23:1 And they told David, saying: Behold the Philistines fight against Ceila, and they rob the barns.

23:2 Therefore David consulted the Lord, saying: Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said to David: Go, and thou shalt smite the Philistines, and shalt save Ceila.

23:3 And the men that were with David, said to him: Behold we are in fear here in Judea, how much more if we go to Ceila against the bands of the Philistines?

23:4 Therefore David consulted the Lord again. And he answered and said to him: Arise, and go to Ceila: for I will deliver the Philistines into thy hand.

23:5 David, therefore, and his men, went to Ceila, and fought against the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and made a great slaughter of them: and David saved the inhabitants of Ceila.

23:6 Now at that time, when Abiathar, the son of Achimelech, fled to David, to Ceila, he came down, having an ephod with him.

23:7 And it was told Saul that David was come to Ceila: and Saul said: The Lord hath delivered him into my hands, and he is shut up, being come into a city that hath gates and bars.

23:8 And Saul commanded all the people to go down to fight against Ceila, and to besiege David and his men.

23:9 Now when David understood that Saul secretly prepared evil against him, he said to Abiathar, the priest: Bring hither the ephod.

23:10 And David said: O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath heard a report, that Saul designeth to come to Ceila, to destroy the city for my sake:

23:11 Will the men of Ceila deliver me into his hands? and will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, tell thy servant. And the Lord said: He will come down.

23:12 And David said: Will the men of Ceila deliver me and my men into the hands of Saul? And the Lord said: They will deliver thee up.

23:13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose, and departing from Ceila, wandered up and down, uncertain where they should stay: and it was told Saul that David was fled from Ceila, and had escaped: wherefore he forbore to go out.

23:14 But David abode in the desert in strong holds, and he remained in a mountain of the desert of Ziph, in a woody hill. And Saul sought him always: but the Lord delivered him not into his hands.

23:15 And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life. And David was in the desert of Ziph, in a wood.

23:16 And Jonathan, the son of Saul, arose, and went to David, into the wood, and strengthened his hands in God: and he said to him:

23:17 Fear not: for the hand of my father, Saul, shall not find thee, and thou shalt reign over Israel, and I shall be next to thee; yea and my father knoweth this.

23:18 And they two made a covenant before the Lord: and David abode in the wood: but Jonathan returned to his house.

23:19 And the Ziphites went up to Saul, in Gabaa, saying: Lo, doth not David lie hid with us in the strong holds of the wood, in mount Hachila, which is on the right hand of the desert.

23:20 Now therefore come down, as thy soul hath desired to come down: and it shall be our business to deliver him into the king's hands.

23:21 And Saul said: Blessed be ye of the Lord, for you have pitied my case.

23:22 Go, therefore, I pray you, and use all diligence, and curiously inquire, and consider the place where his foot is, and who hath seen him there: for he thinketh of me, that I lie craftily in wait for him.

23:23 Consider, and see all his lurking holes, wherein he is hid, and return to me with the certainty of the thing, that I may go with you. And if he should even go down into the earth to hide himself, I will search him out in all the thousands of Juda.

23:24 And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: and David and his men were in the desert of Maon, in the plain at the right hand of Jesimon.

23:25 Then Saul and his men went to seek him: and it was told David, and forthwith he went down to the rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon: and when Saul had heard of it, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

23:26 And Saul went on this side of the mountain: and David and his men were on the other side of the mountain: and David despaired of being able to escape from the face of Saul: and Saul and his men encompassed David and his men round about, to take them.

23:27 And a messenger came to Saul, saying: Make haste to come, for the Philistines have poured in themselves upon the land.

23:28 Wherefore Saul returned, leaving the pursuit of David, and went to meet the Philistines. For this cause they called that place the rock of division.