this not David, the servant of Saul the ruler of Israel, who
has been with me these two years, and I have found no fault in him from
the time that he came to me to the present?"

But the commanders of the Philistines were displeased and said to him,
"Send the man back to the place where you had stationed him. Do not let
him go down with us into battle, lest we have a foe in the camp; for how
could this fellow better win back the favor of his master than with the
heads of these men? Is not this the David of whom they sang to one
another in the dances:

"'Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands?'"

Then Achish called David and said to him, "As surely as Jehovah lives,
you are upright, and your conduct toward me both in and out of the camp
has been satisfactory, for I have found nothing wrong in you from the
time that you came to me to the present; but you are not trusted by the
other rulers. Go back home, therefore, in peace, that you may do nothing
to displease the rulers of the Philistines." David said to Achish, "But
what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day that
I entered your service, that I may not go out and fight the enemies of
my lord the king?" Achish answered, "I know that you are as faithful to
me as an angel of God, but the commanders of the Philistines have said,
'He shall not go with us into battle.' Therefore, you and those who came
with you are to rise early in the morning, and go to the place where I
have stationed you. Do not plan any evil, for I trust you, but rise
early in the morning and, as soon as it is light, depart."

So David and his men arose early in the morning to return to the
Philistine land, but the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

On the third day, when David and his men returned to Ziklag, the
Amalekites had made a raid on the South Country and on Ziklag, and had
attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, and had also carried away
captive all who were in it, including the women and children. They had
not killed any but had carried them away with them. Then David and the
people who were with him wept aloud until they were no longer able to
weep.

David was in great trouble, for the people spoke of stoning him, because
they all felt bitter, having lost their sons and daughters: but David
took courage, for he trusted in Jehovah his God. So David with his six
hundred followers went on to the Brook Besor, where those who were too