty of some very great crime, and yet I am not sensible of it; canst thou tell me what it is that has so provoked thy father, that nothing will satisfy him but the taking away of my life, which he seeks to do?

1 Samuel 20:1 In-Context

1 David now fled from Naioth in Ramah and found Jonathan. “What have I done?” he exclaimed. “What is my crime? How have I offended your father that he is so determined to kill me?”

2 “That’s not true!” Jonathan protested. “You’re not going to die. He always tells me everything he’s going to do, even the little things. I know my father wouldn’t hide something like this from me. It just isn’t so!”

3 Then David took an oath before Jonathan and said, “Your father knows perfectly well about our friendship, so he has said to himself, ‘I won’t tell Jonathan—why should I hurt him?’ But I swear to you that I am only a step away from death! I swear it by the LORD and by your own soul!”

4 “Tell me what I can do to help you,” Jonathan exclaimed.

5 David replied, “Tomorrow we celebrate the new moon festival. I’ve always eaten with the king on this occasion, but tomorrow I’ll hide in the field and stay there until the evening of the third day.