---
title: "1 Samuel 20 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/1-samuel/20/
description: "Saul being obstinately bent upon killing David, he is sent away by Jonathan. 1 Samuel 20 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# 1 Samuel 20

1 Samuel 20 is chapter 20 of 31 in the First Book of Samuel. Here are all 43 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> Saul being obstinately bent upon killing David, he is sent away by Jonathan.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## 1 Samuel 20 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. Then David fled from Naioth, which is in Ramah, and he went and said before Jonathan: “What have I done? What is my iniquity, or what is my sin, against your father, so that he would seek my life?”
2. And he said to him: “May this not be! You shall not die. For my father will not do anything, great or small, without first revealing it to me. Therefore, has my father concealed this word solely from me? By no means shall this be!”
3. And he swore again to David. And David said: “Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your sight, and so he will say, ‘Let Jonathan not know this, lest he be saddened.’ So truly, as the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, there is only one step (if I may say it) separating me from death.”
4. And Jonathan said to David, “Whatever your soul will tell me, I will do for you.”
5. Then David said to Jonathan: “Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I am accustomed to sit in a seat beside the king to eat. Therefore, permit me that I may be hidden in the field, until the evening of the third day.
6. If your father, looking around, will seek me, you shall respond to him: ‘David asked me if he may hurry to Bethlehem, his own city. For there are solemn sacrifices in that place for all of his tribe together.’
7. If he will say, ‘It is well,’ then your servant will have peace. But if he will be angry, know that his malice has reached its height.
8. Therefore, show mercy to your servant. For you have brought me, your servant, into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if there is any iniquity in me, you may kill me, and you shall not lead me in to your father.”
9. And Jonathan said: “May this be far from you. For certainly, if I ever realized that any wickedness was determined by my father against you, I would not be able to do anything other than report it to you.”
10. And David responded to Jonathan, “Who will repeat it to me, if your father may perhaps answer you harshly about me?”
11. And Jonathan said to David, “Come, and let us go out into the field.” And when they both had gone out into the field,
12. Jonathan said before David: “O Lord, God of Israel, if I will discover a decision by my father, tomorrow, or the day after, and if there will be anything good concerning David, and yet I do not immediately send to you and make it known to you,
13. may the Lord do these things to Jonathan, and may he add these other things. But if my father will have persevered in malice against you, I will reveal it to your ear, and I will send you away, so that you may go in peace, and so that the Lord may be with you, just as he was with my father.
14. And if I live, you shall show the mercy of the Lord to me. Yet truly, if I die,
15. you shall not take away your mercy from my house, even forever, when the Lord will have rooted out the enemies of David, each and every one of them, from the earth. May he take Jonathan from his house, and may the Lord require it from the hands of the enemies of David.”
16. Therefore, Jonathan formed a covenant with the house of David. And the Lord required it from the hands of the enemies of David.
17. And Jonathan continued to swear to David, because he loved him. For he loved him like his own soul.
18. And Jonathan said to him: “Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be sought.
19. For your seat will be empty until the day after tomorrow. Therefore, you shall descend quickly, and you shall go to the place where you are to be hidden, on a day when it is lawful to work, and you shall remain beside the stone that is called Ezel.
20. And I will shoot three arrows near it, and I will cast them as if I were practicing for myself toward a mark.
21. Also, I will send a boy, saying to him, ‘Go and bring the arrows to me.’
22. If I will say to the boy, ‘Behold, the arrows are before you, take them up,’ you shall approach before me, because there is peace for you, and there is nothing evil, as the Lord lives. But if I will have spoken to the boy in this way, ‘Behold, the arrows are away from you,’ then you shall go away in peace, for the Lord has released you.
23. Now about the word that you and I have spoken, may the Lord be between you and me, even forever.”
24. Therefore, David was hidden in the field. And the new moon came, and the king sat down to eat bread.
25. And when the king had sat down on his chair, (according to custom) which was beside the wall, Jonathan rose up, and Abner sat beside Saul, and David’s place appeared empty.
26. And Saul did not say anything on that day. For he was thinking that perhaps something happened to him, so that he was not clean, or not purified.
27. And when the second day after the new moon had begun to dawn, David’s place again appeared empty. And Saul said to Jonathan, his son, “Why has the son of Jesse not arrived to eat, neither yesterday, nor today?”
28. And Jonathan responded to Saul, “He petitioned me earnestly that he might go to Bethlehem,
29. and he said: ‘Permit me. For there is a solemn sacrifice in the city. One of my brothers has summoned me. Now therefore, if I have found favor in your eyes, I will go quickly, and I will see my brothers.’ For this reason, he has not come to the table of the king.”
