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David Delivers Keilah
Then they told David, saying, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are plundering the threshing floors.”
Then they told David, saying, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are plundering the threshing floors.”
David Protects the Town of Keilah
One day news came to David that the Philistines were at Keilah stealing grain from the threshing floors.
One day news came to David that the Philistines were at Keilah stealing grain from the threshing floors.
So David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the LORD said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and deliver Keilah.”
David asked the LORD, “Should I go and attack them?”
“Yes, go and save Keilah,” the LORD told him.
“Yes, go and save Keilah,” the LORD told him.
But David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the ranks of the Philistines?”
But David’s men said, “We’re afraid even here in Judah. We certainly don’t want to go to Keilah to fight the whole Philistine army!”
Then David inquired of the LORD once more. And the LORD answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.”
So David asked the LORD again, and again the LORD replied, “Go down to Keilah, for I will help you conquer the Philistines.”
So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines; and he led away their livestock and struck them with a great slaughter. Thus David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah.
So David and his men went to Keilah. They slaughtered the Philistines and took all their livestock and rescued the people of Keilah.
Now it came about, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.
Now when Abiathar son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, he brought the ephod with him.
When it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars.”
Saul soon learned that David was at Keilah. “Good!” he exclaimed. “We’ve got him now! God has handed him over to me, for he has trapped himself in a walled town!”
So Saul summoned all the people for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.
So Saul mobilized his entire army to march to Keilah and besiege David and his men.
Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.”
But David learned of Saul’s plan and told Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod and ask the LORD what he should do.
Then David said, “O LORD God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account.
Then David prayed, “O LORD, God of Israel, I have heard that Saul is planning to come and destroy Keilah because I am here.
“Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” And the LORD said, “He will come down.”
Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will surrender you.”
Again David asked, “Will the leaders of Keilah betray me and my men to Saul?”
And the LORD replied, “Yes, they will betray you.”
And the LORD replied, “Yes, they will betray you.”
Then David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the pursuit.
David Hides in the Wilderness
So David and his men — about 600 of them now — left Keilah and began roaming the countryside. Word soon reached Saul that David had escaped, so he didn’t go to Keilah after all.
David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.
David now stayed in the strongholds of the wilderness and in the hill country of Ziph. Saul hunted him day after day, but God didn’t let Saul find him.
Saul Pursues David
Now David became aware that Saul had come out to seek his life while David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.
One day near Horesh, David received the news that Saul was on the way to Ziph to search for him and kill him.
And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David at Horesh, and encouraged him in God.
Jonathan went to find David and encouraged him to stay strong in his faith in God.
Thus he said to him, “Do not be afraid, because the hand of Saul my father will not find you, and you will be king over Israel and I will be next to you; and Saul my father knows that also.”
“Don’t be afraid,” Jonathan reassured him. “My father will never find you! You are going to be the king of Israel, and I will be next to you, as my father, Saul, is well aware.”
So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD; and David stayed at Horesh while Jonathan went to his house.
So the two of them renewed their solemn pact before the LORD. Then Jonathan returned home, while David stayed at Horesh.
Then Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?
But now the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him. “We know where David is hiding,” they said. “He is in the strongholds of Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which is in the southern part of Jeshimon.
“Now then, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to do so; and our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.”
Come down whenever you’re ready, O king, and we will catch him and hand him over to you!”
Saul said, “May you be blessed of the LORD, for you have had compassion on me.
“The LORD bless you,” Saul said. “At last someone is concerned about me!
“Go now, make more sure, and investigate and see his place where his haunt is, and who has seen him there; for I am told that he is very cunning.
Go and check again to be sure of where he is staying and who has seen him there, for I know that he is very crafty.
“So look, and learn about all the hiding places where he hides himself and return to me with certainty, and I will go with you; and if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”
Discover his hiding places, and come back when you are sure. Then I’ll go with you. And if he is in the area at all, I’ll track him down, even if I have to search every hiding place in Judah!”
Then they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon.
So the men of Ziph returned home ahead of Saul.
Meanwhile, David and his men had moved into the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah Valley south of Jeshimon.
Meanwhile, David and his men had moved into the wilderness of Maon in the Arabah Valley south of Jeshimon.
When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David, and he came down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard it, he pursued David in the wilderness of Maon.
When David heard that Saul and his men were searching for him, he went even farther into the wilderness to the great rock, and he remained there in the wilderness of Maon. But Saul kept after him in the wilderness.
Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain; and David was hurrying to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men were surrounding David and his men to seize them.
Saul and David were now on opposite sides of a mountain. Just as Saul and his men began to close in on David and his men,
But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid on the land.”
an urgent message reached Saul that the Philistines were raiding Israel again.
So Saul returned from pursuing David and went to meet the Philistines; therefore they called that place the Rock of Escape.