1 Samuel 20:24-34

24So David hid in the field, and when the New Moon had come, the king sat down to eat. 25He sat in his usual place by the wall, opposite Jonathan and beside Abner,1 but David’s place was empty. 26Saul said nothing that day because he thought, “Something has happened to David to make him ceremonially unclean—surely he is unclean.”

27But on the day after the New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasn’t the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?”

28Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem, 29saying, ‘Please let me go, because our clan is holding a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has told me to be there. So now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”

30Then Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse and rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of the mother who bore you? 31For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingdom shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!”

32“Why must he be put to death?” Jonathan replied. “What has he done?”

33Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to kill him. So Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David. 34Jonathan got up from the table in fierce anger and did not eat any food that second day of the month, for he was grieved by his father’s shameful treatment of David.