1 Samuel 23:7-18

Saul Pursues David 7Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, and he said, “God has delivered him into my hands, for David has imprisoned himself by entering a town with gates and bars.”

8And Saul called up all his forces for battle, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men. 9When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.” 10David said, “ LORD, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me.

11Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? LORD, God of Israel, tell your servant.” And the LORD said, “He will.”

12Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will.”

13So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there.

14David stayed in the wilderness strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands. 15While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that Or he was afraid because Saul had come out to take his life. 16And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. 17“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.”

18The two of them made a covenant before the LORD . Then Jonathan went home, but David remained at Horesh.