When David saw that Saul was after him, he ran from Ramah and went to Jonathan and said, What have I done that your father, the king, is trying to kill me?

 

Jonathan said, Never, you aren't going to die. My father never does anything without telling me. He doesn't want to kill you.

 

 

 

It's true, David said. I'm one step away from death.

 

 

 

So Jonathan thought of a way to test his father and find out the truth. It was true, king Saul was trying to kill David again.

 

 

 

 

It hurt Jonathan that his father was king and was doing the wrong thing.

Jonathan protected David and helped him escape.

They made a promise in the Lord's name not to ever hurt each other or their children.

As David was running away from king Saul, he stopped at the city where God's house was and asked the priest there for some food.

 

 

The priest didn't have any regular food so he gave David some of God's special bread from God's table.

And he gave David the giants sword that David had taken from the giant, God's enemy, when he killed him.

 

 

One of Saul's men was there and saw David. And told king Saul.

David ran to another country and hoped to stay with that king, but the people remembered what a mighty warrior David was and they were afraid of him.

So David pretended to be a crazy man whose mind didn't work right and then escaped from there and went and hid in a cave. 

Many people gathered to David at the cave who were in trouble. He became their leader.

David sent his Dad and Mom to a safe country so Saul couldn't hurt them. Saul killed a whole city of priests that he thought helped David.

One of the priests escaped and went to David to tell him what Saul had done. David told him, Stay with me, I will keep you safe.

 

 

 

 

God sent a man to tell David, Don't stay at the cave. Go to the land of Judah.

 

 

So David and all the people with him went into a forest of Judah.

There, David was told, The Philistines are fighting God's people at Keilah and stealing their grain before they get to eat any of it.

 

 

 

 

So David asked the Lord, Shall I go fight off these Philistines?

 

 

The Lord said, Go fight them and save Keilah. David’s men were afraid so David asked the Lord again.

 

 

 

The Lord told him, Get up. Go down there and fight. I will win over them for you.

 

 

 

So David went and fought and won a great victory and captured the enemies stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

David saved the city of Keilah.

King Saul was told that David was at Keilah. David knew that Saul was making secret plans to kill David, so he asked the Lord, will Saul come here to get me?

 

 

 

God told him, yes, Saul will come here to get you. Then David asked, Will the people give me to king Saul. God told him, Yes, they won't protect you. They will give you to king Saul even after you saved them.

So David and his men left Keilah and went into the mountains before Saul could get him.

Jonathan, the king’s son, went to find David in the mountains. He told David words to make him strong in God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

He said, Don’t be afraid. My father won't find you. You will be the king and I will be your helper. My father knows this.

 

 

 

 

So Saul kept hunting David and God helped David escape every time.