¹⁷ David went out to meet them and said to them, ‘If you have come to me in friendship, to help me, then my heart will be bound to you; but if you have come to betray me to my adversaries, though my hands have done no wrong, then may the God of our ancestors see and give judgement.’ ¹⁸ Then the spirit came upon Amasai, chief of the Thirty, and he said,

Then David received them, and made them officers of his troops.

¹⁹ Some of the Manassites deserted to David when he came with the Philistines for the battle against Saul. (Yet he did not help them, for the rulers of the Philistines took counsel and sent him away, saying, ‘He will desert to his master Saul at the cost of our heads.’)