1 Samuel 27:1-9 ▼

1 AND David said in his heart, Now if I should fall some day into the hands of Saul, it would not be good for me, but it is better for me that I should escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of seeking me any more in the territory of Israel; so I shall escape out of his hands.

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

3 And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men and the household of David and his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.

4 And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath; and he sought no more after him.

5 And David said to Achish, If I have now found grace in your eyes, let the people give me a place in one of the towns in the desert, that I may dwell there; so that your servant may not dwell in the royal city with you.

6 Then Achish gave him Zinklag that day; therefore Zinklag belongs to the kings of Judah to this day.

7 And the time that David dwelt in the land of the Philistines was a full year and four months.

8 And David and his men went up and made raids upon the Geshurites and the Gadolites and the Amalekites; for these nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, and they raided Geshur as far as the land of Egypt.

9 And David smote the land and left neither man nor woman alive, and he took away the sheep and the oxen and the asses and the camels and the apparel; then David returned and came to Achish.