If my father wants to hurt you, I will let you know. I will let you leave in safety. May the Lord punish me if I don’t do this. May the Lord be with you as he has been with my father.
All day long people came to encourage David to eat food. But David had made a special promise. He said, “May God punish me and give me many troubles if I eat bread or any other food before the sun goes down.”
But I will never stop loving him. I will continue to be loyal to him. I took away my love and kindness from Saul. I pushed Saul away when I turned to you. {I will not do that to your family.}
My lord and king, the Lord has been with you. And now I hope the Lord will be with Solomon! And I hope King Solomon’s kingdom will grow and become even more powerful than yours, my lord and king.”
So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah. Jezebel said, “I promise that before this same time tomorrow, I will kill you like you killed those prophets. If I don’t succeed, then may the gods kill me.”
Then they came back with another message from Ben Hadad. The message said, “I will completely destroy Samaria. I promise that there will be nothing left of that city! There won’t be enough of that city left for my men to find any souvenirs [220] to take home. May God destroy me if I don’t do this!”
David also said, “Now, son, may the Lord be with you. May you be successful and build the temple {\cf2\super [237]} for the Lord your God, like he said you would.
They are skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, and iron. You have more skilled workers than can be counted. Now begin the work. And may the Lord be with you.”
Teach those people to obey everything that I have told you. You can be sure that I will be with you always. I will continue with you until the end of the world.”
And do the things that you learned and received from me. Do the things I told you and the things you saw me do. And the God who gives peace will be with you.
Where you die, I will die. And that is where I will be buried. I ask the Lord to punish me if I do not keep this promise: Only death will separate us.” [3]
Saul took full control of Israel. Saul fought all the enemies that lived around Israel. Saul fought Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the king of Zobah, and the Philistines. Saul defeated Israel’s enemies wherever he went.
Jonathan said to David, “I make this promise before the Lord, the God of Israel. I promise that I will learn how my father feels about you. I will learn if he feels good about you or not. Then, in three days, I will send a message to you in the field.