1 Samuel 27
1 David dit en lui-même: je périrai un jour par la main de Saül; il n’y a rien de mieux pour moi que de me réfugier au pays des Philistins, afin que Saül renonce à me chercher encore dans tout le territoire d’Israël; ainsi j’échapperai à sa main.
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 Et David se leva, lui et les six cents hommes qui étaient avec lui, et ils passèrent chez Akisch, fils de Maoc, roi de Gath.
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 et ses gens restèrent à Gath auprès d’Akisch; ils avaient chacun leur famille, et David avait ses deux femmes, Achinoam de Jizreel, et Abigaïl de Carmel, femme de Nabal.
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 Saül, informé que David s’était enfui à Gath, cessa de le chercher.
When someone told Saul that David had run away [and was living] in Gath, he stopped searching for David.
5 David dit à Akisch: Si j’ai trouvé grâce à tes yeux, qu’on me donne dans l’une des villes du pays un lieu où je puisse demeurer; car pourquoi ton serviteur habiterait-il avec toi dans la ville royale?
[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 Et ce même jour Akisch lui donna Tsiklag. C’est pourquoi Tsiklag a appartenu aux rois de Juda jusqu’à ce jour.
[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 Le temps que David demeura dans le pays des Philistins fut d’un an et quatre mois.
David [and his men] lived in the Philistia area for 16 months.
8 David et ses gens montaient et faisaient des incursions chez les Gueschuriens, les Guirziens et les Amalécites; car ces nations habitaient dès les temps anciens la contrée, du côté de Schur et jusqu’au pays d’Égypte.
[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 ravageait cette contrée; il ne laissait en vie ni homme ni femme, et il enlevait les brebis, les bœufs, les ânes, les chameaux, les vêtements, puis s’en retournait et allait chez Akisch.
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 Akisch disait: Où avez-vous fait aujourd’hui vos courses? Et David répondait: Vers le midi de Juda, vers le midi des Jerachmeélites et vers le midi des Kéniens.
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 ne laissait en vie ni homme ni femme, pour les amener à Gath; car, pensait-il, ils pourraient parler contre nous et dire: Ainsi a fait David. Et ce fut là sa manière d’agir tout le temps qu’il demeura dans le pays des Philistins.
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 Akisch se fiait à David, et il disait: Il se rend odieux à Israël, son peuple, et il sera mon serviteur à jamais.
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.”
