1-samuel 20:3
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And David swore moreover, and said, Your father certainly knows that I have found grace in your eyes; and he said, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.
American King James Version (AKJV)
And David swore moreover, and said, Your father certainly knows that I have found grace in your eyes; and he said, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.
American Standard Version (ASV)
And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father knoweth well that I have found favor in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as Jehovah liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
But David took his oath again and said, Your father sees that I am dear to you; so he says to himself, Let Jonathan have no idea of this, for it will be a grief to him; but as the Lord is living, and as your soul is living, there is only a step between me and death.
Webster's Revision
And David swore moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thy eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he should be grieved: But truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.
World English Bible
David swore moreover, and said, "Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, 'Don't let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved:' but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death."
English Revised Version (ERV)
And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father knoweth well that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.
Definitions for 1-samuel 20:3
Clarke's 1-samuel 20:3 Bible Commentary
There is but a step between me and death - My life is in the most imminent danger. Your father has, most assuredly, determined to destroy me.
The same figure used here, there is but a step between me and death, may be found in Juvenal, who, satirizing those who risk their lives for the sake of gain in perilous voyages, speaks thus: -
I nune et ventis animam committe, dolato
Confisus ligno, digitis a morte remotus
Quatuor aut septem, si sit latissima teda.
Sat. xii., ver. 57.
"Go now, and commit thy life to the winds,
trusting to a hewn plank, four or seven fingers thick,
if the beam out of which it has been cut have been large enough."
Barnes's 1-samuel 20:3 Bible Commentary
And David sware moreover - Rather, "yet again." He met Jonathan's denial by repeating his statement and confirming it with an oath.
Wesley's 1-samuel 20:3 Bible Commentary
20:3 David sware - The matter being of great moment, and Jonathan doubting the truth of it, he confirms his word with an oath, which follows in the end of the verse. Only he interposeth a reason why Saul concealed it from Jonathan.