King James Version

1 And they told David, saying, "Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are raiding the threshing floors." 2 And David asked 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 the men of David said to him, "Behold, we are here in Judah afraid, and even if we go to Keilah to the camps of the Philistines." 4 And David continued to ask of the LORD, and the LORD answered him and said, "Arise, go down to Keilah, for I am giving the Philistines into your hand." 5 And David went and his men to Keilah and fought against the Philistines and drove away their livestock, and he struck them with a great blow, and David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. 6 And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, that he brought an ephod in his hand. 7 And it was reported to Saul that David had come to Keilah, and Saul said, "God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a city with gates and bars." 8 And Saul proclaimed to all the people to go down to Keilah to fight against David and his men. 9 And David knew that Saul was silent about the evil, and he said to Abiathar the priest, "Bring me the ephod." 10 And David said, "O LORD God of Israel, Your servant has heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city because of me." 11 Will they deliver me into the hand of Saul at Keilah? Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, declare it to your servant. And the Lord said, "He will come down." 12 And David said, "Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And the LORD said, "They will deliver you." 13 And David rose up, and his men, about six hundred men, and they went out of Keilah and went wherever they could go. And it was told to Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, and he ceased to go out. 14 And David remained in the wilderness in the strongholds, and he remained in the hill country of 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 Zif in the forest. 16 And Jonathan, the son of Saul, arose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said to me, "Do not be afraid, for you will not find the hand of Saul my father, and you will reign over Israel, and I will be your second, and also Saul my father knows this." 18 And they made a covenant before the Lord, and David stayed in the forest, and Jonathan went to his house. 19 And the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon?” 20 And now, for all your soul, the king is about to descend, and to us he shall deliver him into the hand of the king. 21 And Saul said, "Blessed are you to the Lord, for you have had compassion on me." 22 Come now, let us prepare again and know and see the place where his foot will be; who has seen him there, for he said to me, "He will be a naked man." 23 And see and know from all the hiding places where he may hide there, and you shall return to me to a certainty, and I will go with you, and it shall be if he is in the land, and I will search for him among all the thousands of Judah. 24 And they arose and went to Ziph before Saul, and David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah to the right of Jeshimon. 25 And Saul went and his men to seek, and they told David. And he went down to the rock and dwelled in the wilderness of Maon. And Saul heard, and he pursued David in the wilderness of Maon. 26 And Saul went from one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side of the mountain; and David was hurrying to go away from the face of Saul, and Saul and his men were surrounding David and his men to catch them. 27 And an angel came to Saul to say, "Hurry and go because the Philistines have spread out over the land." 28 And Saul returned from pursuing David and went to meet the Philistines; therefore they called that place the Rock of Divisions. 29 And David went up from thence, and dwelt in strong holds at En-gedi.