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And Saul said to his slaves that stood about him, Hear now, you Benjamites; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, he will make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds,

Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king.

Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? be it far from me: don't let the king impute anything to his slave, nor to all the house of my father; for your slave knows nothing of all this, less or more.

And David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and slew them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

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

Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? will Saul come down, as your slave has heard? O Yahweh, the God of Israel, I urge you, tell your slave. And Yahweh said, He will come down.

Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. And it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah; then he stopped to go forth.

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

And David saw that Saul came out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the forest.

And Jonathan, Saul's son, arose, and went to David into the forest, and strengthened his hand in God.

And they both made a covenant before Yahweh: and David abode in the forest, and Jonathan went to his house.

Go, I pray you, make yet more sure, and know and see his place where [the trace of] his foot is, [and] who has seen him there; for it is told me that he deals very subtly.

And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert.

And Saul and his men went to seek him. And they told David: therefore he came down to the rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard [that], he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David hurried to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them.

Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats.

And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave.

And he said to his men, Yahweh forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, Yahweh's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is Yahweh's anointed.

So David checked his men with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way.