1 Samuel 27
1 And Dauid said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: is it not better for me that I saue my selfe in the lande of the Philistims, and that Saul may haue no hope of me to seeke me any more in all the coastes of Israel, and so escape out of his hand?
But David thought, “Some day Saul will capture me [if I stay around here]. So the best thing that I can do is to escape and go to the Philistia area. If I do that, Saul will stop searching for me here in Israel, and I will be safe.”
2 Dauid therefore arose, and he, and the sixe hundreth men that were with him, went vnto Achish the sonne of Maoch King of Gath.
So David and his 600 men left Israel and went to see Maoch’s son Achish, who was king of Gath [city in the Philistia area].
3 And Dauid dwelt with Achish at Gath, he, and his men, euery man with his housholde, Dauid with his two wiues, Ahinoam the Izreelite, and Abigail Nabals wife the Carmelite.
David and his men and their families started to live there in Gath, the city where king Achish lived. David’s two wives were with him—Ahinoam from Jezreel, and Nabal’s widow Abigail, from Carmel.
4 And it was tolde Saul that Dauid was fled to Gath: so he sought no more for him.
When someone told Saul that David had run away [and was living] in Gath, he stopped searching for David.
5 And Dauid saide vnto Achish, If I haue nowe founde peace in thine eyes, let them giue me a place in some other citie of the countrey, that I may dwell there: for why should thy seruant dwel in ye head citie of the kingdome with thee?
[One day] David said to Achish, “If you are pleased with us, give us a place in one of the small villages where we can stay. There is no need [RHQ] for us to stay in the city where you are the king.”
6 Then Achish gaue him Ziklag that same day: therefore Ziklag pertaineth vnto the kings of Iudah vnto this day.
[Achish liked what David suggested]. So that day Achish gave to David Ziklag [town]. As a result, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah since that time.
7 And the time that Dauid dwelt in the countrey of the Philistims, was foure moneths and certaine dayes.
David [and his men] lived in the Philistia area for 16 months.
8 Then Dauid and his men went vp, and inuaded the Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the Amalekites: for they inhabited the lande from the beginning, from the way, as thou goest to Shur, euen vnto the lande of Egypt.
[During that time] David and his men raided the people who lived [in the areas] where the Geshur, Girzi, and Amalek people-groups lived. Those people had lived there a long time. That area extended [south] from Telam to the Shur [Desert] and to [the border of] Egypt.
9 And Dauid smote the lande, and left neither man nor woman aliue, and tooke sheepe, and oxen, and asses, and camels, and apparell, and returned and came to Achish.
Whenever David’s men attacked them, they killed all the men and women, and they took all the people’s sheep and cattle and donkeys and camels, and even their clothes. Then they would bring those things back home, [and David would go to talk] to Achish.
10 And Achish said, Where haue ye bene a rouing this day? And Dauid answered, Against the South of Iudah, and against the South of the Ierahmeelites, and against the South of ye Kenites.
Each time Achish would ask David, “Where did you go raiding today?” David [would lie to him]. Sometimes he would reply that they had gone to the southern part of Judah, and sometimes he would say that they had gone to Jerahmeel, or to the area where the Ken people-group lived.
11 And Dauid saued neither man nor woman aliue, to bring them to Gath, saying, Lest they should tel on vs, and say, So did Dauid, and so will be his maner all the while that he dwelleth in the countrey of the Philistims.
David’s men never brought back to Gath any man or woman who was left alive. David thought, “If [we do not kill everyone, some of] them [who are still alive] will go and tell Achish [the truth] about what we really did.” David did that all the time that he [and his men] lived in the Philistia area.
12 And Achish beleeued Dauid, saying, He hath made his people of Israel vtterly to abhorre him: therefore he shalbe my seruant for euer.
So Achish believed [what] David [told him], and said to himself, “[Because of what David has done, ] his own people, the Israelis, must now hate him very much. So he will have to [stay here and] serve me forever.”
