1 Samuel 27
1 Et David dit en son cœur: Je tomberai enfin un jour dans les mains de Saül. Ne vaut-il pas mieux que je m’enfuie, et que je me sauve dans la terre des Philistins, afin que Saül perde l’espoir et cesse de me chercher dans tous les confins d’Israël? Je fuirai donc ses mains.
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 Ainsi David se leva, et s’en alla, lui et six cents hommes avec lui, vers Achis, fils de Maoch, roi de Geth.
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 Et David habita avec Achis à Geth, lui et ses hommes, chaque homme et sa maison; et David et ses deux femmes, Achinoam de Jezraël et Abigaïl, femme de Nabal du Carmel.
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 Et l’on annonça à Saül que David s’était enfui à Geth, et il ne continua plus à le chercher.
When someone told Saul that David had run away [and was living] in Gath, he stopped searching for David.
5 Or David dit à Achis: Si j’ai trouvé grâce à vos yeux, qu’il me soit donné un lieu dans une des villes de ce pays, afin que j’y habite; car pourquoi votre serviteur demeure-t-il dans la cité du roi avec vous?
[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 Ainsi donc, Achis lui donna en ce jour-là Siceleg: et c’est pour cette raison que Siceleg est devenue la possession des 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 Or, le nombre des jours pendant lesquels David habita dans le pays des Philistins fut de quatre mois.
David [and his men] lived in the Philistia area for 16 months.
8 Et David monta, ainsi que ses hommes, et ils pillaient Gessuri, Gerzi, et les Amalécites; car ces cantons étaient habités dans ce pays depuis longtemps, sur le chemin de Sur jusqu’à la terre 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 Et David frappait toute la contrée, et il ne laissait vivant ni homme, ni femme; et enlevant brebis, bœufs, ânes, chameaux et vêtements, il s’en retournait et venait vers Achis.
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 Or, Achis lui demandait: Sur qui es-tu tombé aujourd’hui? David répondait: Sur le midi de Juda, sur le midi de Jéraméel, et sur le midi de Céni.
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 Il ne laissait en vie ni homme ni femme, et il n’en amenait point à Geth, disant: C’est de peur qu’ils ne disent contre nous: David a fait ces choses; et c’est à cela qu’il s’est arrêté durant tous les jours qu’il habita 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 Ainsi Achis se confia à David, disant: Il a fait beaucoup de maux à son peuple Israël; il sera donc pour moi un serviteur perpétuel.
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.”
