1 Samuel 20:8
Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the LORD with thee: notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father? Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the LORD with thee: notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father?
The verse belongs to the account of the covenant of Jonathan and David, in which they were united as brothers. That covenant was a sacred bond that obligated Jonathan to help preserve David's life when Saul tried to kill him.
David spoke conscious of his innocence and wounded in heart, distrusting Saul's profession of peace and fearing his mood would change, and longing to see his friend Jonathan once more. On the ground of the covenant of the Lord between them he made a most touching and intensely earnest appeal for kindly dealing, asking what he had done and what his iniquity and sin against Saul was that his life was sought, and affirming that there was but a step between him and death. The covenant he invoked was the mutual oath in the name of the Lord that the Lord would be between David and Jonathan and between their seed forever when they parted to pursue their different paths.