⁴David again asked the Lord, and the Lord answered, “Go down to Keilah. I will help you defeat the Philistines.” ⁵So David and his men went to Keilah and fought the Philistines and took their cattle. David killed many Philistines and saved the people of Keilah. ⁶(Now Abiathar son of Ahimelech had brought the holy vest with him when he came to David at Keilah.)

Saul Chases David

⁷Someone told Saul that David was now at Keilah. Saul said, “God has handed David over to me! He has trapped himself, because he has entered a town with gates and bars.” ⁸Saul called all his army together for battle, and they prepared to go down to Keilah to attack David and his men.

⁹David learned Saul was making evil plans against him. So he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the holy vest.” ¹⁰David prayed, “Lord, God of Israel, I have heard that Saul plans to come to Keilah to destroy the town because of me. ¹¹Will the leaders of Keilah hand me over to Saul? Will Saul come down to Keilah, as I heard? Lord, God of Israel, tell me, your servant!”

The Lord answered, “Saul will come down.”

¹²Again David asked, “Will the leaders of Keilah hand me and my men over to Saul?”

The Lord answered, “They will.”

¹³So David and his six hundred men left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul found out that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there.

¹⁴David stayed in the desert hideouts and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Every day Saul looked for David, but the Lord did not surrender David to him.

¹⁵While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that Saul was coming to kill him. ¹⁶But Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and strengthened his faith in God. ¹⁷Jonathan told him, “Don’t be afraid, because my father won’t touch you. You will be king of Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.” ¹⁸The two of them made an agreement before the Lord. Then Jonathan went home, but David stayed at Horesh.

¹⁹The people from Ziph went to Saul at Gibeah and told him, “David is hiding in our land. He’s at the hideouts of Horesh, on the hill of Hakilah, south of Jeshimon. ²⁰Now, our king, come down anytime you want. It’s our duty to hand David over to you.”

²¹Saul answered, “The Lord bless you for helping me. ²²Go and learn more about him. Find out where he is staying and who has seen him there. I have heard that he is clever. ²³Find all the hiding places he uses, and come back and tell me everything. Then I’ll go with you. If David is in the area, I will track him down among all the families in Judah.”

²⁴So they went back to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Desert of Maon ⁿ in the desert area south of Jeshimon. ²⁵Saul and his men went to look for David, but David heard about it and went down to a rock and stayed in the Desert of Maon. When Saul heard that, he followed David into the Desert of Maon.

²⁶Saul was going along one side of the mountain, and David and his men were on the other side. They were hurrying to get away from Saul, because Saul and his men were closing in on them. ²⁷But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Come quickly! The Philistines are attacking our land!” ²⁸So Saul stopped chasing David and went to challenge the Philistines. That is why people call this place Rock of Parting. ²⁹David also left the Desert of Maon and stayed in the hideouts of En Gedi.

David Shames Saul

24After Saul returned from chasing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.” ²So he took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and began looking for David and his men near the Rocks of the Wild Goats.

³Saul came to the sheep pens beside the road. A cave was there, and he went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were hiding far back in the cave. ⁴The men said to David, “Today is the day the Lord spoke of when he said, ‘I will give your enemy over to you. Do anything you want with him.’ ”

Then David crept up to Saul and quietly cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. ⁵Later David felt guilty because he had cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. ⁶He said to his men, “May the Lord keep me from doing such a thing to my master! Saul is the Lord’s appointed king. I should not do anything against him, because he is the Lord’s appointed king!” ⁷David used these words to stop his men; he did not let them attack Saul. Then Saul left the cave and went his way.

⁸When David came out of the cave, he shouted to Saul, “My master and king!” Saul looked back, and David bowed facedown on the ground. ⁹He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when people say, ‘David wants to harm you’? ¹⁰You have seen something with your own eyes today. The Lord put you in my power in the cave. They said I should kill you, but I was merciful. I said, ‘I won’t harm my master, because he is the Lord’s appointed king.’ ¹¹My father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe, but I didn’t kill you. Now understand and know I am not planning any evil against you. I did nothing wrong to you, but you are hunting me to kill me. ¹²May the Lord judge between us, and may he punish you for the wrong you have done to me! But I am not against you. ¹³There is an old saying: ‘Evil things come from evil people.’ But I am not against you. ¹⁴Whom is the king of Israel coming out against? Whom are you chasing? It’s as if you are chasing a dead dog or a flea. ¹⁵May the Lord be our judge and decide between you and me. May he support me and show that I am right. May he save me from you!”

¹⁶When David finished saying these words, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he cried loudly. ¹⁷He said, “You are a better man than I am. You have been good to me, but I have done wrong to you. ¹⁸You told me what good things you did. The Lord handed me over to you, but you did not kill me. ¹⁹People don’t normally let an enemy get away like this, do they? May the Lord reward you because you were good to me today. ²⁰I know you will surely be king, and you will rule the kingdom of Israel. ²¹Now swear to me by the Lord that you will not kill my descendants and that you won’t wipe out my name from my father’s family.”

²²So David made the promise to Saul. Then Saul went back home, and David and his men went up to their hideout.

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Footnotes

nMaon Some early Greek copies say “Maon.” The Hebrew copies say “Paran.”