¹ Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.

² Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her.

³ His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady.

⁴ Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, "Get me this young lady as a wife."

⁵ Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah, his daughter; and his sons were with his livestock in the field. Jacob held his peace until they came.

⁶ Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to talk with him.

⁷ The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; a which thing ought not to be done.

⁸ Hamor talked with them, saying, "The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.

⁹ Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.

¹⁰ You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it."

¹¹ Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you will tell me I will give.

¹² Ask me a great amount for a dowry, and I will give whatever you ask of me, but give me the young lady as a wife."

¹³ The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,

¹⁴ and said to them, "We can't do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us.

¹⁵ Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised;

¹⁶ then will we give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.

¹⁷ But if you will not listen to us, to be circumcised, then we will take our sister, and we will be gone."

¹⁸ Their words pleased Hamor and Shechem, Hamor's son.

¹⁹ The young man didn't wait to do this thing, because he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he was honored above all the house of his father.

²⁰ Hamor and Shechem, his son, came to the gate of their city, and talked with the men of their city, saying,

²¹ "These men are peaceful with us. Therefore let them live in the land and trade in it. For behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.

²² Only on this condition will the men consent to us to live with us, to become one people, if every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised.

²³ Won't their livestock and their possessions and all their animals be ours? Only let us give our consent to them, and they will dwell with us."

²⁴ All who went out of the gate of his city listened to Hamor, and to Shechem his son; and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city.

²⁵ It happened on the third day, when they were sore, that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males.

²⁶ They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went away.

²⁷ Jacob's sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.

²⁸ They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, that which was in the city, that which was in the field,

²⁹ and all their wealth. They took captive all their little ones and their wives, and took as plunder everything that was in the house.

³⁰ Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house."

³¹ They said, "Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?"

¹ David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, "What have I done? What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?"

² He said to him, "Far from it; you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so."

³ David swore moreover, and said, "Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, 'Don't let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved:' but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death."

⁴ Then Jonathan said to David, "Whatever your soul desires, I will even do it for you."

⁵ David said to Jonathan, "Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to dine with the king; but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening.

⁶ If your father miss me at all, then say, 'David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city; for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family.'

⁷ If he says, 'It is well;' your servant shall have peace: but if he be angry, then know that evil is determined by him.

⁸ Therefore deal kindly with your servant; for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you: but if there be in me iniquity, kill me yourself; for why should you bring me to your father?"

⁹ Jonathan said, "Far be it from you; for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come on you, then wouldn't I tell you that?"

¹⁰ Then David said to Jonathan, "Who shall tell me if perchance your father answers you roughly?"

¹¹ Jonathan said to David, "Come, and let us go out into the field." They both went out into the field.

¹² Jonathan said to David, "Yahweh, the God of Israel, [be witness]: when I have sounded my father about this time tomorrow, [or] the third day, behold, if there be good toward David, shall I not then send to you, and disclose it to you?

¹³ Yahweh do so to Jonathan, and more also, should it please my father to do you evil, if I don't disclose it to you, and send you away, that you may go in peace: and Yahweh be with you, as he has been with my father.

¹⁴ You shall not only while yet I live show me the loving kindness of Yahweh, that I not die;

¹⁵ but also you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever; no, not when Yahweh has cut off the enemies of David everyone from the surface of the earth."

¹⁶ So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, "Yahweh will require it at the hand of David's enemies."

¹⁷ Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had to him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

¹⁸ Then Jonathan said to him, "Tomorrow is the new moon: and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty.

¹⁹ When you have stayed three days, you shall go down quickly, and come to the place where you did hide yourself when the business was in hand, and shall remain by the stone Ezel.

²⁰ I will shoot three arrows on its side, as though I shot at a mark.

²¹ Behold, I will send the boy, saying, 'Go, find the arrows!' If I tell the boy, 'Behold, the arrows are on this side of you. Take them;' then come; for there is peace to you and no hurt, as Yahweh lives.

²² But if I say this to the boy, 'Behold, the arrows are beyond you;' then go your way; for Yahweh has sent you away.

²³ Concerning the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, Yahweh is between you and me forever."

²⁴ So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat him down to eat food.

²⁵ The king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul's side: but David's place was empty.

²⁶ Nevertheless Saul didn't say anything that day: for he thought, "Something has happened to him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean."

²⁷ It happened on the next day after the new moon, the second day, that David's place was empty. Saul said to Jonathan his son, "Why doesn't the son of Jesse come to eat, neither yesterday, nor today?"

²⁸ Jonathan answered Saul, "David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem.

²⁹ He said, 'Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city. My brother has commanded me to be there. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go away and see my brothers.' Therefore he has not come to the king's table."

³⁰ Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, "You son of a perverse rebellious woman, don't I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother's nakedness?

³¹ For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Therefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die!"

³² Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, "Why should he be put to death? What has he done?"

³³ Saul cast his spear at him to strike him. By this Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death.

³⁴ So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month; for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.

³⁵ It happened in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy with him.

³⁶ He said to his boy, "Run, find now the arrows which I shoot." As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

³⁷ When the boy was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the boy, and said, "Isn't the arrow beyond you?"

³⁸ Jonathan cried after the boy, "Go fast! Hurry! Don't delay!" Jonathan's boy gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.

³⁹ But the boy didn't know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter.

⁴⁰ Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy, and said to him, "Go, carry them to the city."

⁴¹ As soon as the boy was gone, David arose out of [a place] toward the South, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. They kissed one another, and wept one with another, and David wept the most.

⁴² Jonathan said to David, "Go in peace, because we have both sworn in the name of Yahweh, saying, 'Yahweh shall be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever.'" He arose and departed; and Jonathan went into the city.