14:4 Now there was a steep cliff on each side of the pass through which Jonathan intended to go to reach the Philistine garrison. One cliff was named Bozez, the other Seneh.
14:40 Then he said to all Israel, “You will be on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will be on the other side.” The army replied to Saul, “Do whatever you think is best.”
20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and asked, 6 “What have I done? What is my offense? 7 How have I sinned before your father? For he is seeking my life!”
20:2 Jonathan 8 said to him, “By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing 9 large or small without making me aware of it. 10 Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won’t happen!”
20:5 David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am certainly expected to join the king for a meal. 11 You must send me away so I can hide in the field until the third evening from now.
20:30 Saul became angry with Jonathan 12 and said to him, “You stupid traitor! 13 Don’t I realize that to your own disgrace and to the disgrace of your mother’s nakedness you have chosen this son of Jesse?
1 tn Or “the servant who was carrying his military equipment” (likewise in vv. 6, 7, 12, 13, 14).
2 tn Heb “and they mustered the troops, and look!”
3 tn Heb “and he returned his hand to his mouth.”
4 tc The translation follows the Qere and several medieval Hebrew
5 tn Heb “and there was no one answering from all the army.”
6 tn Heb “and he came and said before Jonathan.”
7 tn Heb “What is my guilt?”
8 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jonathan) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
9 tc The translation follows the Qere, many medieval Hebrew
10 tn Heb “without uncovering my ear.”
11 tn Heb “and I must surely sit with the king to eat.” The infinitive absolute appears before the finite verb for emphasis.
12 tc Many medieval Hebrew
13 tn Heb “son of a perverse woman of rebelliousness.” But such an overly literal and domesticated translation of the Hebrew expression fails to capture the force of Saul’s unrestrained reaction. Saul, now incensed and enraged over Jonathan’s liaison with David, is actually hurling very coarse and emotionally charged words at his son. The translation of this phrase suggested by Koehler and Baumgartner is “bastard of a wayward woman” (HALOT 796 s.v. עוה), but this is not an expression commonly used in English. A better English approximation of the sentiments expressed here by the Hebrew phrase would be “You stupid son of a bitch!” However, sensitivity to the various public formats in which the Bible is read aloud has led to a less startling English rendering which focuses on the semantic value of Saul’s utterance (i.e., the behavior of his own son Jonathan, which he viewed as both a personal and a political betrayal [= “traitor”]). But this concession should not obscure the fact that Saul is full of bitterness and frustration. That he would address his son Jonathan with such language, not to mention his apparent readiness even to kill his own son over this friendship with David (v. 33), indicates something of the extreme depth of Saul’s jealousy and hatred of David.
14 tn Heb “for he was upset concerning David for his father had humiliated him.” The referent of the pronoun “him” is not entirely clear, but the phrase “concerning David” suggests that it refers to David, rather than Jonathan.