1 Samuel 27

But David thought, “Some day Saul will capture me and kill me {if I stay here in Israel}. So the best thing that I can do is certainly to flee to the region of Philistia. If I do that, Saul will stop searching for me here in Israel, and I will be safe from him.” \*

So David and his 600 men left Israel and went to the city of Gath {in the region of Philistia}. Achish son of Maoch was the king of that city.

Achish agreed that David and his men could live in Gath. So all of the men brought their families there. David brought his two wives with him, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, Nabal’s widow, from Carmel.

When Saul learned that David had gone to live in Gath, he stopped pursuing him. \*

One day David said to Achish, “If you are pleased with us, give us a place to live in one of the small villages in the countryside. We do not have to live here in the royal city with you.”

Achish {agreed and} gave David the town of Ziklag at that time. (As a result, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since.)

David and his men lived in the region of Philistia for a total of 16 months. \*

While they were living there, David and his men attacked communities of the Geshurites, Girzites, and Amalekites. To do that, they went as far south as the region of Shur near the border of Egypt. The people in those communities had lived in that area for a very long time.

Whenever David’s men attacked these communities, they killed all of the people who lived in them. Then they took their sheep and cattle and donkeys and camels and clothes. They brought those things back home with them, and David would go to talk with Achish. \*

Each time Achish would ask David, “Where did you go raiding today?” David would {lie to him and} sometimes say that he and his men had attacked the people who lived in the Negeb within the territory of Judah. Other times, he would say that they had attacked the Jerahmeelites who lived in the Negeb. And at other times, he would say that they had attacked the Kenites who lived in the Negeb. \*

David’s men never brought anyone alive back to Gath. David thought, “If we do not kill everyone, some of them will tell Achish the truth about what we really did.” David did that the whole time that he and his men lived in the region of Philistia.

Achish believed what David told him, and he thought, “Because of what David has done, his own people, the Israelites, must now hate him very much. So he will always have to stay here and serve me.” \*