1 Samuel 21:10
New International Version
That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.

New Living Translation
So David escaped from Saul and went to King Achish of Gath.

English Standard Version
And David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath.

Berean Standard Bible
That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.

King James Bible
And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

New King James Version
Then David arose and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

New American Standard Bible
Then David set out and fled that day from Saul, and went to Achish king of Gath.

NASB 1995
Then David arose and fled that day from Saul, and went to Achish king of Gath.

NASB 1977
Then David arose and fled that day from Saul, and went to Achish king of Gath.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then David arose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.

Amplified Bible
Then David arose and fled from Saul that day, and went to Achish king of Gath.

Christian Standard Bible
David fled that day from Saul’s presence and went to King Achish of Gath.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
David fled that day from Saul’s presence and went to King Achish of Gath.

American Standard Version
And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And the Priest said: “The sword of Gulyath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley in Temtha, and behold, it is wrapped in a napkin behind the ephod. If you will take it, take it ,because there is none other here.” And David said: “There is none like it! Give it to me!”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And he gave it him; and David arose, and fled in that day from he presence of Saul: and David came to Anchus king of Geth.

Contemporary English Version
David kept on running from Saul that day until he came to Gath, where he met with King Achish.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And David arose and fled that day from the face of Saul: and came to Achis the king of Geth:

English Revised Version
And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
That day David left. He was [still] fleeing from Saul when he came to King Achish of Gath.

Good News Translation
So David left, fleeing from Saul, and went to King Achish of Gath.

International Standard Version
David got up that day and fled from Saul, and he went to King Achish of Gath.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

Literal Standard Version
And David rises and flees on that day from the face of Saul, and comes to Achish king of Gath;

Majority Standard Bible
That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath.

New American Bible
That same day David fled from Saul, going to Achish, king of Gath.

NET Bible
So on that day David arose and fled from Saul. He went to King Achish of Gath.

New Revised Standard Version
David rose and fled that day from Saul; he went to King Achish of Gath.

New Heart English Bible
David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

Webster's Bible Translation
And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

World English Bible
David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

Young's Literal Translation
And David riseth and fleeth on that day from the face of Saul, and cometh in unto Achish king of Gath;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
David Flees to Gath
9The priest replied, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, is here; it is wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you want, you may take it. For there is no other but this one.” And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.” 10That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. 11But the servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? Did they not sing about him in their dances, saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”…

Cross References
1 Samuel 27:2
So David set out with his six hundred men and went to Achish son of Maoch, the king of Gath.

Psalm 34:1
I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.

Psalm 56:1
Be merciful to me, O God, for men are hounding me; all day long they press their attack.


Treasury of Scripture

And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.

fled

1 Samuel 27:1
And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand.

1 Kings 19:3
And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.

Jeremiah 26:21
And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death: but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt;

Achish.

1 Samuel 27:2
And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

Psalm 34:1
A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed. I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

1 Samuel 7:14
And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

1 Samuel 17:52
And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until thou come to the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even unto Gath, and unto Ekron.

2 Chronicles 11:8
And Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph,

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1 Samuel 21
1. David at Nob obtains Ahimelech's hallowed bread
7. Doeg is present
8. David takes Goliath's sword
10. David at Gath feigns himself insane














(10) And David arose and fled�--The cause of this sudden flight was, of course, the fear of Doeg, one of Saul's most trusted servants. Not an hour must be lost, thought David; my deadly foe will hear that I am here, and I shall be trapped like a hunted beast of prey. It seems at first sight strange that David should dare to go among the Philistines, who had such good cause to hate and fear him, but the son of Jesse ever thought lightly of himself, and had no idea that his person was so well known, or his story so generally current as it subsequently proved to be. (See 1Samuel 21:11.) Of David's humility, so conspicuously exhibited on this occasion, when he ventured among his foes, not dreaming how great a personage they considered him, the Babylonian Talmud strikingly writes:--"No man in Israel despised himself more than David where the precepts of the Lord were concerned, and this is what he said before God (Psalm 131:1-2), 'Lord, my heart was not haughty when Samuel anointed me king, nor were mine eyes lofty when I slew Goliath . . . as a child . . . have I likened myself before Thee in not being ashamed to depreciate myself before Thee for Thy glory.'"--Treatise Bamidbar, chap 4.

