David and His Followers at Adullam

22 David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; when his brothers and all his father’s house heard of it, they went down there to him.^(A)

Psalm 57

Praise and Assurance under Persecution

To the leader: Do Not Destroy. Of David. A Miktam, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.

Psalm 142

Prayer for Deliverance from Persecutors

A Maskil of David. When he was in the cave. A Prayer.

¹⁵ Three of the thirty chiefs went down to the rock to David at the cave of Adullam while the army of Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim.^(A)

³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes in the ground.^(A)

Psalm 34

Praise for Deliverance from Trouble

Of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

David Flees to Gath

¹⁰ David rose and fled that day from Saul; he went to King Achish of Gath. ¹¹ The servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,

¹² David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of King Achish of Gath.^{(B) 13} So he changed his behavior before them; he pretended to be mad when in their presence.^[a] He scratched marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard. ¹⁴ Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me? ¹⁵ Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”