1 Samuel 23:1-6

David Delivers the City of Keilah

23:1 They told David, “The Philistines are fighting in Keilah and are looting the threshing floors.” 23:2 So David asked the Lord, “Should I go and strike down these Philistines?” The Lord said to David, “Go, strike down the Philistines and deliver Keilah.”

23:3 But David’s men said to him, “We are afraid while we are still here in Judah! What will it be like if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” 23:4 So David asked the Lord once again. But again the Lord replied, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.”

23:5 So David and his men went to Keilah and fought the Philistines. He took away their cattle and thoroughly defeated them. ¹  David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah.

David Eludes Saul Again

23:6 Now when Abiathar son of Ahimelech had fled to David at Keilah, he had brought with him an ephod. ² 

Nehemiah 6:11

6:11 But I replied, “Should a man like me run away? Would someone like me flee to the temple in order to save his life? ³  I will not go!”

Psalms 11:1

Psalm 11 ⁴ 

For the music director; by David.

11:1 In the Lord I have taken shelter. ⁵ 

How can you say to me, ⁶ 

“Flee to a mountain like a bird! ⁷ 

Isaiah 8:12-14

8:12 “Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ every time these people say the word. ⁸ 

Don’t be afraid of what scares them; don’t be terrified.

8:13 You must recognize the authority of the Lord who commands armies. ⁹ 

He is the one you must respect;

he is the one you must fear. ¹⁰ 

8:14 He will become a sanctuary, ¹¹ 

but a stone that makes a person trip,

and a rock that makes one stumble –

to the two houses of Israel. ¹² 

He will become ¹³  a trap and a snare

to the residents of Jerusalem. ¹⁴ 

[23:5]  ¹ tn Heb “and struck them down with a great blow.”

[23:6]  ² tn Heb “an ephod went down in his hand.”

[6:11]  ³ tn Heb “go into the temple and live.”

[11:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 11. The psalmist rejects the advice to flee from his dangerous enemies. Instead he affirms his confidence in God’s just character and calls down judgment on evildoers.

[11:1]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[11:1]  ⁶ tn The pronominal suffix attached to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is equivalent to a personal pronoun. See Ps 6:3.

[11:1]  ⁷ tc The MT is corrupt here. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads: “flee [masculine plural!] to your [masculine plural!] mountain, bird.” The Qere (marginal reading) has “flee” in a feminine singular form, agreeing grammatically with the addressee, the feminine noun “bird.” Rather than being a second masculine plural pronominal suffix, the ending כֶם- (-khem) attached to “mountain” is better interpreted as a second feminine singular pronominal suffix followed by an enclitic mem (ם). “Bird” may be taken as vocative (“O bird”) or as an adverbial accusative of manner (“like a bird”). Either way, the psalmist’s advisers compare him to a helpless bird whose only option in the face of danger is to fly away to an inaccessible place.

[8:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “Do not say, ‘Conspiracy,’ with respect to all which these people say, ‘Conspiracy.’” The verb translated “do not say” is second masculine plural, indicating that this exhortation is directed to Isaiah and other followers of the Lord (see v. 16).

[8:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts], him you must set apart.” The word order is emphatic, with the object being placed first.

[8:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he is your [object of] fear, he is your [object of] terror.” The roots יָרֵא (yare’) and עָרַץ (’arats) are repeated from v. 12b.

[8:14]  ¹¹ tn Because the metaphor of protection (“sanctuary”) does not fit the negative mood that follows in vv. 14b-15, some contend that מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, “sanctuary”) is probably a corruption of an original מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “snare”), a word that appears in the next line (cf. NAB and H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:355-56). If the MT reading is retained (as in the above translation), the fact that Yahweh is a sanctuary wraps up the point of v. 13 and stands in contrast to God’s treatment of those who rebel against him (the rest of v. 14).

[8:14]  ¹² sn The two “houses” of Israel (= the patriarch Jacob) are the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

[8:14]  ¹³ tn These words are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. וְהָיָה (vÿhayah, “and he will be”) does double duty in the parallel structure of the verse.

[8:14]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.