Discovery Box1 Samuel 20:25-28 
Context20:25 The king sat down in his usual place by the wall, with Jonathan opposite him 1 and Abner at his side. 2 But David’s place was vacant. 20:26 However, Saul said nothing about it 3 that day, for he thought, 4 “Something has happened to make him ceremonially unclean. Yes, he must be unclean.” 20:27 But the next morning, the second day of the new moon, David’s place was still vacant. So Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why has Jesse’s son not come to the meal yesterday or today?”
20:28 Jonathan replied to Saul, “David urgently requested that he be allowed to go to Bethlehem.
1 tc Heb “and Jonathan arose.” Instead of MT’s וַיָּקָם (vayyaqam, “and he arose”; from the hollow verbal root קוּם, qum), the translation assumes a reading וַיִּקַדֵּם (vayyiqaddem, “and he was in front of”; from the verbal root קדם, qdm). See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 338.
2 tn Heb “and Abner sat at the side of Saul.”
3 tn The words “about it” are not present in the Hebrew text, although they are implied.
4 tn Heb “said,” that is, to himself.
