I Samuelis 27

1 Et ait David in corde suo: Aliquando incidam una die in manus Saul: nonne melius est ut fugiam, et salver in Terra Philisthinorum, ut desperet Saul, cessetque me quærere in cunctis finibus Israel? Fugiam ergo manus eius.

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 surrexit David, et abiit ipse, et sexcenti viri cum eo, ad Achis filium Maoch regem 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 habitavit David cum Achis in Geth, ipse et viri eius; vir et domus eius; et David, et duæ uxores eius, Achinoam Iezrahelitis, et Abigail uxor Nabal Carmeli.

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 nunciatum est Sauli quod fugisset David in Geth, et non addidit ultra quærere eum.

When someone told Saul that David had run away [and was living] in Gath, he stopped searching for David.

5 Dixit autem David ad Achis: Si inveni gratiam in oculis tuis, detur mihi locus in una urbium regionis huius, ut habitem ibi: cur enim manet servus tuus in civitate regis tecum?

[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 Dedit itaque ei Achis in die illa Siceleg: propter quam causam facta est Siceleg regum Iuda, usque in diem hanc.

[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 Fuit autem numerus dierum, quibus habitavit David in regione Philisthinorum, quattuor mensium.

David [and his men] lived in the Philistia area for 16 months.

8 Et ascendit David, et viri eius, et agebant prædas de Gessuri, et de Gerzi, et de Amalecitis: hi enim pagi habitabantur in terra antiquitus, euntibus Sur usque ad Terram Ægypti.

[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 percutiebat David omnem terram, nec relinquebat viventem virum et mulierem: tollensque oves, et boves, et asinos, et camelos, et vestes, revertebatur, et veniebat ad 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 Dicebat autem ei Achis: In quem irruisti hodie? Respondebat David: Contra meridiem Iudæ, et contra meridiem Ierameel, et contra meridiem Ceni.

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 Virum et mulierem non vivificabat David, nec adducebat in Geth, dicens: Ne forte loquantur adversum nos: Hæc fecit David: et hoc erat decretum illi omnibus diebus quibus habitavit in regione Philisthinorum.

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 Credidit ergo Achis David, dicens: Multa mala operatus est contra populum suum Israel: erit igitur mihi servus sempiternus.

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.”