1 Samuel 27
1 Toe David mah, Nito naah loe Saul ban ah ka dueh tih; to pongah Philistin kaminawk ih prae thungah ka cawnh nahaeloe hoi tih; hae pongah kahoih hmuen om ai boeh; hae tiah ka sak nahaeloe Saul mah Israel prae thungah kai pakrong thai mak ai ueloe, a ban thung hoiah ka loih tih, tiah a poek.
But David thought, “Some day Saul will capture me [if I stay around here]. So the best thing that I can do is to escape and go to the Philistia area. If I do that, Saul will stop searching for me here in Israel, and I will be safe.”
2 To pongah David hoi angmah ih kami cumvai taruktonawk loe angthawk o moe, Gath siangpahrang Maok capa Akhish khaeah caeh o.
So David and his 600 men left Israel and went to see Maoch’s son Achish, who was king of Gath [city in the Philistia area].
3 David hoi angmah ih kaminawk loe Gath vangpui ih Akhish angraeng khaeah oh o; kaminawk boih angmah ih imthung takoh hoi nawnto to ahmuen ah oh o; David doeh a zu hnik, Jezreel vangpui ih Ahinoam hoi Karmel vangpui ih Nabal zu, Abigail hoi nawnto oh toeng.
David and his men and their families started to live there in Gath, the city where king Achish lived. David’s two wives were with him—Ahinoam from Jezreel, and Nabal’s widow Abigail, from Carmel.
4 David loe Gath ah cawnh boeh, tiah Saul khaeah thuih pae o naah, anih to patom ai boeh.
When someone told Saul that David had run away [and was living] in Gath, he stopped searching for David.
5 To naah David mah Akhish khaeah, Kai hae nang tahmen nahaeloe, na prae thungah ka ohhaih ahmuen maeto na paek ah; na tamna kai loe siangpahrang ohhaih vangpui thungah kawbangmaw ka om thai tih? tiah a naa.
[One day] David said to Achish, “If you are pleased with us, give us a place in one of the small villages where we can stay. There is no need [RHQ] for us to stay in the city where you are the king.”
6 To pongah to na niah Akhish mah Zikleg ahmuen to paek; to pongah Judah siangpahrang mah Ziklek vangpui to vaihni ni khoek to lak o poe.
[Achish liked what David suggested]. So that day Achish gave to David Ziklag [town]. As a result, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah since that time.
7 David loe Philsitin prae thungah saningto pacoeng khrah palito oh.
David [and his men] lived in the Philistia area for 16 months.
8 David hoi angmah ih kaminawk loe caeh o tahang moe, Geshur kaminawk, Gezi kaminawk hoi Amalek kaminawk to tuk o; hae kaminawk loe canghnii hoiah boeh ni Shur hoi kamtong Izip prae khoek to khosak o.
[During that time] David and his men raided the people who lived [in the areas] where the Geshur, Girzi, and Amalek people-groups lived. Those people had lived there a long time. That area extended [south] from Telam to the Shur [Desert] and to [the border of] Egypt.
9 David mah prae to tuk, nongpa nongpata maeto doeh pathlung ai; tuunawk, maitawnawk, laa hrangnawk, kaengkuu hrangnawk hoi khukbuennawk to lak o pacoengah, Akhish khaeah amlaem o let.
Whenever David’s men attacked them, they killed all the men and women, and they took all the people’s sheep and cattle and donkeys and camels, and even their clothes. Then they would bring those things back home, [and David would go to talk] to Achish.
10 Akhish mah, Vaihni loe nabangah maw na caeh o moe, misa na tuk o loe? tiah a naa. David mah Judah prae aloih bang, Ken kaminawk ohhaih aloih bang ih ahmuen to ka tuk, tiah a naa.
Each time Achish would ask David, “Where did you go raiding today?” David [would lie to him]. Sometimes he would reply that they had gone to the southern part of Judah, and sometimes he would say that they had gone to Jerahmeel, or to the area where the Ken people-group lived.
11 David loe to tiah hmuen to sak, tiah Gath vangpui ah tamthang thuih o han ai ah, nongpa hoi nongpata mi doeh pathlung ai. David loe Philistin prae thungah oh nathung to tiah sak.
David’s men never brought back to Gath any man or woman who was left alive. David thought, “If [we do not kill everyone, some of] them [who are still alive] will go and tell Achish [the truth] about what we really did.” David did that all the time that he [and his men] lived in the Philistia area.
12 Akhish mah, David loe angmah ih Israel kaminawk mah panuet o boeh pongah, ka tamna ah om poe tih boeh, tiah a poek.
So Achish believed [what] David [told him], and said to himself, “[Because of what David has done, ] his own people, the Israelis, must now hate him very much. So he will have to [stay here and] serve me forever.”
