1 Samuel 23:7-29

7 When it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, "God has delivered him into my hand, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars."

8 So Saul summoned all the people for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

9 Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to ¹Abiathar the priest, "²Bring the ephod here."

10 Then David said, "O LORD God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account.

11 "Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant." And the LORD said, "He will come down."

12 Then David said, "Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And the LORD said, "³They will surrender you."

13 Then David and his men, ⁴about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went ⁵wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the pursuit.

14 David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of ⁶Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but ⁷God did not deliver him into his hand

Saul Pursues David

15 Now David became aware that Saul had come out to seek his life while David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.

16 And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose and went to David at Horesh, and ⁸encouraged * him in God.

17 Thus he said to him, "⁹Do not be afraid, because the hand of Saul my father will not find you, and you will be king over Israel and I will be next to you; and ¹⁰Saul my father knows that also."

18 So ¹¹the two of them made a covenant before the LORD; and David stayed at Horesh while Jonathan went to his house.

19 Then ¹²Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "Is David not hiding with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on ¹³the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon

20 "Now then, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to do so; and ¹⁴our part shall be to surrender him into the king's hand."

21 Saul said, "May you be blessed of the LORD, ¹⁵for you have had compassion on me

22 "Go now, make more sure, and investigate and see his place where * his haunt is, and who has seen him there; for I am told that he is very cunning.

23 "So look, and learn about all the hiding places where * he hides himself and return to me with certainty, and I will go with you; and if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah."

24 Then they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of ¹⁶Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon.

25 When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David, and he came down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard it, he pursued David in the wilderness of Maon.

26 Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain; and David was hurrying to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men ¹⁷were surrounding David and his men to seize them.

27 But a messenger came to Saul, saying, "Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid on the land."

28 So Saul returned from pursuing David and went to meet the Philistines; therefore * they called that place the Rock of Escape.

29 David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of ¹⁸Engedi.

1 Samuel 23:7-29 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 23

This chapter gives an account of David's relieving Keilah, when it had like to have fallen into the hands of the Philistines, 1Sa 23:1-6; and of Saul's design to surprise him there, which David having notice of, and inquiring of the Lord, departed from thence; which when Saul heard of, he forbore to come forth, 1Sa 23:7-13; and of David's being in the wilderness of Ziph, where, in a wood there, he had an interview with Jonathan, 1Sa 23:14-18; and of the Ziphites offering to deliver him up to Saul, for which he commends them, and gives them instructions how they should behave to him in that affair, 1Sa 23:19-23; and of his seeking him in the wilderness of Maon, where David and his men were in great danger of being taken; which was prevented by the news of the Philistines invading the land coming to Saul just at the nick of time, 1Sa 23:24-29.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Samuel 22:20
• 2. 1 Samuel 23:6; 1 Samuel 30:7
• 3. Judges 15:10-13; 1 Samuel 23:20
• 4. 1 Samuel 22:2; 1 Samuel 25:13
• 5. 2 Samuel 15:20
• 6. Joshua 15:55; 2 Chronicles 11:8
• 7. Psalms 32:7
• 8. 1 Samuel 30:6; Nehemiah 2:18
• 9. Psalms 27:1, 3; Psalms 118:6; Isaiah 54:17; Hebrews 13:6
• 10. 1 Samuel 20:31; 1 Samuel 24:20
• 11. 1 Samuel 18:3; 1 Samuel 20:12-17, 42; 2 Samuel 9:1; 2 Samuel 21:7
• 12. 1 Samuel 26:1; Ps 54: title
• 13. 1 Samuel 26:3
• 14. 1 Samuel 23:12
• 15. 1 Samuel 22:8
• 16. Joshua 15:55; 1 Samuel 25:2
• 17. Psalms 17:9
• 18. Joshua 15:62; 2 Chronicles 20:2

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "alienated"
• [b]. Lit "ceased going out"
• [c]. Lit "saw"
• [d]. Lit "strengthened his hand"
• [e]. Lit "right side"
• [f]. Or "the desert"
• [g]. Lit "come down"
• [h]. Lit "foot"
• [i]. Lit "right side"
• [j]. Or "the desert"
• [k]. Heb "Sela-hammahlekoth"
• [l]. Ch 24:1 in Heb