14-15 David continued to live in desert hideouts and the backcountry wilderness hills of Ziph. Saul was out looking for him day after day, but God never turned David over to him. David kept out of the way in the wilderness of Ziph, secluded at Horesh, since it was plain that Saul was determined to hunt him down.

16-18 Jonathan, Saul’s son, visited David at Horesh and encouraged him in God. He said, “Don’t despair. My father, Saul, can’t lay a hand on you. You will be Israel’s king and I’ll be right at your side to help. And my father knows it.” Then the two of them made a covenant before God. David stayed at Horesh and Jonathan went home.

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15 While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that[a] Saul had come out to take his life.(A) 16 And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength(B) in God. 17 “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “My father Saul will not lay a hand on you. You will be king(C) over Israel, and I will be second to you. Even my father Saul knows this.”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Samuel 23:15 Or he was afraid because