⁷When Saul was told that David went to Keilah, Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hands. He has trapped himself by going into a city which has ⸤a gate with⸥ a double door ⸤held shut by⸥ a bar.” ⁸So Saul called together all the troops to go to war and blockade Keilah, where David and his men were.

⁹When David learned that Saul was planning to harm him, he told the priest Abiathar, “Bring the ephod.” ¹⁰Then David said, “Lord God of Israel, I have actually heard that Saul is going to come to Keilah and destroy the city on account of me. ¹¹Will the citizens of Keilah hand me over to him? Will Saul come here as I have heard? Lord God of Israel, please tell me.”

“He will come,” the Lord answered.

¹²“Will the citizens of Keilah hand me and my men over to Saul?” David asked.

“They will hand you over,” the Lord answered.

¹³So David and his men, about six hundred^cin all, left Keilah. They went wherever they could go. Then Saul was told, “David has escaped from Keilah!” So he gave up the campaign. ¹⁴David lived in fortified camps in the desert, and he lived in fortified camps in the mountains of the desert of Ziph. Saul was always searching for him, but God didn’t let him capture David.

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Footnotes

c 23:13 Masoretic Text; Greek “four hundred.”