1 Samuel 23:7-23

7When it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, “God has 1delivered him into my hand, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars.” 8So Saul summoned all the people for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men. 9Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to 2Abiathar the priest, “3Bring the ephod here.” 10Then 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. 11Will 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.” 12Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “4They will surrender you.” 13Then David and his men, 5about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went 6wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he 7gave up the pursuit. 14David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of 8Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but 9God did not deliver him into his hand.

15Now David 10became aware that Saul had come out to seek his life while David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. 16And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David at Horesh, and 1112encouraged him in God. 17Thus he said to him, “13Do 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 14Saul my father knows that also.” 18So 15the two of them made a covenant before the Lord; and David stayed at Horesh while Jonathan went to his house.

19Then 16Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on 17the hill of Hachilah, which is on the 18south of 19Jeshimon? 20Now then, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to 20do so; and 21our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.” 21Saul said, “May you be blessed of the Lord, 22for you have had compassion on me. 22Go now, make more sure, and investigate and see his place where his 23haunt is, and who has seen him there; for I am told that he is very cunning. 23So 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.”