1 Samuel 27

1 David said in his heart, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me except that I escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hand."

And David said to himself, Some day death will come to me by the hand of Saul: the only thing for me to do is to get away into the land of the Philistines; then Saul will give up hope of taking me in any part of the land of Israel: and so I may be able to get away from him.

2 David arose, and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

So David and the six hundred men who were with him went over to Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

3 So David lived with Achish, he and his men, along with his men and their families, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow.

And David and his men were living with Achish at Gath; every man had his family with him, and David had his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, who had been the wife of Nabal.

4 Now it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he no longer searched for him.

And Saul, hearing that David had gone to Gath, went after him no longer.

5 David said to Achish, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?"

Then David said to Achish, If now I have grace in your eyes, let me have a place in one of the smaller towns of your land, to be my living-place; for it is not right for your servant to be living with you in the king's town.

6 So he gave him Ziklag that day. (For that reason Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.)

So Achish straight away gave him Ziklag: and for that reason Ziklag has been the property of the kings of Judah to this day.

7 The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.

And David was living in the land of the Philistines for the space of a year and four months.

8 Now David and his men went up, and made a raid on the Geshurites, and the Amalekites. And look, the land was inhabited from Telem, until you come to Shur, and on toward Egypt.

And David and his men went up and made attacks on the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites; for these were the people who were living in the land from Telam on the way to Shur, as far as Egypt.

9 David struck the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the cattle, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the clothing; and he returned, and came to Achish.

And David again and again made attacks on the land till not a man or a woman was still living; and he took away the sheep and the oxen and the asses and the camels and the clothing; and he came back to Achish.

10 Achish said, "Against whom have you made a raid today?" David would say, "Against the Negev of Judah," or "Against the Negev of Jerahmeel," or "Against the Negev of the Kenizzites."

And every time Achish said, Where have you been fighting today? David said, Against the South of Judah and the South of the Jerahmeelites and the South of the Kenites.

11 And neither man nor woman would he leave alive to be brought to Gath, thinking, "Otherwise they will tell about us, saying, 'This is what David did,'" and this has been his practice all the time he lived in the country of the Philistines.

Not one living man or woman did David ever take back with him to Gath, fearing that they might give an account of what had taken place, and say, This is what David did, and so has he been doing all the time while he has been living in the land of the Philistines.

12 Achish believed David, saying, "He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he shall be my servant forever."

And Achish had belief in what David said, saying, He has made himself hated by all his people Israel, and so he will be my servant for ever.