1. Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors.
2. Therefore David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go and strike these Philistines? And the LORD said to David, Go, and strike the Philistines, and save Keilah.
3. And David's men said to him, Behold, we are afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?
4. Then David inquired of the LORD yet again. And the LORD answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.
5. So David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and struck them down with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
6. And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.
7. And it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And 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. And Saul called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.
9. And David knew that Saul secretly practised mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring here the ephod.
10. Then said David, O LORD God of Israel, your servant has certainly 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? O LORD God of Israel, I plead with you, tell your servant. And the LORD said, He will come down.
12. Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver you up.
13. Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. And it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah; and he did not go forth.
14. And David stayed in the wilderness in strongholds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.
15. And David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood.
16. And Jonathan Saul's son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.
17. And he said to him, Fear not: 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. And they two made a covenant before the LORD: and David stayed in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.
19. Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does not David hide himself with us in strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?
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 into the king's hand.
21. And Saul said, Blessed be you by the LORD; for you have compassion on me.
22. Go, I pray you, prepare further, and know and see his place that he inhabits, and who has seen him there: for it is told me that he deals very subtilly.
23. See therefore, and take knowledge of all the hiding places where he hides himself, and come again to me with the report, and I will go with you: and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah.
24. And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon.
25. Saul also and his men went to seek him. And they told David: therefore he came down into a rock, and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.
26. And 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 surrounded David and his men to take them.
27. But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, Make haste, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land.
28. Therefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth.
29. And David went up from there, and dwelt in strongholds at En-gedi.
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