1And they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing-floors. 2Therefore David inquired of Yehovah, saying, Shall I go and strike these Philistines? And Yehovah said to David, Go, and strike the Philistines, and save Keilah. 3And David’s men said to him, Behold, we are afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines? 4Then David inquired of Yehovah once again. And Yehovah answered him, and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand. 5And David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. 6And it happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. 7And it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that has gates and bars. 8And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. 9And David knew that Saul was devising evil against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring the ephod here. 10Then David said, O Yehovah, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. 11Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O Yehovah, the God of Israel, I beg you, tell your servant. And Yehovah said, He will come down. 12Then David said, Will the men of Keilah deliver up me and my men into the hand of Saul? And Yehovah said, They will deliver you up. 13Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. And it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah; and he gave up going out. 14And 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. 15And David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the woods. 16And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose, and went to David into the woods, and strengthened his hand in God. 17And he said to him, Do not fear; for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; and you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you; and Saul my father also knows that. 18And the two of them made a covenant before Yehovah: and David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his house. 19Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, Is not David hiding himself with us in the strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert? 20Now therefore, O king, come down, according to all the desire of your soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him up into the king’s hand. 21And Saul said, Blessed are you of Yehovah; for you have had compassion on me. 22Go, please, make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who has seen him there; for it is told me that he deals very cunningly. 23See therefore, and take knowledge of all the hiding places where he hides himself, and come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall happen, if he is in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah. 24And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert. 25And Saul and his men went to seek him. And they told David: therefore he came down to the rock, and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. 26And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David hurried to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men were surrounding David and his men to take 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 after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth. 29And David went up from there, and dwelt in the strongholds of En-gedi.