29:1 Now the Pelishtim gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Yisraelites pitched by a fountain which [is] in Yizre'el.
29:2 And satraps (vassals rulers) of the Pelishtim passed on review by hundreds, and by thousands: but David and his men passed in the review at the rear with Achish.
29:3 Then said the satraps (vassals rulers) of the Pelishtim, What [do] these Hebrews [here]? And Achish said to the satraps (vassals rulers) of the Pelishtim, [Is] not this David, the eved of Sha'ul the melekh of Yisrael, which has been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell [to me] to this day?
29:4 And the satraps (vassals rulers) of the Pelishtim were angry with him; and the satraps (vassals rulers) of the Pelishtim said to him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us: for wherewith should he reconcile himself to his master? [should it] not [be] with the heads of these men?
29:5 [Is] not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Sha'ul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
29:6 Then Achish called David, and said to him: "Surely, as YHWH (יהוה) lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army [is] good in my sight:
For to this day, I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me:
Nevertheless satraps (vassals rulers) do not favour.
29:7 Wherefore now return, and go in peace, that you displease not satraps (vassals rulers) of the Pelishtim.
29:8 And David said to Achish, But what have I done? and what have you found in your eved so long as I have been with you to this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my master the king?
29:9 And Achish answered and said to David, I know that you [art] good in my sight, as an angel of Elohim (אלהים): notwithstanding the satraps (vassals rulers) of the Pelishtim have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.
29:10 Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with your master's avadim that are come with you: and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart.
29:11 So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Pelishtim. And the Pelishtim went up to Yizre'el.
Satraps - The viceroys or vassal rulers to whom was entrusted the government of the provinces in the Persian empire. The word answers to the Old Persian khshathrapāvan, “protectors of the realm.”