Dafite mu Bafilisitiya
1 Dafite kazwidwa kati, “Limwe le mazhuba iyawa ndowofila mu maboko a Saulo. Tjingandibhatsha hwuti nditizhile ku shango ye Bafilisitiya. Ndiko Saulo kwaangatoboka kundishaka pamwe ne pamwe mu Iziraela, ndibuya ndimpudzumuka mu maboko.” 2 Ndizo Dafite kamilika kayenda, kuna Mambo Akhishi nkololo wa Maokhi we Gati, ana balume bali mazana ali matathatu (600). 3 Dafite ne balanda babe bakagala na Akhishi ku Gati. Nlume mmwe ne mmwe wakabe ana nsha uwe na Dafite ana bakadzi babe babili: Ahinaomu we Jezerele na Abigaile we Karimeli tjilikadzi ya Nabhali. 4 Kwakati Saulo asinobe abudziwa kuti Dafite wakatizhila ku Gati, kaletjedza kunvima.
5 Ndizo Dafite kadwa Akhishi kati, “Ha ndiamutjilika mu mesho enyu, ndokumbila kuti mu ndiwanile pandingagala mu imwe ye mizi ye shango yenyu, kuti ndizwigaligwepo. Apa nlanda wenyu ungagalatjini namwi mu nzi we bushe?” 6 Mu zhuba ilelo Akhishi kampa Zikilagi, ndizo Zikilagi ukabe nzi wa bomambo be Juda kuswikila nasi. 7 Dafite wakagala mu shango ye Bafilisitiya gole lina mimwedzi ili minna.
8 Ndizo Dafite ne bathu babe bakayenda bakanonginilila Bageshu, Bagirazi ne Baamaleki. Kudwa ntolo zwitjaba izwezwi zwakabe zwigala mu shango ye Shuwu ne kunoti ku Egipiti. 9 Kwakabe kuti Dafite enginilila pathu, esiya kusina nlume kene nkadzi unotjila, ebe etapa pkhwizi ne ng'ombe ne madonki ne kamela nenge zwiambalo. Ebe ebgwilila ku Akhishi. 10 Kwakabe kuti Akhishi embhuzwa eti, “Nasi manonginilila ngayi kene?” Dafite wakabe edabila eti, “Ku Negebu kwe Juda kene ku Negebu kwe Bajeramiyeli kene Negebu kwe Bakeni.” 11 Dafite akuna waakasiya kuli nlume kene nkadzi etjila kuti azhe naye ku Gati, ngobe wakabe ekumbula kuti bangadwa benotibudzilila beti, “Dafite wakathama etji na etji!” Ikoku ndiko sekwa akabe ethama mu misi yose yaakabe egala mu shango ye Bafilisitiya. 12 Akhishi wakabe egalabgwe Dafite, ebuya ezwidwa eti, “Wakazwibenganya ne bakanyi kwabo, Baiziraela, sa ikoku, unowogalila tjose ali nlanda wangu nge kusingapele.”
1 but he thought to himself, “One of these days, Saul is going to kill me. The only way to escape from him is to go to Philistia. Then I'll be outside of Israel, and Saul will give up trying to catch me.”
2-3 David and his 600 men went across the border to stay in Gath with King Achish the son of Maoch. His men brought their families with them. David brought his wife Ahinoam whose hometown was Jezreel, and he also brought his wife Abigail who had been married to Nabal from Carmel. 4 When Saul found out that David had run off to Gath, he stopped trying to catch him.
5 One day, David was talking with Achish and said, “If you are happy with me, then let me live in one of the towns in the countryside. I'm not important enough to live here with you in the royal city.”
6 Achish gave David the town of Ziklag that same day, and Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since.
7 David was in Philistia for a year and four months. 8 The Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites lived in the area from Telam to Shur and on as far as Egypt, and David often attacked their towns. 9 Whenever David and his men attacked a town, they took the sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and the clothing, and killed everyone who lived there.
After he returned from a raid, David always went to see Achish, 10 who would ask, “Where did you attack today?”
David would answer, “Oh, we attacked some desert town that belonged to the Judah tribe.” Sometimes David would say, “Oh, we attacked a town in the desert where the Jerahmeel clan lives” or “We attacked a town in the desert where the Kenites live.” 11 That's why David killed everyone in the towns he attacked. He thought, “If I let any of them live, they might come to Gath and tell what I've really been doing.”
David made these raids all the time he was in Philistia. 12 But Achish trusted David and thought, “David's people must be furious with him. From now on he will have to take orders from me.”