Achish the king of Gath.--The title "king" is somewhat loosely used in this scene among the Philistines. Achish was one of the Philistine lords, perhaps the hereditary lord of Gath. Achish is called Abimelech in the title of Psalms 34, that apparently being the title, the "nomen dignitatis," of the hereditary (or elected) chief among the Philistines, like Agag among the Amalekites. It is quite possible that this Achish, although called king of Gath, was the supreme chief or king of the Philistine nation. Gath was the nearest Philistine city to the sanctuary of Nob where David then was.

Verse 10. - David arose and fled that day. The presence of Doeg at Nob was a most untoward circumstance; and though David could never have anticipated that Saul would visit upon the priests the unwitting assistance they had given him with such barbarous ferocity, yet he must have felt sure that an active pursuit would be at once instituted against himself. He therefore took a most unwise and precipitate step, but one which clearly shows the greatness of the danger to which he was exposed. For he flees to Achish, king of Gath, the first town upon the Philistine border, at the mouth of the valley of Elah (see on 1 Samuel 17:3). Achish is called Abimelech in the title of Psalm 34, written by David in grateful commemoration of his escape, that being the official title of the kings of Gath handed down through many successive centuries (see Genesis 26:1). It has been objected that nothing could be more improbable than that David, the conqueror of Goliath, should seek refuge with a Philistine lord, and that this is nothing more than a popular tale, which has grown out of the real fact recorded in ch. 27. But when men are in desperate straits they take wild resolutions, and this meeting with Doeg, just after he had broken down with grief (1 Samuel 20:41), evidently put David to his wits' end. As, moreover, Saul was degenerating into a cruel tyrant, desertions may have become not uncommon, and though only three or four years can have elapsed since the battle of Elah, as David was only about twenty-four years of age at Saul's death, yet the change from a boyish stripling to a bearded man was enough to make it possible that David might not be recognised. As for Goliath's sword, we have seen that it was not remarkable for its size, and was probably of the ordinary pattern imported from Greece. Even if recognised, Achish might welcome him as a deserter from Saul, the great enemy of the Philistines; for as a deserter never received pardon or mercy, he must now use his prowess to the very utmost against Saul. Finally, the historical truth of the narrative is vouched for by Psalm 34, and the details are all different from those in ch. 27. David there is a powerful chieftain with a large following of trained soldiers, and feels so secure that he takes his wives with him; he asks for some place in which to reside, and occupies himself in continual forays. Here he is in the utmost distress, has no trained band of soldiers, and goes well nigh mad with mental anguish. And this is in exact keeping with that extreme excitement to which David was a prey in his last interview with Jonathan (1 Samuel 20:41); and only in his first grief at Saul's cruel bitterness would his mind have been so affected, and his conduct so rash.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
That
הַה֖וּא (ha·hū)
0
Strong's 1931: He, self, the same, this, that, as, are

day
בַּיּוֹם־ (bay·yō·wm-)
0
Strong's 3117: A day

David
דָּוִ֔ד (dā·wiḏ)
0
Strong's 1732: David -- perhaps 'beloved one', a son of Jesse

fled
וַיִּבְרַ֥ח (way·yiḇ·raḥ)
0
Strong's 1272: To bolt, to flee suddenly

from
מִפְּנֵ֣י (mip·pə·nê)
0
Strong's 6440: The face

Saul
שָׁא֑וּל (šā·’ūl)
0
Strong's 7586: Saul -- first king of Israel, also an Edomite and two Israelites

and went
וַיָּבֹ֕א (way·yā·ḇō)
0
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
0
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

Achish
אָכִ֖ישׁ (’ā·ḵîš)
0
Strong's 397: Achish -- king of Gath

king of
מֶ֥לֶךְ (me·leḵ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 4428: A king

Gath.
גַּֽת׃ (gaṯ)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 1661: Gath -- 'wine press', a Philistine city


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OT History: 1 Samuel 21:10 David arose and fled that day (1Sa iSam 1 Sam i sa)
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