What Does 1 Samuel 20:13 Mean?
Let the LORD do so to Jonathan, and add more also. But if it pleases my father to do you evil, then I will tell you and send you away, that you may go in wholeness. Let the LORD be with you, as he has been with my father.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
The LORD do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will shew it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace: and the LORD be with thee, as he hath been with my father.THE KEY
The warning is love’s form of release: Jonathan protects David by sending him beyond danger toward wholeness.
THE MEANING
The verse holds love and danger together: Jonathan warns David when harm may come and sends him away so he can go in wholeness. Separation does not mean abandonment; the LORD’s presence is spoken over the departure.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Love must keep someone close even when danger is coming.
THE ROOT
שִׁלַּחְתִּיךָ
shillachticha
GROWS FROM
שלח
send forth, release, let go
“send thee away” in this verse is shillachticha. English “send away” can sound like expulsion, but the root holds sending forth and release together. Jonathan’s warning opens a way for David to leave the immediate threat.
ALSO GROWS
shilluaḥ: sending away, dismissal
שִׁלּוּחַ
This branch makes the practical force of Jonathan’s words clear: David is given room to depart.
shaliaḥ: one sent, an emissary
שָׁלִיחַ
The same root describes purposeful sending, giving David’s departure a direction rather than making it mere rejection.
שָׁלוֹם
shalom
GROWS FROM
שלם
be whole, complete
Shalom carries the sense of wholeness, so David’s safe departure is more than escaping harm: it is movement toward being whole. The verse pairs release with the wholeness that can follow it.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This branch shows the condition Jonathan wishes for David as he leaves.
shillem: make good, repay, restore
שִׁלֵּם
The same root’s restorative sense deepens “go in peace” into a movement toward what is made whole.
THE PATTERN
Care can protect life by releasing someone from danger and sending them toward wholeness.
And the LORD spoke to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.For you shall go out in joy, and be carried forth in wholeness. The mountains and the hills shall burst into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their palms.Wholeness I leave with you; my wholeness I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be stirred, and do not let it shrink.THE THREAD
And the LORD spoke to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.“Let my people go” and “send thee away” share the Hebrew root שלח (shalach, send forth, release). In both verses, release is the movement that opens a way forward.
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