1 Samuel 21:11
But the officers of King Achish objected to David being there. They said to King Achish, “This man is [RHQ] David, the king of Israel! He is the one [RHQ] whom our enemies, the Israeli people, honored by dancing and singing, ‘Saul has killed thousands of his enemies, but David has killed tens of thousands of them!’”
Translation for Translators
In The King James Version
In Context
12David heard what those men were saying, so he was afraid of what King Achish might do to him.
Cross References
1 Samuel 18:7As they danced, they sang this song to each other: “Saul has killed 1,000 enemy soldiers, But David has killed 10,000 of them.”
1 Samuel 27:1But David thought, “Some day Saul will capture me if I stay around here. So the best thing that I can do is to escape and go to the Philistia area. If I do that, Saul will stop searching for me here in Israel, and I will be safe.”
1 Samuel 29:5Have you forgotten that David is the one about whom the Israelis dance and sing, saying, ‘Saul has killed 1000 of our enemies, but David has killed 10,000 of them!’?”
Psalms 56:1God, be merciful to me because men have harassed me; all day my enemies pursue me.
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 21:11-15
David Driven from Achish. ( b. c. 1057.) 10 And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 12 And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands,… Read the whole commentary →