1Sa 20:16 | KD | STEP | Thus Jonathan concluded a covenant with the house of David, namely, by bringing David to promise kindness to his family for ever. The word בּרית must be supplied in thought to יכרת, as in and 2Ch 7:18. “ And Jehovah required it (what Jonathan had predicted) at the hand of David’s enemies .” Understood in this manner, the second clause contains a remark of the historian himself, namely, that Jonathan’s words were really fulfilled in due time. The traditional rendering of וּבקּשׁ as a relative preterite, with אמר understood, “ and said, Let Jehovah take vengeance ,” is not only precluded by the harshness of the introduction of the word “saying,” but still more by the fact, that if אמר (saying) is introduced between the copula vav and the verb בּקּשׁ, the perfect cannot stand for the optative בּקּשׁ, as in Jos 22:23.

‏ 1 Samuel 20:16

Thus Jonathan concluded a covenant with the house of David, namely, by bringing David to promise kindness to his family for ever. The word בּרית must be supplied in thought to יכרת, as in 1Sa 22:8 and 2Ch 7:18. “And Jehovah required it (what Jonathan had predicted) at the hand of David’s enemies.” Understood in this manner, the second clause contains a remark of the historian himself, namely, that Jonathan’s words were really fulfilled in due time. The traditional rendering of וּבקּשׁ as a relative preterite, with אמר understood, “and said, Let Jehovah take vengeance,” is not only precluded by the harshness of the introduction of the word “saying,” but still more by the fact, that if אמר (saying) is introduced between the copula vav and the verb בּקּשׁ, the perfect cannot stand for the optative בּקּשׁ, as in Jos 22:23.