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23 Then they told David, saying, “Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and plunder the barns.”

Therefore, David asked counsel of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and strike these Philistines?” And the LORD answered David, “Go and strike the Philistines and save Keilah.”

And David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more if we come to Keilah against the army of the Philistines?”

Then David asked counsel of the LORD again. And the LORD answered him, and said: “Arise, go down to Keilah. For I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.”

So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their cattle and struck them with a great slaughter. Thus David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

And when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David, to Keilah, he brought an ephod with him.

And it was told to Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand; for he is closed in, seeing he has come into a city that has gates and bars.”

Then Saul called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah and to besiege David and his men.

And David, having knowledge that Saul devised mischief against him, said to Abiathar the Priest, “Bring the ephod.”

10 Then David said, “O LORD God of Israel! Your servant has heard that Saul is about to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.

11 “Will the lords of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? And will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant!” And the LORD said: “He will come down.”

12 Then David said, “Will the lords of Keilah deliver me up, and the men who are with me, into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said: “They will deliver you up.”

13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah and went wherever they could. And it was told to Saul that David had fled from Keilah. And he ceased his journey.

14 And David stayed in the wilderness, in the strongholds, and remained on a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day; but God did not deliver him into his hand.

15 And David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the wilderness of Ziph, in the forest.

16 And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David, into the forest, and comforted him in God,

17 and 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 also, Saul, my father, knows it.”

18 So the two of them made a covenant before the LORD. And David remained in the forest; but Jonathan went to his house.

19 Then, the Ziphites came up to Saul, to Gibeah, saying, “Does not David hide himself with us in strongholds in the forest, on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the right side of Jeshimon?

20 “Now, therefore, O king, come down according to all that your heart can desire. And our part shall be to deliver him into the king’s hands.”

21 Then Saul said, “Be blessed of the LORD! For you have had compassion on me.

22 “Please go and find out more. Know and see this place that he haunts and who has seen him there. For it is said to me, ‘He is subtle and crafty.’

23 “See, therefore, and know all the secret places where he hides himself. And come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. And if he is in the land, I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah.”

24 Then they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. But David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the plain, to the right of Jeshimon.

25 When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David. Therefore, he came down to a rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he followed after David in the wilderness of Maon.

26 And Saul and his men went to one side of the mountain, and David and his men to the other side of the mountain. And David hurried to get away from the presence of Saul (for Saul and his men surrounded David and his men, to take them).

27 But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come! For the Philistines have invaded the land!”

28 Therefore, Saul returned from pursuing David and went against the Philistines. So they called that place: Sela Hammahlekoth.