1And the Philistines gather all their camps to Aphek, and Israel is encamping at a fountain which [is] in Jezreel,

2and the princes of the Philistines are passing on by hundreds, and by thousands, and David and his men are passing on in the rear with Achish.

3And the heads of the Philistines say, “What [are] these Hebrews?” And Achish says to the heads of the Philistines, “Is this not David, servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me these days or these years, and I have not found anything in him [wrong] from the day of his falling away until this day?”

4And the heads of the Philistines are angry against him, and the heads of the Philistines say to him, “Send back the man, and he turns back to his place to where you have appointed him, and does not go down with us into battle, and is not for an adversary to us in battle; and with what does this one reconcile himself to his lord—is it not with the heads of those men?

5Is this not David, of whom they answer in choruses, saying, Saul has struck among his thousands, and David among his myriads?”

6And Achish calls to David and says to him, “YHWH lives, surely you [are] upright, and good in my eyes is your going out, and your coming in with me in the camp, for I have not found evil in you from the day of your coming to me until this day; but you are not good in the eyes of the princes;

7and now, return, and go in peace, and you do no evil in the eyes of the princes of the Philistines.”

8And David says to Achish, “But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant from the day that I have been before you until this day—that I do not go in and have fought against the enemies of my lord the king?”

9And Achish answers and says to David, “I have known that you [are] good in my eyes as a messenger of God; only, the princes of the Philistines have said, He does not go up with us into battle;

10and now, rise early in the morning—and the servants of your lord who have come with you. When you have risen early in the morning, and have light, then go.”

11And David rises early, he and his men, to go in the morning, to return to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines have gone up to Jezreel.