1 Samuel 27

1 And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any part of Israel: so shall I escape from his hand.

But David thought, “Some day Saul will capture me [if I stay around here]. So the best thing that I can do is to escape and go to the Philistia area. If I do that, Saul will stop searching for me here in Israel, and I will be safe.”

2 And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that were with him to Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

So David and his 600 men left Israel and went to see Maoch’s son Achish, who was king of Gath [city in the Philistia area].

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

David and his men and their families started to live there in Gath, the city where king Achish lived. David’s two wives were with him—Ahinoam from Jezreel, and Nabal’s widow Abigail, from Carmel.

4 And it was told to Saul that David had fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him.

When someone told Saul that David had run away [and was living] in Gath, he stopped searching for David.

5 And David said to Achish, If I have now found grace in thy eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?

[One day] David said to Achish, “If you are pleased with us, give us a place in one of the small villages where we can stay. There is no need [RHQ] for us to stay in the city where you are the king.”

6 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: therefore Ziklag pertaineth to the kings of Judah to this day.

[Achish liked what David suggested]. So that day Achish gave to David Ziklag [town]. As a result, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah since that time.

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

David [and his men] lived in the Philistia area for 16 months.

8 And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even to the land of Egypt.

[During that time] David and his men raided the people who lived [in the areas] where the Geshur, Girzi, and Amalek people-groups lived. Those people had lived there a long time. That area extended [south] from Telam to the Shur [Desert] and to [the border of] Egypt.

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

Whenever David’s men attacked them, they killed all the men and women, and they took all the people’s sheep and cattle and donkeys and camels, and even their clothes. Then they would bring those things back home, [and David would go to talk] to Achish.

10 And Achish said, Where have ye plundered to day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.

Each time Achish would ask David, “Where did you go raiding today?” David [would lie to him]. Sometimes he would reply that they had gone to the southern part of Judah, and sometimes he would say that they had gone to Jerahmeel, or to the area where the Ken people-group lived.

11 And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring tidings to Gath, saying, Lest they should inform against us, saying, So did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the Philistines.

David’s men never brought back to Gath any man or woman who was left alive. David thought, “If [we do not kill everyone, some of] them [who are still alive] will go and tell Achish [the truth] about what we really did.” David did that all the time that he [and his men] lived in the Philistia area.

12 And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever.

So Achish believed [what] David [told him], and said to himself, “[Because of what David has done, ] his own people, the Israelis, must now hate him very much. So he will have to [stay here and] serve me forever.”