23 And as for the matter about which you and I spoke, look, Yahweh is between you and me forever.”
24 So David hid himself in the field. When the new moon came, the king was seated at the feast.
25 The king sat at his seat as before, the seat by the wall, and Jonathan got up, and Abner sat beside Saul, but David’s place was empty.
26 But Saul said nothing on that day, for he thought, “Something happened to him. He is not ceremonially clean; surely he is not clean.”
27 And then on the next day, the second day of the new moon, that David’s place was empty. So Saul asked Jonathan his son, “Why did the son of Jesse not come either yesterday or today to the feast?”
28 Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked permission from me to go up to Bethlehem.
29 He said, ‘Send me away, please, for our clan sacrifice is in the city, and my brother commanded me to be present. So then, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me slip away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the table of the king.”