[1] They told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting against
Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors. [2] Therefore David inquired
of Yahweh, saying, Shall I go and strike these Philistines? Yahweh said to
David, Go, and strike the Philistines, and save Keilah. [3] David`s men
said to him, Behold, we are afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we
go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines? [4] Then David inquired
of Yahweh yet again. Yahweh answered him, and said, Arise, go down to
Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand. [5] David and
his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away
their cattle, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David save the
inhabitants of Keilah. [6] It happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech
fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. [7]
It was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. Saul said, God has
delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that
has gates and bars. [8] Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to
Keilah, to besiege David and his men. [9] David knew that Saul was devising
mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring here the
ephod. [10] Then said David, O Yahweh, the God of Israel, your servant has
surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my
sake. [11] Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul
come down, as your servant has heard? Yahweh, the God of Israel, I beg you,
tell your servant. Yahweh said, He will come down. [12] Then said David,
Will the men of Keilah deliver up to me and my men into the hand of Saul?
Yahweh said, They will deliver you up. [13] Then David and his men, who
were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever
they could go. It was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he
gave up going there. [14] David abode in the wilderness in the strongholds,
and remained in the hill-country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him
every day, but God didn`t deliver him into his hand. [15] David saw that
Saul had come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph
in the wood. [16] Jonathan, Saul`s son, arose, and went to David into the
wood, and strengthened his hand in God. [17] He said to him, Don`t be
afraid; for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; and you shall be
king over Israel, and I shall be next to you; and that also Saul my father
knows. [18] They two made a covenant before Yahweh: and David abode in the
wood, and Jonathan went to his house. [19] Then came up the Ziphites to
Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doesn`t David hide himself with us in the
strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of
the desert? [20] Now therefore, O king, come down, according to all the
desire of your soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him up
into the king`s hand. [21] Saul said, Blessed be you of Yahweh; for you
have had compassion on me. [22] Plesease go make yet more sure, and know
and see his place where his haunt is, [and] who has seen him there; for it
is told me that he deals very subtly. [23] See therefore, and take
knowledge of all the lurking-places where he hides himself, and come you
again to me of a certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall happen, if
he be in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of
Judah. [24] They arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men
were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert.
[25] Saul and his men went to seek him. They told David: why he came down
to the rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard [that],
he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. [26] Saul went on this
side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain:
and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men
compassed David and his men round about to take them. [27] But there came a
messenger to Saul, saying, Haste you, and come; for the Philistines have
made a raid on the land. [28] So Saul returned from pursuing after David,
and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place
Sela-hammahlekoth. [29] David went up from there, and lived in the
strongholds of En-gedi.
