CHAPTER 23
1 And they told to David, and said, Lo! The Philistines fight against Keilah, and ravish the cornfloors.
2 Therefore David counselled with the Lord, and said, Whether I shall go, and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said to David, Go forth, and thou shalt smite the Philistines, and thou shalt save Keilah.
3 And men, that were with David, said to him, Lo! we be here in Judah, and have dread; how much more if we shall go into Keilah against the companies of Philistines.
4 Therefore again David counselled with the Lord; the which answered, and said to David, Rise thou up, and go into Keilah; for I shall betake [the] Philistines into thine hand.
5 Therefore David went, and his men, into Keilah, and fought against the Philistines; and he drove away their work beasts, and smote them with [a] great wound; and David saved the dwellers of Keilah.
6 And in that time, wherein Abiathar, [the] son of Ahimelech, fled to David into Keilah, he came down, and had with him ephod, that is, the cloth of the highest priest.
7 And it was told to Saul, that David had come into Keilah; and Saul said, The Lord hath taken him into mine hands, and he is enclosed, and entered into a city, in which be gates and locks.
8 And Saul commanded to all the people, that it should go down to battle into Keilah, and besiege David and his men.
9 And when David perceived, that Saul made ready evil privily to him, he said to Abiathar, the priest, Bring hither [the] ephod.
10 And David said, Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath heard say, that Saul disposeth to come to Keilah, that he destroy the city for me;
11 if the men of Keilah shall betake me into his hands, and if Saul shall come down, as thy servant hath heard, thou Lord God of Israel, show to thy servant? And the Lord said, He shall come down.
12 And David said again, Whether the men of Keilah shall betake me, and the men that be with me, into the hands of Saul? And the Lord said, They shall betake thee to Saul, if thou abidest him there.
13 Therefore David rose, and his men, as six hundred; and they went out of Keilah, and wandered uncertain hither and thither. And it was told to Saul, that David had fled from Keilah, and was saved; wherefore Saul dis-sembled to go out.
14 But David dwelled in the desert, in full strong places, and he dwelled in the hill of wilderness of Ziph, in a dark hill; nevertheless Saul sought him in all days, and the Lord betook not him into the hands of Saul.
15 And David saw, that Saul went out, that he would seek his life. And David was in the desert of Ziph, in a wood.
16 And Jonathan, the son of Saul, rose up, and went to David into the wood, and comforted his hands in God.
17 And he said to David, Dread thou not; for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee, and thou shalt reign on Israel, and I shall be the second to thee; but also Saul my father knoweth this.
18 Therefore ever either smote bond of peace before the Lord. And David dwelled in the wood; and Jonathan turned again into his house.
19 Certainly men of Ziph went up to Saul in Gibeah, and said, Lo! whether not David is hid with us in the full secure places in the thick woods, in the hill of Hachilah, that is at the right side of desert?
20 Now therefore come thou down, as thy soul desired, that thou shouldest come down; forsooth it shall be our doing, that we betake him into the hands of the king.
21 And Saul said, Blessed be ye of the Lord, for ye [have] sorrowed for my stead or for my while.
22 Therefore, I pray you, go ye, and make ready more diligently, and do ye more curiously, either attentively, and behold ye swiftly, where his foot is, either who saw him there, where ye said; for he thinketh on me, that fellily or slyly I ambush him.
23 Behold ye, and see all his hiding places, in which he is hid, and then turn ye again to me at a certain thing, that I go with you; that if he encloseth himself yea in [the] earth, I shall seek him with all the thousands of Judah.
24 And they rose up, and went into Ziph before Saul. And David and his men were in the desert of Maon, in the field places, at the right half of Jeshimon.
25 Therefore Saul went and his fellows to seek David, and it was told to David; and anon he went down to the stone, and lived in the desert of Maon; and when Saul had heard this, he pursued David in the desert of Maon.
26 And Saul went and his men at the side of the hill on [the] one part; forsooth David and his men were in the side of the hill on the tother part; soothly David despaired, that he might not escape from the face of Saul. And so Saul and his men compassed by the manner of a crown round about David and his men, that they should take them.
27 And a messenger came to Saul, and said, Haste thou, and come, for the Philistines have spread themselves on the land.
28 Therefore Saul turned again, and ceased to pursue David; and went against the coming of Philistines. For this thing they called that place The Stone of Parting.
29 Therefore David went up from thence, and dwelled in the most secure places of Engedi.