Asa called out to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, only you can help weak people against strong people! Help us, Lord our God! We depend on you. We fight against this large army in your name. Lord, you are our God! Don’t let anyone win against you!”
The Ethiopians and the Libyans had a very large and powerful army. They had many chariots {\cf2\super [199]} and chariot drivers. But Asa, you depended on the Lord to help you defeat that large powerful army, and the Lord let you defeat them.
But I said to Shemaiah, “Should a man like me run away? You know that an \{ordinary\} man like me can’t go into the Holy Place without being put to death! I won’t go!”
Saul sent men to David’s house. The men watched David’s house. They stayed there all night. They were waiting to kill David in the morning. But David’s wife Michal warned him. She said, “You must run away tonight and save your life. If you don’t, then you will be killed tomorrow.”
David left Adullam and went to Mizpah in Moab. David said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother come and stay with you until I learn what God is going to do to me.”
David went to the desert and stayed in the fortresses [192] there. David also went to the hill country in the Desert of Ziph. Every day Saul looked for David, but the Lord didn’t let Saul catch him.
But David thought to himself, “Saul will catch me some day. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up looking for me in Israel. That way I will escape from Saul.”