1Then they tolde Dauid, saying, Beholde, the Philistims fight against Keilah, and spoyle the barnes.
2Therfore Dauid asked counsel of the Lord, saying, Shal I goe and smite these Philistims? And the Lord answered Dauid, Go and smite the Philistims, and saue Keilah.
3And Dauids men said vnto him, See, we be afrayde here in Iudah, howe much more if we come to Keilah against the hoste of ye Philistims?
4Then Dauid asked counsell of the Lord againe. And the Lord answered him, and sayd, Arise, go downe to Keilah: for I wil deliuer the Philistims into thine hand.
5So Dauid and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistims, and brought away their cattel, and smote them with a great slaughter: thus Dauid saued the inhabitants of Keilah.
6(And when Abiathar the sonne of Ahimelech fled to Dauid to Keilah, he brought an Ephod with him)
7And it was tolde Saul that Dauid was come to Keilah, and Saul sayd, God hath deliuered him into mine hand: for he is shut in, seeing he is come into a citie that hath gates and barres.
8Then Saul called all the people together to warre, for to go downe to Keilah, and to besiege Dauid and his men.
9And Dauid hauing knowledge that Saul imagined mischiefe against him, saide to Abiathar the Priest, Bring the Ephod.
10Then sayde Dauid, O Lord God of Israel, thy seruat hath heard, that Saul is about to come to Keilah to destroy the citie for my sake.
11Wil the lordes of Keilah deliuer me vp into his hand? and will Saul come downe, as thy seruant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy seruant. And the Lord sayde, He will come downe.
12Then said Dauid, Will the lords of Keilah deliuer me vp, and the men that are with me, into the hand of Saul? And the Lord sayde, They will deliuer thee vp.
13Then Dauid and his men, which were about sixe hundreth, arose, and departed out of Keilah, and went whither they coulde. And it was tolde Saul, that Dauid was fled from Keilah, and he left off his iourney.
14And Dauid abode in the wildernesse in holdes, and remayned in a mountaine in the wildernes of Ziph. And Saul sought him euery day, but God deliuered him not into his hand.
15And Dauid sawe that Saul was come out for to seeke his life: and Dauid was in the wildernes of Ziph in the wood.
16And Ionathan Sauls sonne arose and went to Dauid into the wood, and comforted him in God,
17And said vnto him, Feare not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not finde thee, and thou shalt be King ouer Israel, and I shalbe next vnto thee: and also Saul my father knoweth it.
18So they twaine made a couenant before ye Lord: and Dauid did remaine in the wood: but Ionathan went to his house.
19Then came vp the Ziphims to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doeth not Dauid hide himselfe by vs in holdes, in the wood in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the right side of Ieshimon?
20Nowe therefore, O King, come downe according to all that thine heart can desire, and our part shall be to deliuer him into the Kinges handes.
21Then Saul said, Be ye blessed of the Lord: for ye haue had compassion on mee.
22Goe, I pray you, and prepare ye yet better: know and see his place where he haunteth, and who hath seene him there: for it is sayd to me, He is subtile, and craftie.
23See therefore and know all the secret places where he hideth himselfe, and come ye againe to me with the certaintie, and I will goe with you: and if he be in the lande, I will searche him out throughout all the thousands of Iudah.
24Then they arose and went to Ziph before Saul, but Dauid and his men were in the wildernesse of Maon, in the playne on the right hande of Ieshimon.
25Saul also and his men went to seeke him, and they told Dauid: wherefore he came downe vnto a rocke, and abode in the wildernesse of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he folowed after Dauid in the wildernes of Maon.
26And Saul and his men went on the one side of the mountaine, and Dauid and his men on the other side of the mountaine: and Dauid made haste to get from the presence of Saul: for Saul and his men compassed Dauid and his men round about, to take them.
27But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come: for the Philistims haue inuaded the land.
28Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing Dauid, and went against the Philistims. Therefore they called that place, Sela-hammahlekoth.