1 Samuel 27:2-12 ▼

2 So David left and crossed over to King Achish son of Maoch of Gath accompanied by his six hundred men.

3 David settled with Achish in Gath, along with his men and their families. David had with him his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the Carmelite, Nabal's widow.

4 When Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he did not mount a new search for him.

5 David said to Achish, |If I have found favor with you, let me be given a place in one of the country towns so that I can live there. Why should your servant settle in the royal city with you?|

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

7 The length of time that David lived in the Philistine countryside was a year and four months.

8 Then David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (They had been living in that land for a long time, from the approach to Shur as far as the land of Egypt.)

9 When David would attack a district, he would leave neither man nor woman alive. He would take sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothing and would then go back to Achish.

10 When Achish would ask, |Where did you raid today?| David would say, |The Negev of Judah| or |The Negev of Jeharmeel| or |The Negev of the Kenites.|

11 Neither man nor woman would David leave alive so as to bring them back to Gath. He was thinking, |This way they can't tell on us, saying, 'This is what David did.'| Such was his practice the entire time that he lived in the country of the Philistines.

12 So Achish trusted David, thinking to himself, |He is really hated among his own people in Israel! From now on he will be my servant.|