And he said unto his lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him.

And he said to his boy: Go, and fetch me the arrows which I shoot. And when the boy ran, he shot another arrow beyond the boy.

And he saith to his youth, 'Run, find, I pray thee, the arrows which I am shooting;' the youth is running, and he hath shot the arrow, causing it to pass over him.

And he said to the boy, Go and get the arrow I let loose from my bow. And while the boy was running, he sent an arrow past him.

He said to the boy, 'Run, find now the arrows which I shoot.' And as the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him, toward the city.

And he said to his boy, "Go, and bring to me the arrows that I shoot." And when the boy had run, he shot another arrow away from the boy.

And he said unto his lad, run, find out now the arrows which I shoot,.... He no doubt told him the mark which he should shoot at, the stone Ezel, and bid him look out about that for them:
and as the lad ran; before he had got to the mark:
he shot an arrow beyond him: or it; beyond the lad, or beyond the mark he shot at; purposely shooting with great strength, that he might exceed, and thereby give notice to David how things stood, which was the sign agreed on.

he said unto his lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot--The direction given aloud to the attendant was the signal preconcerted with David. It implied danger.

To the latter he said, namely as soon as they had come to the field, Run, get the arrows which I shoot. The boy ran, and he shot off the arrows, "to go out beyond him," i.e., so that the arrows flew farther than the boy had run. The form חצי for חץ only occurs in connection with disjunctive accents; beside the present chapter (1-Samuel 20:36, 1-Samuel 20:37, 1-Samuel 20:38, Chethibh) we find it again in 2-Kings 9:24. The singular is used here with indefinite generality, as the historian did not consider it necessary to mention expressly, after what he had previously written, that Jonathan shot off three arrows one after another.