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.”
David among the Philistines
1 David said to himself, “One of these days Saul will kill me. The best thing for me to do is to escape to Philistia. Then Saul will give up looking for me in Israel, and I will be safe.” 2 So David and his six hundred men went over at once to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3 David and his men settled there in Gath with their families. David had his two wives with him, Ahinoam from Jezreel, and Abigail, Nabal's widow, from Carmel. 4 When Saul heard that David had fled to Gath, he gave up trying to find him.
5 David said to Achish, “If you are my friend, let me have a small town to live in. There is no need, sir, for me to live with you in the capital city.” 6 So Achish gave him the town of Ziklag, and for this reason Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since. 7 David lived in Philistia for sixteen months.
8 During that time David and his men would attack the people of Geshur, Girzi, and Amalek, who had been living in the region a very long time. He would raid their land as far as Shur, all the way down to Egypt, 9 killing all the men and women and taking the sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and even the clothes. Then he would come back to Achish, 10 who would ask him, “Where did you go on a raid this time?” and David would tell him that he had gone to the southern part of Judah or to the territory of the clan of Jerahmeel or to the territory where the Kenites lived. 11 David would kill everyone, men and women, so that no one could go back to Gath and report what he and his men had really done. This is what David did the whole time he lived in Philistia. 12 But Achish trusted David and said to himself, “He is hated so much by his own people the Israelites that he will have to serve me all his life.”