Priests Killed at Nob

22 So David departed from there and (A)escaped to (B)the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s household heard about it, they went down there to him. Then everyone who was in distress, and everyone who [a]was in debt, and everyone who was [b]discontented gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were (C)about four hundred men with him.

And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me.” Then he [c]left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. But (D)Gad the prophet said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold; leave, and go into the land of Judah.” So David left and went into the forest of Hereth.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 22:2 Lit had a creditor
  2. 1 Samuel 22:2 Lit bitter of soul
  3. 1 Samuel 22:4 Probable reading of the Heb; MT brought them before

22 So David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam, where his brothers and other relatives soon joined him. Then others began coming—those who were in any kind of trouble, such as being in debt, or merely discontented—until David was the leader of about four hundred men.

(Later David went to Mizpeh in Moab to ask permission of the king for his father and mother to live there under royal protection until David knew what God was going to do for him. They stayed in Moab during the entire period when David was living in the cave.)

One day the prophet Gad told David to leave the cave and return to the land of Judah. So David went to the forest of Hereth.

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