1 Samuel 29
GOD’S WORD Translation
The Philistines Reject David
29 The Philistines assembled their whole army at Aphek, and Israel camped at the spring in Jezreel. 2 The Philistine leaders were marching by with their companies and regiments. David and his men were marching in the rear with Achish.
3 The Philistine officers asked, “What are these Hebrews doing here?”
Achish asked the Philistine officers, “Isn’t this David, the servant of King Saul of Israel, who has been with me now for a year or two? I’ve found nothing wrong with him from the day he defected until now.”
4 But the Philistine officers were angry with Achish. “Send the man back,” the Philistine officers told him. “Return him to the place you assigned him. He shouldn’t go with us into battle. He shouldn’t ⌞be allowed to⌟ become our enemy during the battle. Is this man going to try to regain his master’s favor? He’ll do it with the lives of our men! 5 Isn’t this David of whom people sing in dances:
‘Saul has defeated thousands
but David tens of thousands’?”
6 Then Achish called David and told him, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord lives, you are a dependable man. I consider your campaigning with me a good thing, because I’ve never found anything wrong with you from the day you came to me until now. But the rulers don’t approve of you. 7 So leave peacefully without doing anything to displease the Philistine rulers.”
8 “What have I done?” David asked Achish. “What have you learned about me from the time I came to you until now? Why shouldn’t I fight your enemies, Your Majesty?”
9 Achish answered David, “I admit that in my judgment you’re as good as God’s Messenger. However, the Philistine officers said, ‘He shouldn’t go into battle with us.’ 10 Get up early in the morning with Saul’s servants who came with you, and go to the place I have assigned to you. Don’t worry about the unkind words, because I still approve of you.[a] Get up in the morning, and leave when it’s light.”
11 Early the next morning David and his men returned to Philistine territory, while the Philistines went to Jezreel.
Footnotes
- 29:10 “and go … approve of you” Greek; Masoretic Text omits these words.
1 Samuel 29
King James Version
29 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel.
2 And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands: but David and his men passed on in the rereward with Achish.
3 Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, which hath been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day?
4 And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us: for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men?
5 Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
6 Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the Lord liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless the lords favour thee not.
7 Wherefore now return, and go in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines.
8 And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king?
9 And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.
10 Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with thy master's servants that are come with thee: and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart.
11 So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
Copyright © 2004 by World Bible Translation Center
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