1 Samuel 23:1-14

David Delivers Keilah

1 Then they told David, saying, "Behold, the Philistines are fighting against ¹Keilah and are plundering the threshing floors."

2 So David ²inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And the LORD said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines and deliver Keilah."

3 But David's men said to him, "Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much * more * then if we go to Keilah against the ranks of the Philistines?"

4 Then David inquired of the LORD once * more *. And the LORD answered him and said, "Arise, go down to Keilah, for ³I will give the Philistines into your hand.

5 So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines; and he led away their livestock and struck them with a great slaughter. Thus David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah.

6 Now it came about, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech ⁴fled to David at Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

7 When it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, "God has delivered him into my hand, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars."

8 So Saul summoned all the people for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

9 Now David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to ⁵Abiathar the priest, "⁶Bring the ephod here."

10 Then David said, "O LORD God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account.

11 "Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant." And the LORD said, "He will come down."

12 Then David said, "Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?" And the LORD said, "⁷They will surrender you."

13 Then David and his men, ⁸about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went ⁹wherever they could go. When it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the pursuit.

14 David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of ¹⁰Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but ¹¹God did not deliver him into his hand

1 Samuel 23:1-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 23

This chapter gives an account of David's relieving Keilah, when it had like to have fallen into the hands of the Philistines, 1Sa 23:1-6; and of Saul's design to surprise him there, which David having notice of, and inquiring of the Lord, departed from thence; which when Saul heard of, he forbore to come forth, 1Sa 23:7-13; and of David's being in the wilderness of Ziph, where, in a wood there, he had an interview with Jonathan, 1Sa 23:14-18; and of the Ziphites offering to deliver him up to Saul, for which he commends them, and gives them instructions how they should behave to him in that affair, 1Sa 23:19-23; and of his seeking him in the wilderness of Maon, where David and his men were in great danger of being taken; which was prevented by the news of the Philistines invading the land coming to Saul just at the nick of time, 1Sa 23:24-29.

Cross References

• 1. Joshua 15:44; Nehemiah 3:17, 18
• 2. 1 Sam 23:4, 6, 9-12; 2 Samuel 5:19, 23
• 3. Joshua 8:7; Judges 7:7
• 4. 1 Samuel 22:20
• 5. 1 Samuel 22:20
• 6. 1 Samuel 23:6; 1 Samuel 30:7
• 7. Judges 15:10-13; 1 Samuel 23:20
• 8. 1 Samuel 22:2; 1 Samuel 25:13
• 9. 2 Samuel 15:20
• 10. Joshua 15:55; 2 Chronicles 11:8
• 11. Psalms 32:7

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "smite"
• [b]. Lit "smite"
• [c]. Lit "alienated"
• [d]. Lit "ceased going out"