Now I want you to make a promise to me. Promise to me before the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my son to marry a girl from Canaan. We live among those people but don’t let him marry a Canaanite girl.
Then Nebuchadnezzar made an agreement with a man from the king’s family. Nebuchadnezzar forced that man to make a promise. So this man promised to be loyal to Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar made this man the new king of Judah. Then he took all the powerful men away from Judah.
The Lord my Master says, “By my life, I promise this new king will die in Babylonia! Nebuchadnezzar made this man the new king of Judah. But this man broke his promise with Nebuchadnezzar. This new king ignored that agreement.
The Lord my Master makes this promise: “By my life, I swear that I will punish the king of Judah. Why? Because he ignored my warnings. He broke our agreement.
So now, I want you to make a promise to me. I was kind to you and helped you. So promise before the Lord that you will be kind to my family. Please tell me that you will do this.
While the spies were watching the city of Bethel, they saw a man come out of the city. The spies said to the man, “Show us a secret way into the city. We will attack the city. But if you help us, we will not hurt you.”
So Achish called David and said, “As sure as the Lord lives, you are loyal to me. I would be pleased to have you serve in my army. Since the day you came to me, I have found nothing wrong in you. Also, the {Philistine} rulers think you are a good man. [213]
We had attacked the Negev area where the Kerethites [216] live. We attacked the land of Judah, and in the Negev area where Caleb’s people live. We also burned Ziklag.”
The Egyptian led David to the Amalekites. They were lying around on the ground, eating and drinking. They were celebrating with the many things they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah.