11. Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? Adonai God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” “He will come down,” Adonai said.
12. Then David asked, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my fellow men into the hand of Saul?” “They will surrender,” Adonai said.
13. Then David and his fellow men, about 600, got up and left Keilah, and went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he stopped the pursuit.
14. So David stayed in the strongholds of the wilderness, remaining in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul searched for him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.
15. By now David was aware that Saul would come out to seek his life while David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Choresh.
16. Then Saul’s son Jonathan arose and went to David at Choresh and strengthened him in God.
17. “Don’t be afraid,” he said to him, “because my father Saul will never find you. You will be king over Israel and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul recognizes that.”
18. Again they cut a covenant before Adonai. David remained at Choresh, but Jonathan went home.
19. Then some of the Ziphites went up to Saul in Gibeah, saying, “Isn’t David hiding with us in the strongholds at Choresh, in the hill of Hachilah which is south of Jeshimon?
20. Now therefore, O king, come down whenever it is a desire of your soul to come down—our part will be to deliver him into the king’s hand.”
21. “May you be blessed of Adonai,” Saul said, “for you have taken pity on me.