²Therefore David consulted the Lord, saying: Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said to David: Go, and thou shalt smite the Philistines, and shalt save Ceila.

³And the men that were with David, said to him: Behold we are in fear here in Judea, how much more if we go to Ceila against the bands of the Philistines?

⁴Therefore David consulted the Lord again. And he answered and said to him: Arise, and go to Ceila: for I will deliver the Philistines into thy hand.

⁵David, therefore, and his men, went to Ceila, and fought against the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and made a great slaughter of them: and David saved the inhabitants of Ceila.

⁶Now at that time, when Abiathar, the son of Achimelech, fled to David, to Ceila, he came down, having an ephod with him.

⁷And it was told Saul that David was come to Ceila: and Saul said: The Lord hath delivered him into my hands, and he is shut up, being come into a city that hath gates and bars.

⁸And Saul commanded all the people to go down to fight against Ceila, and to besiege David and his men.

⁹Now when David understood that Saul secretly prepared evil against him, he said to Abiathar, the priest: Bring hither the ephod.

¹⁰And David said: O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath heard a report, that Saul designeth to come to Ceila, to destroy the city for my sake:

¹¹Will the men of Ceila deliver me into his hands? and will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, tell thy servant. And the Lord said: He will come down.

¹²And David said: Will the men of Ceila deliver me and my men into the hands of Saul? And the Lord said: They will deliver thee up.

¹³Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose, and departing from Ceila, wandered up and down, uncertain where they should stay: and it was told Saul that David was fled from Ceila, and had escaped: wherefore he forbore to go out.

¹⁴But David abode in the desert in strong holds, and he remained in a mountain of the desert of Ziph, in a woody hill. And Saul sought him always: but the Lord delivered him not into his hands.

¹⁵And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life. And David was in the desert of Ziph, in a wood.

¹⁶And Jonathan, the son of Saul, arose, and went to David, into the wood, and strengthened his hands in God: and he said to him:

¹⁷Fear not: for the hand of my father, Saul, shall not find thee, and thou shalt reign over Israel, and I shall be next to thee; yea and my father knoweth this.

¹⁸And they two made a covenant before the Lord: and David abode in the wood: but Jonathan returned to his house.

¹⁹And the Ziphites went up to Saul, in Gabaa, saying: Lo, doth not David lie hid with us in the strong holds of the wood, in mount Hachila, which is on the right hand of the desert.

²⁰Now therefore come down, as thy soul hath desired to come down: and it shall be our business to deliver him into the king’s hands.

²¹And Saul said: Blessed be ye of the Lord, for you have pitied my case.

²²Go, therefore, I pray you, and use all diligence, and curiously inquire, and consider the place where his foot is, and who hath seen him there: for he thinketh of me, that I lie craftily in wait for him.

²³Consider, and see all his lurking holes, wherein he is hid, and return to me with the certainty of the thing, that I may go with you. And if he should even go down into the earth to hide himself, I will search him out in all the thousands of Juda.

²⁴And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: and David and his men were in the desert of Maon, in the plain at the right hand of Jesimon.

²⁵Then Saul and his men went to seek him: and it was told David, and forthwith he went down to the rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon: and when Saul had heard of it, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

²⁶And Saul went on this side of the mountain: and David and his men were on the other side of the mountain: and David despaired of being able to escape from the face of Saul: and Saul and his men encompassed David and his men round about, to take them.

²⁷And a messenger came to Saul, saying: Make haste to come, for the Philistines have poured in themselves upon the land.

²⁸Wherefore Saul returned, leaving the pursuit of David, and went to meet the Philistines. For this cause they called that place the rock of division.

Chapter 24

Then David went up from thence, and dwelt in strong holds of Engaddi.

²And when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, they told him, saying: Behold, David is in the desert of Engaddi.

³Saul, therefore, took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went out to seek after David and his men, even upon the most craggy rocks, which are accessible only to wild goats.

⁴And he came to the sheepcotes which were in his way. And there was a cave, into which Saul went, to ease nature: now David and his men lay hid in the inner part of the cave.

⁵And the servants of David said to him: Behold the day, of which the Lord said to thee: I will deliver thy enemy unto thee, that thou mayst do to him as it shall seem good in thy eyes. Then David arose, and secretly cut off the hem of Saul’s robe.

⁶After which David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off the hem of Saul’s robe.

⁷And he said to his men: The Lord be merciful unto me, that I may do no such thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, as to lay my hand upon him, because he is the Lord’s anointed.

⁸And David stopped his men with his words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul: but Saul, rising up out of the cave, went on his way.

⁹And David also rose up after him: and going out of the cave, cried after Saul, saying: My lord the king. And Saul looked behind him: and David bowing himself down to the ground, worshipped,

¹⁰And said to Saul: Why dost thou hear the words of men that say: David seeketh thy hurt?

¹¹Behold this day thy eyes have seen, that the Lord hath delivered thee into my hand, in the cave, and I had a thought to kill thee, but my eye hath spared thee. For I said: I will not put out my hand against my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.

¹²Moreover, see and know, O my father, the hem of thy robe in my hand, that when I cut off the hem of thy robe, I would not put out my hand against thee. Reflect, and see, that there is no evil in my hand, nor iniquity, neither have I sinned against thee: but thou liest in wait for my life, to take it away.

¹³The Lord judge between me and thee and the Lord revenge me of thee: but my hand shall not be upon thee.

¹⁴As also it is said in the old proverb: From the wicked shall wickedness come forth: therefore my hand shall not be upon thee. After whom dost thou come out, O king of Israel?

¹⁵After whom dost thou pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea.

¹⁶Be the Lord judge, and judge between me and thee, and see, and judge my cause, and deliver me out of thy hand.

¹⁷And when David had made an end of speaking these words to Saul, Saul said: Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept:

¹⁸And he said to David: Thou art more just than I: for thou hast done good to me, and I have rewarded thee with evil.

¹⁹And thou hast shewed this day what good things thou hast done to me: how the Lord delivered me into thy hand, and thou hast not killed me.

²⁰For who when he hath found his enemy, will let him go well away? But the Lord reward thee for this good turn, for what thou hast done to me this day.

²¹And now as I know that thou shalt surely be king, and have the kingdom of Israel in thy hand:

²²Swear to me by the Lord, that thou wilt not destroy my seed after me, nor take away my name from the house of my father.

²³And David swore to Saul. So Saul went home: and David and his men went up into safer places.

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