to be even a servant to wash the feet of my
lord's servants." Then Abigail quickly rose and mounted an ass; and five
of her maids followed as servants. So she went with the messengers of
David, and became his wife.

MAKING THE BEST OF TROUBLE

Then David said to himself, "I shall be killed some day by the hand of
Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the
Philistines. Then Saul will give up hope and search no more for me in
all the land of Israel; and so I will escape from him." David,
therefore, with the six hundred men who were with him went over to
Achish, king of Gath. And David and his men lived with Achish at Gath,
each with his family. When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he
gave up looking for him.

David said to Achish, "If now you will grant me the favor, give me a
place in one of the towns in the open country, that I may live there;
for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?" So Achish
gave him Ziklag, and David lived in the open country of the Philistines
a year and four months.

And David and his men went up and made a raid upon the Geshurites, the
Girzites, and the Amalekites; for these tribes live in the land which
extends from Telem to the land of Egypt. As often as David made a raid
on the land, he did not leave alive man or woman, but taking the sheep,
the oxen, the asses, the camels, and the clothing, he returned and went
to Achish. Then when Achish said, "Where have you made a raid to-day?"
David answered, "Against the South Country of Judah, or against the
South Country of the Jerahmeelites, or against the South Country of the
Kenites." And Achish trusted David, thinking, "He has made his people
Israel hate him; therefore he will be my servant forever."

Now in those days the Philistines gathered their forces to make war
against Israel. And Achish said to David, "You and your men shall surely
go with me in the army." David replied, "You shall then know what your
servant can do." Achish said to David, "In that case I will make you the
captain of my body-guard from this time on."

Then the Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, and the
Israelites camped at the fountain in Jezreel. When the rulers of the
Philistines were marching past, by hundreds and by thousands, and David
and his men were marching in the rear with Achish, the commanders of the
Philistines said, "What are those Hebrews doing here?" Achish said to
them, "Is