30. Then Saul, becoming angry against Jonathan, said to him: “You son of a woman wantonly seizing a man! Could I be ignorant that you love the son of Jesse, to your own shame, and to the shame of your disgraceful mother?
31. For all the days that the son of Jesse moves upon earth, neither you, nor your kingdom, will be secure. And so, send and bring him to me, here and now. For he is a son of death.”
32. Then Jonathan, answering his father Saul, said: “Why should he die? What has he done?”
33. And Saul picked up a lance, so that he might strike him. And Jonathan understood that it had been decided by his father that David be put to death.
34. Therefore, Jonathan rose up from the table in a rage of anger. And he did not eat bread on the second day after the new moon. For he was saddened over David, because his father had confounded him.
35. And when the morning had begun to dawn, Jonathan went into the field according to the agreement with David, and a young boy was with him.
36. And he said to his boy, “Go, and bring to me the arrows that I shoot.” And when the boy had run, he shot another arrow away from the boy.
37. And so, the boy went to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot. And Jonathan cried out, from behind the back of boy, and said: “Behold, the arrow is there, farther away from you.”
38. And Jonathan cried out again, from behind the back of the boy, saying, “Go quickly! Do not stand still!” Then Jonathan’s boy collected the arrows, and he brought them to his lord.
39. And he did not understand at all what was happening. For only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
40. Then Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy, and he said to him, “Go, and carry them into the city.”
41. And when the boy had gone away, David rose up from his place, which turned toward the south, and falling prone on the ground, he reverenced three times. And kissing one another, they wept together, but David more so.
42. Then Jonathan said to David: “Go in peace. And let us both keep all that we have ever sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘May the Lord be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, even forever.’”
43. And David rose up and went away. But Jonathan entered into the city.

## 1 Samuel 20 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. Fugit autem David de Najoth, quæ est in Ramatha, veniensque locutus est coram Jonatha: Quid feci? quæ est iniquitas mea, et quod peccatum meum in patrem tuum, quia quærit animam meam?
2. Qui dixit ei: Absit, non morieris: neque enim faciet pater meus quidquam grande vel parvum, nisi prius indicaverit mihi: hunc ergo celavit me pater meus sermonem tantummodo? nequaquam erit istud.
3. Et juravit rursum Davidi. Et ille ait: Scit profecto pater tuus quia inveni gratiam in oculis tuis, et dicet: Nesciat hoc Jonathas, ne forte tristetur. Quinimmo vivit Dominus, et vivit anima tua, quia uno tantum (ut ita dicam) gradu ego morsque dividimur.
4. Et ait Jonathas ad David: Quodcumque dixerit mihi anima tua, faciam tibi.
5. Dixit autem David ad Jonathan: Ecce calendæ sunt crastino, et ego ex more sedere soleo juxta regem ad vescendum: dimitte ergo me ut abscondar in agro usque ad vesperam diei tertiæ.
6. Si respiciens requisierit me pater tuus, respondebis ei: Rogavit me David ut iret celeriter in Bethlehem civitatem suam, quia victimæ solemnes ibi sunt universis contribulibus suis.
7. Si dixerit: Bene: pax erit servo tuo. Si autem fuerit iratus, scito quia completa est malitia ejus.
8. Fac ergo misericordiam in servum tuum, quia fœdus Domini me famulum tuum tecum inire fecisti: si autem est iniquitas aliqua in me, tu me interfice, et ad patrem tuum ne introducas me.
9. Et ait Jonathas: Absit hoc a te: neque enim fieri potest, ut si certe cognovero completam esse patris mei malitiam contra te, non annuntiem tibi.
10. Responditque David ad Jonathan: Quis renuntiabit mihi, si quid forte responderit tibi pater tuus dure de me?
11. Et ait Jonathas ad David: Veni, et egrediamur foras in agrum. Cumque exissent ambo in agrum,
12. ait Jonathas ad David: Domine Deus Israël, si investigavero sententiam patris mei crastino vel perendie, et aliquid boni fuerit super David, et non statim misero ad te, et notum tibi fecero,
13. hæc faciat Dominus Jonathæ, et hæc addat. Si autem perseveraverit patris mei malitia adversum te, revelabo aurem tuam, et dimittam te, ut vadas in pace, et sit Dominus tecum, sicut fuit cum patre meo.
14. Et si vixero, facies mihi misericordiam Domini: si vero mortuus fuero,
15. non auferes misericordiam tuam a domo mea usque in sempiternum, quando eradicaverit Dominus inimicos David, unumquemque de terra: auferat Jonathan de domo sua, et requirat Dominus de manu inimicorum David.
