¹⁷ David went to meet them. He told them, “If you’ve come to help me as friends would, then you may join me. But if you’ve come to betray me to my enemies, even though I haven’t committed a crime, may the Elohim of our ancestors see this and judge you.”

¹⁸ Then the Ruach gave Amasai, the leader of the thirty, the strength to say,

So David welcomed them and made them officers over his troops.

¹⁹ Some men from Manasseh had deserted Saul’s army to join David when he went with the Philistines to attack Saul. (However, David didn’t help the Philistines because their rulers sent him away after considering the matter. They said, “It will cost us our heads when he deserts and joins his master Saul.”)