And they told David, saying, “Look — the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are plundering the threshing floors.”
And David asked 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.”
And David’s men said to him, “Look — we are afraid here in Judah. How much more if we go to Keilah, against the battle lines of the Philistines?”
And David asked of the LORD yet again; and the LORD answered him and said, “Rise, go down to Keilah — for I am giving the Philistines into your hand.”
And David and his men went to Keilah and fought against the Philistines; and he drove off their livestock, and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
And it was, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, that an ephod came down in his hand.
Saul Pursues David
And it was told to Saul that David had come to Keilah; and Saul said, “God has handed him over into my hand — for he has shut himself in by entering a city with doors and bar.”
And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.
And David knew that Saul was plotting the evil against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod near.”
And David said: “LORD, God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah, to destroy the city because of me.
Will the masters of Keilah hand me over into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? LORD, God of Israel, tell your servant, please.” And the LORD said, “He will come down.”
And David said, “Will the masters of Keilah hand me and my men over into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will hand you over.”
And David and his men rose — about six hundred men — and went out from Keilah, and went wherever they could go. And it was told to Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, and he stopped going out.
And David stayed in the wilderness, in the strongholds; and he stayed in the hill country, in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him all the days, but God did not give him into his hand.
And David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life; and David was in the wilderness of Ziph, at Horesh.
And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.
And he said to him: “Do not fear — for the hand of Saul my father will not find you. And you will reign over Israel, and I will be second to you; and even Saul my father knows this.”
And the two of them cut a covenant before the LORD. And David stayed at Horesh, and Jonathan went to his house.
And Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying: “Is David not hiding himself among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is south of Jeshimon?
Now then, O king — come down according to all the desire of your soul to come down; and it is for us to hand him over into the hand of the king.”
And Saul said, “Blessed are you by the LORD, for you have had compassion on me.
Go, please, make still more sure; and know and see his place, where his foot is set — who has seen him there? For it has been said to me that he is very cunning.
And see and know all the hiding places where he hides himself, and return to me with certainty, and I will go with you. And it shall be, if he is in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”
And they rose and went to Ziph, ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah, south of Jeshimon.
And Saul and his men went to seek him, and they told David; and he went down to the rock, and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. And Saul heard, and pursued after David into the wilderness of Maon.
And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain; and David was hurrying to get away from before Saul, while Saul and his men were closing in around David and his men, to seize them.
But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come — for the Philistines have raided the land.”
So Saul turned back from pursuing after David, and went to meet the Philistines. Therefore they call that place the Rock of Partings.
And David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of En-gedi.
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