(24:1) ¹  Then David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of En Gedi.

So they ran and brought him from there. When he took his position among the people, he stood head and shoulders above them all.

A man who was from there replied, “And who is their father?” Therefore this became a proverb: “Is even Saul among the prophets?”

So David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father’s family ¹  learned about it, they went down there to him.

So the army ¹  sent to Shiloh, and they took from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts who sits between the cherubim. Now the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

“As you continue on from there, you will come to the tall tree of Tabor. At that point three men who are going up to God at Bethel ¹  will meet you. One of them will be carrying three young goats, one of them will be carrying three round loaves of bread, and one of them will be carrying a container of wine.

David reached his hand into the bag and took out a stone. He slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank deeply into his forehead, and he fell down with his face to the ground.

Then David went from there to Mizpah in Moab, where he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay ¹  with you until I know what God is going to do for me.”