Discovery Box1 Samuel 18:1 
ContextSaul Comes to Fear David
18:1 When David 1 had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan and David became bound together in close friendship. 2 Jonathan loved David as much as he did his own life. 3
1 Samuel 19:1
ContextSaul Repeatedly Attempts to Take David’s Life
19:1 Then Saul told his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much. 4
1 Samuel 20:17
Context20:17 Jonathan once again took an oath with David, because he loved him. In fact Jonathan loved him as much as he did his own life. 5
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (David) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “the soul of Jonathan was bound with the soul of David.”
3 tn Heb “like his [own] soul.”
sn On the nature of Jonathan’s love for David, see J. A. Thompson, “The Significance of the Verb Love in the David-Jonathan Narratives in 1 Samuel,” VT 24 (1974): 334-38.
4 tn Heb “delighted greatly in David.”
5 tn Heb “for [with] the love of his [own] life he loved him.”
