The people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who has worked this great salvation in Israel? Far from it: as Yahweh lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground; for he has worked with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he didn't die.
so the people rescued Jonathan, that he died not; not by force, but by their resolution and importunity; or "redeemed" him l, by exposing their own lives to danger in opposing their king, and by their petitions to him for him; and, as Josephus says m, by their prayers to God for him, that his fault might be forgiven.