Therefore you shall deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. Nevertheless, if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself, for why should you bring me to your father?”
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore deal kindly with your servant; for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you; but if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself; for why should you bring me to your father?”
- KJV Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the LORD with thee: notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father?
- BSB Therefore deal faithfully with your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the LORD. If there is iniquity in me, then kill me yourself; why should you bring me to your father?”
- NASB So deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the Lord with you. But if I am guilty of wrongdoing, kill me yourself; for why then should you bring me to your father?”
- NLT Show me this loyalty as my sworn friend—for we made a solemn pact before the Lord—or kill me yourself if I have sinned against your father. But please don’t betray me to him!”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
David appeals to his covenant with Jonathan, asking him to deal kindly and even to kill him himself if he is guilty.
Overview
David grounds his request in the covenant they made before the Lord, asking for loyal love. He submits to death at Jonathan's hand if any real guilt is found in him, protesting his innocence. The covenant bond, sworn in Yahweh's name, becomes the basis of his trust and a picture of faithful, sworn commitment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 2 Sam 14:32Absalom answered Joab, “Behold, I sent to you, saying, ‘Come here, that I may send you to the king, to say, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me to be there still. Now therefore let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”’”
- 1 Sam 18:3Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
- 1 Sam 23:18They both made a covenant before Yahweh. Then David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his house.
- 1 Sam 20:16So Jonathan made a covenant with David’s house, saying, “Yahweh will require it at the hand of David’s enemies.”
- 1 Chr 12:17David went out to meet them, and answered them, “If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if you have come to betray me to my adversaries, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers see this and rebuke it.”
- Ruth 1:8Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go, return each of you to her mother’s house. May Yahweh deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead, and with me.
- Ps 7:4–5if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me (yes, if I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary),
- Josh 22:22“The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, the Mighty One, God, Yahweh, he knows; and Israel shall know: if it was in rebellion, or if in trespass against Yahweh (don’t save us today),
- Josh 2:14The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when Yahweh gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you.”
- Acts 25:11For if I have done wrong, and have committed anything worthy of death, I don’t refuse to die; but if none of those things is true that they accuse me of, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!”
- Gen 47:29The time came near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please don’t bury me in Egypt,
- Prov 3:3Don’t let kindness and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart.
- Ps 116:11I said in my haste, “All men are liars.”
- Gen 24:49Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. If not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.”
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 20:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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