1 And they informed Dawiḏ, saying, “See, the Pelishtites are fighting against Qe’ilah, and they are plundering the threshing-floors.”
2 So Dawiḏ inquired of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, saying, “Shall I go and smite these Pelishtites?” And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said to Dawiḏ, “Go and smite the Pelishtites, and save Qe’ilah.”
3 And Dawiḏ’s men said to him, “See, we here in Yahuḏah are afraid. How much more, then, if we go to Qe’ilah against the armies of the Pelishtites?”
4 And Dawiḏ inquired of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 once again. And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Qe’ilah, for I am giving the Pelishtites into your hand.”
5 So Dawiḏ and his men went to Qe’ilah and fought with the Pelishtites, and he led away their livestock and smote them, a great smiting. Thus Dawiḏ saved the inhabitants of Qe’ilah.
6 And it came to be, when Eḇyathar son of Aḥimeleḵ fled to Dawiḏ at Qe’ilah, that he went down with a shoulder garment in his hand.
7 And Sha’ul was informed that Dawiḏ had gone to Qe’ilah. Then Sha’ul said, “Elohim has estranged him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.”
8 And Sha’ul summoned all the people to battle, to go down, to Qe’ilah to besiege Dawiḏ and his men.
9 And Dawiḏ knew that Sha’ul was plotting evil against him, and said to Eḇyathar the kohĕn, “Bring the shoulder garment here.”
10 And Dawiḏ said, “O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, Your servant has heard for certain that Sha’ul seeks to come to Qe’ilah to destroy the city for my sake.
11 “Are the landowners of Qe’ilah going to surrender me into his hand? Is Sha’ul coming down, as Your servant has heard? O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, I pray, let Your servant know.” And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said, “He is coming down.”
12 And Dawiḏ said, “Are the land-owners of Qe’ilah going to surrender me and my men into the hand of Sha’ul?” And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 said, “They are going to surrender you.”
13 Then Dawiḏ and his men, about six hundred, arose and left Qe’ilah and went wherever they could go. And Sha’ul was informed that Dawiḏ had escaped from Qe’ilah, and he ceased to go out.
14 And Dawiḏ remained in the wilderness, in strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the Wilderness of Ziph. And Sha’ul sought him every day, but Elohim did not give him into his hand.
15 And Dawiḏ saw that Sha’ul had come out to seek his life while Dawiḏ was in the Wilderness of Ziph at Ḥoresh.
16 And Yahonathan, Sha’ul’s son, arose and went to Dawiḏ at Ḥoresh and strengthened his hand in Elohim,
17 and said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Sha’ul my father is not going to find you, and you are to reign over Yisra’ĕl, and I am to be next to you. Even my father Sha’ul knows that.”
18 And they made a covenant before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄. And Dawiḏ remained at Ḥoresh while Yahonathan went to his own house.
19 And the Ziphites came up to Sha’ul at Giḇ’ah, saying, “Is Dawiḏ not hiding with us in the strongholds of Ḥoresh, in the hill of Ḥaḵilah, which is on the south of the wasteland?
20 “And now, O sovereign, by all the desire of your being, come down, come down, and our part is to surrender him into the sovereign’s hand.”
21 And Sha’ul said, “Baruḵ are you of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, for you have sympathy with me.
22 “Please go, prepare yet further and find out and see the place where his hide-out is, who has seen him there. For I am told that he is very cunning.
23 “So look, and learn all about the hiding places where he hides. And you shall come back to me with certainty, then I shall go with you. And it shall be, if he is in the land, that I shall search for him throughout all the clans of Yahuḏah.”
24 And they rose up and went to Ziph before Sha’ul, while Dawiḏ and his men were in the Wilderness of Ma’on, in the desert plain on the south of the wasteland.
25 And Sha’ul and his men went to seek him, and they informed Dawiḏ, so he went down to the rock, and remained in the Wilderness of Ma’on. And when Sha’ul heard this, he pursued Dawiḏ in the Wilderness of Ma’on.
26 And Sha’ul went on one side of the mountain, and Dawiḏ and his men on the other side of the mountain. And Dawiḏ was hurrying to get away from Sha’ul, for Sha’ul and his men were surrounding Dawiḏ and his men to take them.
27 Then a messenger came to Sha’ul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Pelishtites have invaded the land!”
28 So Sha’ul turned back from pursuing Dawiḏ, and went against the Pelishtites. Therefore they called that place Sela ha’Maḥleqoth.
29 And Dawiḏ went up from there and remained in strongholds at Ĕyn Geḏi.