¹And the Philistines assembled all their battalions in Aphek while Israel was encamping at the fount which is in Jezreel. ²And the barons of the Philistines crossed over in hundreds and in thousands, and David and his men crossed over at the rear with Achish. ³And the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me all these days or all these years, in whom I have not found anything amiss from the day when he arrived up to this day.” ⁴But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him, and the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back so he returns to his place where you appointed him to be, so he does not go down to battle with us and will not be an adversary of ours in the battle. And on what grounds should this man ingratiate himself to his master? Is he not one of the heads of those men? ⁵Is this not David, whom they eulogized with dances, saying,

‘Saul struck down his thousands,

But David his tens of thousands.’ ”

⁶Then Achish called for David, and he said to him, “As the Lord lives, you are surely upright, and it was good in my sight that you should associate with me in the battalion, for I have found no fault in you from the day you came to me up to this day, but you are unwelcome in the sight of the barons. ⁷So now, return and go in peace, and do not do what is wrong in the sight of the barons of the Philistines.” ⁸Then David said to Achish, “Well what have I done and what have you found in your servant from the day that I was first in your presence up to this day, that I should not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” ⁹And Achish answered and said to David, “I know that you are good – in my sight like an angel of God. But the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us into the battle.’ ¹⁰So now, get up early in the morning with your lord's servants who came with you, and when you have got up early in the morning, and you have light, depart.” ¹¹So David got up early – he and his men – to depart in the morning, so as to return to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.