1 Samuel 22–23

David’s Four Hundred Men

22David therefore departed from there and ^aescaped ^bto the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. ^2cAnd everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was ¹discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about ^dfour hundred men with him.

³Then David went from there to Mizpah of ^eMoab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come here with you, till I know what God will do for me.” ⁴So he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.

⁵Now the prophet ^fGad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; depart, and go to the land of Judah.” So David departed and went into the forest of Hereth.

Saul Murders the Priests

⁶When Saul heard that David and the men who were with him had been discovered—now Saul was staying in ^gGibeah under a tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants standing about him—⁷then Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse ^hgive every one of you fields and vineyards, and make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds? ⁸All of you have conspired against me, and there is no one who reveals to me that ⁱmy son has made a covenant with the son of Jesse; and there is not one of you who is sorry for me or reveals to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day.”

⁹Then answered ^jDoeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said, “I saw the son of Jesse going to Nob, to ^kAhimelech the son of ^lAhitub. ^10mAnd he inquired of the Lord for him, ⁿgave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

¹¹So the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were in Nob. And they all came to the king. ¹²And Saul said, “Hear now, son of Ahitub!”

He answered, “Here I am, my lord.”

¹³Then Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as it is this day?”

¹⁴So Ahimelech answered the king and said, “And who among all your servants is as ^ofaithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, who goes at your bidding, and is honorable in your house? ¹⁵Did I then begin to inquire of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king impute anything to his servant, or to any in the house of my father. For your servant knew nothing of all this, little or much.”

¹⁶And the king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all ^pyour father’s house!” ¹⁷Then the king said to the guards who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me.” But the servants of the king ^qwould not lift their hands to strike the priests of the Lord. ¹⁸And the king said to Doeg, “You turn and kill the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite turned and ²struck the priests, and ^rkilled on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod. ^19sAlso Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep—with the edge of the sword.

^20tNow one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, ^uescaped and fled after David. ²¹And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the Lord’s priests. ²²So David said to Abiathar, “I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the persons of your father’s ³house. ²³Stay with me; do not fear. ^vFor he who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me you shall be safe.”

David Saves the City of Keilah

23Then they told David, saying, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against ^aKeilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors.”

²Therefore David ^binquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and ¹attack these Philistines?”

And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines, and save Keilah.”

³But David’s men said to him, “Look, 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 the Lord once again.

And the Lord 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 ^cfought with the Philistines, struck them with a mighty blow, and took away their livestock. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

⁶Now it happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech ^dfled to David at Keilah, that he went down with an ephod in his hand.

⁷And Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah. So Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” ⁸Then Saul called all the people together for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

⁹When David knew that Saul plotted evil against him, ^ehe said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” ¹⁰Then David said, “O Lord God of Israel, Your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah ^fto destroy the city for my sake. ¹¹Will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? 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.”

¹²Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah ²deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?”

And the Lord said, “They will deliver you.”

¹³So David and his men, ^gabout six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah and went wherever they could go. Then it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah; so he halted the expedition.

David in Wilderness Strongholds

¹⁴And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in ^hthe mountains in the Wilderness of ⁱZiph. Saul ^jsought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand. ¹⁵So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph ³in a forest. ¹⁶Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and ⁴strengthened his hand in God. ¹⁷And he said to him, ^k“Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. ^lEven my father Saul knows that.” ¹⁸So the two of them ^mmade a covenant before the Lord. And David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house.

¹⁹Then the Ziphites ⁿcame up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding with us in strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon? ²⁰Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to come down; and ^oour part shall be to deliver him into the king’s hand.”

²¹And Saul said, “Blessed are you of the Lord, for you have compassion on me. ²²Please go and find out for sure, and see the place where his hideout is, and who has seen him there. For I am told he is very crafty. ²³See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides; and come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. And it shall be, if he is in the land, that I will search for him throughout all the ⁵clans of Judah.”

²⁴So they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. But David and his men were in the Wilderness ^pof Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon. ²⁵When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David. Therefore he went down ⁶to the rock, and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued David in the Wilderness of Maon. ²⁶Then Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. ^qSo David made haste to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men ^rwere encircling David and his men to take them.

^27sBut a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have invaded the land!” ²⁸Therefore Saul returned from pursuing David, and went against the Philistines; so they called that place ⁷the Rock of Escape. ²⁹Then David went up from there and dwelt in strongholds at ^tEn Gedi.