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Sunday, July 20th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

Complete Jewish Bible

1 Samuel 20:2

Y'honatan replied, "Heaven forbid! You're not going to die! Look, my father does nothing important or unimportant without telling me first; so why should my father hide this from me? It just won't happen!"

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Death;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Jonathan;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Prayer;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Ear;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Jonathan;   Nob;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Jonathan;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - David;   Jonathan;   Samuel, Books of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Jonathan ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Ear;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - David;   Jonathan;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Hebrew Monarchy, the;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ear;   Forbid;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Jonathan, Jehonathan;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Jonathan said to him, “No, you won’t die. Listen, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This can’t be true.”
Hebrew Names Version
He said to him, Far from it; you shall not die: behold, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.
King James Version
And he said unto him, God forbid; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will shew it me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.
Lexham English Bible
And he said to him, "Far from it! You will not die! Look, my father does not do anything large or small unless he reveals it to me. Why should my father hide this thing or anything from me?"
English Standard Version
And he said to him, "Far from it! You shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me. And why should my father hide this from me? It is not so."
New Century Version
Jonathan answered, "No! You won't die! See, my father doesn't do anything great or small without first telling me. Why would he keep this from me? It's not true!"
New English Translation
Jonathan said to him, "By no means are you going to die! My father does nothing large or small without making me aware of it. Why would my father hide this matter from me? It just won't happen!"
Amplified Bible
Jonathan said to him, "Far from it! You shall not die. My father does nothing important or insignificant without telling me. So why would he hide this thing from me? It is not so!"
New American Standard Bible
He said to him, "Far from it, you shall not die! Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without informing me. So why would my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!"
Geneva Bible (1587)
And he sayde vnto him, God forbid, thou shalt not die: beholde, my father will do nothing great nor small, but he will shewe it me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? he will not doe it.
Legacy Standard Bible
And he said to him, "Far from it, you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without revealing it in my ear. So why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!"
Contemporary English Version
"My father can't be trying to kill you! He never does anything without telling me about it. Why would he hide this from me? It can't be true!"
Darby Translation
And he said to him, God forbid; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, and not apprise me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.
Easy-to-Read Version
Jonathan answered, "That can't be true! My father isn't trying to kill you. My father doesn't do anything without first telling me. It doesn't matter how important it is, my father always tells me. Why would my father refuse to tell me that he wants to kill you? No, it is not true!"
George Lamsa Translation
And Jonathan said to him, God forbid; you shall not die; behold, my father does nothing either great or small which he does not reveal to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so.
Good News Translation
Jonathan answered, "God forbid that you should die! My father tells me everything he does, important or not, and he would not hide this from me. It just isn't so!"
Literal Translation
And he said to him, Far be it! You shall not die. Behold, my father shall not do anything great or small, and not reveal it to my ear. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so .
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He sayde vnto him: God forbyd, thou shalt not dye. Beholde, my father doth nothinge, nether greate ner small, but he sheweth it before myne eares. Wherfore shulde my father the hyde this fro me? It shal not be so.
American Standard Version
And he said unto him, Far from it; thou shalt not die: behold, my father doeth nothing either great or small, but that he discloseth it unto me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.
Bible in Basic English
And he said to him, Far be the thought: you will not be put to death: see, my father does nothing, great or small, without giving me word of it: would he keep this secret from me? It is not so.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
He sayde vnto him: God forbid, thou shalt not dye: Behold, my father wil do nothing either great or smal, but that he will shewe it me: And howe should my father hyde this thing from me? He will not do it.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he said unto him: 'Far from it; thou shalt not die; behold, my father doeth nothing either great or small, but that he discloseth it unto me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.'
King James Version (1611)
And he said vnto him, God forbid, thou shalt not die; beholde, my father will doe nothing, either great or small, but that he will shew it me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And Jonathan said to him, Far be it from thee: thou shalt not die: behold, my father will not do any thing great or small without discovering it to me; and why should my father hide this matter from me? This thing is not so.
English Revised Version
And he said unto him, God forbid; thou shalt not die: behold, my father doeth nothing either great or small, but that he discloseth it unto me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.
Berean Standard Bible
"Far from it!" Jonathan replied. "You will not die. Indeed, my father does nothing, great or small, without telling me. So why would he hide this matter from me? This cannot be true!"
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And Jonathas seide to hym, Fer be it fro thee, thou schalt not die, for my fadir schal not do ony thing greet ether litil, `no but he schewe firste to me; therfor my fadir kepte preuy fro me this word oneli, forsothe it schal not be.
Young's Literal Translation
And he saith to him, `Far be it! thou dost not die; lo, my father doth not do anything great or small and doth not uncover mine ear; and wherefore doth my father hide from me this thing? this [thing] is not.'
Update Bible Version
And he said to him, Far from it; you shall not die: look, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.
Webster's Bible Translation
And he said to him, Far be it from thee; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing, either great or small, but that he will show it to me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it [is] not [so].
World English Bible
He said to him, Far from it; you shall not die: behold, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.
New King James Version
So Jonathan said to him, "By no means! You shall not die! Indeed, my father will do nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!"
New Living Translation
"That's not true!" Jonathan protested. "You're not going to die. He always tells me everything he's going to do, even the little things. I know my father wouldn't hide something like this from me. It just isn't so!"
New Life Bible
Jonathan said to him, "Far from it, you will not die. See, my father does nothing big or small without telling me about it. So why should my father hide this from me? It is not so!"
New Revised Standard
He said to him, "Far from it! You shall not die. My father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me; and why should my father hide this from me? Never!"
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And he said unto him - Far be it! thou shalt not die. Lo! my father doeth nothing, great or small, without unveiling mine ear, - wherefore, then, should my father hide from me, this thing? There is, nothing, in this.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And he said to him: (God forbid, thou shalt not die: for my father will do nothing, great or little, without first telling me: hath then my father hid this word only from me? no, this shall not be.
Revised Standard Version
And he said to him, "Far from it! You shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me; and why should my father hide this from me? It is not so."
THE MESSAGE
"Nothing," said Jonathan. "You've done nothing wrong. And you're not going to die. Really, you're not! My father tells me everything. He does nothing, whether big or little, without confiding in me. So why would he do this behind my back? It can't be."
New American Standard Bible (1995)
He said to him, "Far from it, you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small without disclosing it to me. So why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so!"

