25AND HE SAID SAUL TO DAVID [BE] BLESSED YOU O SON MY DAVID BOTH CERTAINLY <TO DO> YOU WILL DO <AND> AS WELL AS CERTAINLY <TO PREVAIL> YOU WILL PREVAIL AND HE WENT DAVID TO WAY HIS AND SAUL HE RETURNED TO PLACE HIS 25Saul said to him, “May you be blessed, David my son. You will accomplish great things and will surely prevail So David went on his way, and Saul returned home.
1AND HE SAID DAVID TO HEART HIS NOW I WILL BE SWEPT AWAY A DAY ONE BY [THE] HAND OF SAUL NOT [BELONGS] TO <THE> ME GOOD FOR REALLY <ESCAPE> I WILL ESCAPE TO [THE] LAND OF [THE] PHILISTINES AND HE WILL DESIST FROM ME SAUL TO SEEK ME AGAIN IN ALL [THE] TERRITORY OF ISRAEL AND I WILL BE DELIVERED FROM HAND HIS David and the Philistines 1David, however, said to himself, “One of these days now I will be swept away by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will stop searching for me all over Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”
2AND HE AROSE DAVID AND HE PASSED OVER HE AND SIX HUNDRED<S> MAN WHO [WERE] WITH HIM TO ACHISH [THE] SON OF MAOCH [THE] KING OF GATH 2So David set out with his six hundred men and went to Achish son of Maoch,*NoteCloseMaoch is a variant of Maacah; see 1 Kings 2:39. the king of Gath.
3AND HE DWELT DAVID WITH ACHISH IN GATH HE AND MEN HIS EACH ONE AND HOUSEHOLD HIS DAVID AND [THE] TWO WIVES HIS AHINOAM THE JEZREELITE [WOMAN] AND ABIGAIL [THE] WIFE OF NABAL THE CARMELITE [WOMAN] 3David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal.
4AND IT WAS TOLD TO SAUL THAT HE HAD FLED DAVID GATH AND NOT HE REPEATED AGAIN TO SEEK HIM 4And when Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.
5AND HE SAID DAVID TO ACHISH IF PLEASE I HAVE FOUND FAVOR IN VIEW YOUR LET PEOPLE GIVE TO <THE> ME A PLACE IN ONE OF [THE] CITIES OF THE FIELD SO I MAY DWELL THERE AND <TO> WHY? WILL HE DWELL SERVANT YOUR IN [THE] CITY OF <THE> ROYALTY WITH YOU 5Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let me be assigned a place in one of the outlying towns, so I can live there. For why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”
6AND HE GAVE TO <THE> HIM ACHISH ON THE DAY <THE> THAT <OBJ.> ZIKLAG <TO> THEREFORE IT HAS BELONGED ZIKLAG TO [THE] KINGS OF JUDAH UNTIL THE DAY <THE> THIS 6That day Achish gave him Ziklag, and to this day it still belongs to the kings of Judah.
7AND IT WAS [THE] NUMBER OF THE DAYS WHICH HE DWELT DAVID IN [THE] REGION OF [THE] PHILISTINES DAYS AND FOUR MONTHS 7And the time that David lived in Philistine territory amounted to a year and four months.
8AND HE WENT UP DAVID AND MEN HIS AND THEY MADE RAIDS AGAINST THE GESHURITE[S] AND THE GIZRITE[S] AND THE AMALEKITE[S] FOR THEY [WERE] DWELLING THE LAND WHICH [IS] FROM ANTIQUITY COMING YOU SHUR TOWARDS AND TO [THE] LAND OF EGYPT 8Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these people had inhabited the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)
9AND HE STRUCK DAVID <OBJ.> THE LAND AND NOT HE LET LIVE A MAN AND A WOMAN AND HE TOOK SHEEP AND CATTLE AND DONKEYS AND CAMELS AND CLOTHES AND HE RETURNED AND HE WENT TO ACHISH 9Whenever David attacked a territory, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but he took the flocks and herds, the donkeys, camels, and clothing. Then he would return to Achish,
10AND HE SAID ACHISH AGAINST [WHERE] DID YOU MAKE A RAID THIS DAY AND HE SAID DAVID ON [THE] NEGEV OF JUDAH AND ON [THE] NEGEV OF THE JERAHMEELITE[S] AND AGAINST [THE] NEGEV OF THE KENITE[S] 10who would ask him, “What have you raided today And David would reply, “The Negev of Judah,” or “The Negev of Jerahmeel,” or “The Negev of the Kenites.”
11AND A MAN AND A WOMAN NOT HE LET LIVE DAVID TO BRING GATH <TO> SAYING LEST THEY SHOULD TELL ON US <TO> SAYING THUS HE HAS DONE DAVID AND [IS] THUS PRACTICE HIS ALL THE DAYS WHICH HE HAS DWELT IN [THE] REGION OF [THE] PHILISTINES 11David did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he said, “Otherwise they will report us, saying, ‘This is what David did.’” And this was David’s custom the whole time he lived in Philistine territory.
12AND HE TRUSTED ACHISH IN DAVID <TO> SAYING CERTAINLY <TO BECOME ODIOUS> HE HAS BECOME ODIOUS AMONG PEOPLE HIS AMONG ISRAEL AND HE WILL BECOME OF ME <INTO> A SERVANT OF PERPETUITY 12So Achish trusted David, thinking, “Since he has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel, he will be my servant forever.”