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?”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — David speaks to Jonathan in secret, pleading for protection from Saul’s impending wrath after their shared meal was disrupted. (1 Samuel 20:7–9)

The words — חֶסֶד (ḥesed) denotes covenant loyalty or steadfast love, and בְּרִית (berît) refers to the binding agreement David and Jonathan established before Yahweh.

The thread — This covenant loyalty recurs in 1 Samuel 18:3 where Jonathan binds himself to David, and is reaffirmed in 1 Samuel 23:18 before the LORD.

Why it lands — The text demands Jonathan execute David personally if guilt is found, rejecting indirect betrayal and placing the moral burden of the covenant directly on the friend.

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

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?

Cross-references

1 Samuel 18:3 Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
2 Samuel 14:32 “Look,” said Absalom, “I sent for you and said, ‘Come here. I want to send you to the king to ask: Why have I come back from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there.’ So now, let me see the king’s face, and if there is iniquity in me, let him kill me.”
1 Samuel 23:18 So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home.
1 Samuel 20:16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “May the LORD hold David’s enemies accountable.”
1 Chronicles 12:17 And David went out to meet them, saying, “If you have come to me in peace to help me, my heart will be united with you; but if you have come to betray me to my enemies when my hands are free of violence, may the God of our fathers see it and judge you.”
Genesis 24:49 Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; but if not, let me know, so that I may go elsewhere.”
Genesis 47:29 When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise to show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt,
Joshua 2:14 “Our lives for your lives!” the men agreed. “If you do not report our mission, we will show you kindness and faithfulness when the LORD gives us the land.”
Joshua 22:22 “The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! He knows, and may Israel also know. If this was in rebellion or breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today.
Ruth 1:8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you to your mother’s home. May the LORD show you loving devotion, as you have shown to your dead and to me.