Contextual Overview

1 David fled from the prophets' dormitory in Ramah, returned to Y'honatan and said, "What have I done? Where have I gone wrong? What sin have I committed that makes your father want to take my life?" 2 Y'honatan replied, "Heaven forbid! You're not going to die! Look, my father does nothing important or unimportant without telling me first; so why should my father hide this from me? It just won't happen!" 3 In response David swore, "Your father knows very well that you have made me your friend. This is why he will say, ‘Y'honatan must not know this, or he will be unhappy.' As truly as Adonai lives, and as truly as you are alive, there is only a step between me and death." 4 Y'honatan said to David, "Anything you want me to do for you, I'll do." 5 David answered Y'honatan, "Look, tomorrow is Rosh-Hodesh, and I ought to be dining with the king. Instead, let me go and hide myself in the countryside until evening of the third day. 6 If your father misses me at all, say, ‘David begged me to let him hurry to Beit-Lechem, his city; because it's the annual sacrifice there for his whole family.' 7 If he says, ‘Very good,' then your servant will be all right. But if he gets angry, you will know that he has planned something bad. 8 Therefore show kindness to your servant, for you bound your servant to yourself by a covenant before Adonai . But if I have done something wrong, kill me yourself! Why turn me over to your father?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

God forbid: 1 Samuel 14:45, Genesis 44:7, Joshua 22:29, Joshua 24:16, Luke 20:16

show it me: Heb. uncover mine ear, 1 Samuel 20:12, 1 Samuel 9:15, *marg. Psalms 40:6, Isaiah 50:5, John 15:15, John 17:8

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 19:2 - Jonathan 1 Samuel 22:8 - showeth me 2 Samuel 1:23 - pleasant

Cross-References

Genesis 12:15
Pharaoh's princes saw her and commended her to Pharaoh, so the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
Genesis 20:11
Avraham replied, "It was because I thought, ‘There could not possibly be any fear of God in this place, so they will kill me in order to get my wife.'
Genesis 20:12
But she actually is also my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother, and so she became my wife.
Genesis 20:13
When God had me leave my father's house, I told her, ‘Do me this favor: wherever we go, say about me, "He is my brother."'"
Genesis 26:1
A famine came over the land, not the same as the first famine, which had taken place when Avraham was alive. Yitz'chak went to G'rar, to Avimelekh king of the P'lishtim.
Genesis 26:7
The men of the place asked him about his wife, and out of fear he said, "She is my sister." He thought, "If I tell them she's my wife, they might kill me in order to take Rivkah. After all, she is a beautiful woman."
Genesis 26:16
Avimelekh said to Yitz'chak, "You must go away from us, because you have become much more powerful than we are."
2 Chronicles 19:2
Yehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to King Y'hoshafat, "Should you help the wicked and befriend those who hate Adonai ? Because of this, Adonai 's anger is upon you.
2 Chronicles 20:37
Then Eli‘ezer the son of Dodavahu from Mareshah prophesied against Y'hoshafat: "Because you joined yourself with Achazyah, Adonai is wrecking your project." And the ships were wrecked, so that they couldn't go to Tarshish.
2 Chronicles 32:31
However, in the matter of the ambassadors from the princes of Bavel, who sent to him to learn of the marvel that had taken place in the land, God left him by himself, in order to test him, so that he might know everything that was in his heart.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he said unto him, God forbid, thou shalt not die,.... He could not believe his father had any such intention; and that if he discovered anything of that kind, it was only when he was in a frenzy, and a melancholy disorder had seized him; and that David had nothing to fear on that head, and that he would secure him from all danger in that respect; the thing was too gross and detestable to be credited:

behold, my father will do nothing, either great or small, but that he will show it me; such an interest had he in him, and in his favour, being his son and heir to his crown, and having done many warlike exploits, which had the more endeared him to him, that he made him privy to all his secret designs, and took his opinion in all matters of moment and importance:

and why should my father hide this thing from me? his design of taking away the life of David, if he had really formed one:

it [is] not [so]; Jonathan concluded, from his ignorance of it, there was nothing in it, and that it was only a surmise of David's; and yet it is strange that Jonathan should know nothing of the messengers being sent to David's house to take him, and of others sent to Naioth after him, and of Saul's going there himself with such a design; and if he did know anything of the matter, he made the best of it to David, partly to allay his fears, and partly that his father might not appear so black and vile as he really was.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

It is not so - Jonathan’s unwillingness to believe evil of his father is one of the many admirable traits in his character.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 20:2. My father will do nothing — Jonathan thought that his father could have no evil design against David, because of the oath which he had sworn to himself 1 Samuel 19:6; and at any rate, that he would do nothing against David without informing him.


 
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