1 SAMUEL 20:3 — KING JAMES VERSION 0 0
“And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth 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.”
But truly, as the LORD lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death — David's *v'chay YHWH* (as the LORD lives) swears by the sacred name; his *ki im pasar echad ven othi uven hamaven*, there is but a step between me and death, expresses the peril of his situation. The *pasar*, a single step, separates life from death; David lives in a liminal space, always at the edge of annihilation. His invocation of Jonathan's soul—*naphsh'cha*—appeals to the covenant bond, reminding Jonathan of the intimacy they share.
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