大卫投奔非利士人
1大卫心里想：“终有一天，我会死在扫罗手里，我最好逃到非利士人那里。这样，扫罗就不会在以色列到处追捕我了，我便可以逃离他的手。” 2于是，大卫率领他的六百个随从去投靠玛俄的儿子迦特王亚吉。 3他部下的家眷和他的两位妻子——耶斯列人亚希暖和拿八的遗孀迦密人亚比该也跟他一同住在迦特王亚吉那里。 4扫罗听到这个消息，就不再追捕他了。 5大卫对亚吉说：“如果你开恩，就让我到郊野的一个城邑去住吧，何必让仆人与王一同住在都城呢？” 6亚吉当天把洗革拉赐给他，因此那地方至今仍属犹大王。 7大卫在非利士人的地方共住了一年零四个月。 8他率领部下袭击基述人、基色人和亚玛力人，这些人自古以来就住在远至书珥和埃及一带的地方。 9大卫攻打那一带，杀死所有的人，抢走牛、羊、驴、骆驼和衣物，回去见亚吉。 10亚吉问：“你们今天攻打了哪里？”大卫会说：“攻打了犹大南部”，或说：“攻打了耶拉篾南部”，或说：“攻打了基尼南部。” 11大卫把那地方的人都杀掉，一个也不带到迦特，因为他害怕他们会泄露真相。大卫在非利士人那里居住的时候，常常这样做。 12亚吉相信了大卫的话，心里想：“以色列人恨透了大卫，他必永远留在迦特做我的仆人。”
David Among the Philistines
1David thought, “Some day Saul will destroy me. So the best thing I can do is escape. I’ll go to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will stop looking for me everywhere in Israel. His hand won’t be able to reach me.”
2So David and his 600 men left Israel. They went to Achish, the king of Gath. He was the son of Maok. 3David and his men made their homes in Gath near Achish. Each of David’s men had his family with him. David had his two wives with him. They were Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail from Carmel. Abigail was Nabal’s widow. 4Saul was told that David had run away to Gath. So he didn’t look for David anymore.
5David said to Achish, “If you are pleased with me, give me a place in one of your country towns. I can live there. I don’t really need to live near you in the royal city.”
6So on that day Achish gave David the town of Ziklag. It has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since that time. 7David lived in Philistine territory for a year and four months.
8Sometimes David and his men would go up and attack the Geshurites. At other times they would attack the Girzites or the Amalekites. All those people had lived in the land that reached all the way to Shur and Egypt. They had been there for a long time. 9When David would attack an area, he wouldn’t leave a man or woman alive. But he would take their sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels and clothes. Then he would return to Achish.
10Achish would ask, “Who did you attack today?” David would answer, “The people who live in the Negev Desert of Judah.” Or he would answer, “The people in the Negev Desert of Jerahmeel.” Or he would answer, “The people in the Negev Desert of the Kenites.” 11David wouldn’t leave a man or woman alive to be brought back to Gath. He thought, “They might tell on us. They might tell Achish who we really attacked.” That’s what David did as long as he lived in Philistine territory. 12Achish trusted David. He thought, “David’s own people, the Israelites, can’t stand him anymore. So he’ll be my servant for life.”
