1 Samuel 21:10-15

21:10 So on that day David arose and fled from Saul. He went to King Achish of Gath. 21:11 The servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one that they sing about when they dance, saying,

‘Saul struck down his thousands,

But David his tens of thousands’?”

21:12 David thought about what they said ¹  and was very afraid of King Achish of Gath. 21:13 He altered his behavior in their presence. ²  Since he was in their power, ³  he pretended to be insane, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting his saliva run down his beard.

21:14 Achish said to his servants, “Look at this madman! Why did you bring him to me? 21:15 Do I have a shortage of fools, that you have brought me this man to display his insanity in front of me? Should this man enter my house?”

Psalms 34:1

Psalm 34 ⁴ 

Written by David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away. ⁵ 

34:1 I will praise ⁶  the Lord at all times;

my mouth will continually praise him. ⁷ 

Psalms 57:1

Psalm 57 ⁸ 

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ⁹  a prayer ¹⁰  of David, written when he fled from Saul into the cave. ¹¹ 

57:1 Have mercy on me, O God! Have mercy on me!

For in you I have taken shelter. ¹² 

In the shadow of your wings ¹³  I take shelter

until trouble passes.

[21:12]  ¹ tn Heb “placed these matters in his heart.”

[21:13]  ² tn Heb “in their eyes.”

[21:13]  ³ tn Heb “in their hand.”

[34:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 34. In this song of thanksgiving the psalmist praises God for delivering him from distress. He encourages others to be loyal to the Lord, tells them how to please God, and assures them that the Lord protects his servants. The psalm is an acrostic; vv. 1-21 begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. (Verse 6 begins with the letter he (ה) and v. 7 with the letter zayin (ז). The letter vav (ו), which comes between ה and ז, seems to be omitted, although it does appear at the beginning of v. 6b. The final verse of the psalm, which begins with the letter pe (פ), is outside the acrostic scheme.

[34:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “By David, when he changed his sense before Abimelech and he drove him away and he went.”

[34:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “bless.”

[34:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “continually [will] his praise [be] in my mouth.”

[57:1]  ⁸ sn Psalm 57. The psalmist asks for God’s protection and expresses his confidence that his ferocious enemies will be destroyed by their own schemes.

[57:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the heading to Pss 58-59, 75.

[57:1]  ¹⁰ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56, 58-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[57:1]  ¹¹ sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm on the occasion when he fled from Saul and hid in “the cave.” This probably refers to either the incident recorded in 1 Sam 22:1 or to the one recorded in 1 Sam 24:3.

[57:1]  ¹² tn Heb “my life has taken shelter.” The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[57:1]  ¹³ sn In the shadow of your wings. The metaphor likens God to a protective mother bird (see also Pss 17:8; 36:7).