16. Pepigit ergo Jonathas fœdus cum domo David: et requisivit Dominus de manu inimicorum David.
17. Et addidit Jonathas dejerare David, eo quod diligeret illum: sicut enim animam suam, ita diligebat eum.
18. Dixitque ad eum Jonathas: Cras calendæ sunt, et requireris:
19. requiretur enim sessio tua usque perendie. Descendes ergo festinus, et venies in locum ubi celandus es in die qua operari licet, et sedebis juxta lapidem cui nomen est Ezel.
20. Et ego tres sagittas mittam juxta eum, et jaciam quasi exercens me ad signum.
21. Mittam quoque et puerum, dicens ei: Vade, et affer mihi sagittas.
22. Si dixero puero: Ecce sagittæ intra te sunt, tolle eas: tu veni ad me, quia pax tibi est, et nihil est mali, vivit Dominus. Si autem sic locutus fuero puero: Ecce sagittæ ultra te sunt: vade in pace, quia dimisit te Dominus.
23. De verbo autem quod locuti sumus ego et tu, sit Dominus inter me et te usque in sempiternum.
24. Absconditus est ergo David in agro, et venerunt calendæ, et sedit rex ad comedendum panem.
25. Cumque sedisset rex super cathedram suam (secundum consuetudinem) quæ erat juxta parietem, surrexit Jonathas, et sedit Abner ex latere Saul: vacuusque apparuit locus David.
26. Et non est locutus Saul quidquam in die illa: cogitabat enim quod forte evenisset ei, ut non esset mundus, nec purificatus.
27. Cumque illuxisset dies secunda post calendas, rursus apparuit vacuus locus David. Dixitque Saul ad Jonathan filium suum: Cur non venit filius Isai nec heri nec hodie ad vescendum?
28. Responditque Jonathas Sauli: Rogavit me obnixe ut iret in Bethlehem,
29. et ait: Dimitte me, quoniam sacrificium solemne est in civitate, unus de fratribus meis accersivit me: nunc ergo si inveni gratiam in oculis tuis, vadam cito, et videbo fratres meos. Ob hanc causam non venit ad mensam regis.
30. Iratus autem Saul adversum Jonathan, dixit ei: Fili mulieris virum ultro rapientis, numquid ignoro quia diligis filium Isai in confusionem tuam, et in confusionem ignominiosæ matris tuæ?
31. Omnibus enim diebus quibus filius Isai vixerit super terram, non stabilieris tu, neque regnum tuum. Itaque jam nunc mitte, et adduc eum ad me: quia filius mortis est.
32. Respondens autem Jonathas Sauli patri suo, ait: Quare morietur? quid fecit?
33. Et arripuit Saul lanceam ut percuteret eum. Et intellexit Jonathas quod definitum esset a patre suo, ut interficeret David.
34. Surrexit ergo Jonathas a mensa in ira furoris, et non comedit in die calendarum secunda panem. Contristatus est enim super David, eo quod confudisset eum pater suus.
35. Cumque illuxisset mane, venit Jonathas in agrum juxta placitum David, et puer parvulus cum eo.
36. Et ait ad puerum suum: Vade, et affer mihi sagittas quas ego jacio. Cumque puer cucurrisset, jecit aliam sagittam trans puerum.
37. Venit itaque puer ad locum jaculi quod miserat Jonathas: et clamavit Jonathas post tergum pueri, et ait: Ecce ibi est sagitta porro ultra te.
38. Clamavitque iterum Jonathas post tergum pueri, dicens: Festina velociter, ne steteris. Collegit autem puer Jonathæ sagittas, et attulit ad dominum suum:
39. et quid ageretur, penitus ignorabat, tantummodo enim Jonathas et David rem noverant.
40. Dedit ergo Jonathas arma sua puero, et dixit ei: Vade, et defer in civitatem.
41. Cumque abiisset puer, surrexit David de loco qui vergebat ad austrum, et cadens pronus in terram, adoravit tertio: et osculantes se alterutrum, fleverunt pariter, David autem amplius.
42. Dixit ergo Jonathas ad David: Vade in pace: quæcumque juravimus ambo in nomine Domini, dicentes: Dominus sit inter me et te, et inter semen meum et semen tuum usque in sempiternum.
43. Et surrexit David, et abiit: sed et Jonathas ingressus est civitatem.

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 5: “Tomorrow is the new moon” … The neomenia, or first day of the moon, kept according to the law, as a festival; and therefore Saul feasted on that day: and expected the attendance of his family.
- Verse 15: It is a curse upon himself, if he should not be faithful to his promise.-- Ibid.
- Verse 15: “Require it” … That is, revenge it upon David's enemies, and upon me, if I should fail of my word given to him.
- Verse 31: That is, one that deserveth death, and shall surely be put to death.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).