1 Samuel 27

1 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.”

And he said David to heart his now I will be swept away a day one by [the] hand of Saul not [belongs] to me good for really I will escape - to [the] land of [the] Philistines and he will desist from me Saul to seek me again in all [the] territory of Israel and I will be delivered from hand his.

2 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].

And he arose David and he passed over he and six hundred man who [were] with him to Achish [the] son of Maoch [the] king of Gath.

3 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.

And he dwelt David with Achish in Gath he and men his each one and household his David and [the] two wives his Ahinoam the Jezreelite [woman] and Abigail [the] wife of Nabal the Carmelite [woman].

4 When someone told Saul that David had run away [and was living] in Gath, he stopped searching for David.

And it was told to Saul that he had fled David Gath and not (he repeated *Q(K)*) again to seek him.

5 [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.”

And he said David to Achish if please I have found favor in view your let people give to me a place in one of [the] cities of the field so I may dwell there and why? will he dwell servant your in [the] city of royalty with you.

6 [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.

And he gave to him Achish on the day that Ziklag therefore it has belonged Ziklag to [the] kings of Judah until the day this.

7 David [and his men] lived in the Philistia area for 16 months.

And it was [the] number of the days which he dwelt David in [the] region of [the] Philistines days and four months.

8 [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.

And he went up David and men his and they made raids against the Geshurite[s] (and the Gizrite[s] *Q(K)*) and the Amalekite[s] for they [were] dwelling the land which [is] from antiquity coming you Shur towards and to [the] land of Egypt.

9 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.

And he struck David the land and not he let live a man and a woman and he took sheep and cattle and donkeys and camels and clothes and he returned and he went to Achish.

10 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.

And he said Achish against [where] did you make a raid this day and he said David on [the] Negev of Judah and on [the] Negev of the Jerahmeelite[s] and against [the] Negev of the Kenite[s].

11 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.

And a man and a woman not he let live David to bring Gath saying lest they should tell on us saying thus he has done David and [is] thus practice his all the days which he has dwelt in [the] region of [the] Philistines.

12 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.”

And he trusted Achish in David saying certainly he has become odious among people his among Israel and he will become of me a servant of perpetuity.