1 Samuel 27:1-12
27 However, David said in his heart: “Now I shall be swept away one day by Saul’s hand. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape+ without fail to the land of the Phi·lisʹtines;+ and Saul must despair of me in looking for me any longer in all the territory of Israel,+ and I shall certainly escape from his hand.”
2 So David rose up and he and six hundred men+ that were with him passed over to Aʹchish+ the son of Maʹoch, the king of Gath.
3 And David continued to dwell with Aʹchish in Gath, he and his men, each one with his household,+ David and his two wives, A·hinʹo·am+ the Jezʹre·el·i·tess and Abʹi·gail,+ Naʹbal’s wife, the Carʹmel·it·ess.
4 In time report was made to Saul that David had run away to Gath, and so he did not go looking for him still another time.+
5 Then David said to Aʹchish: “If, now, I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities of the countryside, that I may dwell there; for why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?”
6 Accordingly Aʹchish gave him Zikʹlag+ on that day. That is why Zikʹlag has come to belong to the kings of Judah down to this day.
7 And the number of the days that David dwelt in the countryside of the Phi·lisʹtines came to be a year and four months.+
8 And David proceeded to go up with his men that they might raid the Geshʹur·ites+ and 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 And David struck the land, but he preserved neither man nor woman alive;+ and he took flocks and herds and asses and camels and garments, after which he returned and came to Aʹchish.
10 Then Aʹchish said: “Where did YOU men make a raid today?” To this David said:+ “Upon the south of Judah+ and upon the south of the Je·rahʹme·el·ites+ and upon the south of the Kenʹites.”+
11 As for man and woman, David was not preserving any alive to bring them to Gath, saying: “That they may not tell on us, saying, ‘This is the way David did.’”+ (And this way has been his procedure all the days that he dwelt in the countryside of the Phi·lisʹtines.)
12 Consequently Aʹchish believed+ David, saying to himself: “He has unquestionably become a stench among his people Israel;+ and he will have to become my servant to time indefinite.”
