23 David was told, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors.”

² Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go and strike these Philistines?”

Yahweh said to David, “Go strike the Philistines, and save Keilah.”

³ David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”

⁴ Then David inquired of Yahweh yet again. Yahweh answered him, and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.”

⁵ David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their livestock, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

¹⁰ Then David said, “O Yahweh, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. ¹¹ Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Yahweh, the God of Israel, I beg you, tell your servant.”

Yahweh said, “He will come down.”

¹² Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?”

Yahweh said, “They will deliver you up.”

¹³ Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah; and he gave up going there. ¹⁴ David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God didn’t deliver him into his hand.

⁸ David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “If I pursue after this troop, will I overtake them?”

He answered him, “Pursue; for you will surely overtake them, and will without fail recover all.”

⁹ So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed.