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¹ Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshing-floors.² Therefore David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the LORD said to David, Go, and smite 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 thy hand.⁵ So David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and smote them 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 to Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath 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 plotted mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the ephod.¹⁰ Then said David, O LORD God of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh 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 thy servant hath heard? O LORD God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy 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 [thee] up.¹³ Then David and his men [who were] about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah: and he forbore to go forth.

¹⁴ And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds, and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not 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 thee; and thou wilt be king over Israel, and I shall be next to thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth.¹⁸ And they two made a covenant before the LORD: and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.

¹⁹ Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds 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 thy soul to come down; and our part [shall be] to deliver him into the king's hand.²¹ And Saul said, Blessed [be] ye of the LORD; for ye have compassion on me.²² Go, I pray you, prepare yet, and know, and see his place where his haunt is, [and] who hath seen him there: for it is told to me [that] he dealeth very subtilly.²³ See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking-places where he hideth himself, and come ye again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall come to pass, if he is 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: wherefore he came down into a rock, and abode 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 compassed David and his men around to take them.²⁷ But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land.²⁸ Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela-hammah-lekoth.²⁹ Then David went up from thence, and dwelt in strong holds at En-gedi.