Bible Strands
1 Samuel 18:3
Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jonathan establishes a covenant with David in Saul’s court, following Saul’s decision to retain David and the narrative’s note of Jonathan’s profound affection for him.
The words — The terms בְּרִית (berit, "a covenant") and כְּנַפְשׁוֹ (kenafsho, "like his own soul") frame the action, specifying that the agreement is grounded in Jonathan’s self-regarding love for David.
The thread — This bond appears in 1 Samuel 20:8 when David petitions Jonathan for continued kindness, in 1 Samuel 20:42 when they invoke the LORD to witness their mutual promise, and in 2 Samuel 21:7 when David spares Mephibosheth to honor the oath sworn between them.
Why it lands — The text reports a formal alliance initiated by personal devotion rather than political strategy, requiring readers to acknowledge the gravity of sworn commitments and the practical demand to value others as highly as oneself.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 20:8 Therefore show kindness to 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?”
- 1 Samuel 20:42 And Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for the two of us have sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘May the LORD be a witness between you and me, and between your descendants and mine forever.’” Then David got up and departed, and Jonathan went back into the city.
- 2 Samuel 21:7 Now the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD between David and Jonathan son of Saul.
- 2 Samuel 9:1 Then David asked, “Is there anyone left from the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for the sake of Jonathan?”
- 1 Samuel 23:18 So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home.