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¹ Then they tolde Dauid, saying: Beholde, the Philistines fight against Keila, and spoyle the barnes.² Therfore Dauid asked counsell of the lord, saying: Shal I go and smyte these Philistines? And the Lord aunswered vnto Dauid: Go, and smite the Philistines, and saue Keila.³ And Dauids men said vnto him, See, we be afrayde here in Iuda: howe much more then if we come to Keila against the hoast of the Philistines?⁴ Then Dauid asked counsell of the Lorde agayne. And the Lorde aunswered him, and sayd: Aryse, and go downe to Keila, for I will deliuer the Philistines into thyne hande.⁵ And so Dauid and his men went to Keila, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattell, & smote them with a great slaughter, and so Dauid saued ye inhabitauntes of Keila.⁶ And when Abiathar the sonne of Ahimelech fled to Dauid to Keila, he brought an Ephod with him in his hande.

⁷ And it was tolde Saul that Dauid was come to Keila: And Saul sayde, God hath deliuered him into myne hande: For he is shut in, now that he is come into a towne that hath gates and barres.⁸ And Saul called all the people together to warre, for to go downe to Keila, and to besiege Dauid and his men.⁹ And Dauid hauing knowledge that Saul imagined mischiefe agaynst him, sayde to Abiathar the priest: Bring the Ephod.¹⁰ Then sayde Dauid: O Lorde God of Israel, thy seruaunt hath hearde that Saul is about to come to Keila to destroye the citie for my sake:¹¹ Will the lordes of Keila deliuer me into his hande? And will Saul come downe, as thy seruaunt hath hearde, O Lorde God of Israel: I besech thee tell thy seruaunt. And the Lorde sayde: He wil come downe.¹² Then sayde Dauid: Will the lordes of Keila deliuer me and the men that are with me into the hand of Saul? And the Lorde sayde: They wil deliuer thee vp.¹³ Then Dauid, & his men, whiche were vpon a sixe hundred, arose and departed out of Keila, and went whyther they coulde: And it was tolde Saul that Dauid was fled from Keila, and he let the iourney alone.

¹⁴ Dauid abode in the wildernesse in strong holdes, and remained in a mountayne in the wildernesse of Ziph: And Saul sought him euery day, but God deliuered him not into his hande.¹⁵ And Dauid sawe that Saul was come out to seke his lyfe: And Dauid was in the wildernesse of Ziph in the wood.¹⁶ And Ionathan Sauls sonne arose and went to Dauid into the wood, and comforted his hande in God,¹⁷ And sayd vnto him: Feare not, for the hand of Saul my father shall not finde thee, & thou shalt be king ouer Israel, and I shall be next vnto thee: and that doeth Saul my father knowe.¹⁸ And they made a bond both of them together before the Lorde: And Dauid taried still in the wood, and Ionathan went to his house.

¹⁹ Then came the Ziphites to Saul to Gibea, saying: Doth not Dauid hyde him selfe fast by vs in strong holdes, in the wood in the hill of Hachila, on the right side of Iesimon?²⁰ Nowe therfore O king, thou mayest come downe according to all the lust of thy soule, and our part shalbe to deliuer him into the kinges hande.²¹ And Saul sayde: Blessed are ye in the Lord, for ye haue compassion on me:²² Go I pray you and prepare yet better, knowe and see where his foote hath ben, & who hath seene him there: for it is tolde me that he is very subtyll.²³ See therfore, and know al the lurking places where he hydeth him selfe, and come ye againe to me with ye certaintie, and I wil go with you: And yf he be in the lande, I will searche him out throughout al the thousandes of Iuda.²⁴ And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: But Dauid & his men were in the wildernesse of Maon, in the plaine that is on the right hande of Iesimon.²⁵ Saul also and his men went to seke him: And they told Dauid, wherfore he came downe vnto a rocke, and abode in the wildernesse of Maon: And when Saul heard that, he folowed after Dauid in the wildernesse of Maon.²⁶ And Saul and his men went on the one syde of the mountayne, and Dauid & his men on the other syde of the mountaine: And Dauid made haste to get fro the presence of Saul. For Saul and his men, compassed Dauid and his men round about, to take them.²⁷ But ther came a messenger to Saul, saying: Haste thee and come, for the Philistines haue inuaded the lande.²⁸ Wherfore Saul returned from persecuting Dauid, and went against the Philistines: And therfore they called that place, Sela Hamnahlekoth. ²⁹ And Dauid went thence, and dwelt in strong holdes at Engadi.