The First of Samuel 27:1-12
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David given Ziklag by the Philistines (1-12)
27 However, David said in his heart: “One day I will perish by Saul’s hand. The best thing for me is to escape+ to the land of the Phi·lisʹtines; then Saul will give up looking for me in all the territory of Israel,+ and I will escape from his hand.”
2 So David rose up with the 600 men+ who were with him and went over to Aʹchish+ the son of Maʹoch, the king of Gath.
3 David stayed with Aʹchish in Gath, he and his men, each man with his household. With David were his two wives, A·hinʹo·am+ of Jezʹre·el and Abʹi·gail+ the Carʹmel·ite, Naʹbal’s widow.
4 When report was made to Saul that David had run away to Gath, he stopped searching for him.+
5 Then David said to Aʹchish: “If I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities of the countryside, so that I may live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”
6 So Aʹchish gave him Zikʹlag+ on that day. That is why Zikʹlag belongs to the kings of Judah down to this day.
7 The length of time* that David lived in the countryside of the Phi·lisʹtines was a year and four months.+
8 David would go up with his men to raid the Geshʹur·ites,+ the Girʹzites, and the A·malʹek·ites,+ for they were inhabiting the land that extended from Teʹlam as far as Shur+ and down to the land of Egypt.
9 When David would attack the land, he preserved neither man nor woman alive,+ but he took the flocks, herds, donkeys, camels, and clothing, after which he would return to Aʹchish.
10 Then Aʹchish would ask: “Where did you make a raid today?” David would reply: “Against the south* of Judah”+ or “Against the south of the Je·rahʹme·el·ites”+ or “Against the south of the Kenʹites.”+
11 David did not spare alive any man or woman to be brought to Gath, saying: “That they may not tell them about us and say, ‘This is what David did.’ ” (And that was his practice the whole time he lived in the countryside of the Phi·lisʹtines.)
12 So Aʹchish believed David, saying to himself: ‘He has certainly become a stench among his people Israel, so he will always be my servant.’
