David Saves the City of Keilah

23 Then they told David, saying, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against ^(A)Keilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors.”

² Therefore David ^(B)inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go and ^[a]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, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” ⁴ Then David inquired of the Lord once again.

And the Lord answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah. For I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.” ⁵ And David and his men went to Keilah and ^(C)fought with the Philistines, struck them with a mighty blow, and took away their livestock. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

⁶ Now it happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech ^(D)fled to David at Keilah, that he went down with an ephod in his hand.

⁷ And Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah. So Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” ⁸ Then Saul called all the people together for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.

⁹ When David knew that Saul plotted evil against him, ^(E)he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” ¹⁰ Then David said, “O Lord God of Israel, Your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah ^(F)to destroy the city for my sake. ¹¹ Will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down, 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 ^[b]deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?”

And the Lord said, “They will deliver you.”

¹³ So David and his men, ^(G)about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah and went wherever they could go. Then it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah; so he halted the expedition.

David in Wilderness Strongholds

¹⁴ And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in ^(H)the mountains in the Wilderness of ^(I)Ziph. Saul ^(J)sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand. ¹⁵ So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph ^[c]in a forest. ¹⁶ Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and ^[d]strengthened his hand in God. ¹⁷ And he said to him, ^(K)“Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. ^(L)Even my father Saul knows that.” ¹⁸ So the two of them ^(M)made a covenant before the Lord. And David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house.

¹⁹ Then the Ziphites ^(N)came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding with us in strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon? ²⁰ Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to come down; and ^(O)our part shall be to deliver him into the king’s hand.”

²¹ And Saul said, “Blessed are you of the Lord, for you have compassion on me. ²² Please go and find out for sure, and see the place where his hideout is, and who has seen him there. For I am told he is very crafty. ²³ See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides; and come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. And it shall be, if he is in the land, that I will search for him throughout all the ^[e]clans of Judah.”

²⁴ So they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. But David and his men were in the Wilderness ^(P)of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon. ²⁵ When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David. Therefore he went down ^[f]to the rock, and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued David in the Wilderness of Maon. ²⁶ Then Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. ^(Q)So David made haste to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men ^(R)were encircling David and his men to take them.

^27 (S)But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have invaded the land!” ²⁸ Therefore Saul returned from pursuing David, and went against the Philistines; so they called that place ^[g]the Rock of Escape. ²⁹ Then David went up from there and dwelt in strongholds at ^(T)En Gedi.

The Lord a Fortress in Adversity

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

Answered Prayer for Deliverance from Adversaries

To the Chief Musician. With ^[a]stringed instruments. A ^[b]Contemplation of David ^(A)when the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Is David not hiding with us?”

Do Not Judge^(A)

7 “Judge^{[a] (B)}not, that you be not judged. ² For with what ^[b]judgment you judge, you will be judged; ^(C)and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. ^3 (D)And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? ⁵ Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

^6 (E)“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking^(F)

^7 (G)“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸ For ^(H)everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ^9 (I)Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, ^(J)being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! ¹² Therefore, ^(K)whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for ^(L)this is the Law and the Prophets.

The Narrow Way^(M)

^13 (N)“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ^14 [c]Because narrow is the gate and ^[d]difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

You Will Know Them by Their Fruits^(O)

^15 (P)“Beware of false prophets, ^(Q)who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ^16 (R)You will know them by their fruits. ^(S)Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, ^(T)every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ^19 (U)Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

I Never Knew You^(V)

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ^(W)‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who ^(X)does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we ^(Y)not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And ^(Z)then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; ^(AA)depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Build on the Rock^(AB)

²⁴ “Therefore ^(AC)whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: ²⁵ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

²⁶ “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: ²⁷ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

²⁸ And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that ^(AD)the people were astonished at His teaching, ^29 (AE)for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.