Quotes About Loyalty

“Never!” Jonathan replied. “If I ever found out that my father had evil intentions against you, would I not tell you?”

Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”

“Come,” he replied, “let us go out to the field.” So the two of them went out into the field,

and Jonathan said, “By the LORD, the God of Israel, I will sound out my father by this time tomorrow or the next day. If he is favorable toward you, will I not send for you and tell you?

But if my father intends to bring evil on you, then may the LORD punish me, and ever so severely, if I do not tell you and send you on your way in safety. May the LORD be with you, just as He has been with my father.

and do not ever cut off your loving devotion from my household—not even when the LORD cuts off every one of Davidís enemies from the face of the earth.”

So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD hold Davidís enemies accountable.”

And Jonathan had David reaffirm his vow out of love for him, for Jonathan loved David as he loved himself.

Then Jonathan said to David, “Tomorrow is the New Moon, and you will be missed if your seat is empty.

When you have stayed three days, hurry down to the place you hid on the day this trouble began, and remain beside the stone Ezel.

I will shoot three arrows to the side of it, as if I were aiming at a target.

Then I will send a boy and say, ëGo, find the arrows!í Now, if I expressly say to him, ëLook, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them,í then come, because as surely as the LORD lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger.

And as for the matter you and I have discussed, the LORD is a witness between you and me forever.”

He sat in his usual place by the wall, opposite Jonathan and beside Abner, but Davidís place was empty.

But on the day after the New Moon, the second day, Davidís place was still empty, and Saul asked his son Jonathan, “Why hasnít the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?”

Jonathan answered, “David urgently requested my permission to go to Bethlehem,

saying, ëPlease 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.í That is why he did not come to the kingís table.”

Then Saulís 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 disgrace of the mother who bore you?

For as long as the son of Jesse lives on this earth, neither you nor your kingship shall be established. Now send for him and bring him to me, for he must surely die!”

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

Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to kill him; so Jonathan knew that his father was determined to kill David.

Jonathan 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 fatherís shameful treatment of David.

In the morning Jonathan went out to the field for the appointment with David, and a small boy was with him.

He said to the boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” And as the boy ran, Jonathan shot an arrow beyond him.