ዳዊት በፍልስጥኤማውያን መካከል መኖሩ
1ዳዊት ግን በልቡ፣ “ከእነዚህ ቀናት በአንዱ በሳኦል እጅ መገደሌ ስለማይቀር፣ የሚበጀኝ ወደ ፍልስጥኤማውያን ምድር መሸሽ ብቻ ነው፤ ከዚያ በኋላም ሳኦል በእስራኤል ሁሉ እኔን ማሳደዱን ይተዋል፤ እኔም ከእጁ አመልጣለሁ” ብሎ ዐሰበ።
2ስለዚህ ዳዊትና አብረውት ያሉት ስድስት መቶ ሰዎች ተነሥተው የጌት ንጉሥ ወደ ሆነው ወደ አሜህ ልጅ ወደ አንኩስ ሄዱ። 3ዳዊትና ሰዎቹ በጌት በአንኩስ ዘንድ ተቀመጡ፤ እያንዳንዱ ሰው ከቤተ ሰቡ ጋር ነበረ፤ ዳዊትም ከሁለቱ ሚስቶቹ ጋር፣ ከኢይዝራኤላዊቷ ከአኪናሆምና የናባል ሚስት ከነበረችው ከቀርሜሎሳዊቷ አቢግያ ጋር ነበር። 4ሳኦልም፣ ዳዊት ወደ ጌት እንደ ሸሸ በሰማ ጊዜ፣ እርሱን ማሳደዱን ተወ።
5ከዚያም ዳዊት አንኩስን፣ “በፊትህ ሞገስ አግኝቼ እንደ ሆነ፣ በአገሪቱ ካሉት ከተሞች በአንዲቱ እኖር ዘንድ ስፍራ ይሰጠኝ፤ ስለ ምን አገልጋይህ ካንተ ጋር በንጉሥ ከተማ ይቀመጣል?” አለው።
6ስለዚህ በዚያ ዕለት አንኩስ ጺቅላግን ሰጠው፤ ጺቅላግም ከዚያ ጊዜ ጀምሮ የይሁዳ ነገሥታት ይዞታ ሆነች። 7ዳዊት በፍልስጥኤማውያን ምድር አንድ ዓመት ከአራት ወር ተቀመጠ።
8በዚያ ጊዜም ዳዊትና ሰዎቹ ወጥተው ጌሹራውያንን፣ ጌርዛውያንንና አማሌቃውያንን ወረሩ። እነዚህ ሕዝቦች ከጥንት ጀምሮ፣ እስከ ሱርና እስከ ግብፅ ባለው ምድር ላይ ይኖሩ ነበር። 9ዳዊትም ምድሪቱን በመታበት ጊዜ፣ ወንድም ሆነ ሴት በሕይወት አላስቀረም፤ ነገር ግን በጎችንና ላሞችን፣ አህዮችንና ግመሎችን እንዲሁም ልብሶችን ወሰደ፤ ወደ አንኩስም ተመለሰ።
10አንኩስም፣ “ዛሬ በማን ላይ ዘመታችሁ?” ሲል በጠየቀው ጊዜ ዳዊት፣ “የዘመትነው በይሁዳ ደቡብ፣ ወይም በይረሕምኤላውያን ደቡብ፣ ወይም በቄናውያን ደቡብ ላይ ነው” በማለት ይመልስ ነበር። 11ዳዊት “ ‘እርሱ እንዲህ አድርጓል’ ብለው ይነግሩብናል” ብሎ ስላሰበ፣ ወንድም ሆነ ሴት በሕይወት አስቀርቶ ወደ ጌት አላመጣም። በፍልስጥኤም ግዛት በኖረበት ዘመን ሁሉ፣ እንዲህ ማድረጉ የተለመደ ነበር። 12አንኩስም በልቡ፣ “እርሱ ራሱ የገዛ ሕዝቡ የሆኑት እስራኤላውያን እጅግ እንዲጠሉት ስላደረገ፣ ለዘላለም አገልጋዬ ይሆናል” ብሎ ስላሰበ ዳዊትን አመነው።
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.”
