1 Samuel 29:4-6

29:4 But the leaders of the Philistines became angry with him and said ¹  to him, “Send the man back! Let him return to the place that you assigned him! Don’t let him go down with us into the battle, for he might become ²  our adversary in the battle. What better way to please his lord than with the heads of these men? ³  29:5 Isn’t this David, of whom they sang as they danced, ⁴ 

‘Saul has struck down his thousands,

but David his tens of thousands’?”

29:6 So Achish summoned David and said to him, “As surely as the Lord lives, you are an honest man, and I am glad to have you ⁵  serving ⁶  with me in the army. ⁷  I have found no fault with you from the day that you first came to me until the present time. But in the opinion ⁸  of the leaders, you are not reliable. ⁹ 

[29:4]  ¹ tn Heb “and the leaders of the Philistines said.”

[29:4]  ² tn Heb “so that he might not become.”

[29:4]  ³ tn Or perhaps, “our men.” On this use of the demonstrative pronoun see Joüon 2:532 §143.e.

[29:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “in dances.”

[29:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “it is good in my eyes.” Cf. v. 7.

[29:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “your going forth and your coming in.” The expression is a merism.

[29:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “camp.”

[29:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “eyes.”

[29:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “good.”