1And they revealed to David and they said to him: “Behold, the Philistines are fighting in Qayla and they are plundering the granary!” 2And David asked of LORD JEHOVAH and he said: “Shall I go, shall I destroy these Philistines?” And LORD JEHOVAH said to him, “Go, cut off the Philistines and save Qayla” 3And his men said to David: “Here we are suddenly afraid! How will we go to Qayla to the ranks of the Philistines?” 4And David again asked of God, and LORD JEHOVAH answered him and said to him: “Arise, go down to Qayla, because I am delivering the Philistines into your hands!” 5And David and his men went on to Qayla, and they fought with the Philistines and they took their cattle, and he struck a great slaughter against them, and David saved the inhabitants of Qayla

6And when Abiathar son of Akhimelek fled to David to Qayla, an ephod came down in his hand

7And they told Shaul that David entered into Qayla, and Shaul said: “God has handed him over into my hands, for he is shut in, because he has entered a city of gates and of bolts” 8And Shaul made it heard to all the people to go down to battle at Qayla, to defeat David and the men who were with him 9And David knew that Shaul devised evil against him, and he said to Abiathar the Priest: “Bring me the ephod” 10And David said: “LORD JEHOVAH, God of Israel, your Servant has heard that Shaul seeks to come to Qayla to destroy the city because of me 11 12Are the Lords of the city betraying me and the men who are with me into the hand of Shaul?” And LORD JEHOVAH said, “They are betraying you. Arise, go out from the city.” 13And David arose and the men who were with him, about six hundred men, and they went out from Qayla and they returned. And they revealed to Shaul that David fled from Qayla, and he stopped himself from going out 14And David dwelt in the wilderness of Metsruth, and he dwelt in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph, and Shaul searched for him all of their days, and God did not hand him over into his hand

15And David saw that Shaul went out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a forest 16And Jonathan, son of Shaul, arose and he went on to David into the forest and strengthened his hands in God 17And he said to him: “You shall not be afraid, because the hand of Shaul my father will not find you, and you shall reign over Israel, and I shall be with you, and you shall live; also Shaul my father knows that it is so!” 18And they established, both of them, a covenant before LORD JEHOVAH. He situated Cherubim in the low lying country and Yonathan went to his house

19And the Ziphites came up to Shaul in Gebah and they said to him: “Behold, David is hidden with us in Metsruth in the forest, in Gebuth, in the valley that is at the right side of the desert 20And now, according to all the desire of your soul, come down unto us and we shall deliver him into the hand of the King!” 21And Shaul said to them: “You are blessed by God, for you have had pity on me! 22Go, return, find out his dwelling and know and see the place where his foot may be where anyone has seen him, for they have said to me that he is very subtle 23And know and see from all the hiding places where he hides, and return to me to prepare me, and I shall go with you, so that if he is in the land, I shall search for him among all the thousands of Yehuda”

24And they arose and they went to Ziph before Shaul, and David and his men were in the wilderness of Muun in the desert on the side of Ashimon 25And Shaul and his Servants went on to seek for David, and they showed David, and he came down by himself to Sela, and he dwelt in the wilderness of Muun, and Shaul heard and pursued after David to the wilderness of Muun 26And Shaul went on from the side of the mountain, and David and his men from the other end, and David was quick to flee from before Shaul, and Shaul and his Servants surrounded David and his men to seize them 27And a Messenger came to Shaul and said to him: “Come quickly, because the Philistines have encamped in all the land!” 28And Shaul returned from after David, and he went on to meet the Philistines, because of this, they called that land Senar Palgutha 29And David came up from there and he dwelt in Metsruth which is in Gebauth