David

David consulted ADONAI again; and ADONAI answered him, "Set out, and go down to Ke'ilah, because I will hand the P'lishtim over to you.

David and his men went to Ke'ilah and fought the P'lishtim. They defeated them in a great slaughter and led away their livestock. Thus David saved the inhabitants of Ke'ilah.

When Avyatar the son of Achimelekh fled to David in Ke'ilah, he had brought a ritual vest with him.

Now Sha'ul, on being informed that David had gone to Ke'ilah, had said, "God has put him into my hands. He's trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars."

So Sha'ul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Ke'ilah and besiege David and his men.

David knew that Sha'ul was plotting something against him, so he told Avyatar the cohen, "Bring the ritual vest here."

Then David said, "ADONAI God of Isra'el, your servant has certainly heard that Sha'ul intends to come to Ke'ilah and destroy the city just to get me.

Then David asked, "Will the men of Ke'ilah hand me and my men over to Sha'ul?"ADONAI said, "They will hand you over."

So David and his men, now around six hundred, got up, left Ke'ilah and went wherever they could. It was told Sha'ul that David had escaped from Ke'ilah, so he called off the expedition.

David stayed in the desert strongholds, remaining in the hills of the Zif Desert. Sha'ul kept trying to find him, but God did not hand him over to him

David saw that Sha'ul had mounted another expedition to seek his life. David was then at Horesh in the Zif Desert.

Y'honatan Sha'ul's son set out and went to David at Horesh to encourage him in God.

Then the two of them made a covenant in the presence of ADONAI, after which David stayed at Horesh and Y'honatan returned home.

The people of Zif came to Sha'ul in Giv'ah and said, "David is hiding himself with us in the strongholds at Horesh, on Hakhilah Hill, south of Yeshimon

They set out and went to Zif before Sha'ul. But David and his men had gone on to the Ma'on Desert, in the 'Aravah south of Yeshimon.

Sha'ul and his men went searching for him. David was told, so he came down to the rock and stayed in the Ma'on Desert. When Sha'ul heard that, he pursued David in the Ma'on Desert.

Sha'ul went along one side of the mountain, while David and his men went along the other. David was hurrying to get away from Sha'ul, while Sha'ul and his men were trying to surround David and his men in order to capture them.

So Sha'ul stopped chasing David and went to fight the P'lishtim. Therefore they called that place Sela-Hamachlekot [rock of divisions].

From there David went up and lived in the strongholds of 'Ein-Gedi.

When Sha'ul returned from pursuing the P'lishtim, he was told that David was in the desert at 'Ein-Gedi.

Sha'ul took three thousand men chosen from all Isra'el and went searching for David and his men on the cliffs where the mountain goats are.

Near some sheep pens along the way was a cave, and Sha'ul went inside to relieve himself. It happened that David and his men were sitting in the recesses at the back of the cave;

and David's men said to him, "Look! The day has come that ADONAI told you about when he said to you, 'I will turn your enemy over to you, and you will do to him whatever seems good to you.'"Then David stole over unobserved and cut off the corner of Sha'ul's cloak.

But after doing this, David felt remorse over cutting Sha'ul's garment.

By saying this, David stopped his men and would not let them do anything to Sha'ul. Sha'ul got up, left the cave and went on his way.