1 Samuel 23
1NOW when it was told David, saying, Behold the Philistines are making war on Keila: They are ravaging, and destroying the threshing floors,
2David inquired of the Lord saying, Shall I go and smite the Philistines? And the Lord said, Go, and thou shalt make a slaughter among the Philistines and save Keila.
3But David’s men said to him, Behold we are in terror here in Judea; and how must it be if we go to Keila? Shall we go to be a prey to the Philistines?
4Then David inquired again of the Lord, and the Lord answered him, and said to him, Arise and go down to Keila; for I will deliver the Philistines into thy hands.
5So David went with his men to Keila, and fought the Philistines and they fled before him, and he took their cattle, and made a great slaughter among them. So David saved the inhabitants of Keila.
6Now as Abiathar, son of Abimelech, had fled to David, he went down with him to Keila, having the ephod in his hand.
7And when Saul was told that David was come to Keila, Saul said, God hath sold him into my hands; for he is shut up by coming into a city with gates and bars.
8So Saul gave orders to all the people to go down for battle, to Keila, to take David and his men.
9And David knew it; for Saul did not conceal his mischievous intention respecting him. Therefore David said to Abiathar the priest, Bring here the ephod of the Lord.
10And David said, O Lord God of Israel, Thy servant hath heard that Saul seeketh to come against Keila to destroy the city on my account.
11Will it be shut up? Or will Saul come down now as Thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel tell Thy servant.
12And the Lord said, It will be shut up.
13Thereupon David arose, and his men with him, about three hundred, and departed out of Keila, and went wherever they could go. And when Saul was told that David had escaped from Keila, he forbore going.
14So David halted at Maserem, in the wilderness, at the straits, and fixed himself in the wilderness on mount Ziph, in that parched land. Though Saul continually sought David, yet the Lord did not deliver him into his hands.
15Even when David saw that Saul was coming to seek him, when he was on the desert mountain in Kaina Ziph,
16Jonathan, son of Saul, arose, and went to David at Kaina, and strengthened his confidence in the Lord,
17and said to him, Fear not; for the hand of my father Saul cannot find thee; so that thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be second to thee, and Saul, my father, knoweth that this will be the case.
18So they two made a covenant before the Lord, and David abode at Kaina, and Jonathan returned to his house.
19Then the Ziphites went up from the wilderness to Saul, on the mount, and said, Behold doth not David hide himself near us at Messara, at the straits by Kaina, on mount Echala, which is to the right of Jessamon?
20Now therefore every thing answereth the king’s desire to induce him to come down. Come down to us. He is shut into the king’s hands.
21Thereupon Saul said to them, Blessed are you of the Lord; for you have cared for me.
22Go, I pray you, and make ready, and examine his haunt, whether there be any trace of him there lately, where you mentioned. Perhaps he will practise wiles.
23Take a view therefore, and know, and I will go down with you, and if he be in that country I will search him out among all the thousands of Juda.
24So the Ziphites arose and went before Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, westward, on the right of Jessamon.
25And when Saul with his men went to seek him, and David was told, he went down to the rock which is in the wilderness of Maon; and when Saul heard, he pursued after David to the wilderness of Maon.
26And Saul and his men marched on one side of the mountain, while David and his men were on the other side of the mountain. But David was protected in escaping from the presence of Saul. For while Saul and his men were encamping against David and his men, to take them,
27a messenger came to Saul, and said, Haste and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land.
28Whereupon Saul returned from pursuing David, and went to meet the Philistines. For this cause that place was called, The dividing rock.
29Then David removed from that place, and took up his abode at the straits of Engaddi.