1 Samuel 23:8-29

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 1Abiathar the priest, “2Bring 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, “3They will surrender you.” 13Then David and his men, 4about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went 5wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he 6gave up the pursuit. 14David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of 7Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but 8God did not deliver him into his hand.

15Now David 9became 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 1011encouraged him in God. 17Thus he said to him, “12Do 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 13Saul my father knows that also.” 18So 14the two of them made a covenant before the Lord; and David stayed at Horesh while Jonathan went to his house.

19Then 15Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on 16the hill of Hachilah, which is on the 17south of 18Jeshimon? 20Now then, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to 19do so; and 20our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.” 21Saul said, “May you be blessed of the Lord, 21for you have had compassion on me. 22Go now, make more sure, and investigate and see his place where his 22haunt 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.”

24Then they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of 23Maon, in the Arabah to the 24south of 25Jeshimon. 25When 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. 26Saul 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 26were surrounding David and his men to seize them. 27But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid on the land.” 28So Saul returned from pursuing David and went to meet the Philistines; therefore they called that place 27the Rock of Escape. 2928David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of 29Engedi.