1 Samuel 23:14-28

New American Standard Bible

¹⁴ David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of ^(A)Ziph. And Saul searched for him every day, but ^(B)God did not hand him over to him.

Saul Pursues David

¹⁵ Now David saw 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, set out and went to David at Horesh, and ^[a](C)encouraged him in God. ¹⁷ He said to him, “^(D)Do 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 second in command to you; and ^(E)Saul my father knows that as well.” ¹⁸ So ^(F)the two of them made a covenant before the Lord; and David stayed at Horesh, while Jonathan went to his house.

¹⁹ Then ^(G)Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not keeping himself hidden with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on ^(H)the hill of Hachilah, which is south of ^[b]Jeshimon? ²⁰ Now then, O king, come down, ^[c]since you fully desire to ^[d]do so; and ^(I)our part shall be to hand him over to the king.” ²¹ Saul said, “May you be blessed of the Lord, ^(J)since you have had compassion on me. ²² Go now, be more persistent, and investigate and see his place where ^[e]he is hiding, 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 keeps himself hidden, 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 So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of ^(K)Maon, in the Arabah to the south of ^[f]Jeshimon. ²⁵ When Saul and his men went to seek him, they informed David, and he came down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard about 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, while Saul and his men ^(L)were surrounding David and his men to apprehend them. ²⁷ But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have launched an attack against the land!” ²⁸ So Saul returned from pursuing David and went to confront the Philistines; therefore they called that place ^[g]the Rock of Division.