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David Flees to Gath

10 David rose and fled that day from Saul; he went to King Achish of Gath. ¹¹The servants of Achish said to him, ‘Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,
“Saul has killed his thousands,
   and David his tens of thousands”?’
¹²David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of King Achish of Gath. ¹³So he changed his behaviour before them; he pretended to be mad when in their presence.^* He scratched marks on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run down his beard. ¹⁴Achish said to his servants, ‘Look, you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me? ¹⁵Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?’

David and His Followers at Adullam

22David left there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; when his brothers and all his father’s house heard of it, they went down there to him.