¹ So David went away from there and took cover in a strong place at Adullam; and his brothers and all his father's people, hearing of it, went down to him there.

¹ <To the chief music-maker; put to Al-tashheth. Michtam. Of David. When he went in flight from Saul, in the hole of the rock.> Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me; for the hope of my soul is in you: I will keep myself safely under the shade of your wings, till these troubles are past.

² I will send up my cry to the Most High God; to God who does all things for me.

³ He will send from heaven, and take me from the power of him whose desire is for my destruction. God will send out his mercy and his good faith.

⁴ My soul is among lions; I am stretched out among those who are on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and whose tongue is a sharp sword.

⁵ O God, be lifted up higher than the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.

⁶ They have made ready a net for my steps; my soul is bent down; they have made a great hole before me, and have gone down into it themselves. (Selah.)

⁷ My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will make songs, and give praise.

⁸ You are my glory; let the instruments of music be awake; I myself will be awake with the dawn.

⁹ I will give you praise, O Lord, among the peoples; I will make songs to you among the nations.

¹⁰ For your mercy is great, stretching up to the heavens, and your righteousness goes up to the clouds.

¹¹ Be lifted up, O God, higher than the heavens, let your glory be over all the earth.

¹ <Maschil. Of David. A prayer when he was in the hole of the rock.> The sound of my cry went up to the Lord; with my voice I made my prayer for grace to the Lord.

² I put all my sorrows before him; and made clear to him all my trouble.

³ When my spirit is overcome, your eyes are on my goings; nets have been secretly placed in the way in which I go.

⁴ Looking to my right side, I saw no man who was my friend: I had no safe place; no one had any care for my soul.

⁵ I have made my cry to you, O Lord; I have said, You are my safe place, and my heritage in the land of the living.

⁶ Give ear to my cry, for I am made very low: take me out of the hands of my haters, for they are stronger than I.

⁷ Take my soul out of prison, so that I may give praise to your name: the upright will give praise because of me; for you have given me a full reward.

¹⁵ And three of the thirty went down to David, to the rock, into the strong place of Adullam; and the army of the Philistines had taken up their position in the valley of Rephaim.

³⁵ Jarmuth, and Adullam, Socoh, and Azekah;

¹⁵ The king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;

³⁸ Wandering in waste places and in mountains and in holes in the rocks; for whom the world was not good enough.

¹⁵ Even now will the taker of your heritage come to you, you who are living in Mareshah: the glory of Israel will come to destruction for ever.

³ For see, the Lord is coming out from his place, and will come down, stepping on the high places of the earth.

¹ <Of David. When he made a change in his behaviour before Abimelech, who sent him away, and he went.> I will be blessing the Lord at all times; his praise will be ever in my mouth.

¹³ And three of the thirty went down at the start of the grain-cutting, and they came to David at the strong place of Adullam; and the band of Philistines had taken up their position in the valley of Rephaim.

¹⁴ And at that time David had taken cover in the strong place, and an armed force of the Philistines was in Beth-lehem.

¹⁰ Then David got up and went in flight that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish, the king of Gath.

¹¹ And the servants of Achish said to him, Is not this David, the king of the land? did they not make songs about him in their dances, saying, Saul has put to death thousands, and David tens of thousands?

¹² And David took these words to heart, fearing Achish, the king of Gath.

¹³ So changing his behaviour before them, he made it seem as if he was off his head, hammering on the doors of the town, and letting the water from his mouth go down his chin.

¹⁴ Then Achish said to his servants, Look! the man is clearly off his head; why have you let him come before me?

¹⁵ Are there not enough unbalanced men about me, that you have let this person come and do such tricks before me? is such a man to come into my house?