Study Desk

David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Sha'ul: there is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Pelishtim; and Sha'ul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Yisra'el: so shall I escape out of his hand.

David lived with Akhish at Gat, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Achino'am the Yizre`elite, and Avigayil the Karmelite, Naval's wife.

David and his men went up, and made a raid on the Geshuri, and the Gizri, and the `Amaleki; for those [nations] were the inhabitants of the land, who were of old, as you go to Shur, even to the land of Mitzrayim.

David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gat, saying, Lest they should tell of us, saying, So did David, and so has been his manner all the while he has lived in the country of the Pelishtim.

Akhish believed David, saying, He has made his people Yisra'el utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant forever.

Now Shemu'el was dead, and all Yisra'el had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. Sha'ul had put away those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.

When Sha'ul saw the host of the Pelishtim, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.

Then said Sha'ul to his servants, Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. His servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at En-dor.

He said to her, What form is he of? She said, An old man comes up; and he is covered with a robe. Sha'ul perceived that it was Shemu'el, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance.

Because you didn't obey the voice of the LORD, and didn't execute his fierce wrath on `Amalek, therefore has the LORD done this thing to you this day.

Then Sha'ul fell immediately his full length on the eretz, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Shemu'el: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night.

But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, constrained him; and he listened to their voice. So he arose from the eretz, and sat on the bed.

and she brought it before Sha'ul, and before his servants; and they ate. Then they rose up, and went away that night.

The lords of the Pelishtim passed on by hundreds, and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rearward with Akhish.

But he princes of the Pelishtim were angry with him; and the princes of the Pelishtim said to him, Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us: for with what should this [fellow] reconcile himself to his lord? should it not be with the heads of these men?

Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Sha'ul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?

So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Pelishtim. The Pelishtim went up to Yizre`el.

It happened, when David and his men were come to Tziklag on the third day, that the `Amaleki had made a raid on the South, and on Tziklag, and had struck Tziklag, and burned it with fire,

When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captive.

David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.