1 Samuel 23:1-8 ▼

1 Then they told David, saying, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are plundering (robbing) the threshing floors [of the grain].”

2 So David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”

3 But David’s men said to him, “Listen, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the battle lines of the Philistines?”

4 Then David inquired of the LORD again. And the LORD answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will hand over the Philistines to you.”

5 So David and his men went to Keilah and fought the Philistines; he drove away their cattle and struck them with a great slaughter. So David rescued the inhabitants of Keilah.

6 When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand.

7 Now when Saul was informed that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, “God has handed him over to me, for he shut himself in by entering a city that has double gates and bars.”

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