1 Samuel 23:7-23

7When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars.”

8Then Saul summoned all his troops to go to war at Keilah and besiege David and his men.

9When David learned that Saul was plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.”

10And David said, “O LORD, God of Israel, Your servant has heard that Saul intends to come to Keilah and destroy the city on my account. 11Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me into his hand?1 Will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? O LORD, God of Israel, please tell Your servant.”

“He will,” said the LORD.

12So David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?”

“They will,” said the LORD.

13Then David and his men, about six hundred strong, set out and departed from Keilah, moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he declined to go forth.

14And David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God would not deliver David into his hand.

15While David was in Horesh in the Wilderness of Ziph, he saw that Saul had come out to take his life. 16And Saul’s son Jonathan came to David in Horesh and strengthened his hand in God, 17saying, “Do not be afraid, for my father Saul will never lay a hand on you. And you will be king over Israel, and I will be your second-in-command. Even my father Saul knows this is true.”

18So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David remained in Horesh, while Jonathan went home.

19Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon? 20Now, O king, come down whenever your soul desires, and we will be responsible for delivering him into your hand.”

21“May you be blessed by the LORD,” replied Saul, “for you have had compassion on me. 22Please go and prepare further. Investigate and watch carefully where he goes and who has seen him there, for I am told that he is extremely cunning. 23Observe and find out all the places where he hides. Then come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the clans of Judah.”