David Among the Philistines
1But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”
2So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maok king of Gath. 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. 4When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.
5Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be assigned to me in one of the country towns, that I may live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”
6So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag, and it has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since. 7David lived in Philistine territory a year and four months.
8Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these peoples had lived in the land extending to Shur and Egypt.) 9Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. Then he returned to Achish.
10When Achish asked, “Where did you go raiding today?” David would say, “Against the Negev of Judah” or “Against the Negev of Jerahmeel” or “Against the Negev of the Kenites.” 11He did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he thought, “They might inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.’ ” And such was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory. 12Achish trusted David and said to himself, “He has become so obnoxious to his people, the Israelites, that he will be my servant for life.”
大衛投奔非利士人
1大衛心裡想：「終有一天，我會死在掃羅手裡，我最好逃到非利士人那裡。這樣，掃羅就不會在以色列到處追捕我了，我便可以逃離他的手。」 2於是，大衛率領他的六百個隨從去投靠瑪俄的兒子迦特王亞吉。 3他部下的家眷和他的兩位妻子耶斯列人亞希暖和拿八的遺孀迦密人亞比該也跟他一同住在迦特王亞吉那裡。 4掃羅聽到這個消息，就不再追捕他了。 5大衛對亞吉說：「如果你開恩，就讓我到郊野的一個城邑去住吧，何必讓僕人與王一同住在都城呢？」 6亞吉當天把洗革拉賜給他，因此那地方至今仍屬猶大王。 7大衛在非利士人的地方共住了一年零四個月。 8他率領部下襲擊基述人、基色人和亞瑪力人，這些人自古以來就住在遠至書珥和埃及一帶的地方。 9大衛攻打那一帶，殺死所有的人，搶走牛、羊、驢、駱駝和衣物，回去見亞吉。 10當亞吉問：「你們今天攻打了哪裡？」大衛會說：「攻打了猶大南部」，或說：「攻打了耶拉篾南部」，或說：「攻打了基尼南部。」 11大衛把那地方的人都殺掉，一個也不帶到迦特，因為他害怕他們會洩露真相。大衛在非利士人那裡居住的時候，常常這樣做。 12亞吉相信了大衛的話，心裡想：「以色列人恨透了大衛，他必永遠做我的僕人。」
