1 Samuel 23:19-29

New American Standard Bible 1995

¹⁹ Then ^(A)Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on ^(B)the hill of Hachilah, which is on the ^[a]south of ^[b]Jeshimon? ²⁰ Now then, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to ^[c]do so; and ^(C)our part shall be to surrender him into the king’s hand.” ²¹ Saul said, “May you be blessed of the Lord, ^(D)for you have had compassion on me. ²² Go now, make more sure, and investigate and see his place where his ^[d]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 ^(E)Maon, in the Arabah to the ^[e]south of ^[f]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 ^(F)were 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 ^[g]the Rock of Escape. ^29 [h]David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of ^(G)Engedi.