I have heard that this quote in the title is in the Hebrew Bible. (That’s the Old Testament for us Christian folks.) Does anyone know where it is? I have searched a concordance, but I must be looking under the wrong words. Also I have heard this is a euphemism for “Jonathan and David performed oral sex on each other.” :eek: Are there any cites on this? Not something I found on the internet one midsummer morning, but something in a published tome by a theology professor, either Jewish or Christian. Thanks.
Not familiar with a verse saying that they laid down together or that there’s a reference to their having oral sex. The verses have been used as an example of a loving same-sex relationship by gay advocates seeking to counter the perception of anti-gay bias in the Bible.
The story of Jonathan and David’s friendship is in 1 Samuel; look especially at chapters 18-20. I checked Strong’s Concordance under “feet” and “foot” but found no quote in either book of Samuel like the one you have given.
As for the possible euphemism, I’m not a biblical scholar, but I’d be pretty leery of assigning euphemistic meaning to any text that was written so many centuries ago. It’s hard enough trying to understand the subtleties of texts written today, by people who share your cultural background.
I see on preview that Otto beat me to the reference…
There is 1 Samuel 20, where David throws himself to the ground…
It is sometimes helpful to compare versions:
Note that it is verse 41:
NIV: … David got up from the south side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each other and wept together-but David wept the most.
KJV: … David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.
NASB: … David rose from the south side and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed three times. And they kissed each other and wept together, but David wept the more.
AMP: … David arose from beside the heap of stones and fell on his face to the ground and bowed himself three times. And they kissed one another and wept with one another until David got control of himself.
I post the above since sometimes folks want to make something of “exceeded” which, apparently, is the poor translation (or least one that doesn’t hold up to modern english) of the King James.
HTH
Tinker
Maybe you’re looking for this?
As a Hebrew speaker, I can vouch for the fidelity of the translation in this case - and for those who can read Hebrew, here is the original [in Unicode, so I hope you can see it even without Hebrew installed]
Dani